Talent Management: Has the pandemic changed the way you recruit and retain your top business talent? If it has not done so yet, it probably should. Companies are facing unprecedented challenges with their workforce management. From recruitment to development to retention, the world of work is changing fast. Income pressures, working from home and personal wellbeing have been put under the spotlight. Employers and their clients alike will need to adapt and engage with the risks and opportunities that now present themselves. According to one report, one in four workers are considering resigning in the wake of the pandemic. Research for Microsoft suggests that 40% of employees globally are thinking about handing in their notice. The fact is, Covid has fundamentally reworked the rules. Employee expectations have changed, and businesses that fail to grasp this fact risk losing good people, may struggle to recruit, and find themselves without the skills they need in a post-pandemic world. Conversely, employers who recognise change and embrace it may find themselves with a competitive advantage and an inflow of talent. Here are just a few of the ways work has changed in the last 18 months, and what they mean for your talent management strategies: Remote working Most obviously, many employees have got used to working from home. They may not want to do it all the time , and there are business benefits to having employees in the same physical space on at least one or two days a week. But flexible work is here to stay for many organisations, often in ‘hybrid’ form. If you do not offer it, and competitors do, attracting top talent and keeping yours, could be much more difficult. Wellbeing According to the Microsoft study I referenced above, exhaustion and burn out are leading many employees to start contemplating a simpler life. High productivity during the pandemic has masked the fact that many employees feel overwhelmed, isolated and anxious. Businesses need to recognise this fact. Those that heighten their focus on employee wellbeing are likely to reap the rewards of greater loyalty and higher retention rates. A corporate culture that judges performance on the quality of work employees produce, rather than the time they spend at their desks, is likely to win out in the “new normal”. Competition It will not have gone unnoticed by your most valuable employees that a new acceptance of home working means the pool of businesses they could work for has grown exponentially. Quite simply, they no longer have to live within commuting distance of work. While this could threaten the stability of your team, it is also an opportunity. Some of our member firms are already finding that the ability to recruit new staff outside the office catchment has widened. Others like the idea of being able to open smaller regional offices to support hybrid working. Naturally these are new considerations that may enhance your strategies – they will not replace the core motivations of having an employee-centric company culture. Flexible working is certainly part of that, but you might also consider other benefits that employees consider of real value, like continual learning opportunities and enhanced parental leave. Technology The pandemic has proved technology’s worth to the extent that, according to a recent McKinsey survey , Covid has accelerated many businesses’ digital transformation strategies by three or four years. Businesses that do not keep up risk losing talent to those that do, because your employees want those digital tools. They want easier communication and collaboration, and they want automation that takes dull and repetitive “drudge” work away and leaves them free for more creative or challenging tasks. Organisational change As a professional services provider we know you rely on us having the right people in the right places to help you successfully meet business challenges. There is no doubt that for the accountancy profession, accelerating technology adoption provides challenges of its own. Game-changing technology like artificial intelligence, deep data analytics, cloud accounting and, in the future, blockchain technologies, require a new injection of skills and expertise into professional businesses like ours, and talent strategies will need to reflect the changing shape of organisations. Some experts predict that effective professional practices will shift from a traditional hierarchy (pyramid) to a more diamond shape, with a ‘fat middle’ of specialists recruited and developed to manage a wide range of products, processes and technologies, enabling partners and experienced audit and accounting managers to focus on client relationships. This makes for a very different career path compared to traditional rungs of the ladder, and I am already seeing this in our own network as member firms realign their people strategies and business models to best meet the needs of clients. Our collaborative culture Over the 35 years that the UHY network has been operating, our member firms have created a global culture that promotes collaboration between colleagues, regardless of geography. When clients need specialist expertise, or partners need fresh ideas to invigorate their business, our people can call on an international network of colleagues for assistance. Help is only ever a call or email away and this has been critical during the pandemic. I truly believe our collaborative culture makes for a better client service; it also makes UHY member firms better places to work and develop a career. For more information, contact Alan Farrelly, Managing Director, UHY Farrelly Dawe White Limited alanfarrelly@fdw.ie #2021 #BusinessGuide #HR #UHYGlobal

