Corona and the consequences: Tools and tips for now and later

 

The corona pandemic and the associated requirements and restrictions have far-reaching consequences. This includes liquidity bottlenecks, incomplete supply chains, short-time work and, for example, home office. At this point we collect tips and tricks, tools and ideas for all current and upcoming tasks - without guarantee and without claim to completeness. The collection is constantly expanding. We are also looking forward to your contributions and feedback. Tell us about your experience, what helps you and what you advise against. You can either contact us directly via web{bei}icv-controlling.com or post your contribution in our ICV ControllingBlog as a comment for relevant reports.

 

FURTHER HELPFUL INFORMATION


Controllers' time to shine

The ICV Board of Trustees Prof. Dr. Utz Schäffer and Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jürgen Weber wrote a call to the controllers. The crisis demands the central skills of the profession:

  • Reporting the effects of the crisis on profit and cash flow in a timely manner and showing implications – (particularly) critical trends.
  • Ensuring sufficient liquidity through effective cash management.
  • Recognizing potential savings and identifing the investments that can most easily be put on the back burner
  • Ensuring the focus on the essentials!

The detailed report will also be available in Controller Magazine 3/2020. We can already offer you it to download (English).

Download „Controllers’ time to shine”


"Communication has priority"

Georg Bach, Managing Director Central Europe at the ICV corporate member The Hackett Group, reports in an interview with the ICV about the challenges and consequences of the corona pandemic for Finance organization, measures and important accompanying business areas.

Read more in the interview in the ICV ControllingBlog

What to do now in the crisis

Our ICV Corporate member The Hackett Group summarized what companies need to do NOW in the face of the corona crisis (English):

  1. Protect your employees and keep them informed and engaged.
  2. Defend your financials.
  3. Safeguard your supply chain.
  4. Preserve your cash.
  5. Fortify your infrastructure.

Download the document "Five Essential Actions to take now"

Our corporate members

How do you become a corporate member and what do you get from it?



Drawer plans for crisis management

Prof. Dr. Ronald Gleich, Head of the ICV Think Tank, on crisis detection and management as well as the meaningful exchange between companies and with consultants in difficult times. You can read this and more in the special supplement "Controlling" from "Die Wirtschaftszeitung", Regensburg, which should also have been issued to the participants of the ICV Congress of Controllers planned for the end of April 2020.

Download the Supplement (PDF - German)

The next shock is sure to come

The Chairman of the ICV Board of Trustees, Prof. Dr. Utz Schäffer, with co-author Prof. Dr. Barbara E. Weißenberger discusses in the July 13, 2020 FAZ article on the consequences of the corona crisis and finally gives clear recommendations for action:

"Companies that want to face the challenge of systemic crises must continue the efforts to increase agility made in recent years. The resulting flexibility of the organization comes with the necessary flexibility in the minds of the agents and a sufficient degree of organizational slack together, they are better equipped for the next systemic crisis. At the same time, we see how the corona crisis is giving an unprecedented boost to digitizing workflows, internal communication processes and business models. The digitization initiatives established in many places are not becoming obsolete due to the crisis, but are more important than ever. Accordingly, as soon as survival is secured and the current crisis is overcome, we must take this boost with us and drive the transformation towards agility and digitization even more consistently than before. If the crisis resilience is to be increased, the associated efficiency gains should not be booked as a full profit, but should at least partially be invested in the resilience of the company. Those who want to be better prepared for future systemic crises will have to readjust the balance between short-term efficiency and investment in flexibility and transformation."

Read the whole article (German) with more information about the autors here  

Quarterly of the ICV Think Tank

Think Tank of the ICV. The thought leaders regularly publish the quarterly on key topics, most recently on "Controlling in times of crisis". It is also free for non-members. You can download it directly below. But we also invite you to take a look at the website of the Think Tank. There you can find other important materials.

To the Think Tank

Quarterly 2020

Companies that have fended off crises report here. It is also about crisis management and how to prepare for a crisis (interview).

Download

Quarterly 2019

How controlling and management work together in a crisis, what can you learn from crises and how to deal with crisis.

Download


Corona is changing the priorities of CFOs

How are the focuses of work shifting due to the corona crisis and what is particularly bothering the CFOs - you can read in the results report of the FINANCE CFO Panel. Between March 9 and 25, 2020, finance chiefs in Germany were interviewed in cooperation with Horváth & Partners. The FINANCE editorial team evaluated the answers of more than 80 CFOs in Germany for the report.

More about it in the ICV Controlling-Blog

Besides: As part of the annual fee as an ICV member you (German-speaking members) receive 6 issues of the Controller Magazin and also 6 issues of FINANCE. Non-German speaking members pay the reduced fee.

