Industries

Automotive

Climate change, e-mobility, digitalization, connectivity and autonomous driving - manufacturers and their supplier industry are putting a great deal of effort into trying to meet these challenges and the new global players that have entered the market. Budgets for in-house research and development are being increased and focused, new companies are being bought and existing segments of the Automotive companies are being sold or adapted to the expected demand. The entire industry has set itself the goal of successfully mastering this transformation and emerging stronger from this phase of change.

In addition, new, predominantly digital, mobility services are constantly emerging, such as car sharing, ride-hailing, mobility-as-a-service, air cabs, B2C sales channels in automotive retail and much more. These will significantly change the mobility of the future and thus the business models in the automotive industry.

Energy Sector

The entire energy sector is subject to profound change. Market liberalisation and re-municipalisation, the expansion of the internal European market, the growing share of renewable energy, decentralisation of production, high cost pressure and ambitious climate change targets are the drivers of this change. They pose unprecedented economic and technical challenges for grid operators and suppliers. At the same time, they offer market players unprecedented opportunities. Fierce competition between the various energy suppliers and grid operators will continue in the coming years. In the face of increasingly dynamic funding and regulatory systems, the business models are also subject to severe transformation and adjustment pressure.

At our Industry Expertise Centre for the Energy Sector, experts from our three divisions – auditing, tax and consulting services – are available to help you with bespoke auditing and consulting services for the tasks that you face. To be able to meet your individual requirements here, we compose interdisciplinary teams of experienced specialists to reflect the task in hand: auditors, tax consultants, lawyers, economists, engineers and IT professionals.

Financial Services

In the last few years, the regulation of financial markets has produced an unprecedented tide of legislative initiatives. To respond appropriately to these developments, teams of financial sector experts from BDO member firms have joined forces to form the Global Financial Services Group. Headquartered in Germany, the Global Financial Services Sector Group has created an opportunity to represent our clients' interests vis à vis supervisory authorities and legislators on a global level with a unique offer and quick and professional response to cross-border issues.

The new group is an addition to the EU Banking Union Desk established by BDO in 2014, which supports European institutions in meeting the specific requirements of the EU banking union.

Following current regulatory requirements, we can provide focused qualified teams for the following sectors:

• Credit institutions
• Financial services institutions
  • Leasing and factoring companies
  • Providers of investment services

• Payment services
• Property management | Capital management companies and investment funds
• Intermediaries of financial investments

In addition, our employees possess the methodological expertise required for auditing and consulting in the areas of audit and assurance, out-/co-sourcing audit, risk and compliance, tax, and legal and consulting as well as fintech and digital transformation.

Financial Services Insurance

Professional support

BDO has bundled support for insurers and reinsurers as well as provident funds, statutory health insurers and insurance brokers in an Industry Expertise Centre for Insurance. As a result, we are able to offer ideal interdisciplinary teams.
Our many years of experience and the excellent professional qualification of our industry-oriented and continuously trained employees form the basis for the quality of our work. 

A trusting and professional relationship with our clients is important to us: we therefore assign each client a central expert contact, the client service partner, who advises you whatever your questions may be, and coordinates your concerns. Our teams regularly have a high proportion of experienced professionals.

Our company is represented on major professional committees and has access to the latest issues, which we in turn discuss with our clients in order to develop solutions. For example, we offer optimisation of risk management structures in the sense of MaRisk and preparation for Solvency II. In addition, valuation of insurance policies and insurance stocks is one of our core competencies.

Beyond this, we regularly hold client events, where current issues are taken up and discussed with practical relevance.

Auditing and consulting for statutory health insurers requires additional specialisation; we do justice to this through a special division within the Industry Expertise Centre with a special training programme. This is where we are currently handling projects for the conversion of financial accounting to commercial accounting and offering support for mergers; we are also focusing on new solutions in risk management and controlling.

Service portfolio of the Industry Expertise Centre for Insurance

The general performance spectrum includes:

For private insurance providers

• Auditing
• Internal auditing
• Audit-related consultancy
• Special tax consultancy
• Advisory

For statutory health insurance providers

• Auditing of the annual financial statements
• Auditing of business management
• Data analysis

Healthcare management

Constant changes in health and social services and the constantly increasing pressure to achieve profitability are making change a growing challenge for management. Maintaining and increasing competitiveness requires new ideas and concepts, anticipatory action, flexible organisations and management structures and a lean value creation process.

