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Operating control
The IAFEI ITC Chairman Frédéric Doche presented the re-
sults of the fifth research study undertaken by the Perma-
nent Observatory on operating control systems, moderating
a roundtable consisting of the finance managers Cécile Fal-
chier (Sage), Stefano Grassi (Luxottica Group) and Jimmy
Ysmael (Ayala Land). According to the Observatory, cur-
rently 3 companies out of 4, in other words 75% of those in-
terviewed, use benchmarking, while an almost equal per-
centage, 72%, of controllers working in large companies
believe that Big Data is important for their work. In addi-
tion to this, now near one third of companies publish reports
within 5 days of closing them: 31% of companies do so,
clearly up compared to 12% in 2014.
«These are interesting
figures, and they show how the new competitive context
always presents fresh challenges for CFOs, and how this
creates the need for new tools which can offer increasingly
dynamic data analyses in real time,»
argued Cécile Falchier.
Stefano Grassi, on the other hand, emphasised the difference
between producing and analysing data, underlining how a
lot time is spent producing data but little analysing it, when
detailed analysis could help better understand the market.
Just as operating control that could really “link numbers and
processes” would be more effective. Jimmy Ysmael also
dwelt on the importance of analysis and underlined how al-
so in the real estate sector financial data analysis systems
help the work of CFOs.
Ethics in the global market
A transparent vision and a mission inspired by ethical va-
lues can lead to exceptional investment returns. This issue
was addressed by Luis F. Ortiz, Chairman of the IAFEI In-
ternational Committee on Ethics, Brunello Cucinelli (foun-
der and CEO of Brunello Cucinelli), Tomaso Cenci (Part-
ner Gianni, Origoni Grippo&Partners), and Katya Lusova
(Associate Member Services and Advocacy TRACE In-
ternational). Cucinelli’s comments were based around his
own personal experience:
«I have always sought to work for
the dignity of man because work increases the dignity of
man,»
the entrepreneur said, then emphasising that this is a
“magnificent” moment for humanity thanks to the Internet.
«Voltaire said that if you do not want to accept the changes
of your time you will be left with the worst of them. We mu-
st get back to planning again,»
said Cucinelli who then en-
ded by saying that the future lies in returning to a union of
spirit and mind, because humanity cannot be guided just by
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IAFEI Quarterly | Issue 31 | 14