CFO Conference 2023: CFO with Purpose, organized by the CFO Association of Serbia, was successfully held at Hotel Fruške Terme on May 18–19. During the two-day program, over 150 CFOs from companies operating in Serbia, along with consultants, bank representatives, macroeconomists, and officials from the Ministry of Finance and financial institutions, discussed the current role of the CFO and how it will evolve within a company’s strategic vision. Topics also included leveraging ESG and digitalization for successful company transformation, as well as key trends CFOs need to consider to make their business models more resilient and agile.
The first day of the CFO Conference: CFO with Purpose was marked by a highly dynamic speed meeting (click to view the photo gallery from the speed meeting), where participants had the opportunity for quick introductions as well as to hear some of the key messages delivered from the stage.
"If I may start by paraphrasing the title of this conference, I am very glad that so many of us are here, and even more importantly, that we are gathered with a shared purpose. Purpose, it seems, is now more important than ever, and the Association of Chief Financial Officers of Serbia was established almost 10 years ago precisely to highlight the significance of purpose in the role of the CFO," said Milan Bukumirović, predsednik Udruženja finansijskih direktora Srbije na samom otvaranju konferencije.
Verica Najdanović, the Director of the Audit Sector at Deloitte, briefly presented the firm’s traditional survey of CFO sentiments in Central Europe, with a focus on Serbia. The survey showed a mild optimism among CFOs, expecting revenue growth this year, while identifying the main sources of concern as a shrinking domestic market, geopolitical risks, and a shortage of relevant talent. CFOs in Serbia were among the more optimistic regarding improved performance of their companies in 2023 compared to their Central European peers.
At Panel 1 on the Role of the CFO in a Company’s Strategic Vision, the discussion included Michael Haupt (Deloitte London), Andrija Vuković (MK Group), Jane Cestovaliev (4YouPharma), and Branimir Spasic (OTP Bank Serbia), moderated by the President of the Association of Financial Directors of Serbia, Milan Bukumirovic. Some of the key takeaways were: stay focused on the business, avoid the trap of killing ideas because of perceived risks, consider the cost of business opportunities, find ways to finance growth, the CFO is both the most important partner and advisor to the CEO, and the CFO should act as an agent of change and transformation.
Members of the Association presented best practice projects from four companies, skillfully moderated by Saša Mlađenović (Karin Komerc). Dijana Marković (Gamico) provided an informative presentation on the Financial Health Indicators project, highlighting the complexity of assessing a company’s financial health. Miloš Đukanović (Henkel) presented Henkel’s Employee Share Program, offering employees the opportunity to invest in Henkel shares. Petar Medarević (Gomex) detailed Gomex’s loyalty program, which not only provides customer benefits (“cashback points”) but also delivers insights into consumer habits and needs, enabling more efficient business operations. Marko Cilić (Nelt) showcased the Data Management project, aimed at improving data management processes within Nelt
At the very end of the first day, Dejan Ilić, a renowned Serbian scientist, entrepreneur, manager with extensive experience in Germany, and professor at the University of Graz, shared his charismatic perspective on the role of the CFO. He even offered concrete career advice and insights from key moments of his distinguished career, from conversations with Steve Jobs, leading and managing Varta, to his friendship with Angela Merkel. He also emphasized that his personal purpose emerged later in life, but since realizing it, he strives to make up for lost time as much as possible. Dejan’s purpose is his offspring.
At the end of a very intense day, participants relaxed at dinner, enjoying plenty of networking in a great atmosphere.
The second day of the CFO Conference, “CFO with Purpose,” began with a very concrete and useful discussion with the team from the Ministry of Finance, which included State Secretary Slavica Savičić, Assistant Minister for the Fiscal System Dragan Demirović, and Assistant Minister for Digitalization in the field of finance Sonja Talijan, who were very skillfully moderated by Dragan Ranisavljević (Gomex) and Zoran Daljević (Atlantic Grupa). The conversation mainly focused on practical challenges that companies face with the introduction of e-fiscalization and e-invoices, as well as on the Ministry’s plans for the upcoming period.
The program continued with a very important panel on ESG as both a reason and a tool for transforming company operations, featuring a highly engaging discussion that provided practical insights from Serbia’s perspective through the lens of Henkel, presented by Jelena Gavrilović Šarenac, to international practices and an overview of the EU taxonomy with reflections on how this applies in Serbia and where Serbia stands compared to EU markets, presented by Milena Milosavljević, an ESG expert currently working for a major global bank in Frankfurt, to what banks can do to ensure ESG is more than just reporting, including incentives and support banks can provide, presented by Sonja Miladinovski, OTP Bank Serbia. Marko Bikicki, EBRD, brought the perspective of an international financial institution and discussed various tools through which the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development promotes sustainability in business, covering all three ESG aspects – environmental protection, social, and governance components. The panel was very dynamically, professionally, and informatively moderated by Uroš Milosavljević from KPMG.
The program continued with a slightly different panel concept, which in the first part involved discussions at round tables, with a total of six topics and six round tables (M&A, i.e., mergers and acquisitions – moderator Jovana Raković, Mazars, with panelists Miroslav Virijević, Htec, Nenad Duduković, 3D Republika, and M&A expert Dragan Ranisavljević, Gomex; Tax optimization, incentives, compliance – moderator: Milica Stublinčević, Deloitte, with panelists Saša Mlađenović, Karin Komerc, and Radmila Miletić, EmergoSport; Digitalization, data management, cybersecurity – moderator: Aleksandar Nedeljković, Mainstream, with panelists Vesna Škaro Petrić, Data4U, and Aleksandar Mitić, Sky Express; Green energy – moderator: Miloš Đukanović, Henkel, with panelists Ivan Smiljković, ProCredit Bank, Vladimir Popović, Energize, and Srđan Miljanić, Agro plus Sombor; Planning, reporting – trends, practices – moderator: Milan Bukumirović, Uniqum/Swarovski, with panelists Savo Bakmaz, MaxBet, and Marko Cilić, Nelt; Finance function – now and in the future – moderator: Nevena Janković, InMold, with panelists Goran Janković, InMold, and Aleksandar Pavlović, Be-Terna), and after one hour, a representative from each topic presented the results and main conclusions from the stage, as well as reflections from the discussions at each table. It was a very interesting format in which participants at the round tables shared their experiences on predefined topics and exchanged good and bad practices.
The final panel featured a very engaging discussion on macroeconomic trends and the future outlook between Dan Bucsa from Unicredit London and Zoran Petrović from Raiffeisen Bank, moderated by Marko Cilić (Nelt). The discussion covered Serbia’s EU accession prospects, emphasizing that access to the customs union, similar to Turkey, is even more important than full EU membership. Participants also discussed a period of relative calm regarding inflation growth, while advising caution. Real estate prices are not expected to drop significantly, though minor downward adjustments may occur, and interest rates are likely to rise slightly but not excessively. Overall, it offered an insightful view of the near future, also touching on banking and energy crises and their impact on business operations in Serbia.
Mina Janjić, a member of the Board of the Association of Chief Financial Officers of Serbia, closed the CFO Conference 2023: CFO with Purpose. She also announced the Association’s 10-year anniversary next year and expressed her gratitude to everyone in the Program Committee, the executive office, all partners—OTP Bank Serbia, Energize, TPA, Mainstream, Deloitte, NutrinoLab, and Dijamant—and all collaborators who contributed to making the conference possible.
