IN BRIEF

The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has affected businesses of every size in every country, and the United States has been hit particularly hard. Many businesses are facing increasing doubts about their ability to continue as a going concern, and the decisions that surround that determination have an impact on both management and auditors. The authors provide an overview of FASB, PCAOB, and AICPA guidance regarding going concern issues, then discuss how these standards apply to federal programs designed to aid businesses during the pandemic, particularly those created by the CARES Act.

Currently, the United States is in the midst of the worldwide coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which is stretching business and government resources alike. Representational faithfulness and transparency in financial reporting is essential to stakeholder decisions in this environment. The need for proper disclosure of financial condition is critical to the survival of the relevant financial accounting and reporting frameworks, as well as the audit profession.

Prices at the wholesale level accelerated further in April, part of a broader inflation problem persisting through the U.S. economy, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday.

The producer price index, which tracks how much manufacturers get for products at their initial sale, rose 0.5% on the month and 11% from a year ago, a decrease from the record 11.5% in March that was revised upward 0.3 percentage points.

Excluding food, energy and trade services, core PPI rose 0.6% in April and 6.9% from a year ago, the latter a decline from 7.1% last month.

Both monthly increases were exactly in line with Dow Jones estimates. Headline PPI rose 1.6% in March while core was up 0.9%.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (May 24, 2022) — Construction Business Owner, the leading business magazine for contractors, is pleased to announce a free webinar presented in partnership with DivvyPay Inc.

The live, online event, “5 Ways Construction Businesses Can Cut Costs & Improve Cash Flow in 2022,” will take place June 16, 2022, at 1 p.m. CDT and will share how contractors can boost their bottom line by cutting costs, managing expenses and improving cash flow.

VPN provider Surfshark became the latest company to pull its servers from India this week, in response to government attempts to regulate encrypted web traffic.

The new directive by India's top cybersecurity agency, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In), requires VPN, Virtual Private Server (VPS) and cloud service providers to store customers' names, email addresses, IP addresses, know-your-customer records, and financial transactions for a period of five years.

Canadian retailer Le Chateau is making its brick-and-mortar store comeback.

The clothing brand says its latest collection is now online and will be available in 37 Suzy Shier locations across the country later this month.

The retailer says the new concept stores will feature clothing from both brands, with Suzy offering casual, weekend and work attire, while Le Chateau focuses on dresses, footwear and accessories.

The British Business Bank has appointed Louis Taylor as its new chief executive.

Mr Taylor, who will take up the role in October at the UK Government's economic development bank, is currently CEO of UK Export Finance- the Westminster government's export credit agency.

He will takeover from Rhondda-born Catherine Lewis La Torre at the helm of the bank which has a UK-wide lending remit, both debt and equity, to support the growth of SMEs.

Before joining UK Export Finance in 2015, Mr Taylor had a career in banking and corporate finance, most recently with Standard Chartered Bank where he held positions as chief operating officer for group treasury and also as chief executive, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

The excitement is mounting behind the scenes as the confirmed exhibitors for the continent’s leading occupational health and safety (OHS) show continue with their preparations after a two-year gap. The largest trade show organiser in Southern Africa, Specialised Exhibitions announced earlier this year that A-OSH Expo was confirmed to go ahead in 2022.

The expo will take place over three days, from May 31 to June 2, at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg. It is co-located with Securex South Africa and Facilities Management Expo, together with the addition of Firexpo to the Securex show. The ‘one roof, four industries’ together present a 360º view of the built environment.

DALLAS—CBRE is raising its forecasts of hotel performance for 2022 and beyond based on Q1 2022 strength, continued slowing of construction activity, higher inflation, and continued optimism about employment and economic growth.

CBRE’s forecasts call for a full recovery in average daily rate (ADR) in 2022 and in demand and revenue per available room (RevPAR) in 2023.

Despite headwinds from the Omicron COVID variant, Q1 RevPAR reached $72.20, up 61 percent from a year earlier. RevPAR growth was driven by a 39 percent increase in ADR and a 16 percent increase in occupancy.

A greater reliance on technology and digital platforms are commonplace across many industries, including accountancy. The race to adapt processes means that firms seek to become more innovative while staying ahead of their competitors.

But even if your firm isn't at the forefront of digital accounting, can you afford not to encourage those skills? Many businesses struggle to keep up with the rate of change, leading to a 'digital skills gap.'

Wholesale inflation rose 11.2% annually in March, driven largely by an increase in the price of gasoline, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Wednesday.

The increase was the highest on record dating back to 2010. On a monthly basis, the index rose 1.4%, above estimates of a 1.1% gain.

Eskom CEO André de Ruyter has highlighted three key resource advantages that he argues could transform the coal province of Mpumalanga into a global “flagship” of the just energy transition.

