Wijs specializes in auditing the financial data of various educational organizations and in providing advice. Their structure is characterized by an informal atmosphere and by paying attention to the employee. Faces visited the office and spoke with Remco Stolzenbach about how he experiences his work at Wijs. Who are you and how did you end up at Wijs? I’m Remco Stolzenbach, 24 years old and I’m completing my bachelor’s degree in business economics at Tilburg University. I also work out at the gym and am writing my thesis on CSR-based compensation. I ended up at Wijs via Asset. I had some delay during my studies and was looking for a job to gain relevant work experience. I chose accountancy because I find it interesting to learn what happens behind the scenes at companies. I came across Wijs on the Tilburg Career platform. After consulting the website and sending a message, I received a call back within 5 minutes. Why specifically Wijs? I have always found education interesting and therefore have a connection with the Wijs client portfolio. In addition, I was curious about what the work at a specialized firm entails. I like the interface with society and think it is nice that I can contribute to that. I was looking for an office where I could work for a whole year and Wijs was very thoughtful in giving me that opportunity. What struck me immediately during the interview was that Wijs pays attention to its employees. For example, despite Covid, there was a free spot for me in the office. This helped me find my way around and get to know my colleagues. “At Wijs, we believe that a good work-life balance is important.” What does your day look like? Every day is different, depending on what the schedule looks like. Each week I am scheduled for 1 or 2 customers in teams of 2-5 people. Wijs focuses on audits within the education sector. The clients I work with are primary education, secondary education, childcare institutions and collaborative organizations. Activities vary from annual audits, budget audits – in which we check funds that school boards receive from the government – to benchmarking and tasks in the area of legislation and regulations. I have a broad range of tasks and deal with several items in the annual accounts. At Wijs, we believe that a good work-life balance is important. That’s why I don’t have to work overtime and can just pack up my things at 5 o’clock. I really like the fact that when I’m home, I don’t have to think about work and can focus completely on my thesis. How would you describe the atmosphere at Wijs? Easy-going, you can always join someone for a chat. We are a relatively small office without a hierarchical structure. As a result, the atmosphere is informal, light-hearted and we are well-informed about how each other is doing. During lunch, we tell each other what keeps us busy outside work. Wijs also organizes various activities. There’s a skiing holiday, a staff outing and a Christmas dinner. During the staff outing, we went off-road and took a skidding course. Drinks are also organized at the office. Every season ends with a party. How does Wijs give you the opportunity to grow? When I came here, I was immediately assigned a supervisor to whom I could ask my questions. When I started, she and my colleagues made sure that I was quickly up to date and could get to work. Internal courses are organized for new activities, so that everyone knows what we are doing. If I have a problem, I can always bring it up with the project leader. How do you experience the combination work/study? I like the combination of work and study. During the first six months that I worked at Wijs, I also took some courses and worked three days. Now, I only have to focus on my thesis and I also work 4 days. Just like me, Wijs also thinks it’s important that I succeed in my studies, so if I need more time for school, this is always possible after consultation. What advice would you give to students? The choice of a workplace is personal. Some people find it important to work at a large office for large clients, while others find the atmosphere on the work floor and a good work-life balance important. I think it is important to do something of social importance, which is one of the reasons why I chose Wijs.
The end of an era for “Royal Dutch Shell”
On friday the 10th of december during a shareholders meeting, Royal Dutch Shell plc received permission to move their main office to London. As much as 99 percent of the shareholders present agreed with the relocation. With this development, the oil- and gas company will no longer include “Royal Dutch” after more than 100 years in their name, and simultaneously will lose the Dutch part of its identity. [G1] Dividend tax Prior to the administrative departure of Shell, the oil- and gas giant was fiscally located in both the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Tax laws in the Netherlands are different compared to tax laws in the United Kingdom; namely, dividend tax, which is a percentage of 15% in the Netherlands, does not exist in the UK. This means that shareholders receive relatively more dividends than shareholders in the Netherlands. In an interview with the FD (Financieele Dagblad), the CEO of Shell, Ben van Beurden, stated that the matter regarding dividend has played an important role in the decision to move Shell to the UK. The top executive has indicated that the dividend tax has been eyesore for the multinational for a longer period of time. Shell has already had many conversations with the Dutch government for years. Subsequently, in 2017 the cabinet has advocated for the abolishment of the dividend tax. However, this proposal received heavy criticism from the Chamber and the society, after which the cabinet decided to cancel the proposal in 2018. The fact that the plan did not go through the Chamber led to the creation of serious plans for Shell to leave the Netherlands. [G2] “Despite the departure of the multinational, Ben van Beurden indicated that the activities of Shell in the Netherlands will remain.” Dual structure Furthermore, another important factor for Shell was the dual fiscal structure that the company had. Due to the difference in tax rules between the two home countries of Shell, the multinational had to work with two different kinds of shares (a British and a Dutch one). According to the company, this complex structure brought too many administrative hurdles. For instance, the process of collecting new finances, by issuing additional shares, was more complicated due to the fact that Shell worked with two different shares. With working with only one share, this process would be simplified which eases many future transactions, such as acquisitions. Next to that, the multinational has planned to buy back a proportionate amount of shares outstanding. Because of the tax rules in the UK, it is substantially cheaper for Shell to buy back British shares. However, the company had to cope with restrictions, In the amount of shares Shell could buy back. The level of restrictions depends on the amount of volume of trades of Shell’s shares. Due to the reduction in complexity in Shell’s structure, the volume of British shares traded will increase which means that Shell is able to buy back more shares. [G3] Despite the departure of the multinational, Ben van Beurden indicated that the activities of Shell in the Netherlands will remain. The oil and gas giant wishes to stay a big player regarding the transition to delivered green energy in the Netherlands. Above that, Marjan van Loon, president-director of the Dutch division of Shell, states that the fiscal transition to a pure British company would only speed up the process of transition to green energy in the Netherlands. Nonetheless, Shell’s plan will have negative consequences for the State’s treasury of the Dutch government. The departure of Shell would mean that the Netherlands would miss out on hundreds of millions on tax income. However, the Second Chamber will discuss GroenLinks proposal to fine companies who depart to a foreign country without dividend tax rules. To date, it is still unclear whether this proposal can expect a majority of the vote in the Second- and First Chamber. [G4] Predecessor This is not the first time a multinational company has taken the decision to fiscally depart from the Netherlands. Prior to Shell, Unilever, which had its headquarters located in London and Rotterdam since 1929, has transformed into a purely British company in 2020. Just like Shell, Unilever had to deal with a complex dual structure. Consequently, in 2018 the company decided to maintain one nationality. Initially, the company had plans to move to the Netherlands. However, this initiative received backlash from the camp of shareholders after it turned out the Dutch government decided not to abolish the dividend tax. As a predecessor of Shell, Unilever also risked receiving a fine, of an amount of 11 billion euros, from the Dutch government when they planned to move to the UK. Fortunately for Unilever, they managed to evade this fine after the Dutch Cabinet decided not to enforce the potential new law retroactively. [G5] Business climate Now that two big multinationals have left the Netherlands, it is important to look at the qualities of the business climate in the country as this gives a signal that the business environment might lose its competitive value compared to other countries. On the contrary, to keep things in perceptive, Shell and Unilever both were companies with a complex dual structure and British-Dutch roots. Hence, there is no valid reason to believe that this is an acute problem for the Netherlands. [G1]https://www.volkskrant.nl/economie/na-unilever-vertrekt-ook-shell-hoe-erg-is-dat-voor-nederland~b9e0e04b/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F [G2]https://fd.nl/bedrijfsleven/1419454/haags-wanhoopsoffensief-om-shell-voor-nederland-te-behouden-wca2cabqDglC [G3]https://theasset.nl/sectoren/duurzaam/van-twee-kanten-royal-dutch-shell/ [G4]https://www.volkskrant.nl/economie/shell-krijgt-groen-licht-voor-vertrek-grote-meerderheid-aandeelhouders-stemt-voor~ba37fe11/ [G5]https://fd.nl/politiek/1417231/unilever-ontsnapt-aan-verhuisboete-wca2cabqDglC