With an IPO in the pipeline, online horticultural supply company iPower turned to UHY for professional and timely support. Lockdowns have seen many of us take to our gardens, lavishing time and money we might otherwise have spent on restaurants and holidays – and in the US the gardening boom has fuelled an already buoyant sector. One beneficiary was iPower, a hydroponics and gardening product supplier based outside Los Angeles, California. iPower supplies nutrients, growing mediums, hydroponic equipment, power-efficient lighting and more, selling through its website and third party e-commerce channels like Amazon, eBay and Walmart. The business sources products from popular brands and has also established inhouse branded products, marketed under the iPower and Simple Deluxe labels. The business has grown since it was founded in 2018, but 2020 was particularly successful, continuing into 2021. Around 75% of sales revenue in 2020 was from Amazon, where the business experienced 87% growth. Sales through Walmart grew by 200% year-on-year during the same period. Against this background, co-founder and CEO Lawrence Tan and his team felt the time was right to push iPower to the next level. “The hydroponic and gardening industry is quite fragmented, and retail outlets tend to be smaller family enterprises in a single location,” says Lawrence. “We intend to take advantage of current market conditions by providing consumers with a one-stop shopping experience where they can satisfy all their horticultural needs and have the products shipped directly to their door.” The business decided that the logical next step was an IPO (Initial Public Offering), and iPower turned to US member firm UHY LLP’s team in Orange County, California, to help prepare the business for public listing. THE IPO AUDIT The right professional support is crucial for the complexity of IPO preparation. For the registration statement businesses need to show financial audit reporting for the last two or three fiscal years based on the size of the business. Public businesses are subject to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations, which means financial reports issued as a private business are usually insufficient for IPO registration. Pre-IPO financial audits need to demonstrate compliance with publicentity accounting principles and meet additional SEC disclosure requirements. Naturally, when iPower was considering an accounting firm to conduct the pre-IPO audit, it looked for one with specific experience of this type of specialist work. The company considered a number of accountancy firms but chose UHY LLP because of its wide experience of auditing mid-market clients for the purposes of IPO. “The expertise that was most valuable to us was the firm’s extensive experience of auditing publicly traded companies,” says Lawrence. Another deciding factor was the trust that had built up between UHY audit principal Crystal Li and iPower’s vice president of finance Alice Wu during discussions around earlier projects. iPower officially launched its listing in the second half of 2020, with the IPO set for the following May. This gave the UHY audit team, led by Michael Burke, audit partner, Crystal Li, audit principal and Yu-ta Chen, audit manager, little room for manouevre. However, they completed the job on time and the financial audit report was issued in November 2020. A QUICK TURNAROUND Lawrence was impressed with the results. “The UHY team completed the initial two-year audit – to be included in the first SEC registration statement filing – within 60 days. They then completed all the filings to help us complete the listing on the NASDAQ stock exchange.” With the help of UHY, iPower became a public company on May 14, 2021, with gross IPO proceeds of USD 16.8 million. The share price rose 15% on the first day of listing. More importantly, Lawrence believes the IPO has created a firm foundation on which to grow the business into the leading hydroponic and gardening equipment supplier in the US. He has no hesitation in recommending UHY to businesses considering their own public listing. “I’m confident in the future and would recommend UHY to other businesses that need a highly professional team,” he says. “We’re happy with everything they did – they’ve set a very high standard for others to follow.” For more information about UHY’s capabilities, email the UHY executive office info@uhy.com  or visit www.uhy.com #LatestTopics #Retail #2021 #CaseStudy #UHYGlobalIssue

As the world goes ever-further digital, cybersecurity services and advice for businesses of every size is becoming more critical. In January 2021 the World Economic Forum published the Global Risks Report, its annually depressing read of things that can and might go wrong with the world. Among the highest likelihood risks of the next ten years were digital power concentration, digital inequality and cybersecurity failure. It is worth remembering that back in 2006 the same report warned that ‘lethal flu, its spread facilitated by global travel patterns and uncontained by insufficient warning mechanisms, would present an acute threat’. So the report is definitely one worth taking seriously. ACCELERATED RISK Research from McKinsey has shown that the Covid-19 crisis accelerated digitalisation in ways nobody could have ever predicted. Consumers have headed online in their droves and companies have responded rapidly. Video has replaced coffee-shop meetings and conferences and cloud accounting solutions have seen a boost. McKinsey found that companies moved 40 times faster than they thought possible before the pandemic to implement remote working solutions. The cybersecurity implications are eyewatering to consider, but cannot be ignored – particularly in light of recent cyberattacks, including one that shut the largest US gas pipeline and jeopardised supplies to major US cities. There is also risk from software bug-related internet outages, like the one from infrastructure provider Fastly that knocked out many of the world’s biggest websites. Incidents like this serve to highlight how increasingly vulnerable we are as digitisation increases. Research from SEO agency Reboot suggests that the Fastly outage could have lost Amazon as much as USD 32million in sales. THREATS IN 2021 The majority of cyber threats this year will fall broadly into three areas, says cybersecurity specialist Norman Comstock, managing director of UHY Consulting, part of UHY Advisors, US. The first is phishing – attempts to obtain sensitive information or data, such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers or other sensitive details by appearing to be a trustworthy entity in a digital communication. Secondly, there is ransomware – a type of malware that employs encryption to hold a company or individual’s information to ransom. And thirdly, business email compromise (BEC) is a cyberattack involving the hacking, spoofing, or impersonation of a business email address. “Ransomware and business email compromise have been increasing over the past few years,” says Norman. “So far this year we are getting four times as many reports from our US customers experiencing significant attacks, and across many industries. The dollar amount of ransom is creeping up too, making it difficult for some businesses to recover control and resume normal operations.” There are multiple risks contributing to the rise in incidents. The advent of ransomware as a ‘service platform’ makes it easy for unskilled bad actors (those with criminal intent) to seek a high return on investment by renting ransomware platforms to target vulnerable companies. “The fact that ransom is being paid emboldens the threat actors to execute more ransomware campaigns,” says Norman. Colonial Pipeline paid USD 4.2million in ransom after significant disruption and concerns for public safety. VULNERABLE SOFTWARE The number and severity of software vulnerabilities is also growing. The challenge is to patch known vulnerabilities, as ransomware platforms are not overly sophisticated. Much of the ransomware relies on poor security hygiene – unpatched vulnerabilities, misconfiguration of software, insecure network protocols, not closing unnecessary networking ports, insecure coding practices, or users failing to recognise phishing attempts. More recently, Norman Comstock says he has seen small banks, law practices, healthcare and manufacturing clients hit with BEC. “Our forensic review revealed that their Microsoft 365 mail had been compromised primarily because multifactor authentication was not configured or inadvertently disabled. Customers using Microsoft 365 mail should review their configuration and turn on multi-factor authentication to reduce BEC risk.” Data and system backups are also worthy of close attention. “Whether backups are done on premises or to the cloud, all companies should verify that their backups are periodically tested to ensure recovery. This will minimise costly exposure and perhaps the need to pay a ransom,” he says. To make matters worse, none of these risks is diminishing. In fact, reports suggest that hackers are getting smarter. EXPERT ADVICE While many accounting firms, consulting firms, and IT vendors offer some aspect of triage to identify security risk, small and mid-sized businesses often do not have dedicated security teams. This means they rely on products and third-parties to help identify risks and implement protective technologies. “What is generally missing or ineffective in this approach,” says Norman “is the personnel, technology and process to detect unexpected network, account, or system activity.” And naturally, the slower the detection the slower the response. But, he adds, “The response should involve investigation, confirmation, communications and corrective actions to disrupt hacking activities. This is critical, as protective controls are fallible and detective controls may be under resourced, leading to undetected and unresolved hacking activity and longer and costlier recovery.” According to Dr Anuraag Guglaani, management consulting partner at UHY James Chartered Accountants, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, who leads the firm’s strategy, transformation, automation and cybersecurity services, “A combination of poor governance through incomplete information security policies, coupled with nonsecurity conscious users who make errors,” are the main reasons for cybersecurity breaches. He says businesses are seeing wide-ranging threats including data theft, financial loss after ransomware attacks, system disruptions that cripple businesses, and reputational risk after news of an attack spreads to the public. In Italy, UHY Audinet Srl partner, Andrea d’Amico, is establishing a wider IT auditing service alongside developing the firm’s own cybersecurity safeguards. “We know that IT security, cybersecurity, IT governance and IT auditing are becoming critical lines of service for our clients,” says Andrea, citing fast-growing technological developments and increasing operational dependency on technology. “We already perform IT audits supporting the internal audit, and offer compliance and risk management, as well as supporting financial statement audits.” Cybersecurity expertise is increasingly available to UHY clients thanks to centres of excellence such as these in the US, UAE and Italy, as well as UHY’s global proactive knowledge sharing infrastructure. This means clients anywhere in the world can benefit from the latest advice, tools and implementations, including the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework, a voluntary framework of standards, guidelines and best practice in managing cybersecurity risk in five key stages – identify, protect, detect, respond and recover. For more information about UHY’s capabilities, email the UHY executive office info@uhy.com  or visit www.uhy.com #Cybersecurity #LatestTopics #2021 #CaseStudy #UHYGlobalIssue #Technology