In an address to the Mpumalanga Energy Summit, De Ruyter argued that the province’s skilled human resources, its access to grid infrastructure and its solar and wind resources, which were superior to those in most other jurisdictions, even if not the best in the country, placed it in a strong position to transition to renewables.A

Three-dimensional (3D) mapping is a very useful tool, such as for monitoring construction sites, tracking the effects of climate change on ecosystems and verifying the safety of roads and bridges. However, the technology currently used to automate the mapping process is limited, making it a long and costly endeavor.

ACI Worldwide, the global leader in mission-critical, real-time payments software, and NORBr, the leading global payment services distributor platform for digital merchants, and leading payment services marketplace for digital merchants, have announced a partnership. The collaboration allows merchants to connect to ACI’s merchant solutions, including ACI Secure eCommerce, ACI Omni-Commerce and ACI Fraud Management for Merchants.

NORBr connects merchants with certified payments providers, managing and benchmarking all payment services through a single API, for free. The company offers a no-code routing engine to send transactions to the most relevant payment service providers.️

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson sidestepped questions about the U.S. Supreme Court's leak of the draft abortion opinion and picketing of justices’ homes during an interview earlier this week with the Washington Post.

Jackson, who will join the Supreme Court as a justice in its next session, admitted, however, that her guilty pleasure is watching Survivor.

Here are the questions and answers regarding the leak and picketing:

Battery technology pioneer Britishvolt is delighted to receive a strategic investment from Scorpio Group, with both companies aligned on the need to decarbonize the maritime industry.

This marks a significant move in the right direction for society in the “Race to Zero”, with the maritime sector playing its part in the search for new fuels and propulsion systems in the “Wave to Zero”.

Hospitality is just not like other industries when it comes to giving and receiving customer service. This is a business that is built on patience and understanding, as well as an unwillingness to compromise on quality and effort. These elements are the secret sauce that make hospitality so profitable and rewarding, and it’s why hotels thrive when they share a service culture with like-minded partners.

When it comes to technology partnerships, independent hoteliers often lack a safety net when providers fail to deliver on what is promised. That’s why it is essential to choose an innovative company with a solid reputation for trusted service, proven systems, and the ability to adapt to a clients’ needs to support future growth.

Retail sales fell by 11.1% in April from a year ago, more than the 6.1% decline predicted in a Reuters poll.
Industrial production dropped by 2.9% in April from a year ago, in contrast with expectations for a slight increase of 0.4%.
The unemployment rate in China’s 31 largest cities climbed to a new high of 6.7% in April, according to data going back at least to 2018.
Shanghai city announced Sunday that it would start to allow restaurants to reopen gradually, and said Monday the city aimed to resume normal production and life by the middle of June.

State and local governments in the U.S. are relying increasingly on transaction-based taxes rather than income-based taxes to fill their coffers, as they are easy to implement and provide reliable revenue, according to a recent report from tax technology company Vertex.

Specifically, the report said states have come to recognize that, relative to income-based revenue streams, transaction-based levies like sales taxes are less vulnerable to adverse economic cycles, are generally easier to administer and audit due to lacking the many complex provisions of income tax systems, and they're easier to expand by either implementing new or higher rates, which allows easy adaptation to new income streams like digital products. For example, Washington State has proposed legislation that would impose a tax on the sales or exchange of personal data equal to the gross income of the business multiplied by 1.8%.

JW Filshill has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ScottishPower to explore the potential of using green hydrogen and electrification to power its fleet.

The partnership could see over 35 vans and lorries powered by green hydrogen and electrification, and over the course of a year this could save an estimated 1,100 tonnes of CO2.

Green hydrogen is the only zero carbon way of producing hydrogen. Renewable energy is used to provide the electricity needed to power an electrolyser which separates water into oxygen and hydrogen. The hydrogen can then be stored or transported to where it is needed.

Foodservice wholesalers who were negatively affected by the pandemic are beginning to receive support from the Covid-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) despite slow progress.

The scheme, which was set up by the government in March 2021 to help businesses which had missed out on the support provided to the retail and hospitality sector, is administered by local councils.

A Leeds-based construction company is facing a court sentence over the death of a seven-year-old child on one of its sites.

Howard Civil Engineering will be sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on 5 May after a ruling at Barnsley Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

The firm pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching health and safety regulations related to preventing unauthorised access to sites and preventing risk of harm to people beyond its employment.

Conley Thompson, from Barnsley, died in 2015 after falling into a pipe on a construction site and becoming stuck.

Westons Cider has revealed wholesalers and retailers could be missing out on £11.8M of sales by failing to prioritise the country’s most popular crafted cider[1].

Worth £54.1M*, a bottle of Henry Westons Vintage is purchased every second. However, despite huge growth (16.6%) and almost total coverage in supermarkets, distribution in convenience and wholesaler remains far lower, at 76%.

