Covid-19: The pandemic impacts people, cash flow and the ability to reforecast, says ACCA’s new research

Organisations large and small, in the public and private sectors, have expressed deep concerns about the impact of Covid-19 on their people, productivity and cashflow, according to ACCA’s new global research among 10,000 finance professionals, including an expert panel of 353 in Pakistan.

Head of ACCA, Pakistan, Sajjeed Aslam, said: ‘Our research shows the most severe impact on businesses is employee productivity being negatively affected, with 56% of respondents saying this is the case. Also 46% of business leaders suggest their organisations are facing significant cash flow problems.

‘Only 31% of businesses have managed to do a financial reforecast, and 39% of these consider a worst-case scenario will be negative revenue growth of 50% or more compared to the previous financial year. With 34% of organisations already freezing recruitment, businesses are looking to gain help from banks and debt providers.’

Sajjeed Aslam revealed the survey’s aim was to explore difficulties faced by organisations of all sizes across the country.

He said: ‘This research aims to understand the business and financial blows to organisations across the country. It is seen through the lens of ACCA Pakistan’s members – finance professionals supporting a wide range of businesses and organisations at this hugely difficult time.

‘The findings gauge the short to medium term implications, while also looking at the measures being undertaken and considered by organisations to mitigate the damage. It also looks at what lessons we can all learn from the pandemic.’

Mr Aslam highlighted crucial advice for firms to follow in these unprecedented times, adding: 

‘ACCA’s recommending that organisations follow the ‘three As’ of crisis planning – Act to respond in a sustainable manner and focus on employees and stakeholders; Analyse the different information sources to secure your organisation; and Anticipate the business impact and future trends.’

Jamie Lyon, the report’s author, explains: ‘Everyone is hurting, but particularly the smaller organisations. Financing and cash flow are concerns to everyone, but even more so for small organisations. For many of us, the ‘face of work’ has changed overnight. In the short term, leaders are facing a very difficult operating environment when it comes to employee productivity and engagement, alongside a number of compounding and wide-ranging challenges - stifled and stalled customer demand, supply chain disruption, people mobility issues, product and service delays or deferments, investment challenges and so on.

 ‘All this is of course translating to the financials being affected because fundamentally all of these blows are interconnected. But what’s heartening to see is many organisations’ commitment to ensuring the health and wellbeing of employees, customers and other stakeholders first and foremost.’

The main findings for Pakistan show:

·       56% - Employee productivity negatively affected
·       46% - Cash flow problems
·       31% - Customers stopped / reduced purchase – customers impacted by the virus
·       37% - Having to defer launch of new products and services
·       23% - Customers stopped / reduced purchases – supply chain disrupted
·       And 69% of organisations have not been able to do a financial reforecast, perhaps due to the fast-evolving scale and duration of the Covid – 19 pandemic alongside the extent of necessary social distancing controls put in place by governments, which have created vast uncertainties for businesses.

Sajjeed Aslam concludes: ‘Overall the data confirms Covid-19 is a huge challenge across all sectors and sizes of business, and regions and countries. The main issue is uncertainty, which affects the ability of organisations to plan properly, to react and to forecast appropriately. While talking of silver linings may be very hard at this time, we need to think about every opportunity, and to consider every option available to keep businesses large and small afloat.’

 
·    ACCA is holding a webinar on the 16 April 2020 to discuss these findings, which will be published in full on the 27 April 2020: http://accamember.newsweaver.co.uk/invitation/1586s9wf53w
·       The survey supporting this research closed on Thursday 26 March 2020.
·       Please refer to ACCA’s Covid-19 Hub, which includes useful resources to help organisations deal with the impacts and implications, including advice for ACCA members in practice and in business, students, and a section on wellbeing.
https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/cam/coronavirus.html

Working from home? Here are some of the best ways the HUAWEI P40 Pro will help

Who would have thought in their wildest imagination that such a day would come when working-from-home would become so mainstream. With the current situation, more than half of the world’s population is under lockdown, giving rise to unprecedented work-from-home scenarios.

