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Hochiminh city, Vietnam - Vietnam Chief Financial Officers (VCFO) in cooperation with Japan Association for CFOs (JACFO) and ACCA Vietnam held the Vietnam CFO Forum 2012 themed “Financial Restructuring to Overcome the Crisis” on October 17, 2012.
Vietnam CFO Forum 2012 is an annual financial forum for financial communities, held as part of a series of the International Association Financial Executives Institutes (IAFEI) activities to promote the sharing of local and international experiences, skills, knowledge and information in the field of corporate finance governance. IAFEI is a prestige institution with 19 CFO association members and more than 16,000 individual members.
Mr. Hiroshi Yaguchi- Chairman of IAFEI delivered the opening remark at the Forum
The event rallied more than 200 representatives of the International Association of Financial Executive Institute (IAFEI), the Vietnam Association of Corporate Directors (VACD), VCFO, JACFO, and ACCA members, as well as representatives from international and domestic financial associations, chief executive officers, chief financial officers, financial leaders and the media. 
A reporter from VITV in an interview with Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Bach – Area President for Asia of IAFEI, Director of the Vietnam CFO Club
Panorama of the Vietnam CFO Forum 2012
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh with the presentation on macro economic situation
In his speech, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh – a fellow at the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School, Lecturer of Public Policy, Fulbright School pointed out issues related to financial restructuring in Vietnam. In his opinion, the business health of many Vietnamese enterprises has been getting much worse compared to the previous times given the figures on inventories and Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI). Meanwhile, credit sources were not sufficient, thus each company had to find their own ways to get out of stuck and avoid the risk of insolvency and bankruptcy.
Mrs. Pham Thi Viet Nga – Chairwoman of DHG Pharma
Addressing the Forum, from a director’s perspective, Mrs. Pham Thi Viet Nga – Chairwoman of DHG Pharma shared with the audiences CFO’s expectation on the role of CFO in this modern time. She emphasized that CFO must have the ability to assess the enterprise’s performance and to suggest investment options to get the optimal results. Besides, it is important that CFOs should master soft skills such as persuasive, presentation and analytical skills as well as confidence to successfully fulfill their tasks.
Mr. Reza Ali - Head of Emerging Market Asia - ACCA
Touching the same issue on the role of CFO, Mr. Reza Ali - Head of Emerging Market Asia - ACCA stated that enterprises’ leaders themselves should have in their mind a clear vision and create favorable conditions for CFO to fulfill their tasks. He stated that the major cause of enterprise’s failures or difficulties come from weaknesses in corporate management and governance, not the internal factors from the economy alone.
Mr. Le Hai Phong – CFO of Bao Viet Holdings
Regarding corporate financial restructuring, Mr. Le Hai Phong – CFO of Bao Viet Holdings emphasized the importance of good cash flow management given the harsh economic condition. A good understanding on cash inflows and outflows would help enterprises to find out the best way to carry out financial restructuring. In order to overcome the crisis, the top priority of enterprises should not be on creating big profit, he said, but on optimizing cash flows management. Debt leverage should be focused on to boost business performance.
Panel discussion
From the left: Mr. Reza Ali – Head of Emerging Market Asia – ACCA, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh - MPP Director, Fulbright Economics Teaching Program, Dr. Pham Thi Viet Nga – Chairman of DHG Pharma, Dr. Han Manh Tien - Chairman of VACD, Mr. Nguyen Ba Quynh - Country Manager, Software Group, IBM Vietnam, Mr. Le Hai Phong - CFO of Bao Viet Group
In the discussion, financial experts focused on financial restructuring process – a top issue of concern of many enterprises. Given the context of economic difficulties, enterprises are suffering from huge losses, heavy debts and facing apparent threat of loss of liquidity. Corporate restructuring turns out to be a necessary process, and financial restructuring is considered a productive solution to help enterprises eliminate financial problems, improve business liquidity, and reestablish a strong capital structure to finance for future growth. Financial restructuring is also at the core of the whole restructuring process of an enterprise.
A member of the Vietnam CFO Club posed a question to the panel
To survive and overcome the crisis, enterprises must focus on cash flow management and risk management. However, to reach the goal of sustainable growth, enterprises should invest on human resources, standardize governance procedures, apply suitable technologies, and especially, approach potential lenders, investors or acquirers seeking to expand in Asia, especially in Vietnam. 
Experts in the panel discussion: Approaching Potential Lenders, Investors or Acquirers Seeking to Expand in Asia”
From left to right: Mr. Masao Konomi – President of Konomi, Inc., Mr. Ward A. Wickwire – Managing Director of Alliance of International Corporate Advisors (AICA), Mr Truong Tuan Nghia – Deputy General Director of AsiaInvest Group
In the discussion on capital mobilization, Mr. Ward A. Wickwire – Managing Director of Alliance of International Corporate Advisors (AICA) shared with the audiences his hands-on experiences on approach international capital effectively. Mr. Masao Konomi – President of Konomi, Inc., a member of AICA inform the forum that many Japanese enterprises have been interested in investing in Vietnam. At present, the low-cost capital sources from Japan is abundant, so enterprises with good credit records have many opportunities to approach loans with low interest rate from Japanese banks. Mr. Truong Tuan Nghia, Deputy General Director of AsiaInvest Group advised that Vietnamese enterprises should pay more attention on establishing a professional financial management procedures right from this time to facilitate the cooperation with foreign partners.
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Bach - Director of Vietnam CFO Club, Area President for Asia of IAFEI
In his closing remark, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Bach asserted that with a pool of experts with practical experiences in various fields and with special focus on corporate financial management, the Vietnam CFO Forum would always be willing to listen and share with enterprises practical advices to help them successfully carry out their financial restructuring process.
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