“Henry Westons Vintage is one of our star-performers in retail and the second biggest cider SKU,” notes Holly Chadwick, brand manager for Henry Westons at Westons Cider. “Shoppers are buying into the brand in huge numbers and Henry Westons is more popular than ever.

When building your .NET 6 applications, you might often need to generate API documentation. To do this, you might use Swagger, a toolkit that makes it simple to provide a graphical representation of your API. You can test the API methods within the Swagger UI once the API documentation is available.

If you could use an introduction to Swagger, I provided one in an earlier article. In this article I’ll discuss how we can implement basic authentication in Swagger. To work with the code examples provided in this article, you should have Visual Studio 2022 installed in your system. If you don’t already have a copy, you can download Visual Studio 2022 here.

Luxury giant LVMH is reportedly considering buying Ralph Lauren. 

Citing sources familiar with the matter, news site Axios said on  Tuesday that the two companies have been in discussion over a possible sale over the past few weeks. Insider reached out to LVMH and Ralph Lauren for comment but did not immediately hear back. 

These sources said that brand founder Ralph Lauren, who has been at the helm of the company since he launched it in 1967, and is currently chief creative office and executive chairman, is considering options for his succession plan. 

Today we print in full the 2022 list of the LeicestershireLive Top 200 Companies.

The list has been put together by Linda Hickson, head of the accounting and finance department at the Leicester Castle Business School at De Montfort University and Professor David Rae, the university’s professor of enterprise.

Using freely available data from Companies House it lists the biggest businesses in Leicester and Leicestershire by turnover.

The list this year is sponsored by Pattersons Commercial Law.

Over the past few days BusinessLive – sister website to LeicestershireLive – has been counting down the list, and today we publish the list in full.

Scroll down below for the list, but beforehand here is a brief explainer from Linda Hickson and Professor David Rae said:

Tesla recalled more than 53 000 cars to disable a feature in its so-called Full Self-Driving system that could cause the vehicle to roll through all-way stop intersections without coming to a complete stop.

Tesla has released an over-the-air software update that disables the "rolling stop" feature after discussions with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, according to a recall notice filed online by the agency.

-A report by the Bureau for Economic Research at Stellenbosch University found confidence in SA's hospitality sector fell sharply after many countries imposed strict travel bans when the Omicron variant was identified.
-The drop came when confidence in the SA hospitality industry was actually improving in the third quarter of the year and in anticipation of a good summer tourism season.
-Those hopes and dreams seem to be fading with domestic tourism remaining the only high season hope for the hospitality sector.

Feb 10 (Reuters) - Pressure increased on the Federal Reserve on Thursday to take a stronger stand against inflation after an unexpectedly large jump in U.S. consumer prices defied hopes that the pocketbook squeeze would ease and bolstered the view that the U.S. central bank is behind the curve.

In the hours after a government report showed consumer prices rose at their fastest pace since the early 1980s, traders piled into previously improbable bets that the Fed will start its coming round of rate hikes with a "big bang" 50 basis-point rate hike. One Fed policymaker who just last week said such a move was unnecessary said he had changed his mind. The yield on two-year Treasuries rose the most since June 5, 2009.

A declaration by an accounting firm that it is dropping a client and backing away from prior financial statements is historically a red flag for investors.

The Trump Organisation’s accounting firm said a decade of financial statements for Donald Trump can’t be relied upon and that it won’t do any new work for the company, a development New York Attorney General Letitia James said showed the urgency of her civil fraud investigation.

WASHINGTON -- Wholesale inflation in the United States surged again last month, rising 9.7% from a year earlier in a sign that price pressures remain high at all levels of the economy.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that its producer price index — which measures inflation before it reaches consumers — jumped 1% from December. The year-over-year increase was down from the record 9.8% recorded in both November and December but was well above what economists had been expecting.

The number of administrations in the construction industry dropped to the lowest level for seven months in January.

There were 12 administrations in the first month of 2022, according to data collected by Creditsafe. This was the lowest rate since June 2021, when seven failures were recorded, and reversed the broad trend of a growing number of administrations since the summer.

The total marked a fall from the 20 administrations observed in December, which followed 19 business collapses in November and 23 in October.

Windows 11 can currently be installed on PCs which don’t meet the official system requirements, but Microsoft doesn’t recommend this course of action – and has taken new steps in a preview build to add a further warning against doing so.

To recap, Windows 11 can be run on a system which doesn’t officially support the OS, but Microsoft has previously cautioned about possible ‘damage’ to a system in this scenario, and noted that vital security updates may not be provided to such PCs either – even though said updates are still delivered to these devices.

But now, Microsoft appears to be getting more serious about letting folks know that their PC shouldn’t be running Windows 11 if it’s not up to scratch regarding the OS requirements. Windows Latest spotted that Albacore, a well-known Twitter leaker and reliable source for Microsoft spillage, tweeted about a new reminder which is in testing for Windows 11.

Dive Brief:
PVH, owner of the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands, has tapped Zac Coughlin as its new permanent chief financial officer, effective April 4. 
Coughlin most recently served as the operating and finance chief at DFS Group, a luxury travel retail subsidiary under LVMH Group, and has also served as CFO of Nike's Converse division.
In a press release, PVH CEO Stefan Larsson praised Coughlin's "strong business acumen, operational capabilities and ability to cut through complexity." Coughlin replaces Michael Shaffer, former PVH CFO and chief operating officer, who left the company in September.

Bosses are recommitting to their company offices even as Omicron is extending the remote working trend that has kept many of their workers laboring at home since COVID-19 erupted in early 2020.

In a sign that leaders still put a priority on togetherness, office leasing in Los Angeles County finished the year in positive territory after falling during most of the pandemic.

Manufacturing Global takes a look at the top manufacturing news websites for industry insights, trends, updates and more
Manufacturing Global
An innovative, digital publication, Manufacturing Global is at the forefront of the manufacturing industry bringing business executives up-to-date with the latest news, information and trends from across the industry. 

Bringing readers inside the world of manufacturing, Manufacturing global seeks to inform, engage and interact with leading executives on key trends, technological advances, lean developments, operational excellence and the progression of people and skills throughout the industry.

FEDHASA, the voice of hospitality in South Africa, has welcomed the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa that the National Coronavirus Command Council is reconsidering whether to uphold the current National State of Disaster.

First imposed on 15 March 2020, the National State of Disaster has been renewed since then. It allows the government to impose curfews as well as restrictions on indoor and outdoor gatherings and on the dispensation of alcohol. These restrictions have had a severe adverse effect on the hospitality industry and has led to the closure of many businesses and the loss of many thousands of jobs.

United States sanctions drove Iran into a two-year recession. The economy is now growing, but the upside is limited.

Tehran, Iran – As economists, politicians, and pundits mull the threat of “swift and severe” United States economic sanctions against Russia should the latter invade Ukraine, one country that has long been in Washington’s crosshairs does not have to ponder what such punitive measures can do – Iran.

The ATO has encouraged tax and BAS agents to take advantage of its practitioner lodgment service (PLS) user guide.

In an update this week, the Tax Office flagged the use of the PLS, noting that the online channel enables tax and BAS agents to lodge forms, including tax returns, activity statements and schedules; access services such as client updates and direct debits; and download relevant reports and lists.

“The PLS uses Standard Business Reporting (SBR) to lodge and interact with the ATO. Your software must be SBR-enabled before you can use the service,” the ATO’s statement read.

“This guide supplements the supporting documentation provided with your software. Some features described in the guide may operate differently or be unavailable in some SBR-enabled software packages.”

The Scottish Wholesale Association (SWA) has welcomed the additional £10m of funding  made available to support the wholesale sector on top of the £5m dedicated funding for wholesale announced by the Scottish Government in December.

The announcement made by Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy Kate Forbes explained that £10m is to be made available to support the food and drink wholesale sector as it recovers from the pandemic.

The SWA expects that a new round of the Scottish Food and Drink Wholesale Resilience Fund will go live on Friday. This will be similar to the first fund launched in December when the SWA first secured £5m for the sector.

South Africa needs more power generation to overcome the supply gap and underpin economic growth, and investments by private companies, including mining houses, are essential to close that gap.

Renewable energy projects provide good economic prospects, help to decarbonise the mining sector and ensure its resilience and global competitiveness, while supporting the transformation of mining-dependent communities and supply chains.

Patches released for iOS, iPadOS, macOS and WatchOS

Apple has rolled out new versions of its iOS, iPadOS and macOS operating systems, patching up a major security flaw in Safari across all of its devices.

This bug leaked users' Google data and browsing history that's stored within the browser, so if you're an Apple user, we recommend you update the operating system on your devices immediately.

The updates include iOS 15.3, iPadOS 15.3 and macOS Monterey 12.2, and while they don't add any new features other than "bug fixes and security updates", they're still "recommended for all users".

Uber Eats is thrilled to announce its latest partnership with local business success story Legends Barbershop. In 2021, the barbershop celebrated its 10th year anniversary by opening its 50th store. The brand will officially join over 7000 merchants on the Uber Eats app.

Uber Eats users can now have their favourite Legends Barbershop hair products and accessories delivered to their doorstep in under 45 minutes. Legends launched seven stores on the app across Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town with the plan to expand to other areas in future. The service will be available across the following stores Menlyn (Pretoria), Florida Road and Ballito (Durban), Northriding (Johannesburg North), South Gate (Johannesburg South), Vincent Park (East London), and Long Street (Cape Town).