Now, working from home may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Some say it makes them lazy, while others feel too cosy at home. Is your home network going to be stable enough or can you stay safe from straying away to the first distraction you see? Or what if your child decides to play games or watch movies on your phone and drains out the battery? These might just be a few of the things that run in your mind when you consider working from home, especially if you are someone who has not worked remotely 100 percent. However, this is just a new setting to get adapted to and one of the tools we tend to rely on the most right now is our smartphone.

Not to worry, because with the HUAWEI P40 Pro’s 5G capabilities, flagship performance and long-lasting battery, you are promised a seamless working from home experience, maybe even improving your performance! Here are some of the ways Huawei’s latest flagship can help.

Ensure a strong and stable connection at all times

One of the most important requirements of working from home is a solid Internet connection that you can rely on to not drop mid-way during a conference call or while you are uploading or downloading heavy files. Your home internet connection might be able to do this, but now that the entire family is at home and everyone is connected to the WiFi, be it for e-learning or even for entertainment, it can potentially slow down your network.

This is where you would need to depend on your mobile network. If you have access to 5G networks, the HUAWEI P40 Pro’s 5G capabilities ensure that you have nothing to worry about. Thanks to its Kirin 990 5G chipset, you are ensured a strong and stable connection that you can rely on for all your office needs, along with strong and efficient performance. The unique architecture of the chipset also enables support for 2G/3G/4G networks as well! Simply hotspot it to your laptop and you are good to go. For using WiFi networks however, the HUAWEI P40 Pro’s Wi-Fi 6 Plus capability for an accelerated network experience comes in handy when working from home or handling multiple tasks together.

A long-lasting battery life for all your needs

This also means you need a smartphone that is capable of lasting long on a single charge as you would be doing a lot more with it. Video conferencing for office work or even with friends and family during social distancing are all battery consuming, which is all the more reason why you need a massive battery on your smartphone that charges up quickly as well. The HUAWEI P40 Pro comes with a massive 4200mAh battery and a 40W HUAWEI SuperCharge, along with support for Huawei’s wireless Supercharge features to charge your phone back up faster than ever.

Keep away from distractions

To further enhance your productivity and reduce distractions, you can use the HUAWEI P40 Pro’s Multi-Screen Collaboration* feature. With a simple tap, you can seamlessly and wirelessly stream your phone’s display on your compatible HUAWEI MateBook laptop. This allows for easy transfer between files with a simple drag and drop, enables you to use smartphone apps on the laptops screen and even allows you to control both devices with the same peripherals as the laptop. You can even pick up calls on your laptop and use the laptop’s speakers and mic.

An app for everything…

If you are looking for a few productivity enhancing apps to help you while working, the HUAWEI P40 Pro also comes with the HUAWEI AppGallery, which has a wide range of global and local apps to help you in every task. Simply open HUAWEI AppGallery, browse to categories and search through the Business and Tools categories to find the apps you need.

Take some time off and record some memories

If you have some free time, you can always take a break and enjoy the HUAWEI P40 Pro’s unique camera features. Thanks to the powerful HUAWEI Ultra Vision Leica Quad Camera setup complete with the HUAWEI Ultra Vision sensor, the largest CMOS sensors in the industry measuring 1/1.28 inches, you can enjoy practicing your photography skills on your kids or pets or even take photos of the entire family huddled up at home or practice some night-time photography thanks to the HUAWEI P40 Pro’s exception low-light photography and videography capabilities. The camera setup also includes a 50MP Ultra Vision Leica Quad Camera, 40MP Ultra-Wide Cine Camera for recording movie 4K quality videos, a 12MP 5x Optical Telephoto Camera and a ToF Camera. This setup, along with AI also paves the way for unique features, such as Audio Zoom to bring audio and video closer while zooming, HUAWEI Golden Snap for perfect snaps of everyone, AI Remove Passerby to remove someone extra from your photo and AI Remove Reflection to remove unwanted reflections.

The current situation does demand a change in the everyday setting, but that does not mean it has to disrupt your everyday functions. With the HUAWEI P40 Pro, you can continue everyday tasks just as before, allowing you to easily adapt to this new environment. Thanks to its 5G capabilities, solid performance, long lasting battery life and productivity enhancing features, the HUAWEI P40 Pro is the perfect tool to help you work better from home.

*Available on certain HUAWEI phones and HUAWEI Matebooks only.

realme X2 Pro Master Edition Wins Red Dot Design Award, the Trendsetting Design Earns Global Recognition

The results of Red Dot Design Award 2020, which has been regarded as “Oscars” in design industry, are officially released. realme X2 Pro, the flagship of the world’s fastest growing smartphone brand realme, became the winner in the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2020. It is the first time that realme wins Red Dot Design Award.

reddot winner 2020: realme X2 Pro Master Edition

The Red Dot Design Award, founded by German Design Council, is the internationally acknowledged global industrial design award with over 60 years history. Moreover, it is also one of the largest-scale, most influential competition and known as the symbol of high-quality design, the work winning the award is considered to be extraordinary. 

Deriving from beauty of life, the great masterpiece with leading craftsmanship

realme X2 Pro Master Edition, which is created by realme and the world-renowned industrial design master Naoto Fukasawa, brings extreme aesthetic experiences.

To literally present the seemingly normal elements and express the beauty of life, Invited Design Director of realme Naoto Fukasawa introduces realme X2 Pro Master Edition (Red Brick & Concrete), which gets inspiration from textures of common building materials in life and adored by many users with its tremendous trendsetting design and exquisite craftsmanship. 

Besides, in order to realize the exceptionally high standards for processing, realme created its custom RP paint and combined it with industry-leading lacquered glass coating technology. After 32 stages of sanding and testing, the final result is a wonderful frosted touch feeling that brings softness to glass. It also uses the laser technology PicoSure to engrave a fretwork logo on frosted glass and a replica of Naoto Fukasawa’s signature with 100% fidelity—where the finest stroke is just 0.09 mm wide. Thus, the most intricate details are displayed in the most brilliant signature. With exquisite craftsmanship and design, this great masterpiece is born, which has been recognized by the top design award.

realme X2 Pro Master Edition: Red Brick

realme X2 Pro Master Edition: Concrete

The pursuit of “Trendsetting Design”, the determination of daring to leap with the young

In 2020, realme will devote itself to building a “Dare to Leap” tech trendsetter brand, breaking the circle, bringing fashionable culture into technology industry and products featuring both “Trendsetting Technology” and “Trendsetting Design” to the young in the world.

At present, realme officially starts to launch the program of “realme Trendsetters” which invites Trendsetter designers, fashionable artists and designers in each area to co-create Tech Trendsetter gadgets together. Moreover, realme has established an internal trendsetting design studio, realme Studio, to assemble top design masters in the industry to bring fashionable and entertaining smartphones and AIoT products to consumers and create Smart Trendsetter Life for the young by integrating with the latest 5G, AI, Imaging and the realme UI with seamless fun.

realme allies with trendsetting masters worldwide to officially establish the “realme Trendsetters” program

realme hopes to co-create the trendsetting future with young people as “Popularizer of Tech Trendsetter Life”, integrates trends with technology and call for the young to break the routines and leap forward together.

Jazz pledges PKR 1.2 billion support towards Covid19 relief efforts

Pakistan's largest digital service provider, Jazz, a VEON group company, has pledged PKR 1.2 billion support towards Covid19 relief. The support will include short to mid-term initiatives aimed to limit the negative impact of the pandemic, primarily for the most vulnerable communities.

As part of this immediate rollout, Jazz will provide support to leading welfare organizations across Pakistan. The initiatives include Covid19 tests, life-saving ventilators, and food rations to be passed on to the ones most affected by the calamity. The relief response also facilitates Jazz customers to direct their charitable donations via SMS and JazzCash. Jazz employees will also be voluntarily contributing up to 3-days salary to the nationwide relief effort.

