Ernst & Young Monthly News October 2007
Media
(Media release, HTML English, German, French)
Zurich, September 11, 2007. The finalists for the tenth Entrepreneur Of The Year® competition have been decided. From a total of 45 nominated
companies, 15 entrepreneurs will have the chance in this anniversary year to be named Entrepreneur Of The Year 2007.
(PDF German, 156 kB)
Source: HandelsZeitung No. 37, September 12–18, 2007
Author: Peter Athanas, Ernst & Young
COMPLIANCE: The rules on supervision and controls within companies have become more rigorous. However, this has also caused the growth of a compliance
culture, which has a limited effect on improving confidence in a company’s success. How can a board of directors win back public trust?
(PDF German, 130 kB)
Source: Schweizer Versicherung, Pensions Guide | 2007
Authors: Bruno Christen, Bernhard Locher, Ernst & Young
The post-2000 losses on the stock markets have highlighted weaknesses in risk management for occupational pensions. Confidence was shaken by a few
one-off events, causing people to question whether the sector was able to cope with the challenges it faced. Trust has been restored by introducing
standards for finance and risk management.
(PDF German, 173 kB)
Source: Zeitschrift für europäische und internationale Steuer- und Wirtschaftsberatung (IStR) 15/2007
Authors: Titus Freiherr von dem Bongart, Alexander Prautzsch, Ernst & Young (German Tax Desk)
When China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December 2001, it undertook to give "Foreign Invested Enterprises” equal status with “Domestic
Invested Enterprises”. From a tax point of view, this spelt the end of China’s divided corporate tax system that had provided a different (and more
advantageous) tax for foreign-invested enterprises than for domestic companies. After many years of discussions and numerous announcements and delays,
the 10th National People’s Congress finally approved the new corporate tax act for the People’s Republic of China on March 16, 2007. The
new act was announced on the same day and will come into force on January 1, 2008. Is this the first step towards a new era in taxation in China?
(PDF German, 340 kB)
Source: Der Schweizer Treuhänder, 8|2007
Authors: Daniel Kauer, Ernst & Young; Max Boemle, Ronny Meyer
The draft revision of accounting legislation issued in December 2005 introduced a new phase in the debate about the objectives and structure of accounting
standards. Even the special provisions relating to limited companies only give minimum requirements, and allow company managers considerable freedom to
increase transparency. How were these provisions used in the 2005 annual reports of over-the-counter companies?
(PDF English, 318 kB)
Source: Der Schweizer Treuhänder, 2007|9
Authors: Salim Damji, Ulrike Wolff, Ernst & Young
This article focuses on the new transfer pricing regulations embedded in the revised Foreign Tax Act and other transfer pricing-relevant amendments
contained in the 2008 Business Tax Reform Act as well as their impacts on foreign investors.
(PDF French, 413 kB)
Source: L'expert comptable 2007|9
Authors: Pierre-Alain Cardinaux, Sandrine Labert, Laurence Warpelin, Ernst & Young
To tackle the issues faced by public administrations with regard to IPSAS standards, the department of the Swiss Fiduciary Chamber that deals with
French-speaking Switzerland, in collaboration with Ernst & Young and Dr. Andreas Bergmann of the “Institut für Verwaltungs-Management” and member of
the IPSASB, set up an IPSAS training and exchange program which took place over two days in May and June 2007 in Lausanne. The sheer number of
participants demonstrated how much interest there is in these standards. A new general review is called for.
(PDF German, 93 kB)
Source: SEES/Revue Economique et Sociale, No. 3, September 2007
Author: Philip Robinson, Ernst & Young
VAT-related localization of services is designed to specify the state in which a service is subject to value-added tax (VAT). Therefore if, according to
the Swiss VAT Act, a (taxable) service is located in Switzerland, this service is then also generally taxable in Switzerland; if the service is
located abroad, it is generally not subject to Swiss VAT.