An increasing number of banks are looking to implement a modern payment hub – with 77 percent of respondents saying that ‘faster adoption of new payment methods’ would be the critical feature required from such a solution

MIAMI & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Almost two-thirds of banks globally (65 percent) say Open APIs that enable access to a broad range of fintechs and consolidation of different payment types are the key drivers behind their plans to modernize payments systems, according to a new global report, Defining and Building the Next Generation Payment Hub, from ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW) and Edgar, Dunn and Company (EDC).

Manufacturing organisations are falling behind in terms of digital adoption, which could be negatively impacting their bottom line, according to new research by GAIN LINE.

The survey asked 1,000 senior managers/directors and those heading up procurement, HR and ops teams at SMEs in ‘traditional’ industries — rail, life sciences, manufacturing, energy and construction — about the use of and attitudes towards digital services/tools within the business.

Radisson Hotel Group is proud to be the world’s first hotel group to make all meetings and events across 400+ hotels in its EMEA portfolio carbon negative. For every event taking place at its participating hotels, Radisson Hotel Group will offset double the carbon footprint, to ensure that every meeting has a positive impact on the environment.

For meetings booked between 18 October 2021 and 31 January 2022 and taking place before 31st March 2022, Carbon Negative. Planet Positive will set a new sustainability standard in the global hospitality industry. The program allows clients to host meetings in a sustainable way by offsetting double the CO2 emissions from meetings and events free of charge to the client, making meetings that take place during this period at participating hotels carbon negative.

THE WORLD Economic Forum (WEF) has agreed that Covid-19 vaccine equity should be a global concern to prevent the further spread of the pandemic and its associated variants.

Meeting the challenge of vaccine equity was the common sentiment shared at the WEF Davos Agenda 2022 yesterday as the global vaccine apartheid continued unfolding.

The recent announcement by the UK’s International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP that negotiations have been launched on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India is welcomed by ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants).

The Department for International Trade (DIT) says an agreement ‘could boost our total trade by up to £28 billion a year by 2035 and increases wages by up to £3 billion across the UK.’

A number of new updates have been added to Unitas’s Plan for Profit website to give retailers even more.
The upgrades to the site for the award-winning initiative were introduced at the end of 2021 and included a planogram layout, a category insights section and a new search facility.

After a turbulent period of adjusting forecasts and changing expectations, 2022 will be a year of reemergence and growth in the construction industry. Rising construction costs and labor shortages persist, challenging the industry to innovate competitive new ideas, while stricter regulations contribute to a reduced margin for error and waste.

Since last year, the COVID-19 pandemic changed how the construction industry does business, from scheduling and closing projects to hiring workers to meeting with clients. Looking forward, many industry trends will be affected by the fallout from the pandemic. New technology continues to change the construction site, improve the ability to win projects, and increase profit margins. Trends and movements are changing the roles of industry professionals and frontline workers.

In only a few days, we will say goodbye to 2021 and welcome a new year: 2022. After the disastrous, pandemic-hit 2020, 2021 was a year of resiliency and fight-back for humanity. Thanks to technological advancements, countries were able to vaccinate people en masse. For the Software Development and IT industry, 2021 was a significant year as expected.
In 2022, there will be an evolutionary Arm Race between the Coronavirus mutation and high-tech-enabled vaccine research. For the Software Development industry, the current digitalization trends will continue with many changes, innovations, and new uses of existing technologies.

Learn how Best Buy is tapping its “deep relationships” for a new in-house media company and how the move will help it diversify the industry and create equitable opportunities.

Best Buy is tapping its “deep relationships” with people who buy consumer technology for a new in-house media company.

Best Buy Ads will help consumers discover new and relevant products, services and offers, the retailer said. “We partner with the brands that matter to you and, based on our deep customer relationships and insights, provide meaningful messages to you at the right times.”

DDoS attacks continue to be an ever-growing threat, and recent quarterly statistics have demonstrated a shocking increase in these attacks. Alarmingly, it is known that only a small number of such attacks are even reported and thus counted in these reports.

DDoS attacks have also evolved in complexity, with a growing number of threat vectors, increasing intensity, shifts in frequency, rising numbers of attackers and a change in the industries targeted.

Leading global lubricant manufacturer Molyslip has installed a new EMCOR Test Rig at its Manchester laboratory. The new equipment will provide a broader analysis of the ability of greases to prevent corrosion in rolling bearings.

The EMCOR grease test rig has been developed for testing lubricating greases on their corrosion inhabiting characteristics in rolling bearings. Tests can be carried out in the presence of either distilled or demineralised water, salt water or synthetic sea water, along with no applied load. It can also be used to test the corrosion inhibiting characteristics of lubricating oils.

What can the hospitality industry expect from metaverse?
The recent announcement of Meta by Facebook along with Microsoft throwing their hat in the ring with Mesh is a clear indication of the virtual immersive experience that is coming to us faster than we anticipated. Maybe The Matrix is not so far in the future. However, even if the metaverse does not live up to the science-fiction dreams, it will become the key to digital experiences and a crucial element of the physical processes.

As countries around the world implemented new restrictions amid the discovery of an alarming new variant of COVID-19, U.S. health officials on Sunday tried to walk a very fine line with their messaging — that we need to take the omicron variant very seriously, but that there’s no reason to panic.

Preliminary evidence suggests the omicron variant is more transmissible than the delta variant, but it remains unclear whether its symptoms are worse, or if vaccines are as effective against it. Knowing more is likely to take two to three weeks of additional data, experts say.

Powerful new cloud-based tools offer a new approach to audit engagements, and clients are clamoring for it. But it can take years to perfect these new strategies — and the firms that haven't started may be falling behind already.

That's the message of Ricardo Trujillo, CPA/CITP, and Tricia Katebini, CPA, who have helped to lead the transition to AI-enhanced audits at GRF CPAs & Advisors.

Prices continue to climb in the United States with October marking another record for wholesale inflation in the world’s largest economy.

The Producer Price Index, which measures the prices businesses fetch for the goods and services they sell – increased 8.6 percent in October from the same period a year ago, the US Department of Labor said on Tuesday.

23 NOV 2021 BY DAVID PRICE

Legal & General has invested a further £5.7m into its modular housing business to fund the business's growth.

Owner Legal & General Homes made the investment by purchasing one new share for £5.7m. A spokesperson said the cash would support the company's "next growth phase", which would involve early land acquisitions and improvements to its modular factory.

The spokesperson added: "Legal & General Modular Homes has schemes in Selby (pictured), Littlestone, Bristol, Broadstairs and North Horsham, bringing its pipeline to 750 homes. From its factory in Sherburn in Elmet, in Yorkshire, Legal & General Modular Homes has ambitions to build its annual housing delivery to 3,000 modular homes a year by 2024, bringing rapid and disruptive change to the construction industry."

You’re sitting across from a robot, staring at a chess board. Finally, you see a move that looks pretty good. You reach out and push your queen forward. Now it’s the robot’s turn. Its computer brain calculates a winning move in a fraction of a second. But when it tries to grab a knight, it knocks down a row of pawns. Game over.

“Robots are klutzes,” says Ken Goldberg. He’s an engineer and artificial intelligence (AI) expert at the University of California, Berkeley. A computer can easily defeat a human grandmaster at the game of chess by coming up with better moves. Yet a robot has trouble picking up an actual chess piece.

South Africa's largest food producer Tiger Brands is close to clinching a deal with a business that is closely aligned to its health and nutrition strategy, it said on Friday, as it reported a decline of 6% in annual earnings.

South West accountancy and wealth management firm Old Mill has announced an ambitious five-year growth plan including an aggressive recruitment campaign that will double staff numbers to more than 600 by 2026.

Old Mill, which currently employs 320 people from its four offices in Chippenham, Exeter, Wells and Yeovil, has undergone a major restructure which brings all aspects of the business together into a single multi-service advisory firm.

The decision to manufacture new uniforms for the South African National Defence Force (Sandf) entirely in South Africa will create much-needed jobs in the textile and clothing industry, says the Textile Federation.

U.S. hotel occupancy dropped to a 25-week low in the week ending Oct. 30, but comparisons to past years indicate that industry performance is not far off pre-pandemic levels.

Weekly occupancy was 58.9%, down from 63.9% the previous week but 94.3% of what it was during the same week in 2019, when Halloween — which always negatively impacts hotel demand — was on a Thursday. The index to 2019 rose from 90.9% the previous week.

WASHINGTON -- If you find the current economy a bit confusing, don’t worry: So does the nation’s top economic official, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

At a highly anticipated news conference Wednesday, Powell said the Fed was sticking by its bedrock economic forecast: COVID-19 will eventually fade, which, in turn, will enable supply chain bottlenecks to unsnarl. More people will return to the workforce, the economy will strengthen and inflation pressures will ease.

Lease accounting requirements for federal agencies were amended and clarified Thursday through the issuance of guidance by the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB).

FASAB issued Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standards (SFFAS) 60, Omnibus Amendments 2021: Leases-Related Topics, as well as Federal Financial Accounting Technical Release (TR) 20, Implementation Guidance for Leases.

SFFAS 60 amends SFFAS 54, Leases, to enhance clarity, rescind certain disclosure requirements, and provide minor technical corrections. TR 20, which includes 96 implementation questions and answers, demonstrates how to apply the requirements of SFFAS 54 in a variety of contexts. TR 20 also provides conforming amendments to existing TRs related to leases.

In developing its CSR programme, Brakes has introduced a new packaging policy as well as a rollout of new energy efficient lighting aimed at minimising the company’s impact on the environment.

The new packaging policy follows the completion of Brakes’ 2ZERO20 black plastics commitment, which saw over a thousand tonnes of hard-to-recycle black plastics removed from its supply chain.

