10th CFO Forum Review 

In the first common session, the event’s keynote speaker, 2010 Economics Nobel Laureate and London School of Economics professor, Christopher Pissarides began his presentation by expressing his concerns for the fate of the Greek economy, discussing the possibility of national debt reaching 160% of Greece’s GDP and the situation is aggravated due to the very high spreads.

Further on, the professor referred to the possibility of Greece defaulting, stressing that this would be highly unfavorable as it would cause considerable pain to the Greek banking system, or cause a domino effect that could spread throughout the European Union endangering its overall economic stability.

He also underlined the need for immediate and decisive actions to be taken such as to fight bureaucracy, reduce taxation rates and improve the country’s infrastructure, explaining that the weight on the private sector needs to be shifted and the public sector needs to be shrunk through a program of privatizations. Furthermore he stressed the importance of flexible labor markets, executive education, and the encouragement of private educational institutions. At this point, Marios T. Kyriacou, KPMG in Greece’s Senior Partner added that Greece has one very important resource – tax evasion. He went on to explain that the benefits for the country would be great the country was able to reign in taxes.

Later in the session, professor Pissarides joined a discussion panel with CEOs of Greek companies. Participants in the discussion were:

• Apostolos Petalas, Chief Executive Officer, Fourlis Group
• Elina Psimitis, President & CEO, Psimitis
• Gregory Sklikas, Managing Director, FrieslandCampina Hellas
• Theodoros Vardas, President, Hellenic Retail Business Association (SELPE)
• Yanis Varoufakis, Professor of Economic Theory, National and Capodistrian University of Athens

During the discussion, participants agreed that Greece has not actually reached any important decisions, a fact that has delayed the possibility of finding a sustainable solution to the country’s problem.

Professor Pissarides noted that despite the expensive nature of flexible labor, it is definitely not prohibitive as the government revenue will be sufficient if it is appropriately channeled and “shock”-reforms are implemented.

Next, was the discussion panel titled “CFO & CIO: A Creative Partnership” followed, moderated by Nikos Dimakos, Partner at KPMG’s IT Advisory.

Participants in the discussion were:

• Argirios Diamantis, Information Technology Director, Hellas Online
• Konstantinos Paschalis, Assistant General Manager, Piraeus Bank
• Dimitrios Tranoudis, Chief Information Officer & Executive Committee Member, AXA Insurance
• Stephane Wagner, CFO, Multirama

Discussion participants came to the conclusion that the cooperation between the Finance and IT departments is vital for a company, as the technology chosen by the CIO offers the CFO cost-reduction, innovation and added speed.

At the same time, IT projects need to be prioritized according to the needs of business units in order for the best decisions to be made.

The event began with a discussion panel titled “The CFO’s fine balance between today and tomorrow”. The discussion moderator was Christos Balaskas, General Manager of EPA Attikis (Natural Gas Distribution Company) and participants were the following:

• Vassilis Andrikopoulos, Finance Director Greece & South Europe, Diageo
• Dimitrios Delonas, CFO, Nireus Group
• Vicky D. Kefala, Head Project Finance, Aktor Concessions
• Christos Papalabros, Finance - Administration Director, SAP Hellas

During the discussion, participants discussed the difficulties faced by the Greek business environment due to the major difficulties of financing businesses and increasing taxation, and reached the conclusion that the CFO has become the link between business strategy and execution.

Therefore, the role of the CFO is to cooperate effectively with other departments and external entities, and not just to be limited to financial reports.

The next speaker at the event, Thomas Oestreich, Chief EPM Strategist at Oracle IBU analyzed the very important issue of operational strategy in his presentation titled "Leveraging the Management Excellence Framework".

Mr. Oestreich mentioned that investment in technology is necessary to support the growing needs of businesses on all levels. He also went on to highlight that a company’s success at an administrative and operational level depends on effective cost and quality management, and speed in day-to-day operations, wit, determination and consistency among top executives.

The next session titled "Debt Restructuring in today's economic environment" began with a presentation by Dr. Nikolaos Angelopoulos, Executive Board Director at Antenna Group and ended with a presentation by Emmanuel Skourtis, Director and Head of the Restructuring and Accounting Advisory Services at KPMG in Greece.

Both speakers stressed that progress toward a company’s healthy balance sheet passes first through the company itself. Therefore, before any debt restructuring occurs, the entrepreneur needs to look internally, for the hidden opportunities in obtaining capital, then reduce costs and concentrate on collections.

Only if the company cannot deal with its debt after those steps, should negotiations with banks occur.

"The new tax landscape and implications following the amendments of the past 12-month period: risks and opportunities" was the subject of the next discussion moderated by KPMG Tax Partner Ioannis Achilas.

The following speakers participated:

• Thanasis Hadjinicolaou, Financial Controller, Bank of Cyprus
• Lefteris Trechas, Manager Accounting, Papastratos
• Christos Yannopoulos, Business Consultant, President of the Institute of Economic & Fiscal Studies (IOFOM), Honorary Director General Ministry of Finance Tax Inspection

Participants stressed that the continuous changes in the tax landscape create difficulties and uncertainty about the future. This climate must change, and the state needs to create a positive atmosphere in Greece, with targeted and smart tax checks and strict fines for offenders.

Finally, they agreed that the tax certificate, that is being promoted as a new measure is a step in the right direction.

The event closed with a discussion panel titled "Managing cash flow in turbulent times" moderated by KPMG Audit Partner, Harry Sirounis. The following were participants in the discussion:

• Dimitris Babiris, Chief Financial Officer, FBB-First Business Bank
• Gregoris D.Dikaios, Finance Director Greek Region, TITAN Cement Company
• Christina Papandreou, General Financial Director, Sklavenitis

The participants demonstrated the changes in the behavior of companies with regards to the tighter management of their cash flows, and the redefinition of their relationships with creditors and suppliers. At the same time, they stressed the the importance of cash flow for the achievement of strategic business goals, since during crises periods it is not profitability that counts so much – as much as the proper management of cash does.