In our top-selling healthcare industry centre, we can offer you the support of a variety of experts, such as accountants, tax consultants and lawyers, to help you with tailor-made audit and advisory for your upcoming projects.

Trade and Consumer Goods

The boundaries between traditional and online trading are continuing to dissolve. New digital business models are pushing onto the market in increasingly shorter innovation cycles, and not all of them can assert themselves. Like in almost no other industry, process innovation drives opportunities in the industry: multichannel platforms, Web controlling, e-targeting and e-commerce solutions are being integrated into the existing business models across the board. To the same extent that the new revenue and distribution models gain momentum, the specific requirements to be met by the enterprise also grow – for example, when tracking rapidly fluctuating commodity and customer flows, managing smart supply chains or protecting the data generated on customers. The successful integration of the virtual world with the ‘real’ world therefore remains the biggest challenge the industry faces.

The Industry Expertise Centre for Trade and Consumer Goods is made up of specialists from our auditing, tax and business law and advisory divisions. Our experts with years of experience in this field permanently focus on current and future trends and receive industry-specific training. In this, we can make sure that our team is always up to date and provides the best possible support for your concerns in line with your requirements.

Transport and Logistics

Delivering goods to their destinations faster, more reliably and at a lower cost than competitors: This is what characterises transport quality and outstanding logistics. And international competition is decided by these factors.

The industry is facing great challenges: fluctuating energy costs and actions in the field of environmental protection continue to exert pressure on costs. New technologies make the flow of goods more dynamic. Physical processes are being replaced by digitised and networked business processes. Tracking of goods via electronic signals and sensors is becoming increasingly pervasive. Identification systems such as RFID (radio frequency identification) are now standard in transport and logistics.

What were previously complex logistics processes are handled in seconds via data interfaces. This also means accelerating the supply chain, necessitating further process optimisation of transport capacities. And customers expect goods tracking in real time. These challenges necessitate innovative logistics solutions.   

Digital delivery notes and improved returns management are just a few areas in which the use of IT will continue to grow. More technology in the warehouse or the use of augmented reality with pick-by-vision models are further steps to boost productivity, drive rationalisation and save costs. Smart investment in new, digital solutions is the key to success in the industry. This is the only way to safeguard or expand one’s own position in the face of increasing local and international competition.

At our Industry Expertise Centre for Transport and Logistics, a variety of experts, such as accountants, tax consultants and lawyers, are available to support you with tailor-made audit and advisory for your upcoming projects. In addition to auditing and audit-related services, tax consultancy and legal/economic consultancy, this also includes a variety of offerings in the field of advisory.

Public Companies and Administration

Efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and citizen-friendliness are the main objectives of public authorities and their enterprises. To sustainably achieve this target, continuous observation of the current issues at all levels of decision-making is required.

Our experts have extensive industry expertise and practical experience in these crucial subject areas to be able to support you professionally, competently and with tailor-made solutions.

BDO offers versatile services and consultancy services: Procurement and aid, organisational consulting, managing (civil) wind farm projects, IT consulting, project risk management, tax and business law consultancy, engineering and environmental consultancy, budgeting, cash management and accounting.

At our Industry Expertise Centre for Public-Sector Enterprise and Administration, a variety of experts, such as accountants, tax consultants and lawyers, are available to support you with tailor-made audit and advisory for your upcoming projects.

Real Estate

Thanks to the relatively favorable and stable economic situation in Croatia, the Croatian real estate market attracts large investments from the country and abroad. The demand effect resulting from the low-interest rate environment has led to a significant increase in prices and also an increase in the supply of project development. Our Industrial Expert Center for Real Estate Services offers you tailor-made solutions to overcome the current situation in the real estate market.

The interdisciplinary composition of our team ensures that all issues are professionally processed and developed into a holistic solution. The teams consist of real estate economists, real estate valuers, construction experts, architects, civil and industrial engineers, business economists, geologists, chemists, interior planners, and geographers. Where necessary, additional BDO experts are consulted, such as accountants, tax advisors, lawyers, and IT specialists.

Range of services:

• Transaction support
• Deep analysis
• Tax compliance: continuous tax consulting, financial accounting, and preparation of annual financial statements according to IFRS and other relevant standards
• Reporting
• Legal services
• Appraisal of property value
• Audit services for construction contractors
• Risk analysis at the site of pollution and land recycling
• Assessment of economic efficiency concerning settlement development
• Advice on inheritance and gift taxes

Foundations and Non-profit Organisations

The importance of non-profit organisations increases year by year. The range of organisations is diverse and includes welfare institutions, religious and cultural institutions and organisations which collect donations.

The foundation landscape is thus very heterogeneous. The model of the foundation as a legal entity without members is useful for very different purposes. The motives of the donors are also very diverse. Some 95% of foundations enjoy tax privileges. Their purposes are diverse, ranging from regional cultural or sports promotion to social assistance and global development projects. One thing is common to all of them: the subject is often a personal matter for the sponsor, and the sponsor puts a lot of heart and soul into it. Foundations that exclusively and directly pursue charitable, benevolent or religious purposes enjoy appropriate tax privileges. The following applies for foundations and other non-profit organisations: the requirements under non-profit law are strict.

In addition, the percentage of family foundations is continually growing. The problem for SMEs of finding a suitable successor leads to many entrepreneurs considering the foundation model. The intent is to leverage the benefits of the foundation model without making the company inflexible. For foundations, it is therefore essential – especially in the early stages – to set the right course; after all, the foundation is intended to last forever, based on its fundamental principle.

BDO specialises in the field of auditing and consultancy for foundations, associations and other non-profit organisations; it has set up a separate Industry Expertise Centre for Foundations and Non-Profit Organisations in which many specialists across various enterprise divisions cooperate. Our Industry Expertise Centre is oriented around both questions of the legal form and subject matter.

Legal-form-related support

• Foundations
• Associations
• Non-profit corporations 

In terms of subjects, the Industry Expertise Centre is concerned with

• Welfare institutions
• Religious institutions
• Cultural institutions
• Research, educational and scientific institutions
• Professional associations

Our employees in the fields of auditing, tax consulting, management consulting and legal advice are happy to assist you with all legal and tax issues as well as with your accounting, structure and organisation governance questions. Let’s shape the future together!

EEG

Energy-efficient and up-to-date

In the interest of protecting the climate and the environment, the European Union has followed this idea and developed different ideas and approaches in recent years.

As a result of the implementation of the European Energy Efficiency Directive into German legislation, more and more companies now find themselves facing its consequences at the national level.

Important innovations: Mandatory energy audits

According to the new law, all companies that are not small and medium-sized are obliged to carry out an energy audit according to DIN EN 16247-1 in the short term until December 5, 2015. This means that it is necessary to systematically check and analyze the energy consumption and energy consumption of the company to identify energy flows and the potential for improving energy efficiency.

Our expert teams of technical and environmental consultancy consisting of a combination of engineers, scientists, lawyers, auditors, and of course energy consultants support you in carrying out these energy audits, which must be carried out by qualified experts.

Who has this obligation?

Based on the will of the legislator, all 'non-SMEs' are subject to audit.

The definition for determining non-SME is:

"Companies with 250 or more employees, or with less than 250 employees, but with more than EUR 50 million in annual business volume or more than EUR 43 million in annual balance."

Affected businesses include not only large manufacturing companies but also hospitals, retailers, service companies, banks, insurance companies, and all other non-manufacturing companies. Further restrictions have not been defined so far. According to the German federal government, the obligation to perform regular energy audits will affect around 94,000 companies that will be randomly audited by the German Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control.

In case the company is not sure whether it is subject to the obligation to perform the audit as a non-SME, our experts at BDO Legal are the right person to contact. An accurate assessment of whether a company belongs to the affected 'non-SME' group can be quickly checked within the quick check.

Determining SME status through a quick check offers businesses some additional benefits. For example, SMEs can apply for grants from the European Union, while non-SMEs can apply to development banks for subsidies and capital investment grants.

Additional energy-saving options

Operational CO2 emissions are used as metrics and control factors to visualize the CO2 footprint or corporate carbon footprint (CCF) of the business. Numerical simulation of this is the basis of entrepreneurial climate protection. BDO TUC engineers perform these simulations following international standards such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol or ISO standard 14064.

Based on the corporate carbon footprint, specific energy efficiency measures can be identified and integrated into a tailored climate protection strategy. As a result, a measurable reduction in CO2 emissions related to the business can be achieved.

For energy and waste management companies, technical reviews regarding the provisions of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) are important considerations. Auditor and engineer reviews help optimize compensation claims and EEG settlements in terms of time. Technical and economic assessment of the task avoids interface losses and ensures improved quality control.