Expert insight and analysis for world business The 11th edition of UHY Global magazine is now available to read online . UHY Global draws on the knowledge of UHY’s network of member firms to provide insight and expertise for today’s global business community in a thought-provoking, upbeat and engaging read. Topically wide ranging, each feature demonstrates the breadth of expertise of UHY colleagues across the world. Our culture of collaborating across borders means we can offer you joined-up international support in over 100 countries. UHY Global magazine highlights this wide-ranging and diverse experience, exploring the issues and challenges of international business, themes that you may well be grappling with in today’s uncertain world. For example, the regular Perspectives feature this time brings UHY experts together for a roundtable discussion on the future of agile working. Now that the pandemic has flipped the norm of ‘going to the office’ into something much more fluid and uncertain, it has become a big issue for businesses. UHY member firms from the UAE, Poland, Israel, Argentina and the US debate the topic. Other features focusing on the effects of the pandemic look at the new priorities for the countries of Central America to achieve the structural change they need to prosper; the post-Covid challenges facing global supply chains; and whether Covid will turn out to be a catalyst for a more equitable and sustainable globalisation. Issue 11 also includes: Global news updates A profile of Antonis Kassapis who leads UHY’s member firm in Cyprus An appraisal of keeping a global accountancy network resilient A look at the re-emergence of football – and the story of a historic team in Poland A celebration of UHY colleagues around the world serving their clients and communities. UHY Global online also gives you hyperlink access to source reports, additional narrative and direct contact details of UHY contributors – so if you want to find out more about any of our topics, UHY Global online makes it easy. If you prefer an offline read, the print version is downloadable as a PDF . Contact our team with any queries you may have T: +353 42 933 9955 E: info@fdw.ie #2021 #BusinessAdvisory #UHYGlobalIssue

The global economy is waking from its Covid slumber, but what will drive recovery? We suggest three post-pandemic drivers of growth According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development ( OECD ), many national economies will recover to pre-pandemic levels in 2022. Globally, gross domestic product (GDP) will grow 5.8% this year, the OECD forecasts. This is more promising than its previous forecast in December, which predicted GDP growth of 4.2%. While this is good news for the wider economy, businesses will want to know how it translates to their own sector. The global economic outlook may be positive, but the recovery is likely to be uneven. Here, we consider three factors likely to drive the post-pandemic rebound, and what they might mean for different parts of the economy. ONE: Consumer spending This is the big one. In many countries consumers are sitting on large reserves of cash they were unable to spend during lockdown. An unprecedented 6-20% spike in savings rates across China, the US and Western Europe in 2020 suggests that consumers have the disposable income to drive post-pandemic recovery. That is already boosting economies in the Middle East, where oil production is beginning to recover. Many African economies are also starting to rebound . The OECD agrees about the potential for a “rebound of consumption, notably of services.” Leisure, hospitality and retail are clearly the big winners here, but the ripples will be felt through manufacturing, food production, logistics and more. On the downside, the big loser could be international travel and tourism. There is a chance that the consumer boom will have faded before borders are fully unlocked. So how sustainable is a consumer-led recovery in the longer term? Quite simply, we do not know. Consumers around the world are spending money on restaurant meals and cinema tickets as economies open up, to “make up for lost time.” How long this spending spree will last depends on how much the pandemic has altered behaviour. Nervous consumers may want to keep larger savings pots for peace of mind after the pandemic experience. If more people switch to permanent home working, retail and hospitality that serves the daily ebb and flow of commuters may suffer. TWO: tech-led productivity surge One potential driver of growth is the fact that, post-pandemic, we are all a bit more efficient at doing what we do. That is not because of any Covid-induced superpower. It is simply because companies have been forced to adopt new technology and processes during the pandemic that would otherwise have taken years to become fully accepted. We have also noticed across the UHY network that Covid-19 has pushed some client businesses to adopt process innovations that were technologically possible, but largely under-utilised before the crisis. The story is largely about technology, though pandemic home working may also have hastened the decline of inefficient and rigid top-down company hierarchies. The uptake of cloud computing, automation and robotics, among others, has been marked – one study suggested companies digitised many activities 20 to 25 times faster than they had previously even thought possible. Economists have calculated that these innovations could result in 1% labour productivity growth to 2024, leading for example to per capita GDP increases of around USD 1,500 in Spain and USD 3,500 in the US. They say this would be a “stunning outcome” but accept that it depends on these innovations filtering down through entire economies, and not being limited to large ‘superstar’ companies. But regardless of the exact result, many sectors such as ICT, healthcare, construction and retail, seem likely to record the biggest gains. THREE: The green economy Governments around the world have expressed the desire to “build back better” after the pandemic. At the same time, populations have lived through a global crisis, with citizens of wealthier nations experiencing empty supermarket shelves and limitations to freedom for perhaps the first time. Looking ahead, environmentalists hope Covid has brought home the realities of crisis management in a very real way – and consequently a fresh perspective on uncontained climate change. Whether that will prove true is unknown, but governments have responded to the pandemic with a range of fiscal stimuli for green infrastructure projects. In the United States, this faces a long battle to get through Congress, but President Biden’s recent USD 2 trillion stimulus package for the US economy includes significant investment in public transport, clean power and energy-efficient buildings. Around the world, governments from Chile to Canada say they are putting climate action at the heart of post-pandemic ‘build back better’ strategies. There is a caveat: environmentalists argue that many of these announcements mask more damaging actions , like financial support for fossil fuel companies and airlines through the pandemic. But regardless of the environmental outcome, post-pandemic growth seems likely to be driven to some extent by either direct government investment in sustainable infrastructure or preferential treatment (often through tax incentives) for green businesses. Green manufacturers and construction companies stand to gain most here, though the sustainable energy and transport sectors will also benefit significantly. Good advice is crucial In all these sectors, good advice will be crucial for businesses looking to thrive in a changed, post-pandemic world. As part of a global network with vast experience in a wide range of sectors, we can help companies and entrepreneurs find new investment, tap into government support and benefit from tax incentives. Operating in every major economy, our UHY colleagues around the world provide the on-the-ground expertise businesses need when moving into new international markets. For more information, contact Alan Farrelly, Managing Director, UHY Farrelly Dawe White Limited alanfarrelly@fdw.ie #2021 #BusinessGuide #Covid #UHYGlobal

At the start of the pandemic, manufactures and retailers struggled to source the parts and products they needed as the global supply chain ground to a halt. A year later, what lessons have been learned?  When coronavirus spread rapidly around the world in the early months of 2020, the effects on global supply chains were immediate and obvious. Health services quickly ran short of personal protective. equipment (PPE). Supermarket shelves emptied of staple foods such as rice and pasta as consumers rushed to stock up on store cupboard essentials. While these shortages made headlines around the world, behind the scenes manufacturers faced their own supply chain challenges. When China went into lockdown early in the pandemic, many businesses struggled to source the equipment and components they needed. As the crisis spread across the globe, supply chains crumbled. Morito Saito, vice president and director at UHY FAS Ltd, Japan, says that in the early months of the pandemic procurement was a major headache for small and medium-sized businesses in particular. “These businesses could not source the quantity of parts they needed, and they did not know when logistics would recover and parts would be available again, causing great uncertainty. In addition, they did not have the diversified network that could step in and immediately arrange replacements.” In Brazil, too, manufacturers suffered as Chinese workshops shut up shop. Carlos Bernardo Gonçalves, corporate finance partner at UHY Bendoraytes & Cia – Auditores Independentes, Brazil, talks of a perfect storm created by a scarcity of supply and the exchange rate depreciation of the Brazilian real at a time of global uncertainty. “We also had some cases of clients who suffered from the lack of components and raw materials, especially in areas such as clothing and electronics manufacturing, which had China as their largest supplier,” he adds. Around the world, businesses were hit from both sides. As markets shrunk, companies had to fight for every new piece of business, only to see efforts to fulfil hard-won orders hamstrung by malfunctioning supply chains. BACK TO NORMAL? The situation a year later is much improved, at least on the supply side. Despite many northern hemisphere nations having endured a winter wave of Covid-19, PPE shortages are not a pressing concern and supermarkets remain well stocked. Manufacturers in many countries might be struggling, but that is more from a dearth of customers than a scarcity of parts and components. So, is the supply chain crisis over? Is it back to ‘business as usual’ for manufacturers and retailers who have in recent years favoured lean and ‘just in time’ procurement policies? The pre-Covid supply chain was focused on rapid delivery and reducing the costs involved in stockpiling parts and products, but priorities may be shifting. Many experts say it is time for a re-evaluation of our reliance on the kind of complex international supply chains that struggled in the face of a global crisis. According to these voices, Covid should act as a wakeup call for the global procurement sector. They argue that the pandemic has provided an opportunity to redefine best practice in warehousing and logistics and create stronger supply chains that are better able to withstand global shocks. They argue that resilience should replace cost as the primary criteria of a functioning procurement strategy. That is partly because the Covid pandemic is by no means over, and partly because global supply chains were stretched to breaking point even before Covid-19. Global warming is leading to more of the extreme weather events – floods, fires, hurricanes – that make ‘just in time’ delivery harder to guarantee. Then there are geopolitical threats, most recently highlighted by the US-China trade war. Research completed before the pandemic found that companies already expected disruption to production lines for one or two months every three to four years. As the researchers noted, “the fact is that the world has more shocks.” RISKY COST CUTTING Modern supply chains were created for cost and efficiency, not for resilience. But even stock markets may be starting to re-evaluate the idea that the most valuable companies are those that are best at cutting costs. Lutfey Siddiqi, a visiting professor in practice at London School of Economics’ foreign policy think tank LSE IDEAS, believes that the ‘de-globalisation’ associated with the pandemic “has challenged the value of hyper-efficient, super-optimised supply chains… cost cutting is no longer an unequivocal indicator of returns; it may actually signal increased risk and reduced resilience.” In other words, lean and complex supply chains may make companies less attractive to investors in future, because they are inherently vulnerable. But how to make supply chains more resilient? Using digital tools and AI to model the effects of various shocks and diversify supply accordingly is one potential solution. Insisting that suppliers implement disaster recovery planning is another. One idea that has gained considerable support since the start of the pandemic is the ‘onshoring’ of supply chains, which simply means sourcing more parts and materials closer to home. This reduces the risks associated with shipping goods thousands of miles and gives national governments the power to step in and support producers of vital materials who may be struggling. British economist and author Paul Ormerod believes the pandemic has made the idea of domestic procurement more attractive. “The crisis has obviously led to geopolitical connections being reconsidered in a pretty fundamental way,” he says. “The concept of bringing manufacturing back (to the UK) is underpinned by this as well as by the fragility of links which emerged during the crisis.” Is onshoring realistic? Many national governments think revitalised local supply chains can help post-Covid economic recovery. The PPE crisis at the start of the pandemic highlighted the risks of relying on distant producers for vital materials, and at the same time showed that it was possible to create new domestic supply chains almost overnight. Alan Farrelly, UHY Board member and managing director of UHY Farrelly Dawe White Limited, Ireland, says local production of PPE was quickly accelerated as the country’s over-reliance on China became clear. “The fact that Ireland needed to acquire 15 years of average annual supply from China during the first half of 2020 showed the need to become more self-sufficient,” he says. “In the race for supply, quality was compromised, and the fact that alternatives have now been sourced more locally could be the way of the future, for PPE and other vital products or materials. In a short space of time Ireland had to create a new industry, and that will allow the country to become more self-sufficient should the need arise in future.” In the Netherlands, too, there are hints that businesses in some sectors are trying to source parts and components closer to home. “I have heard from Dutch companies in the high-end electronics industry (dominated by low volume and high complexity) that are looking for opportunities to make supply chains more resilient through more regional sourcing,” says Paul Mencke, partner at Govers Accountants/Consultants, Netherlands. In that case, ‘regional’ sourcing would likely mean the EU, though Paul’s own experience is instructive. The pandemic struck just as the Eindhoven office was having the glass roof in its atrium. replaced, forcing a long delay as the Italian supplier stopped work for an extended period of lockdown. AN EVOLVING STORY While shortening supply chains may increase resilience to some extent, no supply chain is invulnerable. There are other issues with local procurement. Morito Saito says that, while Japanese authorities promote domestic procurement by subsidising the purchase of new factories and equipment, in reality local production will struggle to compete with Chinese imports on price. Nevertheless, there is evidence that Japanese businesses are aware of the need to diversify their supplier base. “Some domestic manufacturers have begun to move their supply chains from China to Thailand, as well as Vietnam and Indonesia, and are further strengthening their local procurement and production systems,” Morito says. But he adds that many Southeast Asian countries have some way to go before they can match China’s advanced manufacturing capabilities, and that China will remain the preferred supplier of a wide range of industrial materials and components in the short term. In Brazil, Carlos Bernardo Gonçalves agrees that supply chain management is changing thanks to the pandemic, but through evolution rather than revolution. Sectors that are now considered of national importance – the production of basic medical supplies being one – may benefit from public investment and other stimulus measures to encourage self-sufficiency. In other areas, “companies will start to consider the risk of global pandemics and other shocks in supply chain decision-making, tending to geographically diversify suppliers even if margins are reduced,” he says. Carlos adds that, for business to become more resilient in the long term, investors and stock markets will have to reward organisations for strengthening supply chains without punishing them for increased costs. But change is clearly needed, and the early signs are positive. Manufacturers and retailers are realising that relying on a single supplier on the other side of the world for a vital component or popular product represents a huge business risk. Supply chain shocks are likely to become more common. One positive outcome of Covid-19 would be the widespread re-evaluation of what constitutes best practice in supply chain management. For more information about UHY’s capabilities, email the UHY executive office info@uhy.com  or visit www.uhy.com #Covid #LatestTopics #Manufacturing #Retail #2021 #UHYGlobalIssue

