m

Australian corporates keen on JVs in China, but barriers remain - 21 Sep

A new PwC survey has found that 70 per cent of major Australian companies are planning to enter new joint ventures or strategic alliances to drive growth from the Chinese market.




m

Regulatory headaches continue for Australian pharma industry - 23 Sep

Regulation, compliance, and price pressure are slowing access to potentially life-saving new medicines, and undermining industry confidence in the current listing process.




m

Australia making progress on carbon, but more work to do - 12 Oct

Australia will need to nearly double its historic rate of decarbonisation, if it is to meet its goal of a 26 percent decrease in carbon emissions.




m

Australia and its Allies Do More With Less - 15 Oct

As global challenges increase, Australia’s defence budget is growing, while the US and most other allies have been decreasing their defence resources.




m

A Positive and Ambitious Govt Response to Financial System Inquiry - 20 Oct

PwC partner and financial services leader Julie Coates said the Federal Government's response to the Financial System Inquiry Report was encouraging.




m

PwC named a 2015 Employer of Choice for Gender Equality - 6 Nov

PwC Australia is pleased to announce it was selected by The Workplace Gender Equality Agency WGEA as one of 90 organisations in Australia as an Employer of Choice in 2015.




m

Aussie Mine 2015 Going for Gold - 10 Nov

In Aussie Mine - Going for Gold, we find that companies holding quality gold assets were the shining lights of 2015 with revenues up by 11% and share of mid-tier revenues growing by 5%.




m

Home and away, Australian CEOs bearish on growth - 16 Nov

Australian CEOs are less confident about domestic growth than their regional peers, and less certain of their ability to capture a return in Asia Pacific markets.




m

Tax Reform key in low growth economy - 17 Nov

Major tax reform is the most sensible lever to pull to combat a projected $48 billion in lost revenue in our new low growth economy.




m

STEM Skills Key to Leveraging Young Workers - 17 Nov

Australia has slipped four places to 17th in OECD rankings for employment of under 25-year-olds with a focus on STEM skills.




m

Violence against women costing Australia $21.7 billion a year - 23 Nov

Violence against women and their children is costing Australia $21.7 billion each year, with Governments carrying more than a third of the cost burden; as shown in the report A high price to pay: the economic case for preventing violence against women.




m

Company Tax Cuts Help The Economy and Real Incomes Grow - 24 Nov

If the company tax rate was reduced from 30 to 25 per cent over the next five years gross domestic product (GDP) would grow $291 billion and income tax revenues would generate $4 billion up to the year 2025, PwC modelling released today shows.




m

Aussie shareholders lose $8bn from unplanned CEO turnover - 26 Nov

Thirty-five of the ASX 200 companies saw a turnover in Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in 2014, almost 35 percent more than the global average, including 8 unplanned succession events which cost $8 billion in foregone shareholder value




m

Innovation Agenda Puts Meat on the Bones of the Rhetoric - 08 Dec

Australia is facing a growth problem, and the best way to spark growth is to create a bedrock for innovation and support businesses to disrupt themselves and take risks.




m

Make or break year for the future prosperity of Australia - 20 Jan

Australian CEOs are less confident about their companies' growth prospects than a year ago, and less optimistic about growth in the global economy, according to a PwC report released today.




m

PwC invests in the tech talent of tomorrow - 01 Feb

Twenty tech entrepreneurs have been chosen for a new accelerator program run by PwC and backed by some of Australia's largest corporates that aims to rapidly scale Australia's most promising science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education initiatives.




m

PwC renews calls for STEM specialists in primary schools - 04 Mar

Providing every primary school in the country with access to at least one specialist science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teacher could be possible if teachers are incentivised to acquire STEM specialisations and collaboration between schools is prioritised.




m

Australia's Slide on Female Economic Empowerment Continues - 07 Mar

Australia has fallen back to pre-2007 performance on female economic empowerment with one of the biggest annual declines among OECD countries according to PwC's annual Women in Work index.




m

Plebiscite could cost Australian economy $525 million - 14 Mar

A standalone plebiscite with a compulsory vote on marriage equality could cost the Australian economy $525 million according to modelling released by PwC Australia today.




m

Banks brace for Fintech fight - 15 Mar

The overwhelming majority of global banks and traditional financial services firms believe part of their business is at risk of being lost to standalone Fintech challengers, according to a PwC report released today.




m

Time for Australian oil and gas players to think bigger - 11 Apr

Australian oil and gas companies will need to think bigger and embrace customers in Asia, rapidly evolve their business models, and become much more responsive to emerging trends, if they are to thrive in a challenging new global marketplace.




