Remittances make up 10 percent of the Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP), and rose 13.7 percent in 2008 from a year earlier to $16.429 billion. GDP is total cost of all goods and services produced in a country in a year.

But there have been fears that this revenue will dry up in the coming months as jobs disappear in host countries.

The Philippine central bank has already recorded slumps in remittances from the main labor markets, including the US, Italy, Britain, Taiwan, Australia, and South Korea, as well as Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar.

“We’ve never seen anything like this since the government embarked on an overseas employment program. The declines are widespread, on account of the severe and extensive global economic downturn,” said Ernesto Herrera, secretary-general of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and columnist of The Manila Times.

However, the decline in remittances from the major markets had been offset by stimulus spending in others, particularly Canada, Japan and Saudi Arabia, he said.

Remittances from these countries accounted for most of the 4.9-percent rise recorded by the central bank in February from a year earlier, to $1.32 billion, he said.

“Except for the US, it would seem that remittances from countries with aggressive economic stimulus plans remain somewhat robust,” Herrera said.

Saudi Arabia is rolling out new infrastructure, boosting demand for Filipino engineers and construction workers, while Japan is recruiting more foreign workers particularly in shipping, technology and services, he added

Source: Manila Times

Over 70 universities and colleges in the Philippines will be competing against Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University & Assumption University, and Singapore’s National University of Singapore (NUS) & Singapore Management University (SMU).

ICFC is an annual competition of Philippine universities and colleges in the field of finance spearheaded by the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX), a non-stock, non-profit association.

The ICFC aims to benchmark and elevate the standard of finance education in the Philippines. The questions are based on the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Level 1 body of knowledge with topics ranging from ethics, corporate finance to economics.

In preparation for the 10th ICFC, CFA Philippines conducted a professors training for all schools that will join the ICFC and also gave CFA curriculum development packages to 45 universities.

The first competition was held in 1999 with 17 schools from the national capital region participating. It was only last year when a foreign school, Singapore Management University, was invited to participate.

Citibank, CFA Philippines, Asian Institute of Management, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and University of the Philippines are among the supporters of ICFC this year.

Source: Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines—Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said he had given the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs (BoC) until the end of September to submit a final list of underperforming revenue collectors who should be dismissed from service.

Teves, who also heads the Revenue Evaluation Performance Board (RPEB), an interagency body tasked with enforcing penalties and giving rewards under the lateral attrition law, said he recently met with top officials of the BIR and the BoC and directed them to fast-track the ongoing review of their 2007 collection performance to identify the people responsible for their shortfalls last year.

“I told them I needed the results of their respective evaluation on or before Sept. 30,” he said.

Teves’ statement followed the release of an assessment report by the House of Representatives oversight committee headed by Rep. Danilo Suarez that criticized revenue agencies for so far failing to enforce the penalties under the lateral attrition law. Read story

The committee said this could be interpreted as lack of seriousness of the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in fighting corruption and improving the government’s revenue collection.

The lateral attrition law, enacted in 2005, provides for rewards to overperforming employees of the BIR and the BoC and penalties on underperformers. Those who fall short of their goals by at least 7.5 percent are to be dismissed from service, and the others face reassignment.

In 2007, both the BIR and the BoC fell short of their goals. The BIR collected about P711 billion worth of taxes, compared with its target of P765.9 billion. The BoC turned in P213 billion as against its goal of P220.8 billion.

Until now, however, the BIR and the BoC have yet to formally submit lists of people for attrition. The BIR has drafted its list but has not officially given the RPEB names of persons recommended for dismissal.

Inefficiencies in collecting taxes and duties and alleged corruption were blamed for the shortfall of the BIR and the BoC.

The BoC argued earlier that it missed its target last year as a result of unrealized macroeconomic assumptions. For instance, it said, the peso was much stronger than assumed when its goal for 2007 was set.

As a stronger peso makes imported goods cheaper in peso terms, it reduces the base for computing import duties and taxes. The peso was assumed to average 42-45 to the dollar last year but it strengthened to record-highs and breached the 40-per-dollar level.

The BIR blamed its shortfall on low inflation, which adversely affects the collection of value-added tax, and on low interest rates, which led to lower collection of tax on income from bank deposits and debt securities.

Teves said the RPEB would take into account unrealized macroeconomic assumptions and efficiency of collection performance in deciding whether a revenue collector should be penalized or not.

Source: Michelle Remo

The Lib Dems have turned up the heat on PwC, making calls for MPs to haul the firm over the coals for its audit of Northern Rock.

The party’s shadow chancellor Vince Cable and Treasury spokesman Lord Oakeshott criticised the firm, urging ministers to ‘go after’ PwC, and even suggested that the firm should step down as auditors.

Cable pushed for ministers to ‘go after the auditors who failed to spot glaring problems and mounting bad debt,’ on the day Northern Rock released its half-year numbers.

