Newsletter 194 BNFIX PICH
September 2024
Dear all,
Hoping that you have been able to enjoy a well-deserved vacation, we gradually resume, full of energy, the work routine. And one of our routines is the traditional newsletter. In September’s 194, we explained the new features of the new European Law on Artificial Intelligence and the new Parity Law. We also discussed changes to facilitate the compatibility between retirement pension and work in order to maintain the viability of the pension system and presented the new Client Job Portal, which we hope you will find useful and practical.
In addition, we include an interesting video of the interview conducted by Jordi Altafaja with Javier Ibars, director of Labour Relations and Social Affairs of Foment del Treball, where key solutions to address absenteeism and its impact on productivity are discussed. Do not miss the reflections on the reduction of the working day and the innovative proposals to improve work-life balance policies.
In the final part of the newsletter we address our upcoming collaborations and we recall the celebration, in October, of the meeting of the BNFIX offices throughout Spain, which this year has the Madrid offices as hosts.
These, and other topics, below.
Happy summer to all,
Joan Claret – joan.claret@pich.bnfix.com
Partner in charge of tax area BNFIX PICH AUDITORS
Highlights
► / Absenteeism, a “multifaceted phenomenon” that affects workers, companies and administrations
The director of Labour Relations and Social Affairs of Foment del Treball, Javier Ibars, talks to the head of the Labour Area of BNFIX PICH, Jordi Altafaja, about absenteeism, which he describes as a “multifaceted phenomenon” that has emerged as the main problem of companies, as they have expressed in the different surveys and which has been the subject of a recent study by Foment del Treball.
The study has highlighted “very high” abstention rates, which are “unpresentable and unacceptable”, in the words of Ibars, both for companies and for the public treasury.
The study, in addition to describing and analysing the problem, proposes a series of measures on which all economic agents must work and has already been sent to the different parties and political groups.
/ Measures to improve the compatibility of retirement pension and employment and to maintain pensions
The government, employers’ organisations and trade unions have reached an agreement to improve the compatibility between the retirement pension and employment. The agreement seeks to balance the sustainability of the pension system and improve the quality of life of workers in Spain.
After a first reading of the signed document, and pending its approval in Congress and subsequent publication in the BOE, we collect the most relevant aspects.
/ New Parity Law to promote the balance of women and men in companies and the public sector
On 2 August, the Official State Gazette published Organic Law 2/2024, on equal representation and balanced presence of women and men, the main objective of which is to ensure a balanced participation of women and men in representative and decision-making bodies, both in the political and business spheres.
More details on the content of the new law.
/ European Artificial Intelligence Act approved
The Official Journal of the EU (OJEU) has published Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, of 13 June, known as the European Artificial Intelligence Act, which aims to be a uniform regulatory framework for the introduction, commercialisation and use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems in the EU, while ensuring the protection of fundamental rights, safety and health.
New services BNFIX PICH
/ Client Labour Portal
The BNFIX PICH Customer Labour Portal is now underway, a tool created to facilitate agile and efficient labour management of companies, both in terms of the registration and deregistration of workers and incidents and other common aspects of work activity. It also allows the consultation, control of data and records and download of templates.
If you have any questions about its access and operation, you can contact Jordi Carbonell from the BNFIX PICH labour area.
Agenda and collaborations
/ XXIV Technical Conference on Auditing
Our firm is one of the sponsors of the XXIV Technical Conference on Auditing, which will be held on 18 September at the Col·legi d’Economistes de Catalunya and is entitled ‘The future of auditing, between artificial intelligence and sustainability’. The problem of valuation in the case of companies undergoing restructuring, cybersecurity risk management, new developments in financial information and a practical workshop on GPT are some of the topics that will be addressed in the different sessions.
More information, in Spanish, HERE
/ XII Forum of Small Audit Firms
Our partner Joan Claret, from the Audit Area, will moderate a technical session of the XII Forum of small audit firms that will take place on September 19 and 20 in Punta Umbría (Huelva) under the slogan ‘New challenges: transparency, standards, digitalization and sustainability’. In concrete, Joan Claret will moderate the session ‘Challenges in the audit of the local public sector. Public-private collaboration’. The congress is organized by the REA Auditors of the General Council of Economists, the Andalusian Council of Colleges of Economists and the Colleague of Economists of Huelva.
More information, in Spanish, HERE
Press & Publications
/ Financial Observatory · Forecasts for the Spanish economy in 2024
In its latest forecasts, on September 2, the Financial Observatory of the General Council of Economists maintains its growth forecast for 2024 at 2.9 percent
The Observatory also makes forecasts on employment, inflation, public debt, interest rates, etc. All the details, in the press release, HERE
BNFIX News
/ BNFIX Global annual meeting in Madrid · Oct. 3 & 4
Facing new challenges together
The professionals of the BNFIX Global network will meet on the 3rd and 4th of October in their traditional annual meeting, which will have both an on-site and virtual format and with the Madrid offices as organisers of the event.
There will be several sessions: some of them will be open and via streaming, so that clients, collaborators and friends can attend, and others will have an internal and technical character for the professionals of the BNFIX Global network. These sessions will cover different topics of great interest for all participants.
Apart from our offices in Barcelona and Madrid, BNFIX Global is a network with offices in Almería, Avilés, Gijón, Málaga, Madrid, Murcia, Oviedo and Vitoria, and has a team of 166 professionals in account auditing, accounting, legal, tax, commercial, labour and corporate sustainability consultancy. It also forms part of the DFK International network of independent firms of recognised prestige.
