Business and Industry Links
International Accounting
In March 2013, a training course on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for Barum Continental staff took place. The training was aimed at differences in access to and reporting under international and Czech accounting standards. The lectures were given by Ing. Karel Šteker, Ph.D.
Round table “Revitalization of Business and Crisis Management”
The second round table organized within the project “FINPORT”, which is co-funded by the European Social Fund and the state budget of the Czech Republic, took place on 26 May 2011 in the premises of the Faculty of Management and Economics of TBU in Zlín. The core topic of the four-hour debate involved objectives of revitalization, its instruments and stages, fundamental changes in financial management priorities during the crisis and the following revitalization, recommendations for internal and external communication and business relationship management, the role and characteristics of crisis manager, preparation of future crisis managers, recommendations for universities and higher education institutions. The debate was moderated by Chairman and co-owner of M.L. Moran, Mgr. Václav Novák, MBA, who has devoted almost all his professional career exclusively to crisis management. He has worked on more than 20 projects, of which the most important are restructuring of the Expandia group, including e-bank, financial and operational restructuring of Vítkovice Holding Company, emergency funding of Setuza, preparing a rescue plan for CSA, including negotiations of an unprecedented reduction in wages of employees, etc. Participants in the debate were again both academics and Doctoral students, led by FaME Dean, prof. Dr. Ing. Drahomíra Pavelková, and practice representatives, who have their own knowledge and experience in managing businesses in times of crisis. For instance, the following experts sat at one table: Ing. Libor Láznička, the executive at Barum Continental; Ing. Jiří Rosenfeld, CSc., CEO and Chairman of the Board of Slovácké Strojírny, a.s.; Ing. Jaroslav Šuranský, CSc., MBA, the production manager at SPUR; Ing. Dana Barnášová, Chairperson of the Board of Tomas Bata Regional Hospital in Zlín; Ing. Rostislav Kolařík, Ph.D., Head of Finance Department at TOMA; Ing. Čestmír Vančura, Strategy Development Director at VIVA; Ing. Vlastimil Jordán, the executive at FAVEX; Ing. Jaroslav Toufar, Director of Plastics Cluster, etc.
International Accounting Standards
From January to June 2011, a project aimed at training Hamé company employees was carried out involving a number of trainings according to the company requirements. The training topics encompassed International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), financial statements and their analysis, and reporting for banks. The lectures were given by Ing. Kateřina Struhařová and Ing. Karel Šteker, Ph.D.
Lectures by professional experts
During the summer semester of 2010/2011, students of the Bachelor’s degree course Accounting and Taxes had an opportunity to attend lectures delivered by several experts from practice. Among them was Ing. Roman Janoušek, the expert on VAT from Tax Office; Ing. Martin Václavík, Business Manager at Cigler Software, Inc.; Ing. Hana Papáčková, the product specialist in accounting and audit software; Ing. Jolana Jakoubková, Marketing Manager at MBM Trans; Ing. Radek Lančík, the tax advisor. All the lectures were part of the project “Education in Fields of Accounting and Taxes”, which is co-financed by the European Social Fund and the state budget of the Czech Republic.
Round table “The Post of Financial Manager, His Duties and Responsibilities”
On 14 April 2011, a round table debate on the topic of company’s financial management and the characteristics of financial manager was held within the project “FINPORT”, which is co-financed by the European Social Fund and the state budget of the Czech Republic, in the premises of the Faculty of Management and Economics of TBU in Zlín. The debate was moderated by an expert in the field, Ing. Ondřej Benda, MBA, Chief Financial Officer at ARMATURY Group. Our invitation to the debate was accepted by Ing. Dana Barnášová, Chairperson of the Board of Tomas Bata Regional Hospital in Zlín; Ing. Roman Koňařík, Risk Manager at UniCredit Bank Czech Republic; Ing. Vlastimil Jordán, the executive at FAVEX; Ing. Ondřej Žák, the consultant at IBM Czech Republic; etc. In addition to the above experts, a group of academia representatives sat at one table for discussion, including FaME Dean, prof. Dr. Ing. Drahomíra Pavelková. A number of academic staff members and Doctoral students came to exchange their experiences and opinions. As the topic suggests, the extensive debate was aimed at the minimum financial management in firms, priorities of financial management in companies, the present financial management of SMEs, the characteristics of financial manager, i.e., what should an ideal financial manager know and be able to cope with, the role of financial manager in company’s organization, and changes to the key tasks of financial manager over time. And since the round table was organized within the project, which aims to increase the chances of graduates to find suitable job positions in the field of financial management and enterprise economics in the labour market, the issue of training future financial managers and recommendations for universities and higher education institutions resulting from this debate could not be left out. We would like to thank all participants for their valuable discussion.
Banking and Insurance
In the academic year 2010/2011, Ing. Bronislav Hýbl, MBA, the banking consultant for corporate clients, was a guest lecturer in the Banking and Insurance I. The topic of his lecture consisted of the current trends in banking and financial services outsourcing. In the lecture block Banking and Insurance II, Ing. Petr Šaur, the bank specialist at CSOB, gave a lecture on “Counselling Approaches in the Current Banking” and Ing. Radomír Lapčík, LL.M., Chairman of the Board of the Moravian Financial Institution, lectured on “Cyclic Recurrence of Crises and the Banking Sector Volatility”.
Lectures by foreign teacher
From 12 to 14 April 2010, Professor Bruce Dehning from the U.S.A. carried out lectures in the framework of the ESF project “Education in Fields of Accounting and Taxes”. He prepared for students lectures on “U.S. GAAP”, “Adjusting Accounts for Financial Statements” and “Decision Making under Uncertainty”.
Education in Fields of Accounting and Taxes
On 24 October 2009, a lecture funded by the ESF project “Education in Fields of Accounting and Taxes” was given by JUDr. Jaroslav Louka, Director of Institute of Certified Accountants. Part-time students of Bachelor’s degree courses Economics and Management and Public Sector Administration and Regional Development were acquainted with the current issue of the implementation of state accounting, an amendment to Decree No. 505/2002 Coll. of the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic, and also with the possibilities of improving qualifications in the fields of accounting and finance.
Accountants Certification System
The Faculty of Management and Economics has collaborated with the Institute of Certified Accountants on a system of accountants certification. This certification is divided into three qualification levels – accounting assistant, balance sheet specialist, and accounting expert. Within the certification system, graduates of the degree course in Economics and Management taught at the Faculty of Management and Economics of Tomas Bata University in Zlín may have some of their first and second level examinations recognized.
Invited experts from practice
In order to diversify the tuition of the subject “Corporate Finance”, we took advantage of the knowledge of experts from practice this year as well. Our invitation was accepted by Ing. Rostislav Kolařík, Ph.D., Head of Finance and Controlling Department at TOMA; Ing. Jan Černošek, Director of Controlling Department at Barum Continental; and Ing. Robert Zatloukal, General Manager at Promens. Students had the opportunity to confront their knowledge with professionals who deal with the above topic in practice.
Manager – Rough Trial Competition
The Thomas Bata Foundation, in cooperation with the organization Junior Achievement, organized the third annual competition “Manager – Rough Trial”. 64 two-member teams of TBU students competed in computer simulation of managing a manufacturing company. They competed in managerial skills and abilities to lead a large company. That was made possible by a computer simulation programme, MESE (Management and Economic Simulation Exercise) which was developed by the Junior Achievement as a tool for economic education. MESE simulates the competitive environment of the market with an imaginary product “echopen” – a pen which has its own memory, where it saves everything that has ever been written with it. Each team represented one company producing echopens. Their goal was to make a higher profit than their competition and to increase the value of the shares of their company with the use of production regulation, suitable price policy, effective marketing, capital investment, and flexible managerial decisions in response to the market development. In the correspondence part of the competition the contestants reacted to reports about the situation in their branch and in their own company.
The basic round was carried out by mail via internet from 26 February to 20 March. The eight best teams moved into the finals which took place live on 27 March 2007 in the Tomas Bata Villa in Zlín. The winners were two Doctoral students, Petra Škodáková and Přemysl Pálka, the second place was taken by Marta Hejčlová and Jiří Hanáček, and the third place went to Tomáš Slepánek and Radim Polanský, all of FaME. The winners received mobile phones, the second place was rewarded with the Bluetooth sets and the third with 1,000 CZK vouchers for shopping at O2. Congratulations!