Xchanging and Boots sign seven-year £400 million outsourcing contract

Microsoft has appointed Chris Liddell as CFO, replacing John Connors who left the company in January. Liddell most recently served as CFO at International Paper, a Fortune 100 company. Before that, Liddell served as chief executive officer of one of New Zealand's largest companies, Carter Holt Harvey.

Tonio Bogdanski has been appointed CFO of Universal Germany, the German arm of Universal Music International. He joins from VG Media, the collecting society for radio and television stations, where was managing director since 2002. Douglas Shumate has resigned as CFO from US communications company ITC Deltacom for undisclosed reasons. Richard Fish, chief administrative officer since February, has been promoted to replace him. Fish, who was instrumental in the company's debt restructuring last month, was previously CFO of telecommunications provider ICG Communications.

Many large organisations that outsourced information technology and other services are bringing some operations back in-house, according to a new study by Deloitte. The organisations who participated currently spend $50 billion on outsourcing and they have found the outsourcing process is much more complex than initially anticipated. Dissatisfaction with cost savings and reduced flexibility were found to be the primary reasons behind participants' responses.

Stuart Gray has been named treasurer of United Industrial, the US defence systems producer.

In Washington today, top officials of the EU Commission and the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) reached agreement on a roadmap towards equivalence between International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

SG Corporate & Investment Banking (SG CIB) announces the appointment of Philippe de Vulpian as managing director of the Utilities and Chemicals sectors in the M&A team in France. Based in Paris, he will report to Jacques Bitton, head of M&A, France. Philippe, 40 years of age, has spent the majority of his professional career working in M&A. He began his career in 1993 at JP Morgan in Paris in Corporate Finance where he worked in financing and advisory for clients such as Alcatel, Legrand, Lyonnaise des Eaux, Schneider and Thomson.

Siemens Financial Services survey shows finance availability is fuelling technology investment growth in European medium-sized companies Finance availability is boosting technology investment by European medium-sized companies, says the latest output from Siemens Financial Services‚ ongoing research.

Royal Philips Electronics, Merrill Lynch and Hewitt Associates (NYSE:HEW) today announced agreements in principle about the sale of Asset Management and Pension Management activities (part of Philips Pensions Competence Center, PPCC) to Merrill Lynch Investment Managers Limited (MLIM) and Hewitt Associates for Pension Administration (Hewitt), respectively. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed.

ABN Amro has pioneered an FX model that predicts price behaviour in EUR-USD spot rate.

This year's DCM survey received a record number of responses – almost twice as many as last year – from corporates eager to rank the best and worst banks for DCM service.

Dow Chemical has announced that Geoffery Merszei will CFO, succeeding J. Pedro Reinhard later this year.

Worldwide business risks increased sharply over the past three months, according to new research from the Economist Intelligence Unit based on a survey of international risk managers. The findings, which are taken from the Economist Intelligence Unit's new Corporate Risk Barometer, indicate that business risk increased most significantly in the US, the Middle East and Russia in the first quarter of 2005. The findings show firms believe business risks in the US are increasing much more rapidly than in Europe or Japan.

BNP Paribas has appointed Patrick Calinski to its corporate debt capital markets (DCM) team in Paris. Calinski started at the beginning of April reporting to Jérôme Clément-Cottuz, head of DCM for Belgium, France and Luxembourg. He joins from Natexis Banques Populaires where he has worked for 12 years.

Dutch food group Friesland Foods has appointed Andre Boudewijns as chief financial officer of Royal Friesland Foods. He will take up his position on May 1. In this position, Andre Boudewijns will be responsible for the corporate departments finance & accounting, treasury, and information & communication technology.

New research from actuarial consultants Higham Group shows that UK occupational pension schemes will have to pay at least £300 million in order to comply with new tax rules, aimed at simplifying the pensions industry. This staggering figure, which dwarfs all previous estimates, is over twice the £150 million sum the Government hoped to raise this year (also from occupational pension schemes) to fund the Pension Protection Fund (PPF).

Default trends among UK companies suggest that the UK Pension Protection Fund (PPF) could rapidly exhaust its resources in meeting claims from company pension schemes, according to a new study by Standard & Poor's, the ratings agency.

The 'Big Six' of outsourcing –Accenture, ACS, CSC, EDS, HP, and IBM – saw their combined market share fall by well over half (57%) in the first quarter of 2005, according to the latest Quarterly Index from TPI. They have won only 27% of the €11 billion ($14.2 billion) of major contracts (those worth over €40 million) awarded so far this year, compared with 63% in the first quarter of 2004. Non-Big Six firms have secured the majority (64%) of new deals against 45% a year ago.

Stephen M. Cutler, Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement, announced today that he intends to leave the Commission in a month's time. Mr. Cutler, 43, said he plans to return to the private sector. He was named Enforcement Director in October 2001.

As pressure to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley regulations mounts, a new report by AberdeenGroup demonstrates that companies that involve much of the organization in their SOx review process are experiencing lower costs and increased profits. By contrast, companies who limit SOx reviews to a small group of senior management have the worst performance records.

As a result of a realignment of Deutsche Bank's Global Transaction Banking (GTB) arm Werner Steinmueller has been appointed global head of GTB.

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) today issued an amendment to the hedge accounting provisions of IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement.

PricewaterhouseCoopers today underscored the positive impact the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has had on the capital markets and investors confidence. PwC Global CEO Samuel A. DiPiazza, Jr., who participated in the SEC's April 13th Roundtable on Section 404, said: "The Act brought about three important improvements for the capital markets:

UK companies made £8 billion ($15.1 billion) of special contributions to reduce pension deficits during 2004 – an increase of nearly a quarter from 2003.

Impco Technologies CFO and treasurer Nickolai Gerde has resigned to pursue other opportunities.

Misys Banking Systems has announced the launch of a range of new solutions to help both corporates and banks align their back offices with SwiftNet, the cooperative messaging platform.

Research by KPMG shows there has been a significant surge in the number of FTSE100 finance directors who are leaving their jobs – and that 2005 could set a new high in the number of departures. The analysis underlines how finance directors are now under increasing pressure from both their boards and investors – and that there is now a growing shortage of people able to take on the top-level finance positions in the UK's biggest companies.

Canadian biopharmaceutical company QLT has announced that Michael Doty is to step down as CFO with immediate effect, though there was no indication that this was linked to poor performance. CEO Paul Hastings said Doty had implemented a new standard of financial discipline at the company. "He introduced a new budgeting process that has allowed us to better control and manage our business, he put in a highly effective foreign currency exposure risk management strategy, and he has worked diligently to meet the many new requirements of corporate governance, including those of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act," he said.

John van der Welle, FD of Premier Oil today, has quit the company after losing out as the company's choice as CEO. Van der Welle leaves the company after six years after failing to secure the position of CEO, replacing Charles Jamieson who retired earlier this year.

A new survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, the world's largest employee benefits consultancy, shows that employment costs in western European countries are more than four times higher than those in the east. At the extremes, costs in the most expensive countries are over ten times those in the least costly countries.

Werner Steinmueller has been appointed global head of Deutsche Bank's Global Transaction Banking (GTB) business. In his new function, Steinmueller will ensure a strong customer focus, enhanced regional alignment and closer cooperation between the GTB areas, which includes cash management, trade finance and trust & securities services.

Morgan Stanley announces that Dante Roscini will join the firm as a managing director, effective July 1, 2005.

Close Brothers Corporate Finance ("Close Brothers") has today warned that the volume of mergers and acquisitions in the UK in 2005 could be held back because of a reluctance by private equity firms to work with companies that have pension shortfalls. There are also separate concerns that there is a 'knowledge deficit' amongst company bosses of the future role of the new Pensions Regulator.

NAC Aviation Ltd, the sole UK distributor for the Raytheon Aircraft Company, one of America's largest general aviation manufacturers, has chosen to outsource its entire finance function to Vantis Outsource. The partnership with Vantis will allow NAC's directors to free themselves of day-to-day finance issues, such as management accounts, VAT and credit control, in order to stay focused on sales, marketing and business development.

Two very different companies, Time Warner Telecom and The Singing Machine Company, have both this week made internal CFO appointments, promoting members of the finance team who have made significant contributions over recent months. Time Warner Telecom has appointed its treasurer and acting CFO Mark Peters as permanent CFO with immediate effect.

Bank of America has appointed Patrick Baune as Head of European Sales for its Global Foreign Exchange business. Baune is based in London and spearheads the firm's Foreign Exchange (FX) sales initiatives within Europe. He reports jointly to Alain Delelis, head of Global Spot & Emerging Market Trading and overall head of Europe, Middle East & Africa Foreign Exchange, and Robert Gotelli, global head of Foreign Exchange Sales.

Have you refinanced this quarter's maturing bonds early? If so, well done. If not, you may be in trouble. The largest amount of US debt for five years is due to mature this quarter, and spreads are only going to widen.

Hedge fund Aspect Capital has gone live with SimCorp's IT/2 treasury management system, enabling it to increase cash control and flow of management information. The system is in use both to manage cash within fund portfolios and for treasury control in the corporate entity.

Investors and analysts outside the US are not well informed about Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and are concerned about the potential impact of negative disclosures, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of investors and analysts in North America, Europe and Asia who cover US-listed companies.

CFO resignations at Fortune 500 companies went up 21% during 2004 and overall turnover rose 23%, according to a study by Russell Reynolds Associates.

CFO changes are underway in sectors as diverse as mining, communications and consulting.

Figures just released by Dealogic show that DCM volume in the first quarter of this year was 9% lower than in the same period last year.

The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) has recommended that the credit rating agencies should not be regulated by the European Commission for the time being, a view CF espoused in its October 2004 cover story.

New accounting standards requiring pension deficits to be recorded on the balance sheet could result in a £100 billion ($188 billion) hit to UK companies this year, says professional services firm Deloitte. Whether the change will result in a downgrading of companies' share prices will depend on the extent that pension deficits have already been factored in by the markets. Under new accounting standards*, UK companies will record the total deficit for final salary pension schemes in full on the balance sheet. For example, Deloitte actuaries estimate the total pensions deficit of FTSE 100 companies to be around £50 billion at the current time, whereas less than around £10 billion is currently booked in the accounts. Therefore, the FTSE 100 may need to provide for an extra £40 billion. Across all UK companies, the total hit could be as much as £100 billion.

The US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board issued a standard yesterday that could help companies convince investors of the strength of their financial controls, without having to call in the auditors for a full report.

Last year saw an unprecedented number (56) of M&A transactions in Central & Eastern Europe valued over $100 million, totalling $27.8 billion. Out of these "mega" deals, 27 occurred in Russia and represented almost 40% of total estimated transactions in the region.

Siemens Financial Services (SFS) is expanding its financing business into the Chinese market. The company today announced the launch of a proprietary leasing company in China, the Siemens Finance and Leasing Ltd (SFLL). SFLL has been awarded the leasing license by relevant government bodies and is one of the first 100% foreign owned lessors in the financial services sector in China.

Following a roaring performance in terms of new admissions and

Corporate Finance Magazine Archive

The relationship between management and boards of directors at U.S. multinational companies has been changed dramatically through an array of corporate governance initiatives begun in response to corporate scandals, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and other requirements. According to the PricewaterhouseCoopers Management Barometer: