Latest news with #ErnstYoung
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The New Germany Fund, Inc. Announces Results of the Fund's Annual Meeting of Stockholders
NEW YORK, July 18, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The New Germany Fund, Inc. (NYSE: GF) (the "Fund") announced today the results of its Annual Meeting of Stockholders which was initially called to order and adjourned on June 30, 2025 and reconvened on July 18, 2025. Both of the two Class I Directors nominated by the Board of Directors, Ms. Fiona Flannery and Dr. Holger Hatje, were elected to serve for a term of three years and until his or her respective successor is elected and qualifies. The Fund previously announced that, prior to the adjournment of the meeting on June 30, 2025, stockholders ratified the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the independent auditors for the Fund for its 2025 fiscal year. Important Information The Fund is diversified and primarily focuses its investments in Germany, thereby increasing its vulnerability to developments in that country. Investing in foreign securities, particularly of emerging markets, presents certain risks, such as currency fluctuations, political and economic changes, and market risks. Any fund that concentrates in a particular segment of the market or a particular geographical region will generally be more volatile than a fund that invests more broadly. Closed-end funds, unlike open-end funds, are not continuously offered. There is a one-time public offering and once issued, shares of closed-end funds are sold in the open market through a stock exchange. Shares of closed-end funds frequently trade at a discount to net asset value. The price of the fund's shares is determined by a number of factors, several of which are beyond the control of the fund. Therefore, the fund cannot predict whether its shares will trade at, below or above net asset value. War, terrorism, sanctions, economic uncertainty, trade disputes, public health crises and related geopolitical events have led, and, in the future, may lead to significant disruptions in US and world economies and markets, which may lead to increased market volatility and may have significant adverse effects on the funds and their investments. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the laws of such state or jurisdiction. Certain statements contained in this release may be forward-looking in nature. These include all statements relating to plans, expectations, and other statements that are not historical facts and typically use words like "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "intend," and similar expressions. Such statements represent management's current beliefs, based upon information available at the time the statements are made, with regard to the matters addressed. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such statements. Management does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements: (i) the effects of adverse changes in market and economic conditions; (ii) legal and regulatory developments; and (iii) other additional risks and uncertainties, including public health crises, war, terrorism, trade disputes and related geopolitical events. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. NOT FDIC/ NCUA INSURED • MAY LOSE VALUE • NO BANK GUARANTEENOT A DEPOSIT • NOT INSURED BY ANY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY DWS Distributors, Inc.222 South Riverside PlazaChicago, IL Tel (800) 621-1148© 2025 DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA. All rights reserved The brand DWS represents DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA and any of its subsidiaries such as DWS Distributors, Inc. which offers investment products or DWS Investment Management Americas, Inc. and RREEF America L.L.C. which offer advisory services. (R-106756-1) (07/25) View source version on Contacts For additional information: DWS Press Office (212) 454-4500 Shareholder Account Information (800) 294-4366 DWS Closed-End Funds (800) 621-1148 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Xtium's CFO on team-building and tech's competitive energy
This story was originally published on To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily newsletter. Jeanne Walters started college expecting to finish as a nurse but left as an accountant. Frustrated by how long she'd be taking science courses before she could start nurse training, Walters noticed how her accounting major roommate was learning what she needed for her chosen career much sooner. So, Walters added an accounting course to her schedule. She soon had the correct formula for an entirely new career path. Walters' role today as CFO of Xtium, a managed IT services provider, extends her deep experience with technology companies. The Xtium name itself has only been around since March; it's the result of a late 2024 merger between tech firms ATSG and Evolve IP. For her part, Walters has also been the CFO of both a private equity-owned enterprise mobility, telematics and business process automation company and a publicly traded health care technology organization. Before joining Xtium in 2021, Walters was CFO of a private equity-owned behavioral health services provider and briefly owned a healthy-eating franchise. Jeanne Walters CFO, Xtium First CFO position: 2004 Notable previous employers: TrueCore Behavioral Solutions Sage Ernst & Young This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. JEANNE WALTERS: It's about having access to cutting-edge innovation while you're constantly learning. In many cases, we're not just selling the solution to customers, we're also implementing it within our organization. It's exciting to see the value firsthand. I also love being ahead of the curve and seeing the different types of technology available to businesses to improve efficiency and drive growth. I was intrigued when the company recruited me. The organization manages multiple facilities in Tennessee and Florida; residents are primarily adjudicated youth. I became very interested in the position once I met some of the people at the facility where I'd be working. It was a great experience, and I especially enjoyed interacting with the young people, but I eventually missed the energy and competitive drive to do better that comes with a private equity-owned technology company. I needed to get back in there and help businesses and employees grow. This successful California startup offering healthy eating options like smoothies and natural juices wanted to expand to the East Coast, where I am. The concept was a bit before its time for the East Coast, though. In addition, the franchisor expanded before it had the proper franchisee systems and support in place. So, I wasn't involved with it very long. But I learned so much from the experience that translates to where I'm at now. It helped me see what's required to have a successful business. For example, I grew to understand how important it is to know which vendor relationships are core to your success and why you must make sure you've got solid relationships with those organizations. I learned a lot about human resources, too, including why and how you need to build a great team. It's important to communicate, listen and explain why the acquisition or merger integration is occurring. It goes beyond the 'why,' though, to discussing what we have to do to make it successful. When you project a positive attitude and have patience so people understand the why and the how, they're excited about the opportunity for career growth. Still, it's hard, because with system integrations, there are staffing reorganizations and business process re-engineering. It's my job to be the rock and to be confident and honest. My ability to build great teams. It's strategic, and it's hard to do. Assembling the right team is like putting an intricate puzzle together. Once you get that right and have teams that work well together, their effectiveness in finance and their impact on the organization are incredible. They become leaders, drivers of change and information providers. I am a stickler about obtaining a CPA license and working in a public accounting environment. Experience in that discipline helps people understand how businesses run from top to bottom. It also teaches how to go through financial statements at a detailed level, how to analyze and why you need to look for positive and negative trends and drivers. You also get involved in many different industries, see great and horrible companies and witness successes and bankruptcies. It's a wonderful place to start a career. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
6 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Seeking Corporate Tax Insights? Check Out The Expanded Audit Report
Audit business concept. As the onset of the new tax accounting reporting standard approaches, external stakeholders are anticipating getting new insights into corporations' tax planning activities. However, what all external stakeholders may not be aware of is that there is another new rich source of information that may provide fruitful insights. In this article, I discuss recent academic research that sheds light on the informativeness and usefulness of the expanded audit report when tax matters are being discussed. The New Expanded Audit Report In 2019, the PCAOB introduced requirements that external auditors must provide an expanded audit report. In this report, the auditor must report critical audit matters, the auditor's tenure, and other relevant information, according to the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance. The goal of these new requirements was to move beyond the traditional pass/fail and boilerplate style of audit report and transition into a scenario where auditors can provide more value by shedding additional light on their clients. Notably, the critical audit matters (or key audit matters, as referred to in the international community) that auditors disclose offer additional insights into the key risks that their clients face. For example, like Apple's 2019 Annual Report, their auditor, Ernst & Young, disclosed an entire paragraph about the uncertainty Apple is facing over a 12.9 billion euro multinational tax dispute. However, what many US investors and external stakeholders may not realize is that many members of the international business community have already been providing an expanded audit report. Starting in 2016, those countries under the guidance and regulation of the IAASB began providing very similar expanded audit reports. As data has been available longer for non-US companies, researchers have turned to these observations outside of the US to help shed light on the impacts of the expanded audit report. A Look At Tax Key Audit Matters Recent research in the Review of Accounting Studies explores the impacts of the expanded audit report. In a study titled 'The consequences of expanded audit reporting: implications of tax key audit matters for tax attribute valuation and auditor-provided tax services,' researchers examined key audit matters of a sample of 3,063 firm-year observations from 601 unique firms from the London Stock Exchange premium segment over the 2013 to 2019 time period. This article is co-authored by Dan Lynch of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Aaron Mandell of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and Linette Rousseau of the University of Houston. Their study aims to investigate whether key audit matters affect investor or auditor outcomes. In discussing the key motivation for examining their research question, Lynch states, 'Regulators introduced expanded audit reporting to increase the usefulness of the audit report to investors by requiring the auditor to discuss the most challenging issues. However, Prior research generally finds that key audit matters do not influence investor perceptions of audited companies.' Lynch continues to state, 'We believed that examining tax key audit matters, a specific sub-topic related to material financial statement amounts that is important to regulators and investors and where auditors are permitted to provide certain non-audit services might yield more nuanced insights. Specifically, if investors perceive tax key audit matters negatively, then we believe managers would have an incentive to avoid having the auditor disclose these key audit matters and one way to do so would be by purchasing more tax services from their auditor.' The study finds, in fact, that tax key audit matters influence investor and audit outcomes. Mandell specifically highlights, 'We find that tax key audit matters attenuate the positive valuation investors place on the tax avoidance and deferred tax assets of firms. In most cases, investors no longer place a positive valuation on these tax attributes.' Thus, these findings have significant implications for the capital markets. Perhaps, even more striking were the second set of analyses related to auditor-provided tax services. 