EUROpeaN CGMA® CONfereNce Wednesday 13 November 9.00 – 9.30am Registration and coffee 9.30 – 9.45am Welcome and introduction 9.45 – 11.00am Keynote Robert Peston, Award winning Business Editor Over the last five years, the challenges of the economy have had a great impact on businesses across the world, and have changed the way in which organisations conduct themselves. Although the world economy appears to be on the road to recovery, are businesses enjoying the full effect of this? What are the biggest problems that businesses are facing today? This keynote from award winning business editor, Robert Peston, will evaluate the economic climate for companies at home and abroad, both now and in coming years, the risks and opportunities, and set the scene for the conference theme - Beyond the financials. Including Q and A 11.00 – 11.30am Coffee 11.30 – 12.30pm Breakout Essential soft skills Clare Haynes, Soft skills and organisational psychology specialist, Wildfire Ltd Mastering the right soft skills can help gain a decisive edge in modern business, whether you’re presenting to clients, at interview or seeking to impress the executive board. This session will explore how to integrate the tactics necessary for team and the top table. Clare will discuss the vital communication and people skills required to stand out, as well as providing insight into simplifying up-skilling effectively. Attracting talent in times of scarcity Kevin Green, Chief Executive at Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) Kevin will look at the current developments in the professional jobs market. The talent war that’s been talked about for over a decade is just about to become a reality. He will also define what employers mean by talent and explore what employers are doing to attract and retain business critical employees. When business model theory and the real world collide Andrew Thompson, Finance & Commercial Director, SkyIQ Andrew will talk us through how Sky makes business models work in practice, what some of the key challenges are, what the operational and people considerations are, and perhaps most importantly how models need to adapt and evolve. 12.30 – 1.45pm Lunch 1.45 – 2.45pm Breakout Creating additional value by partnering the business effectively Gavin Donaldson, Director, KPMG This session will highlight how finance can add value ‘beyond the financials’ with references to how organisations have developed the role of a finance business partner to influence the business in making the right decisions. The session will be practical and highlight some of the challenges that need to be overcome for this partnering model to succeed. Ethical leadership: responsibility and reputation Tanya Barman, Head of Ethics, CIMA Referring to recent CGMA research into responsible business as well as risk and reputation, this session will highlight the importance of ethical leadership in embedding the right values to do the right thing. With a rising demand for transparency and increasing distrust in business, the links between ethical leadership and high performing cultures are becoming stronger. As professional accountants, with obligations to uphold a global code, CGMA designation holders are well placed to champion ‘doing good’ as well as ‘doing well’. Maximising ROI in finance systems development Andrew Carfax, Enterprise performance management specialist, PureApps Ltd Whether investing in enterprise performance management, business intelligence or a new ERP solution, the numbers are large and the risk of failure is real and significant. This presentation will examine each stage of the finance system development from identifying the business need, through to business case, implementation and post implementation review, discussing best practice techniques to ensure risks are managed and dealt with appropriately and maximum ROI is delivered. 2.45 – 3.15pm Coffee 3.15 – 4.30pm Keynote and panel discussion From insight to impact: unlocking opportunities in big data Peter Simons BBS (Hons), MBA, ACMA, CGMA, Technical specialist, CIMA Technology is once again changing the rules of business. Like the industrial revolution of the 19th century and the IT revolution of the 20th century, a new business era is dawning as companies are using new and powerful tools to combine and analyse unprecedented volumes of data. This trend – often described as big data – marks a major shift in the way companies conduct business. This session will look at CIMA’s latest report and will explore ways in which management accountants can work with IT professionals, data scientists and business leaders to create a strategy that extracts value from data assets more effectively. 4.30 – 4.45pm Closing remarks Evening – Wednesday 13 November 7.00 – 7.30pm Registration 7.30 – 11.30pm CGMA dinner – BAFTA 11.30pm Close Thursday 14 November 2013 9.00 – 9.30am Registration 9.30 – 9.45am Welcome and introduction 9.45 – 11.00am Keynote Nick Leeson, The Original Rogue Trader Nick will talk frankly about what happened with Barings, the lack of accounting safeguards, his capture and confinement for 9 months in a Frankfurt prison and being sentenced to 6 years by the Singapore court for forgery and cheating. In the aftermath of the AIB trading scandal in New York, and the collapse of Enron and Worldcom, Nick provides a fascinating insight into the continuing failures of senior and middle management at large corporations who still fail to protect shareholders and customers. Including Q and A 11.00 – 11.30am Coffee 11.30 – 12.30pm Breakout Change management: The ultimate challenge – hosting London 2012 Julie Nerney, Change management specialist Change is no longer an option for organisations, it is the status quo. Incremental or transformational, proactive or reactive, what are you doing in your organisation to identify, lead and execute effective change? Julie will share her personal five point manifesto for change, illuminating this with her experiences with London 2012 and other examples from her varied career. This presentation, and the opportunity for you to share your challenges in the Q and A, will give you the insight required to confidently manage change in your organisation. The next generation of employees: The CIMA Higher Apprenticeship in Management Accounting David Rowsby, Regional Director, Europe, CIMA Organisations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland can now recruit management accountants of the future through this new apprenticeship scheme. The new recruits will be talented, young individuals who will be trained by their employers to gain key business skills while also studying for the CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting. Discover how apprentices could benefit your organisation, and get feedback from organisations currently employing apprentices - with Siemens and PwC. Risk and Innovation: The keys to prospering over the long term Doug Bonthrone ACMA CGMA, former Director for Global Services Strategy, Coca Cola Risk and innovation are connected, but different. Both are critical to long term business success and are key areas in which CFOs and CGMA designation holders must play and add value. The multitude and complexity of risks requires a systematic approach to managing them. In discussing how to deal with risk, Doug will break down a risk management process he has used in the past. He will also discuss the implications and need for a systematic approach to managing innovation. Learn about the five key enablers/ prerequisites for successful innovators as well as risk and innovation implications. 12.30 – 1.45pm Lunch 1.45 – 2.45pm Breakout Developing your personal brand Jacqui Malpass, Personal brand strategist The reason some people climb the career tree faster and higher than others is not just down to skills, experience and qualifications. You are more likely to be selected for increasingly responsible positions based on how others perceive, think, and feel about you. That perception is called personal brand. In this personal branding workshop, we will discuss how to gain clarity about your image and connect who you are to what you do and why. The session will also discuss how the world perceives you and how you can ensure you are in control and can take advantage of change. Developing talent Susannah Clements, Deputy Chief Executive, CIPD Companies can spend thousands or hundreds of thousands of pounds out in the marketplace recruiting top talent – whilst ignoring the high potential individuals within their own organisations. Susannah will explore how to identify and develop your own talented individuals, building a pipeline of experienced high potential people – and will highlight the common pitfalls of internal programmes as well as discussing how to demonstrate the benefits. She will discuss how organisations can support a culture of talent development, as well as how managers can encourage individuals’ development. A Sustainable Business Strategy Andrew Jones C.Eng. B.Eng. FEI MCIBSE, Director, EAV Associates ‘Corporate reporting should be driven by proactive integrated thinking and decision-making rather than compliance requirements’. This is an intent at the core of integrated reporting. But, are we so dedicated to after-the-event reporting that we overlook the real value that a pre-planned sustainable approach can bring to shareholders and society? In this workshop we will identify and discuss ways that organisations can benefit from a better understanding of sustainability. We will explore what a best-practice sustainable business plan looks like and give members guidance on how to assess ‘where are we now’ and how do we get to ‘where we want to be’. 2.45 – 3.15pm Coffee 3.15 – 4.15pm Keynote Mike Forde, former Director of Football Operations & Executive Club Director for Chelsea Football Club During his time working in the English Premier League, Mike Forde experienced the pinnacle of high performance cultures having worked with some of the most successful teams in club football. Mike will look at a number of areas of performance management, including the DNA of a high performance environment.