PricewaterhouseCoopers presents 10Minutes

10Minutes on supply chain risk management

9 Jun 2009 13:21:46 GMT

In this issue of 10Minutes, PwC explores how global supply chains are being tested by major upheavals in the world economy.

10Minutes on managing risk and performance

27 May 2009 23:26:32 GMT

10Minutes on managing risk and performance provides PwC's insights on strategies you can use to lay the foundations of an integrated approach to managing risk and performance that systematically links risk and reward, facilitates strategic decision making, improves operations and reduces costs. Integration also empowers companies to become more risk resilient and able to take smart risks with confidence and clarity.

10Minutes on the US infrastructure

6 May 2009 15:15:58 GMT

10Minutes on the US infrastructure looks at the massive need to renew US infrastructure and the forces that are converging now to make it happen including dedicated public and private capital.

10Minutes on the emerging influence of IFRS

22 Apr 2009 16:55:47 GMT

IFRS is already affecting US companies, with the impact broadening considerably over the next few years as ongoing convergence of US GAAP and IFRS brings key financial reporting changes and numerous business implications. Companies are also feeling the indirect effect of IFRS adoption by their foreign subsidiaries and counterparties, particularly in customer and vendor transactions.

10Minutes on international tax increases

2 Apr 2009 18:15:12 GMT

10Minutes on international tax increases examines the significant proposals to change the taxation of US multinational corporations in President Obama's 2010 budget.

10Minutes on realizing ERP value

27 Mar 2009 12:05:37 GMT

Across industries, at one level or another, enterprise applications (and whether they’re agile, efficient and cost-effective) sit at the core of a company’s ability to weather the current economic downturn – or capitalize on it. 10Minutes on realizing ERP value discusses how economic downturns can be the best time to undertake a wide range of ERP-related actions.

10Minutes on current developments for directors

27 Feb 2009 19:50:33 GMT

With the markets still in crisis, many businesses are focused more on day-to-day survival than on the emerging economic reality. To successfully adapt to the new order, businesses will need to keep an ear to the ground, determining which long-held assumptions about market forces are losing currency.

10Minutes on the US stimulus package

27 Feb 2009 15:36:27 GMT

The $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed by President Obama on February 17 is an attempt to invigorate a faltering economy marked by rising job losses, falling GDP, continuing uncertainty in the capital markets and world economic weakness.

10Minutes on bolstering corporate liquidity

20 Feb 2009 18:32:10 GMT

With credit still scarce, cash is king
Companies today face an environment where credit is still scarce and cash is king. While companies can employ short-term cash management and tax strategies to provide liquidity relief today, they must also develop a more long-term approach to liquidity planning to manage through a re-pricing of credit risk and an extended downturn.

10Minutes on finance & accounting shared services

4 Feb 2009 21:18:41 GMT

Are today’s centers serving new business priorities?
Today, companies are trying to balance a new wave of cost-reduction imperatives with long-term planning initiatives. For many executive teams, this focus involves determining exactly what expectations they should place on financial shared services centers (FSSC).

10Minutes on climate change

26 Jan 2009 19:29:35 GMT

The effect of federal stimulus plans to promote green investments combined with voluntary and regulatory efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will provide new incentives for many US businesses to become more energy efficient.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.

10Minutes on making divestitures successful

20 Jan 2009 20:41:53 GMT

Getting the most value out of the sale—in any market
Market dynamics have changed dramatically since the second half of 2007. The credit crisis, volatile stock markets, and recession have put sellers at a disadvantage: they face fewer buyers, more caution, and lower deal multiples. At the same time, those same market forces are exposing marginally performing businesses and are compelling companies to explore multiple options—including divestitures— as a way to raise cash, shed debt, or improve performance.

10Minutes on sustainable cost reduction

19 Jan 2009 20:26:51 GMT

An approach that sticks, in bad times and good
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.

10Minutes on health reform under Obama

16 Jan 2009 22:01:32 GMT

Could government health reform alter the employer-based insurance system?
160 million Americans receive their health insurance benefits through their employers. In the coming year, large employers could face major changes in this area proposed by President Obama and members of the Democratic Congress.

10Minutes on rethinking pivotal talent

15 Oct 2008 15:20:00 GMT

Do you have the talent to thrive through the downturn?
The global financial crisis has created a fast-emerging set of challenges and opportunities in the talent market. Before reflexively introducing traditional strategies like across-the-board headcount reductions, companies should first re-evaluate their approach to "pivotal talent"— those game-changing employees whose performance can make or break the bottom line.

10Minutes on data and identity theft

15 Oct 2008 15:20:00 GMT

A collaborative business world’s Achilles’ heel
The portability and accessibility of information are crucial components of a collaborative, interconnected business world. However, the problem with sharing information is that it can get shared with the wrong people. Whenever highly sensitive or regulated information is lost, misused, or compromised, it falls under the banner of data and identity theft.

10Minutes on transitioning to IFRS

5 Sep 2008 15:20:00 GMT

Thinking about IFRS now is a good idea
Switching to IFRS will be a bigger change for some companies than for others. With mandatory transition beginning in 2014 (and voluntary adoption permitted for some companies as early as 2009), it makes sense for management to start sizing up the volume and variety of financial, business, tax, and operational changes—the objective being to avoid a resource-intensive effort at the eleventh hour.

10 Minutes on fair value in financial reporting

5 Sep 2008 10:58:52 GMT

Marking to market: How far is far enough?
Although recent market events have cast doubt on marking values to market, fair value has its place in financial reporting. It’s widely acknowledged that, despite its challenges, reporting fair value for most financial instruments, particularly assets, provides investors with meaningful information to assess a company’s future cash flows and management’s performance.

10Minutes on tax reform

2 Jun 2008 11:01:33 GMT

Will corporate tax reform bring relief, new burdens, or both?
As the race for the White House unfolds, tax reform can be expected to become a "hot topic" on the agenda of the next president and Congress. For corporations, tax reform could provide for the most significant revisions to the tax code since 1986. With a tight government budget and a popular view against business tax relief, a key risk facing business is the potential for tax increases to more than outweigh any gains from tax reform.

10Minutes on PwC's Global CEO Survey

1 Apr 2008 11:01:32 GMT

Welcome to the world economy 2.0
Findings from PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC's) 11th Annual Global CEO Survey point clearly to the fact that the world economy is no longer dominated by the US and other developed countries. Success in this rapidly evolving environment requires competing in one global marketplace, and not a series of regional ones. This adjustment will be difficult, but the rewards are significant.

10Minutes on driving change

2 Jan 2008 11:01:32 GMT

Is your company prepared for more than one future?
An environment of constant change demands a new approach to business strategy. While creating efficiencies and cutting costs through process standardization and IT investment was once an effective way to create competitive advantage, companies are now finding themselves bogged down by inflexible systems and processes. Companies must reclaim the right balance of standardization and flexibility and develop a new core competency: agility.

10Minutes on mergers and acquisitions

1 Nov 2007 11:01:32 GMT

A new scorecard: Sizing up the changes
Recently released accounting standards introduce pervasive changes to how companies track and report M&A. Two deserve particular attention: expensing transaction and restructuring costs, and the broader use of fair value concepts.

10Minutes on IFRS

1 Oct 2007 11:00:10 GMT

International Financial Reporting Standards: The right move for US business
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the framework used by most of the world today, has growing support in the US. So much so, in fact, that within a few years the SEC may designate a date for mandatory adoption of IFRS by all US public companies. When IFRS conversion comes, it will be beneficial for a number of reasons.