'The biggest surprise was probably that firms increase their purchases of tax services from auditors to avoid tax key audit matters, which potentially represents a threat to auditor independence,' states Rousseau. She continues, 'We find that firms that receive a tax key audit matter reduce tax services purchased from their auditor by about 32% or $63,000. We find that firms that stop receiving tax key audit matters increase the purchase of tax services from their auditor in the year following this resolution by 104% or about $208,000.' Consequently, there is evidence that clients recognize the value of not having a tax key audit matter, and this notion is seen as a transactional opportunity to work with their external auditor. Lynch concludes, 'It would be interesting to see if these results generalize to the U.S. expanded audit report setting and to other common critical/key audit matters topics.' Thus, even though this research examined an international setting, it is possible that the results may also apply to the US setting. Importantly, as US firms prepare to provide more tax insights through their new tax disclosure requirements under Accounting Standards Update 2023-09, it is essential to remember that numerous other sources may provide fruitful and valuable information, such as the expanded auditor report.
Forbes
14-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Del Monte Bankruptcy A Harbinger As Consumers Flock To Store Brands
Del Monte Bankruptcy A Harbinger As Consumers Flock To Store Brands The store brand juggernaut triggered by pandemic-era inflation and economic uncertainty has passed a tipping point with consumers and may have claimed its first national brand victim. A recent First Insight survey finds that 37% of shoppers now trust the quality of cheaper (and more profitable) private label goods ABOVE national brands. Another 47% consider store brand products to be AS GOOD AS the legacy brand versions. To paraphrase Shakespeare, ketchup by any other name is still ketchup. Retailers have gotten smart; consumers have gotten wise. As we reported here last year, cash-strapped Gen Z-ers have been leading this trend—more than half choose where to shop based on store brands. Many younger shoppers have no problem buying knockoffs of fashion brands. Now the latest survey finds the shift has extended to high-income consumers—61% said they trust store brands over national brands. Ominously, for the traditional consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry is the recent First Insight finding that more than 70% of those surveyed were unable to recognize a private label when comparing side-by-side images of store and national brand products. Shoppers are buying store brands even if they don't realize it. As trust in store brands has increased, national brands have been losing it. According to a recent food and beverage survey by Ernst & Young, more than 40% of respondents believe 'product innovations' by national brands are 'merely disguised cost-reduction measures,' such as shrinking package sizes. Put it all together and it becomes clear that traditional brand awareness is becoming murky, brand loyalty is fading, and brand equity is shrinking. According to the Private Label Manufacturers Association, private label sales rose by nearly 4% last year to a record $271 billion. Although store brand unit sales grew modestly (2%) since 2021, during the same period national brand unit sales fell by almost 7%. National brands—those household names that have dominated grocery shelves for so long—face a daunting challenge, especially when the price spread is as large as it is on many items. How much longer can a box of famous-name cereal retail for $4 when the identical product and package size of store brand is $3? The gap apparently proved to be too much for Del Monte Foods, whose products include venerable brands like College Inn broths and Contadina canned tomatoes. The 138-year-old company filed for bankruptcy last week citing declining demand. The private label insurgency extends far beyond groceries and other consumables. Amazon was early and aggressive with its extensive line of essentials under the Amazon Basics brands. Walmart has apparel brands like George (men's shoes and clothing), and Athletic Works (activewear for men, women, and children). The latest wrinkle in this developing conflict is the allegation by Lululemon that Costco is poaching off its reputation and intellectual property with a knockoff line sold under its Kirkland private label. According to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal, 'some Lululemon shoppers say that they now want bargains, not brand names.' If there is a limit to the store brand movement, we are unlikely to reach it anytime soon. In fact, the retail industry's leaders are rewriting the rules of engagement. Large global chains have become much more aggressive about controlling the supply side. For example, Walmart purchased Vizio, a maker of flat-screen televisions (a commodity product in every discount department store); and Home Depot recently purchased SRS Distribution, a building products distributor. This all leads to a need for companies of all types (Retailers, Brands, Manufacturer's, Auto, Tech, etc) to understand what consumers are willing to do to switch, their optimal costs and how they feel about private brands versus branded. Super exciting times for some.
