PwC in the Midlands

2013 Information security breaches survey

PwC — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:15:08 +0100

We were commissioned by the department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to survey companies across the UK on recent cyber security incidents and emerging trends. This survey aims to provide greater awareness amongst UK business of the risks, how companies are mitigating (or not) those risks and key trends. The survey results also provide information for companies to benchmark themselves against others in their sector or beyond.

This year’s results show:

Security breaches reach their highest ever levels costing UK plc billions of pounds every year
The rise is most notable in small businesses who are now experiencing incident levels previously only seen in larger organisations
Cost of breaches vary widely with several individual breaches costing over £1m
Attacks by outsiders are increasing with the average large business facing a significant attack every few days
Staff breaches also play a key role with 36% of the worst breaches due to inadvertent human error
Despite businesses prioritising security, this is not being translated into effective security defences - 42% of large organisation don't provide any ongoing security awareness training for their staff
Businesses are still struggling to keep up with security trends as well as addressing basic issues such as patch management
We're starting to see the impact of emerging technologies on information security - 14% of large organisations had a security breach relating to social networking sites and 9% had a breach relating to smartphones or tablets

You can download the full technical report and two page executive summary below:

Executive Summary

Full Executive Report

Explore of of the key statistics of the report

Evolve or die: workplace flexibility and the next generation

PwC — Tue, 21 May 2013 11:51:27 +0100

PwC’s NextGen: A global generational study, which was conducted in conjunction with the University of Southern California and the London Business School, represents the most ambitious research into the Millennial generation, or ‘Generation Y’. The study included responses from 44,000 employees throughout PwC’s global network of professional service firms, with almost one quarter of the responses coming from Millennials.

This two-year research undertaking finds that the Millennial generation, those born between 1980 and 1995, seek more workplace flexibility, better balance between their work and home life, and opportunity for overseas assignments as keys to greater job satisfaction.

The research study both confirmed and dispelled stereotypes about Millennials. While younger workers are more tech savvy, globally focused, and willing to share information, the study found they did not feel more entitled or less committed than their older, non-Millennial counterparts, and are willing to work just as hard. The global survey also found that many of the Millennials' attitudes are consistently shared by their more senior colleagues.

The study sought to measure factors relating to workplace retention, loyalty and job satisfaction. It compared responses among Millennials to those of non-Millennials at the same stage of their careers to assess generational differences between the two sets of employees.

There are a number of key lessons at the heart of the PwC NextGen study findings.

Millennial employees want greater flexibility…and so does everyone else.

Millennials and non-Millennials alike want the option to shift their work hours to accommodate their own schedules and are interested in working outside the office where they can stay connected by way of technology. Employees across all generations also say they would be willing to forego some pay and delay promotions in exchange for reducing their hours.

Millennials put a premium on work/life balance.

Unlike past generations, who put an emphasis on their careers and worked well beyond a 40-hour work week in the hope of rising to higher-paying positions later on, Millennials are not convinced that such early career sacrifices are worth the potential rewards. A balance between their personal and work lives is more important to them.

These findings are important for business leaders who need to understand, and diversity practitioners who need to deliver, the business case for diversity. For too long flexibility and work/life balance have been associated with female talent. This NextGen research report does more than dispel stereotypes related to the Millennial generation, it also goes some way towards dispelling some gender stereotypes.

Flexibility is not just about women; for Millennials, it is a talent wide imperative. In fact, the study finds that given the opportunity, 64% of Millennials and 66% of non-Millennials would like to occasionally work from home, and 66% of Millennials and 64% of non-Millennials would like the option to occasionally shift their work hours. 15% of all male employees and 21% of all female employees say they would give up some of their pay and slow the pace of promotion in exchange for working fewer hours. What is critical here is that work/life balance is more important to a much broader subset of Millennials – Millennial women and Millennial men.

Likewise, work/life balance, while more important to the Millennial generation, is valued by non-Millenials as well; in fact, 71% of Millennials vs. 63% of non-Millennials say that their work demands significantly interfere with their personal lives.

When leadership and organisations understand that flexibility and work/life balance are not just Millennial- or women-focused challenges, but are indeed about everyone, and begin to consider them with strategies and policies targeted at the whole talent population, then we may start to see a shift toward more truly diverse and inclusive work cultures and organisations.

So please, let’s start talk about flexibility and work/life balance as a talent wide proposition! Find out more on the PwC’s NextGen Study at http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/hr-management-services/publications/nextgen-study.jhtml.

Being better informed: financial regulatory, accounting and audit bulletin: May 2013

PwC — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:41:38 +0100

We are now into the second quarter of 2013, and the pace of new regulatory developments and publications continues relentlessly. In April the Basel Committee published a progress report on how countries are getting on with implementing Basel II and Basel III. The report is positive, noting many countries have either implemented Basel III or are taking steps to implement Basel III in the near future (e.g. CRD IV in Europe). In other developments:

The Financial Stability Board published a progress report in April, looking at how countries are getting on with reforming the global derivatives market.
The International Organisation of Securities Commissions published a consultation looking at how retail structured products are regulated.
Money market funds (MMFs) were a focus of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in April when it published its peer review, which focuses on how Member States have implemented guidelines on MMFs and how they supervise MMFs.
In April ESMA also published its final draft regulatory technical standards on determining types of AIFM.
Now that the new UK’s new regulators are active, the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority decided it was time to let us know how much they will cost us in 2013/14. The outcome is a proposed 15% higher funding requirement than 2012/13. Time will tell whether this is money well spent or not.
Finally, the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards published its report into HBOS’ failure, calling it an accident waiting to happen.

This month’s feature article focuses on the new conduct agenda at the Financial Conduct Authority.

To access the full bulletin please click on this link

Previous editions: