Business Issues

Canada: Part II: Tax Update for Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs)
This update is a follow up to the 2010 Tax Alert for Non-Profit Organizations. It discusses the CRA's NPO Identification Project and highlights the recent developments in assessing the tax compliance of organizations in the non-profit sector.

Canada: Change – Finding the Best Fit Approach
The following publication discusses ways that your organization can avoid the pitfalls that change can bring how you can get the most out of your change strategies.

Canada: Are you compromised, but don’t know it? A new philosophy for cyber security
When foreign governments, organized crime, or hackers target an organization, the techniques they use to compromise the network and enable sensitive data theft are well planned and methodical. Advanced cyber threat groups are extremely patient, tending to invest heavily in the research and development of custom malicious code and clever means to exfiltrate data; all designed to slip past the cyber security radar.
The future of cyber security is going to require an evolved philosophy that assumes a state of compromise.

US: PwC's 2011 Global Equity Incentives Survey — The rise of performance-based equity — Executive summary
The lingering impact of the financial downturn continues to affect companies' compensation programs. Our last Global Equity Incentives Survey, performed in 2009, revealed that companies expected compensation levels to remain flat or even decrease. The good news is that companies have a more positive view of compensation levels in the short term, while continuing to express optimism about the long term. The slow nature of the recovery, however, is causing companies to remain conservative. This conservatism, when combined with the unprecedented stakeholder scrutiny of executive pay over the last few years, has seen performance-based equity become the compensation vehicle of choice for companies.The rise of performance-based equity provides key insights from the PwC 2011 Global Equity Incentives Survey, the seventh in the survey series.

Canada: Tax memo: Long-awaited foreign affiliate amendments released
The new foreign affiliate amendments have revised previously released proposals and include some surprise. Learn more in this Tax memo.

Canada: The power of social media: How CIOs can build business value using social media
This paper explains the difference between social media and social collaboration and why CIOs and CTOs should become social media role models for their organization.

Canada: Digital mobility drives you – You drive digital mobility
The following white paper discusses some of the leading trends in digital mobility and their importance to the future of your company or organization.

US: View: innovation, mobility, CEO strategy and more
Download View, issue 14.

US: Eyes of the CFO: Finance professionals speak out about their evolving roles in the M&A deal process
The role finance professionals play in the M&A deal process varies from company to company. Leading technology companies are finding value in broadening the finance function's role across the deal process to get more deeply involved in early-stage activities, as well as in achieving and measuring success.

Global: Trading blocs: What next for the stock exchanges?
PwC provides perspectives on the recent trends affecting M&A activity within the global stock exchange sector, focusing on potential future developments within the emerging markets.

Canada: 2011 federal budget ends deferral of corporate income tax through the use of partnerships
Do any of the corporations in your group have a substantial interest in a partnership? Corporate partners with taxation years ending after March 22, 2011, could be affected by budget measures that curtail the deferral of partnership income. This Tax memo outlines the implications.

Canada: Tax Memo: Federal Budget Includes RRSP Anti-Avoidance Rule
The federal budget extends to RRSPs anti-avoidance rules that already apply to Tax-Free Savings Accounts. As a result, RRSP investments in certain private business trusts could be subject to these rules, triggering severe penalties.

Canada: Tax Memo: Finance Proposes Legislative Measures to Counter FCA Decisions
On March 16, 2011, the Department of Finance released draft legislative proposals that would counter what it considered to be taxpayer-friendly decisions in three Federal Court of Appeal cases.

Canada: Commodity Clips, 2011 Issue 2
This bimonthly issue of PwC’s Commodity Clips covers commodity tax developments for the last two months.

Canada: Social Media — The New Business Reality for Board Directors
The following article by Debbie Dimoff, a vice president with PwC’s Technology Consulting practice, discusses the impact of social media on corporate governance and the role of directors.

Canada: IFRS and Tax: The Rubber has Hit the Road
The move to IFRS from Canadian GAAP will fundamentally change the way Canadian companies report their business results. This Tax Memo considers these possibilities under three headings: financial statement effects, accounting for income taxes and computation of taxes payable.

Canada: Wealth and tax matters - Winter 2011
PwC’s Wealth and tax matters focuses on ideas for increasing and preserving your hard-earned dollars, because it’s not what you make that really matters in the end, it’s what you keep.

US: 2011 Current developments for directors
This annual publication looks from the director's point of view at the key issues they are facing, offering information, insights, and practical guidance so that directors can meet the demands of their role more knowledgeably and enrich boardroom discussions.

US: 2010 Year-end questions audit committee members should be asking
Audit committees will need to consider the following questions to help set the agenda for the oversight of their company’s year-end financial reporting processes, which is complicated by an active regulatory environment and a fragile economy. The questions focus on accounting and disclosure, internal control, risk management and other issues, including compliance and standard setting changes.

US: BoardroomDirect: Update on current board issues
PwC's e-newsletter BoardroomDirect delivers our latest board level insights on a quarterly basis.

US: To the point: Current issues for boards of directors
Topics of immediate interest to directors. Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act and implications regarding corporate governance.

Canada: Tax Alert for Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs)
The following article discusses the impact of the Canadian Revenue Agency’s (CRA) new tax-exempt status on non-profit organizations and their boards of directors.

Canada: Lessons Learned from the Recession: What Directors Need to Know
As the economic roller coaster of the past two years slows down, corporate boards and their directors have learned to approach issues in a different, more measured and cautious way.

Canada: Strategy Talks podcast - episode 30: Lessons Learned From the Recession: What Directors Need to Know
This episode of the podcast series features a panel of guests who talk about corporate governance, and the lessons they have learned from the recession.

Canada: Fairness Opinions: What Directors Need to Know
The following article, written by Helen Mallovy Hicks of PricewaterhouseCoopers, discusses the Ontario Securities Commission’s ruling on fairness opinions and its impact on directors and corporate governance.

Global: World Watch: Issue 1 2010
This edition of our governance and corporate reporting magazine includes 36 pages of news and views from around the world.

US: 2010 Current developments for directors: Navigating changing times
PwC's Current developments for directors examines key issues facing you as a director. Its purpose is to offer information, insights, and practical guidance so that you can meet the demands of your role more knowledgeably and enrich boardroom discussions.

US: Aligning global business models and tax planning
This PwC international tax article that explains some of the significant elements of an effective, aligned global tax strategy and analyzes the financial and tax drivers impacting an MNC’s ability to achieve a competitive and sustainable ETR.

UK: Evolution or revolution?
In the last 3 months we’ve interviewed over a thousand consumers, and some of the leading CEOs in the retail, consumer goods, and leisure sectors. We wanted to look behind the headline figures and media stories to identify whether the trends in consumer behaviour we’re seeing now are temporary, or indicative of a far more enduring step-change in the way we shop now.

Canada: 2009 Energy Survey Q1 Update - Natural Selection: Evolution of Sustainable Companies
In this update, we present key financial data for the first quarter of 2009 for Canada’s public energy companies and trusts, as well as a more detailed look at issues affecting those companies’ ability to sustain their operations in the broadest sense.

US: The Quarter Close
This quarterly publication provides the key highlights from the last few months and identifies additional resources that provide more detailed information and guidance.

Canada: The Changing Face of Fairness Opinions
PwC partner Helen Mallovy Hicks discusses the recent OSC decision on fairness opinions, its relevance to companies, and the use of business valuation professionals when seeking a fairness opinion.

Global: 2009 PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Private Banking / Wealth Management Survey
The Global Private Banking and Wealth Management Survey 2009 gives a fascinating insight into the themes and trends impacting the world of wealth management as well as practical suggestions for actions wealth managers should be taking.

Canada: Total Tax Contribution 2008
Read PwC’s Total Tax Contribution 2008 report to obtain a clearer picture of how Canada’s complex tax system impacts businesses.

Canada: Canadian Life Sciences Forecast 2009
This PricewaterhouseCoopers publication is designed to help stakeholders in the Canadian life sciences and biotechnology industry understand the challenges of their peers, especially in light of recent economic conditions.

Global: Mergers and Acquisitions a snap shot
Did you know that the new M&A standards could impact your company How will you compensate employees of the target? The new M&A Standards may impact your decision. Determining whether employee arrangements represent compensation for service prior to and/or after the acquisition will have a direct impact on the amount included as purchase price versus the amount expensed in the future.

Economic uncertainty

For effective disaster planning, directors must monitor the economic landscape. This allows them to ask senior management timely questions about contingency plans that should adjust to key market changes.

Canada: Lessons Learned from the Recession: What Directors Need to Know
As the economic roller coaster of the past two years slows down, corporate boards and their directors have learned to approach issues in a different, more measured and cautious way.

Canada: Fairness Opinions: What Directors Need to Know
The following article, written by Helen Mallovy Hicks of PricewaterhouseCoopers, discusses the Ontario Securities Commission’s ruling on fairness opinions and its impact on directors and corporate governance.

Global: World Watch: Issue 1 2010
This edition of our governance and corporate reporting magazine includes 36 pages of news and views from around the world.

Global: Confronting corruption: The business case for an effective anti-corruption programme
PricewaterhouseCoopers' confronting corruption report examines what companies are currently doing to manage the risk of corruption and the steps they can consider to better protect themselves in the future.

Canada: Canadian Banks 2010: Perspectives on the Canadian Banking Industry
Canadian Banks 2010 examines the challenges of the worst financial crisis on the sector and includes a survey of Canadians about what they think of our banking system.

US: Maximizing internal audit: A 10-step imperative for thriving in a challenging economy
In today's challenging business environment, maximizing internal audit is an imperative. This paper outlines a proven approach to maximizing internal audit resources to illuminate issues in an organization and to reposition internal audit as a key factor in a broad range of significant governance, strategic, financial and operational risk, and compliance issues.

US: 2010 Current developments for directors: Navigating changing times
PwC's Current developments for directors examines key issues facing you as a director. Its purpose is to offer information, insights, and practical guidance so that you can meet the demands of your role more knowledgeably and enrich boardroom discussions.

Global: Transfer pricing in a recession
This article addresses ways in which multinationals may approach transfer pricing policies, leverage benchmarking data to document present and past transfer prices, and consider strategies for existing and new advance pricing agreements during uncertain economic times to optimize their ability to defend, document, and plan with respect to intercompany transactions.

Canada: Balancing Risk and Opportunity in a Downturn
The following article discusses the economic downturn and what issues directors should be paying attention to as we approach the recovery.

Global: Point of View: Rethinking the Path to Global Accounting Standards
Removing the uncertainty from transition
Is transitioning to global accounting standards still the right move for US business?
The forces driving the US toward the use of global accounting standards existed well before the current credit crisis and will continue to exist after the economy has recovered.

Global: View Magazine
With the economy remaining center stage, the new issue of View examines the impact of the recession and its aftermath from several perspectives. In the cover story, PwC looks at the current credit crisis and how some savvy companies are rising above tougher credit conditions to usher in a new era of excellence.

Global: Distressed mergers & acquisitions
With the financial crisis, now is an ideal time to assess the appropriateness of distressed M&A as a strategic tool. This article focuses on the buyer’s perspective.

Global: From crisis to opportunity: Get up to speed
This PwC Global publication shares steps companies in the midst of a crisis should follow to recover control and extract value.

US: Financial crisis of 2008: Navigating and mitigating risks
Over the past year the financial markets have experienced unprecedented turmoil, uncertainty and change. What initially began as a decline in homes values and illiquidity in the subprime mortgage market, has now evolved into a broader capital markets crisis having far reaching global ramifications.

US: Planning for the Unknown: Mitigating unknown and unknowable risks through effective Enterprise Risk Management
Effectively identifying and managing emerging risks requires a systematic and disciplined approach. In this article, you will read about the five step approach PricewaterhouseCoopers recommends.

US: Meeting the challenge of the current financial crisis
The world has changed, and changed abruptly. The current credit crisis in the US has shaken financial markets, undermined consumer and investor confidence, and is threatening economies around the world. We have identified seven key steps that companies should take today in order to position themselves to successfully navigate the rough waters and emerge victorious—identifying and managing risk to survive today and capitalizing on market opportunities to gain and sustain competitive advantage over time.

Risk management

Directors must constantly educate themselves on the most effective risk management systems so they can best assess senior management's risk strategy.

Canada: Managing Project Risk: Questions boards should be asking
With today’s unforgiving economy, the topic of risk management of major programs, as well as the maturity of general project management within an organization, is dominating discussion among senior management, executive leadership and boards. The following publication, from our Directors’ Briefing Series, discusses the six pillars of project risk management and what Boards can do to provide oversight on projects for their organizations.

Canada: Resilient Growth: Making the most of opportunities away from home
CEOs are focusing on markets far from home to reach their growth forecasts. With emerging markets growing more than twice as fast as developed markets, and, in some cases, providing a safe haven from current market volatility, there is little question where companies are focusing their growth strategies. But success in unfamiliar markets requires more deliberate alignment of risk monitoring with strategic planning and operational execution.
How prepared is your organization to grow away from home? In this new global report find out how business leaders and risk managers can weigh the array of risks that go along with tempting opportunities in unfamiliar markets.

US: 10Minutes on changing corruption risks
The anti-corruption regulatory movement is emerging as one of the most formidable compliance challenges confronting the private sector. To help business leaders and corporate directors better understand the corruption risk landscape and more, to prioritize their company's response, we've compiled eight questions to direct to their operational teams.

Canada: The Challenge of Doing Deals in Emerging Markets: Directors need to perform enhanced due diligence
The following article discusses some of the many risks companies face when doing business abroad and how those risks affect corporate governance at the board level.

Canada: Lessons Learned from the Recession: What Directors Need to Know
As the economic roller coaster of the past two years slows down, corporate boards and their directors have learned to approach issues in a different, more measured and cautious way.

Canada: Fairness Opinions: What Directors Need to Know
The following article, written by Helen Mallovy Hicks of PricewaterhouseCoopers, discusses the Ontario Securities Commission’s ruling on fairness opinions and its impact on directors and corporate governance.

Global: World Watch: Issue 1 2010
This edition of our governance and corporate reporting magazine includes 36 pages of news and views from around the world.

Global: Confronting corruption: The business case for an effective anti-corruption programme
PricewaterhouseCoopers' confronting corruption report examines what companies are currently doing to manage the risk of corruption and the steps they can consider to better protect themselves in the future.

Canada: Canadian Banks 2010: Perspectives on the Canadian Banking Industry
Canadian Banks 2010 examines the challenges of the worst financial crisis on the sector and includes a survey of Canadians about what they think of our banking system.

US: 2010 Current developments for directors: Navigating changing times
PwC's Current developments for directors examines key issues facing you as a director. Its purpose is to offer information, insights, and practical guidance so that you can meet the demands of your role more knowledgeably and enrich boardroom discussions.

US: 10Minutes on combating corruption
10Minutes on Combating Corruption discusses the increase in prosecutions and fines being brought under the FCPA, the spread of UNCAC regulations, and the importance of developing an anti-corruption compliance strategy. It also discusses how to safely expand into foreign markets by conducting forensic due diligence and utilizing corporate intelligence.

US: E-espionage: What risks does your organization face from cyber-attacks?
This report, written by our UK OneSecurity team, with support from CPNI (Centre for the Protection of Nation Infrastructure), highlights how a growing number of well-resourced and highly sophisticated cyber-criminal from across the globe are seeking to gain unauthorized access to valuable or sensitive data and information held by companies and governments.

Global: PwC's Governance, Risk and Compliance webcast series
Today's business world is constantly changing — it's unpredictable, volatile, and increasingly complex. By its very nature, it is fraught with risk. Today, the challenge lies in knowing which risks represent significant opportunities and which are rife with potential pitfalls. To help organizations better understand and prepare for these challenges, PwC is offering a Governance, Risk and Compliance Webcast Series. Each webcast provides key insights and takeaways that you can use to improve governance, risk and compliance at your organization. Upcoming webcasts include: Exploring Emerging Risks in a Global Environment on 6/18, and Privacy Compliance: The Top 10 Things You Need to Know Now on 9/17.

Global: Exploring Emerging Risks
This paper looks at how organisations identify, assess, and manage risks, what techniques they are using as basis for determining response strategies that align with their strategy, and risk appetite and tolerance.

Global: Making smarter risk decisions: Reinventing risk
This PwC assurance publication outlines how long-term business success hinges on the ability to reinvent risk management from a process and cultural standpoint and offers strategies for making smarter risk decisions.

Global: From crisis to opportunity: Get up to speed
This PwC Global publication shares steps companies in the midst of a crisis should follow to recover control and extract value.

Global: Integrating political risk into enterprise risk management
This publication shares PwC's framework to help executives understand the impact of political risk.

US: 2009 Current developments for directors
This publication provides information, insights and practical guidance to help directors meet the today's demands more knowledgeably.

US: What directors think: Special supplement
This Corporate Board Member and PwC research report surveyed more than 1,200 corporate directors about how they're coping with demands on their time and talent.

US: Financial crisis of 2008: Navigating and mitigating risks
Over the past year the financial markets have experienced unprecedented turmoil, uncertainty and change. What initially began as a decline in homes values and illiquidity in the subprime mortgage market, has now evolved into a broader capital markets crisis having far reaching global ramifications.

Sustainability and corporate social responsibility

Sustainability and corporate social responsibility are complex multi-stakeholder issues that impact corporate governance. Boards must learn how to disclose in-depth non-financial reporting and provide oversight in a carbon-constrained economy.

Global: World Watch: Issue 1 2010
This edition of our governance and corporate reporting magazine includes 36 pages of news and views from around the world.

Canada: PwC newsletter on Sustainable reporting: Report Ability — Spring 2009
"Report Ability", PwC Canada’s regular newsletter on sustainability reporting, provides useful information to writers and readers of sustainability reports across Canada.

Canada: The Forecast
This PwC publication examines the various issues revolving around climate change in Canada.

Canada: Is IT part of the problem or part of the solution?
This publication shares why organizations shouldn't solely focus on employing computing devices efficiently.

Global: Going green: Sustainable growth strategies
This report and podcast series is based on a global on-line survey of technology industry executives conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit and in-depth personal interviews with industry leaders and PwC's subject matter professionals.

Global: Carbon disclosure project report 2008
This report provides insight into how the 383 listed companies in the Global 500 track their carbon footprint and consider the risks and opportunities of carbon on their business.

US: 10Minutes on Sustainability Cost Reduction
Companies are justifiably anxious to reduce costs. But the problem with many cost-cutting measures is that they are put into practice without considering their sustainability. Often, cost savings achieved in the short term eventually leak away. The failed cost reduction initiatives wind up damaging corporate infrastructure and culture, leaving companies struggling well after the recession ends.

US: 10Minutes on Climate Change
10Minutes on Climate Change provides PwC's insights on how to ensure your company has an effective corporate response as climate-related issues grow in complexity.

Performance improvement

To ensure management sustains the company, directors must build on leading practices that will drive their organization’s financial, operational and environmental health.

Growth reimagined. The talent race is back on
A majority of CEOs (66%) fear talent shortages will strangle their company's growth. But no longer is it simply a matter of recruiting the best and the brightest in your home country. As reported in PwC's 14th Annual Global CEO Survey, developed-market talent pools are aging, the millennial generation of workers is bringing strikingly different expectations, and growth is now being driven by far-flung emerging markets, where top talent can often name its own price.

Canada: Perspective? Looking beyond short-term savings: Transforming the Canadian federal and provincial public sector
Governments can no longer take a short-term approach to cost management. This PwC article reveals a strategy combining immediate cost reduction with structural improvements to help achieve sustainable results.

US: 2010 Current developments for directors: Navigating changing times
PwC's Current developments for directors examines key issues facing you as a director. Its purpose is to offer information, insights, and practical guidance so that you can meet the demands of your role more knowledgeably and enrich boardroom discussions.

US: Harvesting value while reducing costs: A rapid approach to organizational restructuring
Value-based organizational restructuring, which quickly generates cost reductions without sacrificing valuable talent, can help fund subsequent reduction efforts, including sourcing, process reengineering, and technology automation, while optimizing the long-term value of the organization and its talent.

US: Corruption crackdown
The following publication discusses how the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is changing the way the world does business.

Canada: Performance Management Matters: Sustaining Superior Results in a Global Economy
PricewaterhouseCoopers has teamed up with international partners to create this survey to discover how leading organizations use performance management to best align their business goals with their business metrics.

US: Leveraging compliance: Standardization and simplification of risk adjusted performance reporting
This article examines how finance chiefs of the largest internationally active financial institutions are starting to take advantage of the data advances.

US: How leadership must change to meet the future
In this paper, PwC addresses what leaders need to know about key business revolutions and how to translate them into success quotients to define a distinctive leadership framework.

US: How to achieve more timely, accurate and transparent reporting through a smarter close
This PwC US publication examines how smart, efficient closing cycles create a foundation for evaluating performance and supporting business decisions.

IT and infrastructure

These days, information is central to a company’s value. That’s why the board has a responsibility to ensure management dedicates appropriate money and resources to protecting it.

Canada: Company Size Matters: Perspectives on IT Governance
The following publication is based on a sub-section of data taken from PwC’s research for the 4th edition of the Global Status Report on the Governance of Enterprise IT.

Global: Global State of Information Security Survey® 2012
The Global state of information security 2010 survey examines recent developments and key issues in the world of information security.

Canadian business perspectives on the governance of enterprise IT (GEIT)
PwC recently conducted research for the 4th edition of the IT Governance Institute’s (ITGI) Global Status Report on the Governance of Enterprise IT. This report showed a significant level of agreement among the business leaders from various countries, industries, and large and small enterprises on the contribution of IT to business success, and provided insight on the challenges and opportunities connected with IT, the impact of the economic crisis, and views on IT outsourcing, social networking and the cloud.

Global: Global state of information security survey 2008
The survey elicits insights on security and privacy practices from 7,200 IT, security and business executives across all industries and more than 100 countries.

Canada: Is IT part of the problem or part of the solution?
This publication shares how a comprehensive sustainability strategy can not only benefit the planet but also help businesses achieve real cost savings from using IT sustainability.

Canada: IT Governance in Practice: Insight from Leading CIOs
Global CIOs share their views on IT governance, their experience with IT governance implementation and what it takes to make IT governance work.

US: IT effectiveness: Why isn't IT spending creating more value?
This whitepaper discusses how business leaders can reverse course and start a new cycle of IT value creation.

Global: Managing the Risks and Rewards of Collaboration
How can technology companies manage the risks to reap the rewards of collaboration? To answer this question, PwC surveyed over 150 senior technology industry executives worldwide, and conducted in-depth personal interviews with industry leaders and PwC subject matter professionals.

Business transformation and outsourcing

Outsourcing has become a key business strategy to enable growth and better manage short-term costs. Directors must challenge management by considering various outsourcing models to improve service delivery.

Canada: Perspective? Looking beyond short-term savings: Transforming the Canadian federal and provincial public sector
Governments can no longer take a short-term approach to cost management. This PwC article reveals a strategy combining immediate cost reduction with structural improvements to help achieve sustainable results.

Global: Confidence in the face of turmoil
In this paper, PwC examines how the economic downturn impacts on new decisions to outsource and decisions to renew outsourcing and offshoring arrangements.

Global: How can pharmaceutical and life sciences companies strategically engage global outsourcing?
This factsheet shares how pharmaceutical and life sciences companies should compete in a highly volatile global market.