m

Boomer businesses blocking next gen's digital ambitions - 12 Apr

Australia's next generation of family business leaders is more confident and better prepared for senior roles than two years ago, but is also experiencing more challenges, both inside the firm and in the wider business landscape.




m

PwC and NAB join forces to help Australian microbusiness - 12 Apr

PwC and NAB have teamed up to help self-employed and microbusiness customers operating in an emerging more flexible economy to manage their GST requirements.




m

The social purpose market in Australia - 28 Apr

Every year Australia spends more than half a trillion dollars on social purpose goods and services directed at health, welfare and education, almost one third of the nation's GDP.




m

A no-frills, responsible budget - 3 May

Modest personal tax cuts, tighter superannuation concessions, and a pathway to lower corporate tax rates make this a responsible if not spectacular budget.




m

Major banks results: cash earnings down but fundamentally still strong - 5 May

Australias four major banks delivered combined cash earnings of $14.9 billion for the first half to March 2016.




m

Singapore FTA takes relationship to new heights - 6 May

An enhanced Singapore-Australia free trade agreement (SAFTA) represents the biggest step-forward in over a decade in our economic relationship with Singapore.




m

Global market for commercial applications of drone technology valued at over US$127bn - 11 May

The emerging global market for business services using drone technology is valued at over US$127 billion with the drone revolution disrupting industries ranging from agriculture to filmmaking.




m

Australia a hotspot for economic crime - 16 May

Australian organisations are experiencing a significantly higher rate of economic crime than the rest of the globe according to a PwC survey released today which finds 52 percent experienced economic crime in the last 24 months compared to the global average of 36 percent.




m

Paul Zahra joins PwC as Global Retail Advisor - 24 May

PwC Australia has recruited former CEO and Managing Director of David Jones Limited, Paul Zahra as Global Retail Advisor to add fuel to its growing retail and consumer practice.




m

STEM agenda alive and kicking - PwC partners with McCarthy Catholic College for Sydney's first P-TECH Pilot - 30 May

PwC has today been announced as the first employer partner for a new Pathways in Technology (P-TECH) style pilot at McCarthy Catholic College, Emu Plains.




m

World's top 40 miners down but not out - 7 June

The world's top 40 mining companies were in a race to the bottom in 2015, with falling market capitalisations and net losses leaving them slower, lower and weaker, according to PwC's Mine 2016 report released today.




m

Who's the fairest of them all? Australian entertainment & media industry needs diversity to grow - 8 June

A lack of diversity in Australia's media and entertainment workforce in terms of ethnicity, gender, age and thinking is dragging on the industry's growth, according to a PwC report released today.




m

Google is making Meet free for everyone

Google today announced that it is making Meet, its video meeting tool for businesses that directly competes with the likes of Zoom, available for free to everyone. Until now, you could participate in a Meet call without being a paying user, but you needed a paid G Suite account to start calls. You won’t be […]




m

Puppet names former Cloud Foundry Foundation executive director Abby Kearns as CTO

Puppet, the Portland-based infrastructure automation company, today announced that it has named former Cloud Foundry Foundation executive director Abby Kearns as its new CTO. Current Puppet CTO Deepak Giridharagopal will remain in his role and focus on R&D and leading new projects, while Kearns will focus on expanding the company’s product portfolio and communicating with […]




m

Microsoft makes it easier to get started with Windows Virtual Desktops

Microsoft today announced a slew of updates to various parts of its Microsoft 365 ecosystem. A lot of these aren’t all that exciting (though that obviously depends on your level of enthusiasm for products like Microsoft Endpoint Manager), but the overall thrust behind this update is to make life easier for the IT admins that […]




m

Microsoft’s Visual Studio Online code editor is now Visual Studio Codespaces and gets a price drop

About a year ago, Microsoft launched Visual Studio Online, its online code editor based on the popular Visual Studio Code project. It’s basically a full code editor and hosted environment that lives in your browser. Today, the company announced that it is changing the name of this service to Visual Studio Codespaces. It’s also dropping […]




m

Microsoft opens registration for its free, online Build 2020 developer conference

Microsoft has now opened registration for the virtual edition of its online-only Build 2020 developer conference, which will take place from May 19 to 20. Typically, the event draws more than 6,000 developers, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, that’s obviously not an option. In contrast to Google, which completely scrapped its I/O developer conference […]




m

Backblaze challenges AWS by making its cloud storage S3 compatible

Backblaze today announced that its B2 Cloud Storage service is now API-compatible with Amazon’s S3 storage service. Backblaze started as an affordable cloud backup service, but over the last few years, the company has also taken its storage expertise and launched the developer-centric B2 Cloud Storage service, which promises to be significantly cheaper than similar […]




m

Nvidia acquires Cumulus Networks

Nvidia today announced its plans to acquire Cumulus Networks, an open-source-centric company that specializes in helping enterprises optimize their data center networking stack. Cumulus offers both its own Linux distribution for network switches, as well as tools for managing network operations. With Cumulus Express, the company also offers a hardware solution in the form of […]




m

AWS launches the $995 Elemental Link for streaming video to its cloud

AWS today announced the launch of the Elemental Link, a small hardware device that makes it easy to connect a live video source to the AWS Elemental Media Live service for broadcast-grade live video processing in the cloud. The $995 Link, which weighs in at less than a pound, is meant to allow Media Live […]




m

IBM and Red Hat expand their telco, edge and AI enterprise offerings

At its Think Digital conference, IBM and Red Hat today announced a number of new services that all center around 5G edge and AI. The fact that the company is focusing on these two areas doesn’t come as a surprise, given that both edge and AI are two of the fastest-growing businesses in enterprise computing. […]




m

Orca Security raises $20M Series A for its multi-cloud security platform

Orca Security, an Israeli cloud security firm that focuses on giving enterprises better visibility into their multi-cloud deployments on AWS, Azure and GCP, today announced that it has raised a $20 million Series A round led by GGV Capital. YL Ventures and Silicon Valley CISO Investments also participated in this round. Together with its seed […]




m

Firefox gets a better password manager

Mozilla today launched version 76 of its Firefox browser, and with that, it’s launching a couple of new features that you’ll likely notice if you’re already using the open-source browser. The highlight of today’s release is the enhanced password manager. Firefox Lockwise, as it is called these days, will now ask you for your device […]




m

GitHub gets a built-in IDE with Codespaces, discussion forums and more

Under different circumstances, GitHub would be hosting its Satellite conference in Paris this week. Like so many other events, GitHub decided to switch Satellite to a virtual event, but that isn’t stopping the Microsoft-owned company from announcing quite a bit of news this week. The highlight of GitHub’s announcement is surely the launch of GitHub […]




m

Google delays Android 11 by a month

Google today announced that it is extending the preview period of Android 11 by about a month. So instead of launching a beta this month, as it had previously planned, it’ll release a fourth developer preview today instead. The first beta will officially launch on June 3, during an Android -centric online event it’ll hold […]




m

Hub Security raises $5M Series A for its cryptography platform

Hub Security, a Tel Aviv-based startup that developed a software and hardware platform for cryptographic operations, today announced that it has raised a $5 million Series A round led by AXA Ventures. Crowdfunding platform OurCrowd also participated in this round. Like most companies at the Series A stage, the company plans to use the investment […]




m

Locatee raises $4M Series A for its workplace analytics platform

Locatee, a Swiss startup that uses existing sensors and IT infrastructures to provide employers and commercial real estate owners with detailed data about how their spaces are utilized, today announced that it has raised a $4 million Series A funding round led by San Francisco-based FYRFLY Venture Partners and Zurich-based Tomahawk VC. “We started the […]




m

Google’s Duo video chat app gets a family mode with doodles and masks

Google today launched an update to its Duo video chat app (which you definitely shouldn’t confuse with Hangouts or Google Meet, Google’s other video, audio and text chat apps). There are plenty of jokes to be made about Google’s plethora of chat options, but Duo is trying to be a bit different from Hangouts and […]




m

WTI crude oil futures prices fell below zero because of low liquidity and limited available storage (4/22/2020)

On Monday, April 20, 2020, New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil front-month futures prices fell below zero dollars per barrel (b)—at one point, trading at -$40.32/b (Figure 1)—and remained below zero for part of the following trading day. Monday marked the first time the price for the WTI futures contract fell below zero since trading began in 1983. Negative prices in commodity markets are very rare, but when they occur they typically indicate high transactions costs and significant infrastructure constraints. In this case, the WTI front-month futures contract was for May 2020 delivery, and the contract was set to expire on April 21, 2020. Unless they have made other arrangements ahead of time, market participants that hold WTI futures contracts to expiration must take physical delivery of WTI crude oil in Cushing, Oklahoma. Typically, most market participants close any futures contracts ahead of expiration through cash settlement in order to avoid taking physical delivery, and only about 1% of contracts are physically settled. The extreme market events of April 20 and April 21 were driven by several factors, including the inability of contract holders to find other market participants to sell the futures contracts. In addition, in this case, the scarcity of available crude oil storage meant several market participants sold their futures contracts at negative prices, in effect paying a counterparty to close out of the contracts. ...