Only a few days after professional services firm KPMG announced a ground-breaking partnership with CFO South Africa, one of the architects of that collaboration got a new job – as a CFO! From 1 February 2015 KPMG Africa COO Anthony Thunström will replace the retiring Ronnie Stein as CFO of JSE-listed clothing retailer, Foschini. We wish Anthony all the best and hope to meet him again at our events, this time with his CFO hat on.
To fully appreciated the collaboration Anthony helped to establish between CFO South Africa and KPMG, head over to the official ANNOUNCEMENT.
Thunström is a CA who has served as a board member of KPMG South Africa and Chairman of the Audit Committee. He will play a pivotal part in the expansion drive of Foschini into the rest of the continent, something he is perfectly equipped for thanks to his Africa-role at KPMG. A CFO with benefits, you could say.
Another CFO who has been a firm supporter of CFO South Africa, has been in the news for less joyous reasons. Listed cement-maker PPC's CEO Ketso Gordhan was suspended after he tried to fire Ramano, who was nominated for the 2014 CFO Awards. While Gordhan blames Ramano for ruining a funding deal, the PPC board says he had pettier reasons for his gripe with her - one of them being that the CFO had larger benefits, namely a bigger office
In 2012 we asked Ramano 12 questions. Do you want to find out what she answered?
Meanwhile the rating agencies are still at it. Moody's Investors Service lowered South Africa's credit rating and Fitch Ratings will possibly cut the rating next month to just above junk, analysts predict. Moody's said rising debt and slowing growth in South Africa were the reason to slot the country into the second-lowest investment grade. Earlier, I argued that South Africa would do well to heed the warnings of the rating agencies.
Oh, and speaking about CFOs with benefits Former Ford CFO and Jaguar Land Rover CEO David Smith has been appointed as CFO and a director of Rolls-Royce. A matter of taste?
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