Claims under the VAT Compensation Scheme for eligible Value-Added Tax (VAT) paid during 2020 should be made by Wednesday 30 June. You should familiarise yourself with the scheme and the qualifying criteria before submitting a claim. The Value Added Tax (VAT) Compensation Scheme aims to reduce the VAT burden on charities and to partially compensate for VAT paid by the charity. The scheme applies to VAT paid on expenditure on or after 1 January 2018. VAT paid in years prior to that cannot be claimed. Charities can submit one claim per year, which should relate to VAT paid in the previous year only. Claims can only be submitted between 1 January and 30 June each year. Claims made under this scheme are not dealt with on a first come, first served basis. The fund for the scheme will be capped at €5 million annually. This scheme will be reviewed after three years. Charities are entitled to claim a refund of a proportion of their eligible VAT costs, based on their level of non-public funding. The total amount of claims in each year may exceed the capped amount. If this happens, any refunds due will be paid to charities on a pro-rata basis. Read more on Revenue.ie Sylwia Wills is one of our Audit Team members who has extensive expertise in the charity sector. Contact Sylwia by phone or email if you would like assistance in making a claim. +353 42 933 9955 sylwiawills@fdw.ie #Tax2021 #CharityampNonForProfit #BusinessinIreland #2021 #GrantScheme #TAX

Please be advised that on 29 April 2021, the Government announced an increased level of support for businesses reopening following an easing of public health restrictions. Please be advised that on 29 April 2021, the Government announced an increased level of support for businesses reopening following an easing of public health restrictions. Restart Week: Businesses who qualified for CRSS and who, from 29 April 2021, become eligible to claim a “restart week” payment, can claim double “restart week” payments for a period of two weeks to assist them with the additional costs of reopening. The amount that may be claimed in respect of each “restart week” is subject to the maximum weekly amount payable under the scheme of €5,000. To qualify for the restart week, the following conditions apply: The relevant business must have been subject to restrictions, which required the business to either temporarily close or to significantly reduce its activities, such that the business was eligible to claim an ACTE, for a continuous period of not less than three weeks; The relevant business activity must be recommenced within a reasonable period of the lifting of the restrictions. What is a reasonable period of time will depend on the particular facts and circumstances, but the claim for the restart week should only be made when the business either is about to recommence its activities, or has recommenced those activities. A qualifying business that reopens from 29 April 2021 and which becomes eligible to claim double restart week payments from 29 April or in May or June 2021, should make the claim in the same manner as claiming the normal restart week, with the facility for making a claim being available from 12 May. Our Tax Team can assist you in making your claim. Contact our UHY FDW Care Team and they will arrange a free consultation with our experts. +353 42 933 9955 susanmcgeough@fdw.ie #2021 #BusinessinIreland #Covid #GrantScheme

The Charity Excellence Awards aim to highlight and reward excellence within the charity sector. The categories reflect the full spectrum of those who work within the sector in charities big and small, from trustees to fundraisers, members of the finance team to your corporate partners. The year’s online campaign celebrates the extraordinary achievements of the Irish charity sector through the pandemic. To enter go to the Charities Institute Ireland website and complete the form for the catergory you wish to enter. Discover more about our expertise in the charity sector. +353 42 933 9955 sylwiakrzysztofik@fdw.ie #2021 #CharityampNonForProfit #Events #HR

In these extraordinary times, people have turned their thoughts to their requirements concerning estate planning and making or revising their Wills and ensuring plans are made to pass on wealth to the next generation. Date: June 10, 2021 Time: 10am – 11am Location: Zoom Cost: FREE Book: Online or contact Brenda in Dundalk Chamber to book your free place on +353 42 933 6343 or at brenda@dundalk.ie UHY Farrelly Dawe White are a solutions-focused, Director Led, full service practice and are proud to provide an attentive and personal service to all of our clients; from the large corporates to the individual owner-managed or family-run businesses. We have over 30 years of experience when to comes to assisting our clients with wealth protection and estate planning assistance. We strive to give our valued clients peace of mind when it comes to passing on wealth the next generations and make it a seamless process. Like many of our clients at UHY FDW it would be understandable if you are also concerned about the effect that the Coronavirus pandemic is having on your day to day life. Covid-19 has created a truly unprecedented situation which affects us all. It has prompted us all to consider how we can best provide for those who are here or who will come in the future. In these extraordinary times, people have turned their thoughts to their requirements concerning estate planning and making or revising their Wills and ensuring plans are made to pass on wealth to the next generation. Estate planning is so much more than just creating a will, it is a well thought out and deliberate process. The overall objective is to eliminate uncertainties and financial hardship for you, your family and beneficiaries. It is never too early to begin estate planning and we will always advise our clients to begin the process early and review their assets and affairs regularly, particularly in light of annual tax law changes. There are several lucrative tax reliefs available for both you and your beneficiaries and these should be maximised with forward planning. Brexit has impacted some of these reliefs and it is important that older estate planning advices be reviewed in light of same. While it may appear to be a daunting task, UHY FDW can guide you and your family through the full process and are here to help at every stage. Book your place on our webinar today or contact our experts to discuss any tax matters you wish to . +353 42 933 9955 nialldonnelly@fdw.ie #2021 #Events #TAX

Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, Damien English today, 4 May 2021, launched a new round of the Covid-19 Online Retail Scheme. Under this call €5 million will be made available to help Irish businesses to upgrade their websites and improve their competitiveness in online retail. The Scheme will be administered by Enterprise Ireland and is targeted at Irish-based retailers with a physical store and a pre-existing online presence. The grant can be used to fund fees for service providers to develop and implement a digital strategy supported by in-house training, and to enhance the retailer’s website and related systems. The latest round of the Covid-19 Online Retail Scheme is open to applications from today, 4 May 2021 . Successful applicants will be awarded funding to support a maximum of 80% of the project eligible costs with a maximum grant of €40,000. Outlining the importance of the Scheme, the Minister said, “Over the last year, survival for many Irish retailers has been dependent on having an online presence. It continues to be a top priority for retailers to evolve these channels and take advantage of the new and existing local, national and international opportunities that exist through selling online. As Minister, I am determined to support the ambition to expand beyond the physical shop and this Scheme offers retailers the vital financial support to do just that. It is important for the future of retail here that in-store shopping is complemented by an improved online offering so that innovative local businesses can secure a greater share of the overall online retail spend by Irish consumers.” Typical elements involved in developing a sophisticated and transactional online presence include research, consultancy costs for strategy development, implementation and training. For retailers starting out on the digital journey Enterprise Ireland have put together this Starter Guide outlining the broad range of considerations to be addressed. Find out more from Enterprise Ireland Our Advisory Team can assist you in making an application for this scheme. Contact our UHY FDW Care Team and they will arrange a free consultation with our experts. +353 42 933 9955 susanmcgeough@fdw.ie #2020 #BusinessinIreland #Covid #GrantScheme

Revenue commenced the reconciliation process for the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) and issued reconciliation statements to relevant employers in mid-March 2021. These statements were issued directly to employers’ Revenue Online Service (ROS) inbox instead of by post. The TWSS was in place from March 2020 to August 2020 and was designed to encourage employers impacted by COVID-19  to keep their employees on the payroll. You will only receive a TWSS reconciliation statement if you availed of the TWSS from March to August 2020. These reconciliation statements compare the subsidies Revenue paid to employers against the amounts Revenue calculate the employer was entitled to receive. At the beginning of the subsidy period, in March, April and May 2020, Revenue had to act quickly to pay subsidies out and their software could not be updated as urgently as they required. They therefore paid the maximum subsidy for each employee as a straightforward payment, even though that level of subsidy was not due.  This was a decision taken by Revenue to facilitate payments as fast as possible to all relevant taxpayers, and Revenue were very clear then – and throughout the operation of the TWSS – that the excess of the maximum subsidy paid over the amount due would have to be paid back to them. Employers must now compare the reconciliation statement against their payroll records to determine whether the amounts demanded by Revenue are correct. Employers will have until 30th June 2021 to: Accept the reconciliation calculation issued by Revenue, Make corrections to employees’ payslips if necessary, or Query any discrepancies with Revenue through MyEnquiries Once an employer accepts the reconciliation calculation a Statement of Account will be sent to their ROS inbox. Employers must then pay any additional amount owed to Revenue or they will be refunded any additional amount owed by Revenue to them. Please note that on 1st July 2021, Revenue will deem the reconciliation statement to be due and payable, and it will not be possible to raise any queries with Revenue on the amounts demanded.  It is therefore very important that you fully check the reconciliation and raise your queries well in advance of 30th June 2021. Any amounts due back to Revenue of €500 or less will be deemed to be balanced by Revenue and are not payable to them. Debt Warehousing or Phased Payment Arrangements may be available to assist with payment of any amounts due to Revenue. The payroll team in UHY Farrelly Dawe White are available to assist employers with reviewing the reconciliation or resolving any queries arising.  If you require further information please email payroll@fdw.ie Contact a member of our team today. +353 42 933 9955 info@fdw.ie Jane Jackson janejackson@fdw.ie #2020 #BusinessinIreland #GrantScheme #Payroll