Business insights

New product development is the lifeblood of companies across the FMCG sector. But with so many new products being launched every year, how can you give your product the best fighting chance of success, and how do you need to adapt your company to support and facilitate this process?

This article was published in Checkout Magazine

Finance Bill 2008 saw the most significant changes to the VAT on property rules in Ireland since its introduction in 1972. The new property rules, which come into effect on 1 July 2008, are far reaching and will have implications for all businesses in Ireland with property interests and will even impact on businesses that simply trade from a property, as owner of the property, or tenant.

This article was published in Checkout Magazine

The most frequent reason given by owner-managers for considering a sale is the desire to release capital, either for financial security or new projects.

This article was published in Checkout Magazine

By Nigel Browne, Senior Tax Manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers Budget 2008, announced by the Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen in early December, contained a number of broad themes, including the continued simplification of the taxation system and the introduction of a number of measures to please the environmental lobby. So what do these changes mean for your business?

This article was published in Checkout Magazine

A study completed in 2006 focusing on Business Continuity Management (BCM) in the Food and Drink Industry highlighted that ‘In a competitive, Just-in-Time, least-cost environment, a bad experience was sometimes the only way to provide BCM managers with the hard evidence needed to support a business case for proactive/preventative ‘just-incase’ planning and contingencies’. (Peck, 2006)*

This article was published in Checkout Magazine

After more than ten years of sustained growth, most economists are predicting a slowdown in 2008. That presents new challenges for Irish business. Accountancy Ireland asked Ronan Murphy, recently elected Senior Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, about what this will mean for his firm and clients in the coming year.

This article was published in Accountancy Ireland

You work hard, your business is doing well and there is cash in the bank. The next question is how do you extract this cash out of the business?

This article was published in Checkout Magazine

The objective of Basel II Pillar 3 is to improve market discipline through effective public disclosure to complement requirements under Pillar 1 and Pillar 2. To that end, Pillar 3 introduces substantial new public disclosure requirements, and will represent a significant increase in the amount of information made publicly available by banks and investment firms around capital structure, capital adequacy, risk management and risk measurement. Máiréad Devine, Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers looks at the implications of these new requirements.

This article was published in Accountancy Ireland

There is no doubt that some recurring themes arise in practice when helping clients through a process of business succession. It is not however possible in our experience to apply a ‘one size fits all approach’ since each case is uniquely influenced by variables, such as current financial position, age and health profile, family circumstances, personal preferences etc.

This article was published in Checkout Magazine

Privately held companies operating in the retail, consumer, wholesale and distribution sectors are facing an increasingly competitive environment and are striving to achieve efficiencies in their businesses wherever possible.

This article was published in Checkout Magazine

Reporting key performance indicators (KPIs), both financial and non-financial, is a critical element of effective communication of a company’s progress towards its goals. Garrett Cronin considers the practical aspects of selecting and communicating KPIs.

This article was published in Accountancy Ireland