Interview with Huub Vermeulen – former CEO of bol.com
For the Dutch version, click here With over twenty years of experience within the company, Huub Vermeulen stepped down as CEO of bol.com last November. In this article you can read more about Huub, his career, milestones and transfer. Can you tell us about your study background and career? As a young man I always had an affinity with technology. That’s how I started studying electrical engineering. I soon found out that the programming part in particular suited me. You have to imagine that in this era the personal computer did not yet exist. In short, a nice challenge to work with computers. Because of my affinity with programming, I eventually started working at Philips. After a few years I switched from the large company Philips to a small company in Boxtel, where I sold complex technical projects to large companies. I liked this switch; a small company where people felt an affinity with the purpose of the company and where you can make your own contribution to its development. From here I started looking for a management-related position. I continued to grow at a secondment company for software employees and after some time I held the position of commercial director. In this position I have had both successes and setbacks. However, setbacks are inevitable and it makes you stronger both personally and professionally. My next step was a position as operational director at a CD factory in Tilburg. As a company, we had discovered a new customer group within CD production and logistics, including bol.com. We saw a collaboration with bol.com as a great opportunity for growth, so we started a project for the logistics of bol.com in a garage. It soon turned into a large and successful project. At one point I became CEO of Docdata e-commerce fulfillment, now called Ingram Micro, after which I made the switch to bol.com itself after a year or two. It is great to see that the handful of Docdata employees has now grown into a large company with logistics activities throughout Europe. Also a fun fact about bol.com: twenty years ago about 20 people worked here, 3 of whom were logistics employees. The logistics department has now grown to more than 200 people and the total number of employees to approximately 2500 to 3000. During my career I actually started working for smaller and smaller companies, and what did I notice? The smaller the company, the more fun I liked it. With small companies you are much closer to the soul of the company, which makes the connection with the business operations much stronger. My goal has always been to maintain the connection with the purpose of the company, despite the growth of bol.com. As an employee you have to feel that what you do matters and contributes to the purpose of the company. In November you will stop as CEO at bol.com. What is your reason for resigning? A few years ago I already said to those around me that after twenty years of employment it would be time to stop. This term has now expired, so I guess I have to surrender to it. I have to say that the CEO position of a growing company like bol.com is a very nice, but also a very intensive job. Therefore, I am now also ready to take a job in a somewhat freer role, in which I can expand my world further. I especially hope to take up a role in which my affinity with entrepreneurship can be expressed. What role this will be exactly, I’m not sure yet. For example, I think it would be cool to sit down with entrepreneurs, for example young innovative start-ups, and help them in the development of their company. You have been working at bol.com for more than 20 years. How do you view the growth and development bol.com has gone through? In her younger years bol.com started out as a physical bookseller. The sales range expanded to CDs, video tapes, etc., so that bol.com grew into the largest media store in the Netherlands in 2007. We are no longer purely a media store; but an online platform that sells pretty much anything. Bol.com has therefore made a gigantic transformation, in the field of assortment, from physical to online platform, and from retail to retail tech. Within this continuous growth, it is a challenge to maintain the culture and working method of bol.com. For example, we used to have a daily lunch where all 20 employees sat at the table together. After the lunch break everyone was up to speed on all developments. We now have more than 2500 employees, so it is a challenge to keep all employees connected to the company and to get them on board with the vision. A culture in which employees feel connected to each other and the business model is essential for a successful company. This growth also requires bol.com to continuously reinvent itself. This actually makes us as a company some kind of business experiment. You have to continuously adapt to the size you have and to the type of company you are. Daily business operations therefore require continuous creativity and thinking. This makes working for bol.com very fun and challenging. What have been personal milestones for you in your career at bol.com? Growing from a start-up with 20 employees to a large developed retail tech company with a large group of motivated employees, I have been able to experience many milestones together with my colleagues. For example, I still remember the first 100 million euros in turnover, because we had officially passed the start-up phase. The acquisition of Ahold was also one to remember, as it coincided perfectly with our growth plan to expand our range to all product categories. However, I don’t see my role in this as unique because we all did it together. Of course I had my own goals when I held the position of CEO. For example, when
Why Starbucks also acts as a bank
For the Dutch version, click here Starbucks What began in 1971 as a small coffee shop in Seattle, has grown into a global phenomenon nowadays: Starbucks. With 30,000 outlets around the world, it is impossible to imagine the world without it. In 2020, the company was ranked 37th in Forbes’ list of “most valuable brands”, valued at 18 billion dollars. Starbucks owes a large part of their success to a loyal customer base. To reward these customers, Starbucks has been using loyalty cards for years. For every nine drinks you order, you get the tenth from Starbucks. In a number of countries, this punch card has been digitised into an app. Besides making sure customers don’t lose their cards, this also ensures that Starbucks manages almost 1.6 billion dollars from customers, for which it doesn’t have to do anything in return. Starbucks vs. PayPal Customers can put money on a digital (or physical) card. They can then use the money on the card to pay at Starbucks. So the app works like a bank account: Starbucks can invest the money between the period when customers deposit the money and withdraw it (When they are buying coffee). Therefore, Starbucks can thus make a profit with the money within this period. The most recent annual report shows that customers have deposited a total of 1.59 billion dollars in these Starbucks accounts. Because customers receive no interest, they provide the company with free money.Actually, this is not unusual. The interest rate on a Dutch bank account has been 0% for some time now. The difference is in the reserves that banks have to keep and Starbucks does not. Financial institutions are subject to strict regulation and must adhere to rules when investing customer money. A good comparison is PayPal, which also manages money from customers until they decide to use this money in online transactions. They are obliged to keep a large part of this money in cash or to invest it in safe government bonds. This is only logical, because PayPal has to keep enough on hand for when customers withdraw their money. This is not relevant for Starbucks, as they do not pay out their customers in cash, but in coffee. This allows Starbucks to invest customer money in high return projects or use it to expand the business. The Starbucks account is an attractive way to raise capital, as Starbucks normally pays between 0.46% and 4.5% on their own bonds. “This is irrelevant to Starbucks as they do not pay out their customers in cash, but in coffee” There is also the concept of “breakage”. These are amounts that customers have in their Starbucks accounts but have forgotten about and Starbucks estimates that they will not use. This amount is added to profits. In 2021, this amounted to $164.5 million, about 10% of the total amount deposited by customers at Starbucks. The Future Currently, you can use the card in the United States and Canada, just two of the countries in which Starbucks operates. In the US, the app accounts for 40% of sales and in 2019 Starbucks has indicated that it wants to make the digital savings card more attractive. Understandable, because the growth potential is enormous. By expanding the savings programme to multiple countries and making it even more attractive for customers to put money on the card, the profit from breakage can become much greater. Good news for Starbucks, but also for the regular visitor. The free drinks, cakes or merchandise that customers receive after a number of transactions are a kind of interest on their credit. Compared to the interest on savings at a regular bank, that’s not crazy at all. Literature: https://medium.com/e-cell-vit/how-starbucks-is-also-a-bank-80e8b65cf1d4 https://jpkoning.blogspot.com/2019/08/starbucks-monetary-superpower.html https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2016/08/01/starbucks-holds-more-cash-than-many-banks-infographic/?sh=1662fce9231a https://investor.starbucks.com/press-releases/financial-releases/press-release-details/2021/Starbucks-Reports-Record-Q4-and-Full-Year-Fiscal-2021-Results/default.aspx https://www.emerce.nl/cases/starbucks-versterkt-focus-loyaltyprogramma
Working at Wesselman Accountants | Adviseurs
For the Dutch version, click here Who are you and what is your (study) background? My name is Dennis Vaas, 28 years old and born and raised in Weert. I’ve been living there for 5 years together with my girlfriend. In my spare time I like to do spinning and in spring I like to go cycling with friends. I am also active in the carnaval life and I am treasurer of a carnaval event where we organize a pub crawl along 11 pubs in Weert. Here I am responsible for the finances, sponsorship and ticket sales. I am also a member of a carnaval association with which we build a wagon for the carnaval parade. Carnaval is deeply embedded in my life. I have been working for Wesselman for 4 years now. I ended up here via school, as I first did my graduation internship at Wesselman. It was nice to get to know an accountancy firm in an approachable way through my internship. I liked it so much that I stayed on as an Assistant Accountant. I can now call myself Senior Assistant Accountant. I am now responsible for managing and reviewing and I am the link between the controllers and the assistants. This makes the job of Senior Assistant Accountant fun and challenging. I also like the fact that the variety of clients is so great and the complexity is increasing all the time. My clients range from trade organizations to construction companies. In addition, I really enjoy guiding and coaching the junior assistants in their development. Before I started studying Accountancy, I did the Pabo, but this turned out not to be my passion. After visiting a number of open days, I decided to study Accountancy. I first studied Accountancy at the Fontys University of Applied Sciences. Then I followed the pre-master, master and post-master Accountancy at Nyenrode Business University. I completed the post-master’s at the end of 2020, which means that the theoretical part of the RA course is over. I have now started the practical training, the first year of which is almost over. What makes Wesselman Accountants different? When I came to Wesselman I immediately sensed the good atmosphere. It is accessible and informal, and there is a real eye for the individual; they look at the person behind the employee. At Wesselman you are not just a number. I noticed that during the job interview because of the questions they ask, and as soon as you start you get a warm welcome. Wesselman Accountants is a full-service organisation with an accountancy and advisory practice. You can think of an auditing and compiling practice, outsourcing, payroll, tax consultants, tax return practice and a legal department. We have a lot of specialisms and knowledge in house! “In addition, one of our core values is ‘energetic’ and you can see that in the activities.” At Wesselman, I experience a real family culture. It is a small to medium-sized office, which means that you immediately have a lot of freedom in your work. As soon as you start, you are given responsibilities and you do not have to follow the beaten path, which I like. There is room for your personal interests. For instance, I really enjoy subsidy inspections and within Wesselman I am now one of the WMO inspection specialists. At Wesselman, you can focus on what you have an affinity with, which means that in addition to annual audits, you can also be involved in subsidy audits, due diligence investigations, or the IT aspect of the audit. The atmosphere is also very friendly and I would actually say relaxed among colleagues. There is little hierarchy. You can make jokes with a drawing accountant just as well as with an assistant and the partners get coffee for the trainees and vice versa. What does a day at Wesselman look like? It’s cliché but true, every day is different. For example, yesterday I went to a client and there I discussed the sales and purchasing processes with the client and then I worked it out. Today I started with a pre-audit of another customer. In a pre-audit, you’re going to discuss the controls and developments beforehand and you’re going to see how you’re going to frame the audit. Then, I worked out a risk analysis and the personnel process for the same client of yesterday. I also visit the client regularly. In the spring (pre-corona) that is almost every day. Since corona I have been working more from home. I like that because it is very nice for your work-life balance. Half of my work is at home or at the office and the other half is at the client’s. I have clients all over the Netherlands and I really enjoy being everywhere. Every organization is different and different types of people work everywhere. And I get to take a look behind the scenes everywhere. I get great pleasure from customers’ enthusiasm when I show genuine interest in their organization. This ensures a good and professional customer relationship. How can you grow personally and professionally within Wesselman? At Wesselman I get the chance to obtain my RA title and I hope to eventually develop myself into an audit manager. I can walk my own path in this, and I like that. There is also a real focus on soft skills. For example, I followed a Personal Development program where my personal development, cooperation with colleagues and working in the organization were really central. In addition to my work as an Accountant, I dream of one day teaching at a college. My interest in teaching remains, I didn’t start at the Pabo once for nothing. What activities are there outside of work and what is the activity of the year for you? The activity of the year will be our ski trip to Kaprun. We are going to Austria with all our colleagues. We are going to Austria for a long weekend with all of our colleagues, in honor
Interview with Peter van Erp – Executive Director Finance at Jumbo