But, in the interim report, the firm has taken a tougher stance with its client.

It warned that there was a ‘material uncertainty’ Northern Rock could continue as a going concern because the bank still needs to secure European Commission approval on its government loans.

Cable added that the government should now ‘go after the former directors who have managed to shift the bank’s losses on to the taxpayer.’

In communications with the City, Northern Rock’s chairman Ron Sandler said former FD Dave Jones was no longer a main board member but is still an employee of the bank.

A Northern Rock spokesperson said: ‘PricewaterhouseCoopers were re-appointed as Northern Rock auditors in May 2008 and as far as we are concerned there is nothing further to say.’
PwC refused to comment citing client confidentiality.

Michael Fallon, a member of the Treasury committee backed the call for PwC to drop its auditor role. ‘I think [PwC] are conflicted,’ he said, referring to the help the firm also gave the bank in selling on its loans.

Source: David Jetuah

The Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases in Bath had £650,000 of losses in 2006/07 but only reported the figure as £40,000. It also had “further significant operating losses” in 2007/08.

Monitor, the independent regulator of NHS foundation trusts, issued an intervention notice after the error came to light following an external audit.

It is now investigating whether the error was made deliberately or was an honest mistake.

The notice of exercise of intervention powers issued by Monitor and an accompanying letter stated that the trust was in “significant breach” of its terms of authorisation.

In particular it was in significant breach of a condition which “imposes upon the trust the general duty to exercise its functions effectively, efficiently and economically”.

It ordered the trust to agree to Monitor reviewing its financial position going forward and appoint accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers to “review and report upon” financial control and commercial management at the trust.

It also called on the trust to “make appropriate arrangements to satisfactorily resolve the chief executive’s position”.

The letter stated that the trust has had financial losses over the period from April 2006 to March 2008, “the full extent of which were not brought to the attention of the trust board or disclosed to Monitor until June 2008, following re-statement of the trust’s accounts by the external auditors”.

It said that without any action, the trust’s liquidity position and cashflow over the next 12 months are “uncertain and subject to significant risk”.

Source: PA News

This was assured by the University of the Cordilleras (UC) through the implementation of a newly developed accountancy curriculum by school year 2007-2008. In preparation, UC-BCF already adopted the International Accounting Standard (IAS) last school year 2005 in lieu of the United States-based accounting standards previously used in accounting curriculums across the country.

Ramsay Colorado, Dean of the thriving accountancy department said the shift is in line with the global competence thrust of UC-BCF. He said the new curriculum was designed to keep UC accounting graduates speed up with international standards, making them competitive on the global stage. He assured that “graduates can work abroad provided they pass the board examination of the country of their choice”.

Dean Colorado was newly elected president of the Association of Certified Public Accountants in Education (ACPAE) Baguio-Benguet Chapter composed of certified public accountants (CPA) teaching in the different colleges and universities in the region

“We are preparing our accounting graduates to practice their craft in the international market, where demand for globally competent accountants remains high”, he said as he cited the increasing CPA Board passers and growing number of accountancy students from 833 last school year to 972 students this year.

Colorado also enhances the leadership potentials of UC accounting graduates to play vital roles in national development by preparing them to occupy key positions in different levels, including the government.

ACPAE according to the UC dean intends to unite accounting practitioners, teachers, and reviewers all over the country. The association has continuously launched various programs aimed at developing both the accounting profession and the accounting curriculum.

Last week, ACPAE members from all over the country met at the UC Training Center for a General Assembly where they discussed “Gray Areas in Accounting,” as part their continuous commitment in improving the quality of accounting in the Philippines.

Source: Manila Bulletin

CICT secretary Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III earlier said in an industry forum that the commission will adopt IBM’s service science management and engineering (or SSME) in developing high-value BPO services.

IBM defines SSME as a multi-disciplinary academic and research approach that integrates more established areas like computer science, operations research, engineering, business and management.

In the context of BPO, the goal is to group together stakeholders such as business and government with the research and academic community.

It isn’t a novel approach — and one that is already pursued by the CICT — but what IBM wants to achieve includes doing research work that would give the industry insights about best practices or what other processes it can deliver as outsourced services.

CICT will also pilot an SSME course designed by IBM and likewise endorse it to other universities. IBM, meanwhile, will be sending academic experts to teach “master classes” in the country.

The concept of SSME was originated by IBM three years ago, and the curriculum saw contribution from a hundred partner universities worldwide, according to Alejandro Melchor III, IBM Philippines governmental programs executive.

“What seems to be emerging is that CICT wants to create scholarship programs around SSME and have enough funding that should be able to make it a prestigious program that allow further research studies overseas,” Melchor said in an interview with INQUIRER.net.

Basically, he said IBM wants to transfer best practices in its research and development or R&D capabilities when it comes to technology, to service-oriented industries like outsourcing. The Philippines is a logical choice for IBM since the US giant runs offshore BPO operations from here.