A significant part of the announced support will be for continuing zero-rated and subsidized services for access to emergency care, medical helplines, and critical health applications, which have been either marked-down or made free for customers under this coronavirus relief effort. Added support will come in through subsidized voice and data bundles and mobile payments. The company has also accelerated the sign-up process for JazzCash mobile wallets so that relief can be provided urgently by donors directly to local community members most impacted by this pandemic.

Aamir Ibrahim, the Jazz CEO, said, "We have been at the forefront of solving every crisis in Pakistan for the past 25 years. The Covid19 is no exception in stepping up our national responsibility. As a digital company, we have a huge role to play in keeping the economy advancing through online connectivity. This global crisis is unprecedented in its scale, and our prayers are with those who are suffering."

Mobile communications, access to high-speed internet, and mobile payments are declared essential services during any crisis. Jazz commits to serving its 61 million customers and anyone in need, nationwide. Aamir added, "It has been our experience that reliance on scientific data, developing a robust, on-ground response, and an active collaboration will lead us out of this crisis. I'm glad that in this time of uncertainty, we are working together with the government, the armed forces, federal and provincial authorities, as they tirelessly contain the spread of Covid19."

Even before Covid19 was declared a pandemic, Jazz began establishing nationwide awareness campaigns that allowed the country to focus on preventive measures from the coronavirus. Amidst the lockdown, the continuity of services remains a priority for Jazz to ensure that Pakistan can stay connected to both work and family.

 

For more information, please visit: https://jazz.com.pk/darna-nahin-bachna-hai

Employment and investment confidence plummets as Pakistan economy fights Covid-19 pandemic

Accountancy experts say economic confidence in Q1 has capitulated as the Pakistani economy struggles to get to grips with the fallout from the Coronavirus.

A national survey of senior accountancy practitioners, who reflect the outlook of a large number of businesses they advise, found that confidence has fallen by more than 5% to -28, a record low for Q1 registered in the 11-year history of the research.

The report Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS), jointly published by ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and IMA^® (Institute of Management Accountants) reveals:

·       Global confidence fell to its lowest level on record with big falls in all regions

·       The global orders index, which tends to be less volatile than confidence, also fell sharply

·       Pakistan employment and investment tumble to record lows

·       Pakistan set to suffer a sharp economic contraction in coming months

Michael Taylor, chief economist at ACCA, revealed there was relatively little divergence in confidence between regions owing to the global nature of the coronavirus economic shock.  

He said: ‘Pakistan economic sentiment is in line with the rest of the world. Confidence fell everywhere and, in most cases, sharply and to the lowest since the survey began in 2009.

‘South Asia, Pakistan in particular, did not show a collapse in confidence in early March. Pakistan was suffering from weak growth prior to the pandemic and will quickly fall into economic contraction.

‘While this survey looks at the economic impact, it is important to remember there is a human cost both now and in the long-term on wellbeing, skills and the risk of redundancy.’

Looking ahead, Michael Taylor concludes: ‘The economic damage in coming months will be huge. But if appropriate policy action is taken, then conditions for recovery will be in place when the COVID-19 health crisis is substantially over.’

GECS Q1 2020 can be found online at: https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/professional-insights/global-economics/GECS_Q1_2020.html

realme, the world's fastest-growing smartphone brand, has been growing steadily and maintains the Top 7 global ranking

There's no doubt that realme has continuously provided us with some great affordable tech, especially in the smartphone department, and as such it's no wonder that realme has continuously proven their growth by maintaining their ranks in the global smartphone market.

According to the analysis of Counterpoint Research Monthly Market Pulse Feb 2020, realme, the world's fastest-growing, youth’s favourite smartphone brand, continuously ranks Top 7 with a market share of 2.7%, maintaining its previous global rankings and proving to be one of the mainstream smartphone brands.

