PHILIPSBURG:--- Last week PwC St. Maarten (PwC) and VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne organised a follow-up seminar of the "Boardroom Essentials" event that took place in June this year. The feedback and requests received at that time encouraged the organisations to continue with sessions covering similar (sub)topics. This sequel was subtitled "Are you in control", which indicated the objective of the afternoon: support board members and regulators to meet the challenges of their critical roles nowadays.
Four speakers updated the 40 participants about corporate governance, risk management and liability. Among others the health, transportation & logistics, education and legal sectors of St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius were represented in the audience.
Frank Kunneman, senior partner at VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne and Professor of Corporate Governance at the University of Curacao, discussed the sense and non-sense of the Corporate Governance Code. His key message was that St. Maarten should honor the differences between smaller and larger public legal entities, with regard to the Code. Herbert Beldman, director of business & accounting services at PwC, stressed the importance of putting risk management on the board's agenda. He related this directly to improvement of organisational performance and governance. Kamla Besançon, partner at VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne, summarized summarized the tasks and the (potential) liability issues supervisors and directors may have to deal with it. She indicated that the continuity of the company should be the main interest of board members, while in practice this is often not the case. Paul van Vliet, director tax and head of the St. Maarten office of PwC, pointed out that fiscal risks are often underestimated. He used tangible examples to indicate how certain business decisions might lead to profound fiscal risks.
The seminar ended with an animated Q&A and discussion session, indicating the relevance of this subject by the many valid questions that were asked. PwC and VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne both indicated they will follow up on this positive feedback and interest of the audience.
PwC Press Release