How are we engaging with the marketplace?
| PricewaterhouseCoopers remains in constant dialogue with our clients and the wider business community about the issues affecting them. We invest a great deal of our time and resources in exploring these challenges and opportunities and bringing them to the attention of organisations, regulators, standard-setting bodies and the community as a whole.
Leading the discussion
PwC advocated from the beginning of the economic shift that businesses resist impulses to freeze investments and instead focus on making strategic investments. Throughout this year, we published a wide variety of documents to help investors, analysts and industry executives respond to the rapidly shifting environment.
Shaping policy
In February, PwC’s paper The Day After Tomorrow analysed emerging themes and models as financial services providers struggled to make sense of the credit issues underlying the global financial crisis. The paper proposed that the distinguishing features of the new environment would be an accelerated shift of economic power to Asia; a simpler, more transparent form of banking; increased government involvement; a stricter governance structure based on national and international regulation; and the need for sustainable business models capable of moving financial institutions out of pure survival mode. As the global financial crisis unfolded, we also rolled out our online response, Challenging times call for questions that challenge, which provided clients with a toolkit of webcasts, 10 fundamental priorities to focus on, industry overviews and global thought leadership. This was the same advice we used to guide our own internal practises. In March 2009, PwC teamed with law firm Blake Dawson to propose that distressed debt could be the lifeline the Australian services sector needed to navigate non-performing loans and assets. Our joint guide, Distressed Investing in Australia, was the first of its kind and gathered interviews from a number of major financial players domestically and offshore in a dialogue supporting the development of a robust distressed debt and asset market in Australia. For the first time, Aussie Mine, PwC’s overview of the financial performance of the mid-tier mining sector, analysed half-year financial reports for the period up to 31 December 2008. This provided an early perspective on the impact of the global financial crisis on our mining sector. The PwC Melbourne Institute Asialink Index provided specific insight into Australia’s engagement with Asia across a range of industries and economies. PwC released the seventh annual Australian Entertainment and Media Outlook, which predicted continued growth in the entertainment and media industry through to 2012 despite the global economic instability. The publication provided detailed analysis of the unique social, technological, political and regulatory drivers that would influence consumer spending and advertising across 11 industry segments in the next five years. In May, PwC’s Banking Perspectives gave context and insight into the half-year earnings of Australia’s four major banks. And as the federal budget was released, PwC responded the next morning with a range of expert commentaries putting the numbers into context and accelerating the debate on employee share schemes. Our carbon survey, which we published in June 2009 as Carbon ready… or not, asked executives of 151 Australian businesses what they were doing to prepare for climate change, their views of the impact of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme on earnings and investment decisions. The firm continues to work alongside government and major Australian organisations to enhance the quality and integrity of the country’s business systems.
Creating change
As chairman of the Tax Design Review Panel, PwC's Chief Operating Officer Neil Wilson helped form a series of tax policy recommendations, which were all accepted and reflected in the government’s FY09–10 budget. The increasing complexity of Australia's tax system was further examined in a series of studies using our Total Tax Contribution framework. Partner Tim Cox and the broader firm continue to engage in this debate through submissions and further work on compliance costs commissioned to support the Secretary to the Treasury, Dr Ken Henry, in his review of Australia's tax system. In July, PwC published The Role and Practice of Investor Relations within Australian and New Zealand Listed Entities for the Australasian Investor Relations Association. This survey explored current investor relations practices, preferences and trends. Represented by Partner Nick Ridehalgh, PwC also contributed to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia's new Broad Based Business Reporting framework aimed to stimulate discussion with the marketplace to achieve more consistent reporting of KPIs for industry sectors. PwC’s Assurance National and Markets Leader Richard Deutsch was elected President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia in 2009. He is currently working with leaders across the accounting industry to respond to fluctuating business needs in the wake of the global financial crisis. Other partners who are currently members of industry and standard-setting bodies include: Mark Coughlin, Financial Reporting Council; Victor Clarke, Australian Accounting Standards Board (Partner Kevin Stevenson left PwC to serve as chairman of the board for FY10); and Valerie Clifford, Australian Auditing and Assurance Standards Board. Such representation acknowledges PwC’s ongoing contribution to innovation and adherence to regulation, positioning the firm at the forefront of shaping local and global developments. Improving transparency
Forty-four not-for-profit organisations entered the second annual PwC Transparency Awards, drawing from a broad cross-section of institutions. An increase in overall scores, coupled with a 20 per cent increase in participant numbers, reflects not only the community’s appetite for these awards but the value it places on them. The firm continues to invest time in providing some of Australia’s leading analysts and key business reporters with a deeper understanding of financial reporting. Through facilitating discussions at the Corporate Reporting Users Forums and individual organisations, our teams help dissect technical issues and explain the best approaches to analytical interpretation. Acting responsibly Our firm is committed to monitoring, measuring, reducing and publicly reporting our environmental impact. In FY09, PwC increased use of video conferencing by 150 per cent, reduced paper usage by 24 per cent, began refining our environment management system to be in line with ISO 14001, and provided each PwC employee with access to an online personal carbon footprint calculator. To become carbon neutral, we have made the necessary adjustments to our infrastructure and operations, invested in renewable energy and countered our residual emissions by purchasing accredited offsets. Our achievements in FY09 reduced our emissions before offsetting by 23 per cent. We use the lessons we have learnt internally to assist the wider business community in reducing its carbon footprint. Our Sustainability and Climate Change practice advises a spectrum of clients on their environmental strategy and management approaches. The practice was named the Lead Greenhouse Gas Advisory Group in Australasia by Environmental Finance magazine in FY09. The total value of our Foundation’s capacity-building approach in FY09 was $15 million, meeting the increased demand for support from our charity partners in the community. This work is undertaken either pro bono or at highly discounted rates. It is designed to support long-term social change through improving the ability of our charity partners and others to deliver on their missions efficiently and effectively. |  |
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