Are we ready? COVID-19 Reopening woes and the new realities it brings

Ontario is cautiously moving ahead with plans to reopen the economy. 

Certainly, there have been snags along the way. Patrons of a park in Toronto were not social distancing. Also, a nail salon in the city of Kingston caused a spike in cases. But despite these issues, one can look to the neighbour to the South and realize that things can be much challenging. 

According to CNBC:

"Governors in Washington, California, Florida and Texas are walking back some of their reopening plans as coronavirus cases rise in more than 30 states across the U.S., according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University"

This is not surprising given the rise in COVID-19 cases with CNBC reporting an increase of "5% over the previous week in 37 states across the country". 

With that in mind, there are some lessons we can learn a few things when considering the challenges or re-opening as the pandemic continues to spread in society (without a vaccine or cure). Specifically, the Wall Street Journal reported on how the re-openings - albeit semi-temporarily - unfolded in Texas. Based on this article, they noted the following:

• Pandemic screening: Entering and exiting office buildings will not be as easy as it used to be. There will be some measures implemented to ensure that sick people don't make it into the office. For example, buildings will check people's temperature as they enter the building. 
• Best laid plans can go awry: Companies are using all types of means to determine whether people should go back to the office. Dell,  for example,  has "built its own digital tool to analyze more than a dozen data points, such as local cases and hospitalizations, to guide its decision". However, the pandemic, like many business continuity risks, expose the things in the process we take for granted. Consequently, caution is best when trying to going back to "semi-normal".  For example, some offices were shut down after re-opening for two weeks because someone had got COVID-19. 
• Waiting for an elevator a non-trivial dilemma: Who would have thought that elevators would pose to be a dilemma during a pandemic? Getting in a closed space is a problem. But also forcing people to wait for an elevator is a problem. Will workers "socially distance" while waiting or will they fill the time waiting with impromptu meetings with colleagues? 
• Public transport or carpooling is now a high-risk activity: The article points out that a company had sufficient parking spots for only a third of its employees. That is, they assumed others were not going to drive. But parking is not the only issue. Many of us who use public transit, use that time on the train to catch up on emails or get that deliverable out there. Consequently, stuck behind the steering wheel is not only stressful but also lost productivity.

What does this mean? 

Working from home is the new normal. And companies have made it work. For example, Aniket Sanyal, an engineer from Halliburton was able to drill oil wells around the world from the comfort of his own home. What did he need? In his own words: “I just needed a good internet connection”. Other jobs, whether it's balancing a trial balance or sending documents to the client, are a lot less complex. They can be easily accommodated in the world of cloud and conference calls. 

According to Jennifer Davis, senior vice president of global communications from Dell: “We are predicting within our company and, frankly, more broadly, that the future of work looks different and that more people will stay home permanently". The article also notes that "only 50% of its workers will ever go back to an office, even when the crisis passes". In other words, working from home is now the new normal. Think about it. Would anyone risk getting COVID-19 waiting for an elevator when they could avoid such a risk by working from home? 

Consequently, the pandemic and the risks it brings makes us re-evaluate whether we need to be onsite or whether we just need a good internet connection.  

Author: Malik Datardina, CPA, CA, CISA. Malik works at Auvenir as a GRC Strategist that is working to transform the engagement experience for accounting firms and their clients. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent UWCISA, UW, Auvenir (or its affiliates), CPA Canada or anyone else.

COVID-19 & Accounting firms: Will only the agile survive?

The impact of COVID-19 is impacting everyone, including accountants. As discussed in the last post, the crisis has made video calling normal to the point that people are experiencing fatigue. It speaks one of the adjustments people have had to make due to the "new normal"

But what is the wider impact on the profession? How are firms handling the COVID-19 Crisis?

Accounting Today published a survey, "The accounting profession and the coronavirus: The crisis in number" that gives some data as to where the accounting firms are at.

Economic Impacts: Bad News and the Good News

Not surprisingly, nearly three-quarters of the firms surveyed, felt that the pandemic was going to reduce their revenues. In terms of magnitude, 37% of those surveyed are predicting a 10%+ loss in earnings. The good news, however, is that most had not let staff go. Only 7% had laid off staff, while 4% were planning to do so.

The other interesting find is that the most popular service to come about due to this crisis was CARES Act Consulting, with 73% offering this service. The next closest was business continuity consulting at 36%. 

There were also some interesting finds around the tech front. 

• Working Remote: Over 60% of firms had challenges with closing their offices, with nearly half of those having some challenges with the "online approach". The survey found that only 10% had no remote capabilities. See the graphic below for more details
• Closing offices: Closely related to the previous result, only 13% fully shut down their office. The survey did not reveal why this was the case.  But if you can't work remotely, what other choice do you have? 
• Communications: Although more than half used traditional means of communication, 33%were looking at new forms of communication. 

https://www.accountingtoday.com/list/the-accounting-profession-and-the-coronavirus-the-crisis-in-numbers

CPA firms provide COVID-19 services free of charge
Many small businesses have been drastically impacted by the coronavirus shutdown. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, "about 20% of them had enough cash saved to operate normally for only two months if their revenue were to dry up. Among less financially secure companies, only 10% could operate normally on savings alone for two months". The survey found that 1/3rd of CPA firms are stepping up to help by not charging for COVID-19 related services. 

Agility in time of uncertainty

Virtual firms, like Live.ca, seem to have been well prepared for this pandemic. With no offices to speak of, the firm was online from day one. The firm was featured on this CPA Canada promotional video:

Being agile in times of adversity is key to success. Understandably, tech can be daunting for small firms. However, it is also daunting for small businesses. Consequently, the tech-savvy CPA firms are able to offer consulting services like business continuity planning. But before getting there, firms need to ensure that they have the underlying capabilities to be agile. For example, if the firm has limited capability to service clients remotely it not only reduces the ability to service clients but also prevents the firm from being viewed as adaptive by current and prospective clients.

That being said, it's a matter of will. With nearly three-quarters of the firms already offering CARES Consulting, just shows how agile firms can be when the mindset is there.

Author: Malik Datardina, CPA, CA, CISA. Malik works at Auvenir as a GRC Strategist that is working to transform the engagement experience for accounting firms and their clients. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent UWCISA, UW, Auvenir (or its affiliates), CPA Canada or anyone else

How can blockchain help us deal with the COVID-19 pandemic?

One of the post-peak challenges, we will face with COVID-19 is to determine who is immune and who is not. Assuming that people can get immunity (and there are reasons to believe that this may not be the case), there needs to be a way to determine who is capable of being in "high contact" area.

In other words, how do we verify that you have the COVID-19 anti-bodies that would enable you to work at a restaurant, grocery store or drive a bus?

Now the infrastructure to deliver this type of testing is still not there. For example, in "Laredo, officials discovered the tests they received were woefully inadequate. The local health department found them to have a reliability of about 20 percent."

Assuming we can get a test that works, then we would need a way to certify that the person has achieved the desired immunity.

Think about how this process could work manually:

1. The walk-in or doctor/lab will process the test.
2. The person waits for the test results.
3. They will then need to produce the results to the government.
4. The government will need to issue some type of official certification. 

There could be an incentive to fake the certification. Well, let's rephrase. That there will be an incentive to doctor these things. Not just to get a job. But also to defy quarantine orders using fake certificates. Consider the people protesting the quarantine that blocked healthcare workers in Michigan:

And so that's where blockchain comes in.

To be a bit more specific, this is the permissioned blockchain (unlike bitcoin which is a public blockchain) that is implemented between trusted parties. As noted in the process described above, there are many parties involved - the doctor, the clinic and the government - all these parties would need to be on-boarded through a KYC process that would give each participant a private key that enables them to "sign" the "digital paperwork" at each phase of the process.

This would then allow "digital immunity certificates" to be issued instantaneously. No need to wait for test results. No need to get an official document from the government.

As it turns out, Vottun is working on some type of "Immunity Passport" that "can be verified at any time using cryptography by any mobile phone that can read a QR code". The company is working in Spain and is in discussion with Dr. Fauci of the CDC.

There are a lot of assumptions on how this could work. But it could be the killer app that helps saves lives.

Author: Malik Datardina, CPA, CA, CISA. Malik works at Auvenir as a GRC Strategist that is working to transform the engagement experience for accounting firms and their clients. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent UWCISA, UW, Auvenir (or its affiliates), CPA Canada or anyone else