The company finished a rollout of new LED lighting across its UK-wide network of depots in October, which they hope will save about 500 tonnes of carbon. Brakes are now concentrating on developing plans to bring its own alternative energy sources, which it plans to launch shortly.

Dive Brief:
Florida has received an overall 'C' grade for its infrastructure network from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in its 2021 Report Card for Florida’s Infrastructure, released late last week.
That grade means the state's infrastructure is in mediocre condition overall. However, grades vary widely across the 14 categories researched, from a D- for Florida’s dams to a B+ for its solid waste infrastructure. The state's surface transportation is among the highest-performing in the nation, while its dams, levees and schools are in serious need of repair.

Microsoft is looking to speed up the migration to Windows 11 by forcefully installing its suitability checker app on user's machines.

BleepingComputer spotted that the latest Windows 10 update includes a force install for PC Health Check, a tool that evaluates a user's machine to suss out its suitability for upgrading to Windows 11.

The new KB5005463 update doesn't mention PC Health Check in its title, but may upset some users who prefer to stay on Windows 10 until all the initial issues with Microsoft's new software are ironed out.

Eleven years after its founding, Warby Parker last month made its public debut.

The DTC brand, which disrupted the way consumers buy eyewear, helped pave the path for other DTC companies, spurring the phrase "The Warby Parker of X" whenever a new, hot brand entered the scene. Warby Parker, which got its start selling glasses directly to consumers online, has grown its business over the years, from opening its first location in April 2013 to expanding its physical footprint to over 145 stores. 

Zero trust is currently getting a lot of hype in the world of cybersecurity. The concept of “trusting no one” is an easy idea to grasp and has the potential to mitigate the vast range of threats plaguing organizations. However, if the tools, processes and strategies around zero trust network architecture (ZTNA) are not implemented correctly, there can be cracks in cybersecurity defenses. One specific weakness that organizations continue to have to contend with is access creep.

The first Friday in October inaugurates Manufacturing Day (MFG Day), kicking off a month-long series of more than 400 events designed to promote manufacturing careers to students, teachers, parents, job seekers and local community members.  The overarching theme: Creators Wanted in Modern Manufacturing. Mark your calendars and tell your friends and colleagues about this year’s MFG Day as well as the associated Creators Wanted immersive experience.

MCLEAN, Virginia—Hilton announced the latest in a series of technology innovations that enhance the guest experience across the company’s 18 hotel brands, including sharable digital keys. Digital Key Share will allow more than one guest to have access to their room’s Digital Key, which turns the free Hilton Honors app on their smartphones into a room key.

Guest experience has evolved from just loyalty programmes to creating immersive experiences across the entire guest journey.

While hotels are meeting basic lodging needs, today’s consumers want—and expect—much more from each stay. Hoteliers need to turbocharge the guest experience and tune into their needs to drive loyalty and increase repeat business.

In this blog we look at some ways hoteliers can elevate guest experience at every point of the guest journey and keep them coming back for more. Personalisation plays a key part in every step of this journey, as does technology. The more you know, the better the experience you can deliver – if you have the right technology partners by your side.

IN 1977 A string of 12 characters ushered in a new age of global finance. Until then a bank wiring money abroad needed to relay up to ten instructions on public phone lines, which were then typed into forms, taking time and causing errors. Then payments began to be facilitated by a code and secure network created by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT), a club of 500-odd banks. A surge in global trade and investment followed. Last year nearly $140trn was transmitted across borders (161% of global GDP; see chart 1). Analysts reckon about 90% of that went through SWIFT. Its 11,000 members in 200 countries ping each other 42m times a day.

Professional organizations provide great opportunities for networking as well as information and resources that are very vital for career advancement. Whether you have been in the accounting industry for 30 years or you just graduated from college, there are numerous professional organizations that cater for accountants. While some of these organizations require annual membership fees, others are absolutely free to join. In either case, they offer lots of resources and have huge membership. So whether you’re interested in webcasts, mentorship programs, training, or new developments impacting the accounting industry, the following professional accounting organizations would be a great place to start:

Birchall’s ‘Big’ event returned on October 5th for the first time since the pandemic, with over 80 caterers attending.

Attendees had the opportunity to sample festive products from Birchall’s 2021 Christmas offering while enjoying outdoor food vans and pop-up marquees. The five hour event also included seminars on Natasha’s Law, by allergen and nutritional expert, Jacqui McPeake.

Catering manager at Thornton Hall Country Park, Kayleigh Holian, said “Birchall’s tradeshows are always inspiring and educational, but this year’s event was the best yet.

Businesses would have hired even more IT workers — especially developers, cybersecurity staffers, and compliance experts — had they been able to find enough qualified candidates.

The job growth in the US IT industry slowed in September, adding 16,700 positions, according to US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data reported in the latest figures from IT employment consultancy Janco Associates. That’s down from 22,000 positions added in the revised August figures.

