2020 中德管理控制论坛：在危机中为企业导航 | 2020 Sino-German Controlling Forum: Navigating Business in Difficult Times
No one could predict that 2020 would be the year of COVID-19. Not only the public health sector, but the entire economy has been suffering seriously. While we observe encouraging signs of recovery and stabilization in China, there are still many hot spots in other parts of the world, impacting market demand and supply chains. In addition to this, accelerated tensions in the relations between the USA and China have increased concerns of many decision-makers and investors. Can we still experience business in China like in the last decade? Or do we have to prepare for a new normal in the upcoming years?
The motto of 2020 Sino-German Controlling Forum which took place in Suzhou on September 11th, 2020, was "Navigating Business in Difficult Times". It provided a good platform for information, communication and experience sharing for finance & controlling managers & professionals as well as non-controlling business executives, who are interested in the question how to enhance controlling and risk & crisis management and navigate business in an environment with more challenges.
Picture 1: Quick
shot on the plenum of the 2020 Sino-German Controlling Forum
Source: Organization team of 2019 Sino-German Controlling Forum
More than
90 participants coming from the Sino-German business community attended the
Forum. Thanks to relatively good management of the COVID-19 pandemic in China
in the last months, the one-day conference could be held successfully just as
it was in the past years and as one of the large off-line events of Sino-German
business community in China.
Picture 2: Part
of VIP Speakers and Moderators of 2020 Sino-German Controlling Forum
From left to right: Dr. Zhen Huang (Corporate Performance One / Shanghai De Chen), Mr. Aaron Wang (Eaton Group), Ms. Jing Tang & Ms. Bei Zhao (Porsche China), Mr. Chaoting Chen & Mr. Francesco Ingarsia (Schaeffler Greater China), Ms. Jie Shen & Mr. Michael Muell (Schaeffler Greater China), Mr. Michels Volker (Jungheinrich), Mr. Arjan van der Oort (Boehringer Ingelheim), Mr. Alexander Prautzsch (PwC China), Mr. Xin Li (Volkswagen Group China) & Ms. Dr. Sigrid Winkler (German Chamber Shanghai),
Not in the picture are the VIP speakers: Ms. Shirley Wang (Deloitte China), and Ms. Claudia Maron (DATEV eG / ICV Germany who participated in the Forum as online speaker in the afternoon hours
Source: Organization team of 2019 Sino-German Controlling Forum
The Forum was opened by Ms. Dr. Sigrid Winkler, Executive Chamber Manager of German Chamber of Commerce (GCC) in China | Shanghai.
Picture 3:
Ms. Dr. Sigrid Winkler (GCC) during her opening speech
Source: Organization team of 2019 Sino-German Controlling Forum
The keynote speaker in the morning hours was Mr. Xin LI, Head of Corporate Finance, Head of Brand Controlling Volkswagen Passenger Cars & Head of Finance Skoda at Volkswagen Group China (VGC).
Picture 3: Keynote Speaker Mr. Xin LI from Volkswagen Group China
Source: Organization team of 2019 Sino-German Controlling Forum
Mr. Li highlighted
the specific VUCA situation of Chinese passenger car market and the very importance
of controlling for management transparency and business efficiency in Corona/post-Corona
era. He provided a short introduction into Integral Planning & Simulation
Project (IPSP) of VGC, which should create a powerful digital platform for
integral planning, forecast and reporting based on SAP HANA data. He pointed
out that the journey towards integration and digitalization is not an easy one
due to high complexity and diversity of the world of VGC. In economic difficult
times such as we are currently experiencing, controllers should be able to
quickly provide transparency for decision makers and help them to take corrective
actions more effectively. Higher requirements on controlling work call for transformation of finance & controlling. Besides system
change/digitalization, one should not forget the importance of structure/resouce
allocation, skills/business understanding and change of roles and attitudes of
controllers.
Following the keynote presentation session, two parallel workshops were available for the participants in the morning hours.
The first workshop was led by Mr. Arjan van der Oort, CFO at Boehringer Ingelheim and Ms. Shirley WANG, Partner for Financial Advisory Services at Deloitte China. Their topic was digitalization for financial forecasting and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for tax. Based on project initiatives at Boehringer Ingelheim in China, they shared their experience and views on how to overcome the shortcoming of tradtional approachs using digital tools.
Picture 4: Mr.
Arjan van der Oort (Boehringer Ingelheim China) and Ms. Shierly Wang (Deloitte
China) in the workshop “Digitalization Initiatives for Financial Forecasting
and Tax at Boehringer Ingelheim in China”
Source: Organization
team of 2019 Sino-German Controlling Forum
The second
workshop in the morning hours was focusing on the credit work and collection
skills in difficult times. The workshop speaker was Mr. Aaron WANG, who
is Order-To-Cash (OTC) process leader and senior credit manager at the US
company Eaton (China) Investments Co., Ltd. In his presentation, Mr. Wang discussed
with the participants about different practical approaches related to credit
control and credit risk management in Chinese business environment. In his
view, a qualified specialist for credit control and collection must not only
have profound financial knowledge but sound business understanding and good
communication skills.
Picture 5: Mr. Aaron WANG from Eaton Group China in the workshop “Cash is King – How to Improve Credit Work & Collection Skills”
Source: Organization team of 2019 Sino-German Controlling Forum
In the afternoon hours, there were three parallel workshops available for the participants:
Ms. Bei ZHAO, Director of Accounting at Porsche China and her colleague Ms. Jing TANG, Senior Manager of Data and Risk Management at Porsche China shared their experience and lessons learnt on the journey of digitalization in finance at Porsche China. After a short introduction into “Mission D” (D for Digitalization), the vision and project initiatives of Porsche China for digitalization, they showed their project work on BI and data management and discussed with the participants about opportunities and limitations of RPA for daily finance and tax work.
Picture 6: Ms. Bei ZHAO (right) & Ms. Jing TANG (left) in the workshop “Digitalization in Finance: First Experience & Lesson Learnt at Porsche China”
Source: Organization
team of 2019 Sino-German Controlling Forum
Mr. Michels
Volker, Head of
Controlling APAC at Jungheinrich China, presented the SPEED program which was a
project initiative of Jungheinrich focusing on lean production with extremely
short lead times. Although the program has been very successful, he pointed out
that one can ask if such programs may be the best possible answer to today's dynamic
environment in China nor not. In his view, business leaders and controllers
should frequently rethink the question of "doing the things right vs. doing
the right things" and push their organization to achieve more adaptability
which is as important as efficiency in current market environment characterized
by high volatilities and uncertainties.
Picture 7: Mr. Michels Volker from Jungheinrich in the workshop “SPEED vs. Adaptability at Jungheinrich: Paradigm Shift in Dynamic Times?”
Source: Organization team of 2019 Sino-German Controlling Forum
Ms. Jie
SHEN, Supervisor
for Accounts Payable, and her colleague Mr. Michael Muell, SAP FI
Consultant at Schaeffler Greater China shared their experience and insights on
the topic of digital dashboarding and KPI reporting. Taking AP-related KPI
reporting and management as an example, both speakers demonstrated how
automation and digitalization can help team members in gaining new insights
into their daily work and in setting reasonable targets for performance
improvement. The workshop was moderated by Mr. Chaoting CHEN who is Senior
Director of Schaeffler Greater China responsible for Shared Financial Service
Center.
Picture 8: Mr. Michael Muell (left) and Ms. Jie SHEN (right) in the workshop “Gaining New Insights – Dashboarding @ Schaeffler”
Source: Organization team of 2019 Sino-German Controlling Forum
One of the
highlights of 2020 Forum in the afternoon hours was the keynote speech provided
by Ms. Claudia Maron, Head of Governance at DATEV eG and Board Member of International
Association of Controllers (ICV): Thanks to online meeting technology of ZOOM, Ms.
Maron joined the Forum as online speaker. Based on survey results of ICV/WHU
and working paper from ICV Think Tank, she reported how CFOs and controllers in
German-speaking countries evaluate the current situation of their companies,
what companies can do in different phases of crisis management, which roles controllers
can/should take for crisis management and which major future trends of
controlling are expected by survey participants in German-speaking countries.
Picture 9: Online
presentation of Ms. Claudia Maron via ZOOM in the afternoon hours
Source: Organization team of 2019 Sino-German Controlling Forum
While German/European
companies seem to still focus management attention on crisis management due to
continued instable situation of COVID-19 pandemic there, most companies in the Sino-German
business community seem to have returned to normality thanks to relatively good
management of the pandemic in China. More than 60% of the surveyed Forum
participants have been shifting their attention to other risk factors. On first
place is the impact of increasing geopolitical tensions between the USA and
China on future business. This is one of the interesting findings of the 2020
Controlling Survey which is the annual ad-hoc survey among all Forum
participants. In this year, 62 participants in total took part in this quick online/mobile
survey. The preliminary results collected from the first 52 respondants (until
15:00 of the Forum day) were presented by Dr. Zhen Huang, management consultant
& trainer and moderator of the Forum.
Picture 10:
Dr. Zhen Huang (management consultant and trainer, forum moderator) during the
presentation of the preliminary result of 2020 Controlling Survey in the
afternoon hours
Source:
Organization team of 2019 Sino-German Controlling Forum
As in the
past years, the final session of the Forum was the Panel Discussion in which most
speakers of the Forum took part. The discusson was moderated by Mr. Alexander
Prautsch, Director at Tax Services of China Tax & Business Advisory
Services of PwC. All speakers see digitalization as the major future trend for
finance & controlling. One discussion point was the different business and
controlling environment in China and in German-speaking countries where HQ of
many participants’ company are located in. More two-way communication and
intensified staff exchange with HQ are important for improving multual
understanding and cooperation. And enhanced controlling and risk management
call for better qualified local controllers. In this context, right role perception
and attitude, sound business understanding, and communication skills are equal
or even more important than financial knowledge.
Picture 11: Panle discussion in the afternoon hours of the Forum day
Source: Organization team of 2019 Sino-German Controlling Forum
The 8th
installment of the Sino-German Controlling Forum was jointly organized by Shanghai
De Chen Enterprise Management Consulting Co. Ltd. and German Chamber of
Commerce in China | Shanghai. It was supported by the International Association of Controllers (ICV) and
CA Controller Akademie from Germany as well as by Taicang Round Table
TRT, DUSA European Association Suzhou, Changzhou International
Managers Forum, and Wuxi International Chamber of Commerce. Schaeffler
Greater China sponsored this years event.
More information about 2020 Sino-German Controlling Forum and download links for participants can be found here.