Despite the negative impact on the global smartphone market in February, with global smartphone sales show resilience with a 14% decline, realme has been growing steadily in the global smartphone market thanks to its “Dare to Leap” philosophy, successfully has a place in the global smartphone market. This year, realme will follow the “Smartphone + AIoT” strategy to create smart trendsetting Life for the young.

In 2019, global smartphone shipments of Realme reached 25 million units with a year-on-year growth rate of 808%, ranking first in terms of growth rates among other smartphone brands, making Realme the fastest growing smartphone brand in the world.

By the end of 2019, Realme had operated in 27 countries around the world, including China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Europe, Russia, Australia, Egypt, and others with up to 25 million global users.

Source: Counterpoint Research Monthly Market Pulse Feb 2020

 https://www.counterpointresearch.com/global-smartphone-sales-show-resilience-14-decline/

Pakistani youth’s favored smartphone brand realme has quickly snatched market share from existing players and is fast becoming one of the most sought after brands. Since its entry into the Pakistani market from past one year, realme, has already launched 11 products across different price segments from premium flagships to trendy mid-rangers, all designed particularly for the youth. They are also gearing up for the launch of their latest additions in the classic realme series in the coming month. realme is proving it has planned an even steeper growth trajectory than its parent company through a targeted focus on the youth.

Huawei announces solid business performance and commitment to creating greater value for customers and society

Huawei released its 2019 Annual Report today, detailing a solid business performance. The company's global sales revenue in 2019 rounded off at USD$123 billion, up 19.1% year-on-year; its net profit reached USD$9 billion; and its cash flow from operating activities topped USD$13.1 billion, up 22.4% year-on-year. As part of a long-term, ongoing investment in technological innovation and research, Huawei invested 15.3% of its 2019 revenue – or approximately USD$18.8 billion – back into R&D. Its total R&D spend over the past decade now exceeds USD$85.9 billion.

"2019 was an extraordinary year for Huawei," said Eric Xu, Huawei's Rotating Chairman. "Despite enormous outside pressure, our team forged ahead with a singular focus on creating value for our customers. We worked hard to earn their respect and trust, as well as that of our partners around the globe. Business remains solid."

In 2019, Huawei's carrier business led the commercial rollout of 5G networks. To further commercial adoption and promote new innovation in 5G applications, the company established 5G joint innovation centers together with carriers worldwide. Huawei's RuralStar base station solutions can effectively address coverage problems in remote areas. These solutions are being used in over 50 countries and regions, bringing mobile Internet to more than 40 million people living in remote areas. In 2019, sales revenue from Huawei's carrier business reached USD$42.5 billion, up 3.8% year-on-year.

Huawei's enterprise business continues to support the digital transformation of customers across industries as the company helps lay the foundations for the digital world. Globally, more than 700 cities and 228 Fortune Global 500 companies have chosen Huawei as their digital transformation partner. In 2019, Huawei announced its computing strategy with the aim of cultivating fertile soil for the intelligent world to flourish. As part of this strategy, the company launched the world's fastest AI processor, the Ascend 910, and the AI training cluster Atlas 900. In 2019, sales revenue from Huawei's enterprise business reached USD$12.8 billion, up 8.6% year-on-year.

Huawei's consumer business continues to see robust growth, with a total of 240 million smartphones shipped throughout the year. The company reports further progress in developing the Seamless AI Life ecosystem across all scenarios and devices, including personal computers, tablets, wearables, and smart screens. In 2019, sales revenue from Huawei's consumer business reached USD$66.9 billion, up 34% year-on-year.

"The external environment will only get more complicated going forward," Xu cautioned. "We need to keep enhancing the competitiveness of our products and services, promoting open innovation, and creating greater value for our customers and society at large. This is the only way we can seize the historic opportunities presented by the digital and intelligent transformation of industries, and maintain robust growth in the long run."

All financial statements in the 2019 Annual Report were independently audited by KPMG, an international Big Four accounting firm. To download the 2019 Annual Report, visit www.huawei.com/en/press-events/annual-report/2019.