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There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most disruptive world events of the last century. Its impact is surprisingly greater than that of SARS in 2003, or Ebola in 2014. The effects of our response have been unprecedented. We have seen cultural organizations receive zero visitors, religious institutions shut off mass gatherings, the entertainment industry canceled big events, and educational institutions made hard decisions to carry out online classes.

According to a recent Grant Thornton United Kingdom (UK) report on e-learning, around a quarter of all corporate training in the UK was conducted online. While this has been increasing steadily every year, a large proportion of training has remained face-to-face.

As often associated with the comic book superhero Spiderman is the statement: “With great power comes great responsibility.” In addition to my leadership role as a Partner for Advisory Services and the head of the Knowledge Management Group at P&A Grant Thornton, I am taking on new professional roles with the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) – as chair of the Metro Manila Region (MMR) Council and as national vice president for public practice.

Quoting a famous movie line walang personalan, trabaho lang, the new work-from-home reality proved these two concepts as inseparable — that we can cook, play with our kids, or book a Grab meal while working. This shift has strengthened our resiliency as a people and our culture of being a communal society. In our household, we assign tasks among household members: one takes care of marketing within the budget and chores are rotated among family members. In my case, I have never missed our 8:00 dinner — the same time at which our barangay siren sounds to indicate the start of curfew.

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic continues to worsen, business and government leaders are called upon to establish a systematic response to the public health crisis. The recent Taal volcanic eruption and the current actions of civil society, companies and other organizations to help frontline health workers, security and support personnel show that we can have a united response. These events, however, demonstrate the importance of having and stress-testing the effectiveness of your organization’s business continuity plan (BCP). Do you have one? Is it measuring up against Covid-19?

Last November 7, 2018, I talked on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (or Industry 4.0) and its impact on the accounting and assurance professions, as a guest speaker to the 13th Washington SyCip Lecture of the University of Sto. Tomas Alfredo M. Velayo College of Accountancy.

I lived alone in the UK a little over a decade ago. One Friday the 13th, I craved and cooked nilagang baka in my Ascot flat.

Three Pinoy friends are waiting to catch a jeepney for a ride home. |A jeepney stops in front of them, but only two seats are vacant. What do you think will happen next? They will either give this a miss and wait for the next one, or get on board, with one of them having to sit on another’s lap. Is this a familiar story?