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Christmas is just around the corner. This is particularly true in the Philippines where come September, the holiday spirit is very much alive and felt. Months before Christmas, Filipinos start to put up Christmas trees and spruce up their homes with decorations. Malls and retailers add to the excitement by offering big sales that are oftentimes hard to pass up.

As businesses prepare to welcome the last quarter of 2021 with hope and silver linings, COVID-19 pandemic-related uncertainties and challenges persist to evolve and disrupt the balance that businesses are trying to strike. The pandemic did not spare financial accounting and reporting of all corporate entities as well. It has further elevated the use of accounting judgements and estimates due to its fluid nature and limited experience in addressing its financial impact. The COVID-19 pandemic is the first economic crisis since the Philippine Financial Reporting Standard (PFRS) 9, Financial Instruments, was adopted and applied for the first time in 2018. PFRS 9 specifies how an entity should calculate expected credit loss (ECL), the estimated expected cash shortfalls on credit exposures such as receivables and other financial assets.

So much has transpired in the course of almost two years since the pandemic struck. The health crisis took global economies to a tumble and governments struggled to slowly get back on their feet. It’s a dire scenario that has left investors on a standstill, contemplating whether to continue planned investments or wait until things settle in the new normal. All matters considered, their investment woes are based on well-founded facts.

SINCE the beginning, banks have been cryptocurrencies' number one critic. With the support of their big brothers, the central banks, they have launched copious warnings to the investing public about concerns and risks associated with these types of digital assets. Concerns about cryptocurrency range from money laundering, terrorism financing, and fraud to privacy of user information. Furthermore, banks have pointed out that cryptocurrencies have no intrinsic value; hence, cryptocurrency investors should be prepared to lose their investments anytime.

THE disruptions brought by the Covid-19 pandemic have stirred business and global market uncertainties. In the Philippines, the current business outlook is far from rosy. Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) continue to bear the brunt of the effects of the health crisis, grappling to stay afloat amid travel restrictions and new government-imposed lockdowns. Considering the surge of Covid-19 cases nationwide, we can say that the struggle of small businesses to sustain growth is far from over.

Global warming, extreme weather conditions, new emerging diseases, and social inequalities and biases, as well as corporate scandals, bad working conditions, and employee harassment and exploitation are just some of the global issues disrupting the way we live. There’s a worldwide call to radically address these concerns. One of the first industries to respond is the financial sector led by banks, the money makers. How can lenders address these issues – issues that are far from their usual duties of making money?

Upgrading a business through digitalization is no easy feat. If we can recall in our previous article, we’ve established that digital transformation is an effort to improve existing business models by integrating advanced technologies. After learning this simple definition, what exactly can curtail these efforts in the long run? For digital transformation to be successful, it is crucial for business owners to consider all possible challenges brought about by the introduction of new technologies and an unfamiliar culture to the workplace.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic can be considered the greatest challenge that education has faced in modern times, significantly disrupting institutions worldwide and billions of learners of all ages. In response, academic institutions conducted courses online and faculty and staff worked remotely due to safety and travel restrictions. Virtual setups have since become the new norm, from teaching and learning to graduation ceremonies. The dire circumstances have effectively removed face-to-face group learning in all educational levels and changed the online learning landscape.