By adopting SSME, Melchor believes it will help the country cultivate existing advantages over outsourcing rivals India and China. “We have the opportunity to do this now and to do it right,” he said.

Source: Lawrence Casiraya

Established in 2004, Citigroup Business Process Solutions (or Citigroup BPS) is a subsidiary of Singapore-based Citibank Overseas Investment Corp.

The Philippine subsidiary provides support services to Citibank’s overseas operations including consumer banking and wealth management segments.

Citigroup BPS currently employs around 1,200 workers. The company announced a partnership with training school Excel Asia to provide agent-staffing services starting last January.

The company did not disclose specific numbers on how much workers it will need to add, noting that demand varies depending on client projects that come up different parts of the year.

“Since Citigroup BPS caters to almost all products offered by Citibank, both locally and internationally, we regularly deal with significant staffing and hiring requirements,” said Maurice Ryan Bevera, Citigroup BPS sourcing officer.

Bevera said the company partnered with Excel Asia to help meet these requirements the soonest time possible.

Excel Asia provides a free two-week training course for college graduates and other call center applicants. It has around 40 customers that regularly sources agents from its supply of trained would-be agents.

The company also trains “near-hires” subsidized by a government scholarship program. Excel Asia said it endorses an average of 100 trained near-hires every month to its call center customers.

Source: Lawrence Casiraya

At 8.0%, the latest unemployment figure is the highest in nearly two years and compares to 7.4% a year earlier.

“[The] unemployment figures released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) … confirmed the weakening economic fundamentals of April 2008,” University of Asia and the Pacific economist Victor A. Abola said.

Economic growth slowed to 5.2% in the first quarter, blamed on high oil prices and a US slowdown, after having expanded by a three-decade high of 7.2% last year.

Mr. Abola called the 8.0% jobless rate a modest rise, “thanks to more jobs in agriculture,” but said the worse news was that the ranks of the unemployed had increased by 17.5%.

A total of 33.54 million Filipinos were employed as of April, lower than the 33.7 million reported in the same month last year.

“This is not good news but this is hardly unexpected with the slowdown in the economy in the first quarter,” economist Ponciano Intal of De La Salle University said.

The government has vowed to create one million jobs annually but has failed to deliver given funding constraints. With growth slowing, it has resorted to subsidies as a means of cushioning the impact of higher food and fuel prices.

Mr. Abola noted that a drop in the participation rate — the percentage of people actually employed or actively looking for work — to 63.2% from 64.5% “masked an unusually low 0.2% increase in the labor force”.

With jobseekers discouraged about work prospects, he said the economy produced a net 168,000 less jobs in the 12 months to April.

The “main culprit”, he said, was a “disappointing but not unexpected” loss of 261,000 jobs in the industrial sector.

A strong peso took its toll on manufacturing, where 183,000 jobs were lost. Mining, often touted as a sunshine industry, also shed 34,000 jobs.

“Agriculture and services were net positive contributors to job creation, but these provided only an additional 0.3% and 0.1% from year-ago figures [respectively]” Mr. Abola said.

As underemployment rose to 19.8% in April from 18.9% a year ago, De La Salle’s Mr. Intal said “With the rising inflation, it is expected that people would want to work more hours to supplement their income and make up for the rise in the prices of commodities.”

Underemployment is defined as accounting for those people who already have jobs but are looking for more work to augment their incomes.

With respect to the participation rate, Mr. Intal said “Perhaps, from the point of view of the potential worker, there is less expectation of good employment so they opted out of the labor force.”

Firms, meanwhile, are likewise cautious about the future as they are not so keen on hiring new people, Mr. Abola said.

“This is reflected in their preference for longer working hours, as the average working hours per week rose by 5%, even as the number of employed people working less than 40 hours per week was fewer by 15%,” he said.

A positive note, Mr. Abola said, is that the “number of salaried workers increased by 2.8%, as the ranks of the self-employed and unpaid family workers dropped by 6.1% and 5.1%, respectively.”

Source: BusinessWorld

Accenture started operations of the Accenture Customer Care BPO service in the Cebu facility late last month, said Pankaj Vaish, managing director of Accenture Delivery Center Network for BPO.

Vaish and Yogesh Malhotra, senior executive and country lead of Accenture Philippines BPO delivery center, came to Cebu to announce the expansion of the operations of the company’s Cebu facility. The company opened its technology delivery center here in August last year.

Vaish said the new facility could accommodate 500 employees but the company would be willing to expand, depending on the client’s requirement.

Initially, he said, the BPO operations in Cebu would service a UK-based client.

Vaish said its presence in the Philippines had helped Accenture’s operations. He said the Philippines had become a key differentiator for Accenture.

Cebu has over 20 BPOs that employ about 18,000 call center agents, up from only 11 BPOs and 6,000 workers in 2006.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer