Werner Lapage, Partner BDO Belgium

A full year after the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis, many companies still find themselves in dire straits. Analyses show that, despite the support measures, nearly 30% of our companies are in acute need.

Yet, even in the health crisis, some companies are more confident about their growth opportunities than others. Research by BDO Global revealed the reasons. We combined our findings into a 7P Model offering insight into the priorities and actions of those better performing and more successful companies. At the same time, we asked ourselves how we could navigate our clients through the crisis, make them more resilient, and help them think ahead to a life in the new normal. Our experts have developed a 7P Diagnostic Tool so that you can check the health/success of your company or organisation and benchmark it against the market.

The greatest merit of success stories is that they inspire – and encourage you not to give up in the face of yet another setback – as top entrepreneur Jürgen Ingels, Dean of Vlerick Business School Marion Debruyne, and Full Professor at the same institution, Katleen De Stobbeleir, do in their books. And we are not giving up. Proof of this is our latest acquisition: the Antwerp-based ‘Beirens & Wellens’ firm of experts in accountancy and tax advice. We explain why in our cover story.

Performance is often the result of the resilience and flexibility with which you can adapt yourself, your organisation and your employees to increasing complexity and change. Lifelong learning is a powerful lever for this, as our BDO Academy proves every day.

The pressure that the current pace of change is putting on businesses would almost make us forget that there is also business as usual. Even in the new normal, tax, social, and political movements continue to drive our way of doing business. In this issue, among other things, we home in on the impact of the Programme Law, the new law on whistleblowers, the adapted rules for Belgian foundations, the consequences of Brexit on VAT, customs, GDPR and employee mobility, the importance of real-time accounting, and the new tax on securities accounts.

I will close with a cliché: making profit is important … but the way you do it is even more important. Sustainable entrepreneurship is a structural challenge that we as a responsible company take on for ourselves – and for our clients. From now on, BDO can also support your company or organisation in developing a CSR strategy and policy, with the certainty that sustainable entrepreneurship strengthens performance.