Increasing governance responsibilities, ongoing regulatory reform and an unrelenting drive to improve the bottom line are resulting in a shift in responsibilities within the accounting and finance management sector, according to a Hudson study released this week.
“Getting the choice of CEO right is still, to my mind, the most important thing a board does,” says Alison Paterson, winner of the QBE Chairperson of the Year at the 2010 Deloitte/Management magazine Top 200 Awards. “And if the appointment is wrong, the board should act as quickly as possible to rectify it. Chairs need to be more skilful when effecting this sort of change.”
More than 30 Business NZ-affiliated industry groups met yesterday to exchange information on continuing earthquake relief efforts and undertook to spread the word that ‘business is open’ in Canterbury. Business NZ is co-ordinating relief contributions by business for those affected by the Christchurch quake.
New Zealand is currently considering the merits of a national disaster levy to help pay for the aftermath of last week’s tragic events in Christchurch. But before committing to such a step, it’s worth taking a breath and looking at the debate across the Tasman about such a levy, says Executive Update economics correspondent Bob Edlin.
Governments and regulators are second only to customers in their ability to affect companies’ economic value, according to the results of a recent McKinsey survey, though respondents are divided on whether that effect is positive or negative. Most executives in developed economies expect external-affairs issues to decrease operating income; those in the developing world are more likely to expect a boost.
The much-awaited upswing in economic performance will bring with it the bittersweet pill of shortages in key areas of organisations’ talent pools, a Deloitte survey of New Zealand employers has found. The findings indicate employers need to turn their minds to new strategies to allay a problem which represents a significant threat to growth prospects.
As the New Zealand economy slowly claws its way out of recession, not helped by the recent tragic events in Canterbury, contract executives will have a role to play in helping businesses get up to speed again, a number of recruitment industry executives say.
Rapid urbanisation is one of the biggest macro trends of our time. Your company can’t go wrong innovating for existing and newly minted urbanites around the world, says one of the world’s leading trend watching firms.
