Be updated on our latest insights

UNCERTAINTY is mounting for technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) businesses against a turbulent economic and political backdrop, according to the latest research by Grant Thornton.

I still vividly remember my first day as a freshman at the University of the Philippines. It was 6:30 in the morning. I was half an hour early for my Communications I class. With my old, red Jansport backpack serving as my security blanket, I anxiously walked along the empty hallway. After spending the last 12 years of my life in an all-boys school, I did not know how to feel or think about having female classmates in a very large campus. As fate would have it, I was the second student to arrive for class, the first being a petite girl. She was standing outside the classroom when I nervously approached the door. Nobody else was there. Obviously, I kept my distance. However, she did not. She asked me for the time.

Have you ever wondered why you feel so down in the afternoon, maybe even until bedtime, on Sundays? You may be thinking about the activities in the forthcoming work week — an upcoming deadline, seeing another team member whom you don’t work well with, dealing with a demanding client, an uncomfortable working environment, among others. These feelings of anxiety are known as Sunday blues, which can be described as stress in-the-making. If you are experiencing this, you are not alone. In fact, according to a poll conducted by job site Monster, 76 percent of American workers say they get Sunday blues.

THERE is a widow with two teenagers. Several months have passed since her husband died after years of battling an incurable disease, which drained the family’s financial resources.

My wife will be traveling once again. Upon seeing her possible return flight schedules, an interesting, but uninspiring dilemma surfaced: would she take an earlier flight, but will be forced to face Friday night traffic from the airport to our house; or leave a day later to avoid the Friday congestion, but will not be able to spend Saturday with our kids? Such a dilemma, or some other more critical version of it, faces us constantly.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued additional disclosure requirements, especially for publicly listed entities. Reporting on material-related party transactions and sustainability have been added to the list of reporting requirements. These reporting requirements highlight the different stakeholders’ needs for more transparency from listed entities, which might be extended to non-listed entities as shared by SEC Commission Kelvin Lee during his presentation in the recently held Sustainability Forum of P&A Grant Thornton and Financial Executives of the Philippines last October 10.

ABOUT 12 years ago, I took my Certified Public Accountant Licensure Examination (CPALE). The results came out only after a few days. Soon afterward, I immediately faced the decision of choosing the type of accounting practice I would pursue.

Since we were students, we have never stopped attending meetings. In every organization or group we belong to, meetings are a normal occurrence. Especially now that we are part of the workforce, we have either called or been called into one. Every time I look at my calendar in the morning, the happiest times are those when there are no scheduled meetings for the day. On those rare occasions, I have the entire day to face my email—another one of those things that we have too much of in our lives—and tasks.