On June 7, 2012 KPMG in Greece hosted its 11th CFO Forum. Keynote speaker at the event was the renowned German economist, and previously Chief Economist at Deutsche Bank Group – Dr Norbert Walter. In addition to the keynote speech, and Dr Walter’s discussion with journalist Tassos Telloglou, three panel discussions and two other presentations took place.
During Dr Walter’s presentation, titled “Quo Vadis Euro(pa)? Do not Listen to the Siren Songs of the New Drachma”, and his discussion with Tassos Telloglou, he mentioned that the European construct is more than ever in danger of collapsing, and that international cooperation is absolutely essential in order to avoid catastrophe.
He explained that he supports the idea of a United States of Europe, however not in the US’s image, but closer to Switzerland’s form of governance. With such a system, Europe would be strengthened and its international trust bolstered.
Referring to Greece’s possible exit from the Euro, Dr Walter explained that this is not a solution and such an event would condemn the country to many years of recession. He characterized the return to the Drachma as a “Fata Morgana” and explained that a new currency would fail because it would exist simply to be drastically and immediately devalued. Thus, without the trust of the people, there would not be sufficient administrative structures to enforce its effective implementation.
The day had begun with a panel discussion titled “Auditors and Corporate: What do they expect from each other” moderated by Harry Sirounis, Partner, Audit, KPMG. The discussion participants were,
- Xenophon Avlonitis, Vice Chairman, Hellenic Capital Market Commission
- Ioannis Christodoulakis, Chief Financial Officer, S&B Industrial Minerals
- Vassilis Giouvalakis, Finance Director, Henry Dunant Hospital
- Konstantinos Moraitakis, CFO Greece, ISS Facility Services
- Prof. Apostolos Refenes, Chairman, Accounting & Auditing Standards Oversight Board (AAOB)
- Stefanos Verzovitis, General Manager of Finance & Administration, European Reliance
Next, a case study titled “Cooperation between General Management and Finance Department - Opportunities and Challenges” was presented by Vassilis Andrikopoulos, Commercial Finance Director, Western Europe Markets, Diageo Hellas and Tassos Evangelou, Country Director Greece & DGCE, Diageo Hellas.
Another panel discussion followed, titled “One year since the implementation of the Tax Certificate - Conclusions, Thoughts, Suggestions”. with Dr George S. Mavraganis, Partner in charge of Tax at KPMG as moderator. Participants were
- Maria Fantridaki, Head, Financial & Administrative Activities DEPA (Public Gas Corporation)
- Nikos Katsaitis, Chief Financial Officer, Sanofi-Aventis
- Antonios Nanopoulos, General Director, Ministry of Finance, General Directorate of Tax Audit & Public Revenue Collection
- Prof. Apostolos Refenes, Chairman, Accounting & Auditing Standards Oversight Board (AAOB)
- Litsa Spyriouni, Group Tax Director, Coca Cola Hellenic Bottling Company
The last panel discussion of the day – “2012 – 2013: - Where to, and How?” was moderated by Manos Raptopoulos, Managing Director, SAP Hellas & Cyprus and participants were,
- Patrick Gauthier, Chief Financial Officer , Intrasoft International
- Nikitas Pothoulakis, CFO, Vivartia Group
- Kostas Theodorakopoulos, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors, ELSA - Silgan Metal Packaging
- Spyros Tsioutsias, Chief Financial Officer & Business Development Director, AstraZeneca Hellas
The event ended with a presentation titled, “The employment market for CFOs: we also have good news” by KPMG Partner, Peggy Velliotou.