A sign of solidarity and compassion

"You will resist!" - Under this motto (Spanish: Resistiras) the members of the International Work Group, also on behalf of the entire ICV, are showing their solidarity with the Spanish public transport company TUGSsal in view of the country hard hit by corona. The company was supported last year with the valuable expertise of the group members in the area of controlling.
A nice sign of community in difficult times. Do you want to participate? Send us your selfie and we will upload it to the ICV Instagram Page.

Thank you and stay healthy!
The ICV on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/icvcontrollerverein/

"Our International Work Group, all ICV members, stand at the side of our colleagues and friends at the TUSGSAL company in Badalona, Spain, as well as throughout Spain, Italy and all regions of the world affected by the corona pandemic. 

@tusgsal_#resistirás #wewillresist"


Music connects - also in difficult times

Finally, a little encouragement combined with the plea for solidarity and cohesion: here you can see and hear the "home office version" of Beethoven's ninth symphony, the European anthem - courtesy of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.



WEBINARS, SEMINARS, PODCASTS

On our Event page you can always see the latest ICV event offer, including a large number of free online seminars and webinars as part of the "ICV members for ICV members" campaign. Not all of them are exclusively reserved for ICV members. Non-members are also invited to benefit from the know-how of the existing members and ask questions and express concerns about their first look into the community of the ICV.

However, we would of course be very happy if you decide to become a member of the ICV afterwards, and would be actively involved in the international ICV network in line with our motto "Come together. Work together. Grow together!".

By the way: You can find some overview of the work and offer of the ICV in our website area "The Association" - like our Image brochure and our Lifecycle Poster, which you can download here. We would be happy if you could forward them, distribute, poster to the office wall or even pin on the company information board!

Thank you for your interest and support!


MAIN TOPIC WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT


The guideline

The ICV guideline deals with the sustainable optimization of inventories, receivables and liabilities. You can find detailed information on the website of the ICV Working Capital Management expert work group.

The ICV expert work group

Headed by Dr. Hendrik Vater, CFO DHL Supply Chain, the ICV expert work group Working Capital Management has worked since 2010. Especially in times of crisis, the Working Capital Management is considered a recipe for success according to the motto "Need cash? Look inside your company!". The group of scientists, consultants and practitioners is concerned with how companies master this challenge.

To the expert work group


MAIN TOPIC LIQUIDITY PLANNING


Liquidity planning and simulation with Excel

A helpful Excel template from our partner CA controller akademie supports you in profit and liquidity planning and the fast simulation of your measures. You can find other e-learning offers for your personal further education here.

Free license for cash management

Our corporate member Corporate Planning provides i.a. in cooperation with our partner CA controller akademie, a free license for professional cash management is available under the motto "Solidarity in medium-sized companies".

To the free package


MAIN TOPIC ONLINE CONFERENCES / HOME OFFICE


7 tips for video conferencing and online meetings

 

Dietmar Pascher, partner of the CA controller akademie, consultant, trainer and keynote speaker, gives tips on what to look out for when attending web meetings (English).
More about Dietmar Pascher

 



Tools for audio and video conferences / web events (selection, constantly being expanded / updated)


GoToMeeting

Often used for webinars due to the fact that the speaker can share their screen with the visitors (desktop sharing), but also for online meetings and video conferences.

Features:

  • Desktop and mobile options
  • Split screen
  • Chat
  • Personal meeting room
  • Video conferencing in HD quality
  • Record meetings
  • Participate in meetings without codes and PINs ("Call me")
  • VoIP possible
  • Free dial-in possible (OpenVoice)
  • Drawing tools
  • Transfer control to any participant
  • Virtual whiteboard
  • Up to 150 participants in the Professional-Abo
  • Up to 250 participants in the Business-Abo
  • Up to 3,000 participants possible in the Enterprise Solution

Software package to be installed. Necessary after installation: headset, webcam, stable Internet connection.


Zoom

 

Zoom is a video communication platform that enables meetings, webinars, conference rooms, phone calls and chats as video and audio conferences.

Features: 

  • Split screen
  • Take notes together
  • Record meetings
  • Create surveys
  • Use virtual hand signals
  • Up to 1,000 video participants
  • Up to 10,000 viewers
  • You must install the application on desktop or smartphone
  • Headset
  • Webcam

    Server is in the United States. The University of Kassel, among others, advises therefore against the use of ZOOM with the indication that important areas of the General Data Protection Regulation are not met. You can read the articles in detail here: "Zoom and data protection (University of Kassel, March 23, 2020)"

    https://zoom.us/docs/de-de/covid19.html

    Zoom offers here a special in the area "Support during the COVID-19 pandemic". Readers can get information and participate / view / read

    • Daily live demos
    • Webinars
    • Video tutorials
    • On-demand training sessions
    • Blog posts
    • Tips for effective mobile working
    • Teach via zoom
    • Virtual events
    • Telehealth

    MS Teams

    A Microsoft platform that is integrated in the Office 365 suite. Chats, meetings and conferences can be combined here. The classroom mode makes also distributing tasks or documents to participants possible.

    Formats:

    • Multi-session conferences
    • Lecture mode
    • Workshop mode
    • Meeting mode
    • Working in and coordinating project groups
    • BarCamp

    Features: 

    • Planning aid
    • Notes
    • Desktop sharing
    • Recordig
    • Notes
    • Share system audio (share sounds)
    • Scheduling
    • Working time management

     

    Team meetings of 10 to 10,000 internal or external participants in audio, video or web conferences as well as live events.

     

     

    In order to use Microsoft Teams, you must subscribe the Microsoft Office 365. However, an external guest access is possible. Otherwise: headset and webcam are required for conversations with image transmission.

     

    Microsoft, as an American company with servers in the United States, knows the security concerns of many Europeans regarding data protection - and is therefore now offering corporate customers data storage in Germany.

    Wer an einer Sitzung mit MS Teams teilnehmen möchte und mit Apple bzw. dem Browser Safari arbeitet, muss für die Zeit der Sitzung eine Änderung in den Datenschutzeinstellungen des Browsers ändern, sonst wird der Zugang nicht ermöglicht. MS Office empfiehlt dazu auf seiner Support-Seite folgendes Vorgehen

    Interesting facts about the ICV (overview)

    ABOUT CONTROLLING

    CONTROLLING KNOW-HOW > Search for articles according to controlling categories

    EVENTS > Our ICV Autumn Conferences

    ARBEITSKREISE >Take part!

    THE ICV

    RECHTLICHES


    Als Arbeitnehmer durch die Corona-Krise

    Die Vereinigte Lohnsteuerhilfe e.V. hat eine Übersicht erstellt, welche Folgen die Corona-Krise steuerlich für Arbeitnehmer hat. Hier finden Sie Details zu den Themen

    • Krankengeld
    • Kurzarbeit
    • Home-Office
    • Kinderbetreuung
    • Steuererklärung

    Zur Zusammenfassung der Vereinigten Lohnsteuerhilfe e.V.

    Über die steuerliche Absetzbarkeit des Home-Office gibt unter anderem Focus Money zusammenfassend Informationen.

    Gesetze und Hinweise der Bundesministerien

    Überblick über aktuelle Gesetzesänderungen (BGBl I 14 vom 27.3.2020) 

    Hinweise des Bundeswirtschaftsministeriums - allgemeine Hinweise

    Hinweise des Bundesfinanzministeriums - allgemeine Hinweise
     
    Maßnahmenpaket der Bundesregierung - Die wirtschaftliche Existenz in der Corona Krise sichern

    Maßnahmenpaket BMJV - Soforthilfe für Kleinstunternehmen und Soloselbständige

    Maßnahmenpaket des Bundeswirtschaftsministeriums - Auswirkungen für Unternehmen
     
    Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales

    Arbeitsagentur

    Bundesvereinigung der Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände (BDA)
     (Seite temporär nicht erreichbar)

    Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW)

    Übersicht der Unterstützungsmaßnahmen und Liquiditätshilfen der Bundesländer
     
    Schreiben des BMJV zur Aussetzung der Insolvenzantragspflicht

    Schreiben des Bundesamtes für IT-Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik Homeoffice

    PwC - rechtliche Leitlinien
     mit Hinweisen u.a. zur Geschäftsleitung in der Krise (krisenspezifische Pflichten, Haftungsrisiken, Aussetzung der Insolvenzantragspflicht, Pflichten im und Beeinträchtigungen des Tagesgeschäfts), Hauptversammlungen, Gesellschafterbeschlüsse, Engpässe bei Lieferketten, Force Majeure Klausel

    Schreiben des Bundesfinanzministeriums Steu­er­li­che Maß­nah­men zur Be­rück­sich­ti­gung der Aus­wir­kun­gen des Co­ro­na­vi­rus (CO­VID-19/SARS-CoV-2) BMF-Schreiben zum Coronavirus

    Fachliche Hinweise des IdW

    Aktuelle Übersicht des IdW zu Auswirkungen auf Rechnungslegung und Prüfung 
     
    IDW FAUB - Auswirkungen der Ausbreitung des Coronavirus auf Unternehmensbewertungen