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The year 2016 will be a period in history when we see the changing of the guards. We should be ready for the new administration at the end of next month. And in a parallel world of corporate finance, the listed or public companies in the country shall witness changes in their Independent Directors (IDs) if they start implementing the new rules regarding these officials. In December 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued Memorandum Circular (MC) 9, which, among others, limits the term of the independent directors to a total of 10 years, with two years of a “cooling-off” period between two terms of five consecutive years for listed, public and mutual fund companies. As 2016 is the fifth year of effectivity for the Circular, we should start seeing its implementation in the coming months.

With the conclusion of the 2016 Presidential elections yesterday, will Filipinos’ hopes for lower income taxes finally see light under the new administration? Despite the growing clamor of the public and endorsements of income tax cuts from both houses of the Congress and business groups, the current administration stood firm against these reforms.

Going through audited financial statements nowadays is like reading through a long technical paper. It has become more difficult for management to prepare, more cumbersome for auditors to audit, and more complicated for users to understand for their management and investment decisions.

As a private business owner, growth opportunities present themselves virtually every day. The thing is, not all of these growth opportunities are financially feasible. It’s essential, therefore, to reserve your time and resources for the opportunities that have the greatest chance of propelling your business forward—and to find the right funding partner to make those opportunities a reality. By following these three steps, you have a better chance of achieving just that.

McKinsey & Company, a worldwide management consulting firm that conducts qualitative and quantitative analyses in order to help businesses evaluate management decisions, found that an unhappy customer tells between 9 and 15 people about his or her experience. In fact, 13 percent of unhappy customers tell more than 20 people about their experience. The challenge for us then is: how do you get the pulse of your customers before they tell others about their bad experience? The common method used to measure such pulse is usually the client satisfaction survey (CSS). But how effective are these surveys, especially for professional services firms?

How should a company go about choosing an external auditor? What factors must it consider in deciding whether a CPA would be able to perform a good audit? The answer to these questions depends on the value that management and the other users place on the audited financial statements. Is audit just needed for regulatory compliance and submission to government agencies? Is it obtained because banks and creditors require it? At face value, these maybe the obvious reasons why businesses undergo an audit. However, good governance and best practices on financial management requires for a good audit to be performed as it attests to the fairness of the information contained in the financial statements and disclosures issued by the company.

When bribery and corruption run rampant within governments, they greatly erode our social fabric—negatively impacting such things as the provision of services such as schools, roads and hospitals, standards of living and global climate change efforts. They are estimated to cost the global economy upwards of one trillion dollars per year. Over the last four years, many countries have been working together to build upon those original 1999 commitments and create stronger anti-corruption and anti-bribery regulations—a step that has resulted in phenomenal progress worldwide. While this is definitely something to celebrate, there is still a lot of work to be done. While many large public corporations have taken the necessary steps, many private businesses in the middle market have not turned their attention to this issue, yet. If you’re a private business owner, it’s time to implement anti-corruption and anti-bribery policies in your organization—if you haven’t already. Getting started doesn’t have to cost you big bucks either. Here are some affordable steps you can take to get the ball rolling.

As an employer, do you know that your obligation goes beyond remitting your employees’ (plus the employer’s) statutory contributions to various government agencies such as the Social Security System (SSS), Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) and Home Development and Mutual Fund (HDMF)?