2nd year

Prague, 17. 9. 2013 - On Thursday, 25. 9. 2013, 160 financial directors came to share this year's theme "Another day in the life of CFO" in the conference hall of the Czech National Bank. the organizers of the second year of the congress offered through selected practical topics and speakers topics: "What can we expect next year?", "Hot news in the daily work of the CFO” and actual final panel discussion "How do CFO themselves see it". The congress was conducted by Přemysl Čech, moderator of the Czech Television and journalist Kristina Kadlas Blümelová of Economia. Information-packed lectures were complemented by continuously asked competition questions, the audience had an opportunity to participate with their comments and questions on the content of the entire congress.

The first part of the plenary program What can we expect next year? was started by Luděk Niedermayer, director of Deloitte Consulting. He presented his view of what awaits the Czech economy after the "lost half-decade". He supplemented macroeconomic data by projections predicted by the International Monetary Fund and the current forecast for 2013 and 2014. "It was good already, but do not need to be bad" he described the further development with the humor of his own. The following panel discussion presented views of five owners of successful Czech companies: Ondřej Benda from Armatury Group, Rudolf Gregořica from Lanex, Vladimír Králíček from the software company J.K.R, Tomáš Lánský of ARX Equity Investment Fund and Jaroslav Řasa, ABRA Software. Panelists agreed that the main expectations of the owners to CFO are: loyalty, absolute trust and professionalism. Mr Králíček and Gregořica emphasized the need of "creating the conditions for a restful sleep of management by reporting numbers corresponding to reality". To the question "How do you motivate CFO?" Ondřej Benda spoke about "long-term motivation and individual assignments for the CFO, which do not directly depend only on financial outcomes. CFO receives high stability without looking at the economic cycle, which gives him a space to finalize projects." Another three thematic areas for discussion touched partnerships of CFO and the company's management, the selection of CFO itself and a delicate question:" When did your CFO help you and / or stir up troubles?"

In the block Hot news for the everyday work of the CFO six speakers introduced news, trends and tips from their practice. The best evaluated speaker of the last year, who was asked by the audience to speak again, Jan Spáčil, a partner at Deloitte Legal, touched risky issues "What you actually can end up in court for" from the view of a top advisory lawyer. He stressed that the criminal responsibility of today will time out in 15 years, ie in 2028, as well as the ”'perception of the legal infringement does changes over time". He gave to the present participants a generally applicable and ageless recommendation: "Use your common sense!" David Jurčík and Jan Balatka, Deloitte along with Vladimír Uhlíř from TSR introduced myths and realities of Risk management and fraud in companies. Petr Adámek, Executive Director of Dantem dealt with A practical approach to property inventory. The fact that "there are no IT projects, only business projects" was mentioned in the part Data centers, or why CFO could love his CIO more, by František Mikeš, Altron Business Solutions . Jiří Kačerovský from Oriflame presented a global case study Ensuring effective access of CFO to company information. Myths about financing the company were put right by Mário Drosc and Václav Štětina from Raiffeisenbank.

The afternoon panel discussion How do CFO see it themselves? brought topics related to current everyday challenges and priorities of CFOs. The questions were answered by five panelists: Daniel Buryš, Kofola, Michal Flídr, Aero Vodochody Aerospace, Karin Hrunková of ASSA ABLOY, Michal Šedina, Safina and Irena Žáčková, Euro-Center Holding. They shared with congress participants what irritates them at work, where it is still possible to save and what are other opportunities for growth and motivation. Irena Žáčková stressed that unlike other panelists in her company there are not so sophisticated compensation models, but they take pride in that "they create space for further growth of the people, which motivates them the most".

For the final question What mistake I do not want to ever repeat there were given very honest answers. Irena Žáčková and Karin Hrunková agreed on the evergreen managerial principles: the need to learn to share responsibility, delegate competences and not to succumb to the illusion of own indispensability. The entire congress was concluded by discussions, comments and suggestions from the audience.

The second Annual CFO Congress was co-organized by Blue Events and press publisher Economia. It was held with support of many important partners, Gold Partner was the consulting company Deloitte.