For the Dutch version, click here My name is Peter van Erp. I am 55, married, and have two children. After my high school studies, I started to study Economics in Tilburg in 1985. Eventually, I graduated in Finance. I have always found it very interesting to look at how companies were valued, and what the rationale is behind certain price movements. Today, I am Executive Director of finance at Jumbo. Why did you start studying Economics? That’s a good question, why do you do anything? I knew already in the fourth grade of high school that I liked it and it was also the subject that appealed to me the most. So there was an intrinsic interest in that to know something about economics. I really liked business economics, but also general economics. I think these subjects are very telling about how the world works. Also, you have to understand history to understand general economics. What steps did you take after college? When I finished college in 1990, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I thought everything was interesting. Then you let your environment inform you and after all the wisdom I picked up from that, I thought it was a good idea to go to an accounting firm. I worked there for 5 years and simultaneously did the postgraduate training RA in Tilburg. I started working at Unigro in 1995. That was one of the forerunners of the large food retail concern Laurus. So I left the world of accountancy. I liked accountancy, but not enough. I felt more attracted to the business than to accountancy, apart from the fact that it was very instructive. At Unigro I was a treasurer. Unigro eventually merged with De Boer Winkelbedrijven. As a result, a move to the head office in Amersfoort was planned. Then there comes a time when you have to choose: are we going to move or are we going to stay in the province of Brabant. I chose the latter option and left De Boer Unigro in 1998. I then came to Jumbo and saw the company change from a small family business to the concern it is today. Jumbo started 100 years ago as a wholesaler. Then we made the step to retail and with takeovers, we kept growing. Finally, in 2009 we made one of our biggest acquisitions, that of Super de Boer. We had to delist the parent company, which was twice the size of Jumbo. That was very exciting, but because of the conviction of our formula we knew we would make a success of it. After the takeover of C1000, Jumbo has grown into a concern with 10 billion euros in turnover and almost 100,000 employees. Why did you make the switch from accountancy to business? This switch has been very logical for me. After 5 instructive years in accountancy, I wanted to have more influence on business processes and be more responsible for implementing decisions, instead of just giving advice or a statement with the annual accounts. Was it a specific choice to work in the supermarket industry? I find FMCG very interesting and challenging. You often work in a very competitive environment and you have to be very agile. Food retail completely fulfills this. The traditional marketing P’s work directly on sales and profitability, so you also see short-term effects of the plans you have put in place. In terms of typology, food retail is not particularly complex. You buy something, you store it and you send it back to the store. Customers pay with cash at the till and you pay your suppliers on 30 or 60 days. Yet you may be surprised to learn that we base our assortment, shelf plans, layout and also selling prices on algorithms that have a lot of data behind them. Where in the past stores had a one size fits all approach, we have invested heavily to offer individual shelf plans per store that meet the eating and drinking habits of that area. So technical innovations will play a big role at Jumbo in the future? Big steps are being taken in this area nowadays. For example, there are already cashless stores. The checkout actually takes place the moment the product is taken from the shelf. At the moment it is still too complex to implement, but that is the direction in which it can eventually go. An enormous challenge is how to avoid compromising on service when you start automating and mechanizing. You also don’t want to turn a store into a very cold environment where you don’t see any people anymore. So at the moment, we are mainly working on making the supply chain more efficient. For example, a year ago we started using a fully mechanized distribution center in Nieuwegein. Here products are collected and then stacked on a roll container, without human intervention. These are investments of 100 million euros. To be able to finance this, having sufficient scale and profitability is self-evident. To what extent will online grocery shopping play a role in Jumbo’s business model? Online grocery shopping is an integral part of our business model. Since corona, it has made an enormous flight. Customers have become increasingly accustomed to it and also experience the convenience of online shopping. The competition is perhaps even fiercer than in the bricks-and-mortar world. The customer wants it and we follow the customer. The problem, or rather the challenge, is that the customer is hardly willing to pay for it. So here too we will have to have sufficient scale and mechanize the logistics processes to increase the return. Are you also planning to chase competitors like Gorillas and deliver groceries within minutes? That’s a tough question because if we have to do everything the competition is offering today, you have to be playing chess on a lot of boards. We just have to stay the course and continue to execute our own strategy. And that is
