Insights

We work with organisations around the world and know what challenges and opportunities you face. We have written a range of articles to share our insight on how to successfully navigate the competitive and shifting business environment. The latest insight can be found below.

Carve-outs in the automotive industry

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The automotive industry is constantly changing, facing external challenges posed around new technologies and business models. Carve-outs are under the spotlight to help companies mitigate these risks and offer strategic opportunities. Forvis Mazars experts around the world provide insights about carve-outs, from a range of different strategic perspectives.

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Smarter, better, faster: RPA at work

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As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, all sectors are under pressure to gain efficiency, increase innovation and find new ways of working. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is in the spotlight to help companies achieve just that. In Smarter, better, faster: RPA at work, our experts look at seven key sectors affected by the pandemic to provide real examples of how RPA can be used in each sector, the benefits of implementing it and how to embrace RPA and get it right.

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How to ensure business continuity during and beyond Covid-19

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04/06/2020 Owners and managers of privately owned businesses are no strangers to overcoming challenges, but Covid-19 has created unprecedented issues that even the most experienced leaders are unsure how to handle. One of the most frequently asked questions in recent weeks has been, “What happens if I am suddenly unable to manage the business for a period of time? And how can I ensure business continuity during my absence?

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Auditing company culture

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The topic of culture has attracted a lot of interest in the media and in public discourse in recent times. The financial and regulatory problems to which Europe has been exposed, have firmly placed the issue of culture on the board room table. The extent to which an organisation’s culture supports the execution of its strategy, the management of risk and the treatment of its customers are increasingly under the spotlight, and weaknesses in culture are now frequently blamed for failings in these areas.

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Sapin II - A step forward in regulation?

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Sapin II is a law that both executives and operational management are concerned about, due to the obligations it imposes on organisations – even overseas companies doing business in France. But is this law – in addition to its constrictive nature – something of a step backwards in terms of the horizontal way of working that our current economic system requires? Is this an approach that encourages a form of top-down company governance?

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The European Directive on Security of Network and Information Systems (NIS Directive)

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Coming into force on 9 November 2018, the directive on security of network and information systems (NIS Directive) signaled a first step in the European Union to implement legal measures to enhance cyber security across the EU and to protect the digital economy and society against the increasingly negative effects of cyberattacks and other cyber incidents. The purpose of the directive is also to promote the cooperation between the Member States in managing the risks related to the increasing digitalization.

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IORP II and the top 10 considerations

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IORP II is the name given to EU Directive 2016/2341. This directive is aimed at the activities and supervision of institutions for occupational retirement provisions (IORPs). It prescribes new requirements on, among others, the provision of information on pension benefit statements, the introduction of ‘key functions’, and the performance and documentation of risk management activities, while considering Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors. The directive applies to all IORPs based in the EU and came into force on 13 January 2019. With regards to the approaching date of Brexit, UK IORPs must comply with the requirements set out in this directive until the UK exits the EU. The UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed that it will honour this obligation.

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Walking the tightrope

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Anthony Carey speaks about the Board’s role in balancing competing goals and priorities.

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Automation and Digitisation: The Future of Outsourcing

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The use of shared services centres (SSCs) has grown over the decades – the model, however, is on the brink of radical change.

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Cambridge Analytica case: last wakeup call before GDPR

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The exploitation of 50 million Facebook profiles, by Cambridge Analytica, shows the need to strengthen the protection of personal data. In this sense, the upcoming application of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is welcome.

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Cybersecurity is an increasingly important role for internal audit

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The results are in for a new survey jointly conducted by Compliance Week and Mazars USA LLP which explores the role of the board, audit committee, and internal audit in providing cybersecurity oversight functions.

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Automating the finance function

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In less than five years, taxis have been ‘uberised’. Now, robot taxis are currently being tested in Japan. New technologies are contributing to the emergence of new entrants to the market. This is true in our day-to-day life, and it can be seen in the world of business, which is undergoing a slow and steady, major (r)evolution.

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Robots and machine learning applied to finance

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Robots have become part of our daily lives. We interact with them every day and give them our most personal data. But robots are not all the same and they don’t all raise the same issues. Just ten years ago, robots were used for ‘4Ds’ work, i.e. work that was dangerous, dull, dirty and dumb. With the advances made in artificial intelligence, robotics must address four new needs, the ‘4Es’: everyday, e-health, educational, entertainment.

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GDPR and e-Privacy: A Major Challenge for Media Companies

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Deeply involved in the Media industry and determined to provide Industry Executives with a better overview of the trends and challenges impacting the sector, Mazars publishes a yearly media barometer analyzing the financial performance and the risk factors disclosed on the annual reports of the 100 largest publicly-listed media companies in North America and Europe.

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