Zawya
10-07-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Financial Services Firms Operating in Bahrain enjoy up to 48% cost advantage
Bahrain's financial services sector is 85% more cost-effective in business and licensing fees than the GCC average Manama - Kingdom of Bahrain: Bahrain has been ranked as the most cost-competitive location to operate a financial services firm with a tech hub within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, with a 48% cost advantage, in the 'Cost of Doing Business in the GCC' financial services sector report published by Ernst & Young LLP's United States office. In view of the growing importance of technology and innovation in developing the financial services industry in the GCC region, the in-depth study analysed key data, factoring in direct and indirect annual costs associated with yearly operating costs. The categories benchmarked included office space, talent acquisition, business set up fees, taxes, as well as visa, work authorisation and residency costs comparing locations in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Commenting on the findings, Ali Al Mudaifa, Chief of Business Development at the Bahrain Economic Development Board (Bahrain EDB), said, 'In today's digital economy, establishing robust tech hubs is essential for financial services firms to innovate, compete, and stay ahead. Bahrain is positioning itself as a regional leader in this space, offering a supportive environment that combines cost-efficiency, cutting-edge infrastructure, and a forward-looking regulatory framework. The country's financial services sector not only provides cost advantages but also creates opportunities for sustainable growth and technological leadership in the GCC. Our goal is to empower global financial institutions to leverage Bahrain's unique advantages and highly skilled talent to drive technological advancement across the region.' The island nation of Bahrain is fast becoming a regional hub for financial services firms looking to set up global operations, providing significant savings in various operational areas. According to the EY report, annual labor costs for a financial services tech hub in Bahrain are up to 24% more competitive than the GCC. Additionally, businesses can save 85% on annual business and licensing fees and enjoy 60% better value for office space rental. Financial services in Bahrain are regulated by a single regulator, the Central Bank of Bahrain, that provides a simplified, streamlined process where the country's category-based licensing procedure for financial services firms allows companies the flexibility to engage in various activities. Andrew Phillips, Partner/Principal & Co-leader of Quantitative Economics & Statistics (QUEST) at Ernst & Young said, 'Tech hubs are the heartbeat of modern financial services, enabling firms to develop innovative solutions, attract top talent, and expand their digital capabilities. Bahrain's competitive costs provide an advantageous business climate for financial services innovation. Bahrain's cost advantages relative to other GCC locations allow financial services tech hubs to direct their financial resources toward innovation rather than basic operating expenses.' Bahrain's reputation as a regional hub for financial technology, tech talent, and innovation is exemplified by the Kingdom's performance in international rankings and the presence of several global financial institutions that have established or expanded their operations in the country. According to the World Competitiveness Ranking by IMD, Bahrain ranked 4th globally for skilled labour and 6th globally for digital and technological skills. Notable firms that have selected Bahrain for its tech talent include Citi's Global Tech Hub, which pledged to employ 1,000 Bahraini coders, and J.P. Morgan's Global Technology Centre, expected to create 200 high-quality job opportunities for the local workforce. In the financial services sector, talent is a major cost factor, in the EY case study of financial services tech hub, the most common occupations are highly skilled data analysts as well as software and web developers, who collectively represent over half of the total talent employed. About Bahrain Economic Development Board (Bahrain EDB) Bahrain Economic Development Board (Bahrain EDB) is an investment promotion agency with overall responsibility for attracting investment into the Kingdom and supporting initiatives that enhance the investment climate. Bahrain EDB works with the government and both current and prospective investors to ensure that Bahrain's investment climate is attractive, to communicate the key strengths, and to identify where opportunities exist for further economic growth through investment. Bahrain EDB focuses on several economic sectors that capitalise on Bahrain's competitive advantages and provide significant investment opportunities. These sectors include financial services, manufacturing, logistics, ICT and tourism