US Drive-thru wait times are at their highest in recent history, according to a new study.
Waits have gotten consistently longer each year, but sales are also up.
Long waits don't seem to deter customers.
For more stories go to www.BusinessInsider.co.za.
Fast food sales continue to grow, but new data shows it isn't quite as fast as it once was.

Total wait time in drive-thrus increased nearly 30 seconds since 2020 to 382.39 seconds, or just over six minutes, according to the SeeLevel HX Annual Drive-Thru Study. The numbers show a trend of longer waits over time, based on a study of 1,492 visits to 10 prominent brands.

Waits have steadily increased over the last few years, from 234 seconds in 2018, to 327 seconds in 2019 and 356.8 in 2020, resulting in this year's relatively long waits.

Your brand is perhaps your professional services firm’s most valuable asset. If this is true, then developing a stronger brand is your most important task (that’s why we developed our Brand Building Guide). Not convinced? Consider what a professional services brand is.

Your Brand Defined
A professional services brand is best understood as your firm’s reputation and it’s visibility in the marketplace. The strength of your brand can be measured as Reputation X Visibility.

There is another important dimension of your brand as well: how relevant it is to your target client audience. More about that later.

Smart Factory Expo provides a showcase for the revolution in technology and thinking behind Industry 4.0, with nine content theatres and 10 visitor zones focused on different digital manufacturing sectors. The Manufacturer's James Devonshire gives a sneak peak of what some of the key partners will have in store.

Digital Manufacturing Week (DMW) is returning to its home in Liverpool this year from 8 – 12 November. The highlight of the annual manufacturing events calendar, DMW attracts thousands of manufacturers, industry leaders, and technology providers.

"Stay open if you can because you'll recover faster" is the advice given by Robin Rossmann, managing director at STR at the Fedhasa Inland AGM to hospitality providers which have endured massive losses as a result of Covid. His advice comes as the latest insolvency stats in South Africa indicate an increase of 129.7% in the three months ended July 2021, compared with the three months ended July 2020 - a year-on-year increase of 157.7% according to Statistics South Africa.

Boris Johnson's insistence that higher pay for UK workers is worth the pain of supply chain turmoil is generating buzz among Conservative Party members that he’s planning to raise the minimum wage in a keynote speech on Wednesday.

During his media round on Tuesday, Johnson hinted that it's on his mind, telling Times Radio he will accept the pay commission’s recommendations on the wage floor. The panel is analyzing feedback on a draft proposal to boost the rate workers aged 23 and over by 5.7% to 9.42 pounds (R194) an hour next April.  

Grant Thornton LLP, a leading Canadian accounting and advisory firm providing audit, tax and advisory services to private and public organizations, and Intuit, the leading global technology platform powering QuickBooks, Canada’s leading financial management software, today announced a strategic alliance.

The shortage of HGV drivers is threatening food supplies, but the government has proved reluctant to take action. What is the way ahead?

The Road Haulage Association has called it “worse than Covid” in terms of its potential to impact UK food supply chains.

The crippling shortage of HGV drivers, estimated to be a void of 100,000, is leaving logistics networks unable to meet demand.

Dive Brief:
While it may take years to fully unwind what caused the collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, it appears that there were multiple points of failure, including questionable construction practices, that could have contributed to the tragedy that killed 98 people in June, according to an analysis by The New York Times.
There were several issues that occurred during construction that could have contributed to the building’s collapse, including problems with the concrete coverage in the structural slab on the ground-level deck and with the amount of rebar in the columns in the parking garage, Gregg Schlesinger, a Fort Lauderdale attorney and former construction engineer and general contractor, told Construction Dive.

We feature the best remote desktop software to make it easy to control and access PCs and deploy software remotely. If you're looking for more tools, be sure to check out  our guides to the best video conferencing software and the best online collaboration tools around today. Also take a look at our in-depth feature on everything else you need to set up your home office.

Cloud adoption is at an all-time high, and an overwhelming majority of organizations run at least part of their business in the cloud. A 2020 report from IDG found that only 8% of respondents  claimed their total IT environment was on-premises, meaning that for 92% of companies, part of their infrastructure or applications are hosted in the cloud. 

The benefits of moving data to the cloud are clear: increased flexibility, cost savings, scalability, and self-service capabilities that allow anyone in the organization to access their data from anywhere. But of course, moving all of this data from on-premises, legacy solutions isn’t without its challenges. 

As retailers begin their holiday season hiring sprees, Target has another plan.

The big box retailer said it’s giving five million more hours to current stores team members this holiday shopping season and it’s banking on a new mobile app to help it do so.

Most businesses (83%) are being or expect to be investigated in the next 12 months, according to FTI Consulting’s 2021 Resilience Barometer report. The consulting firm surveyed 2,869 decision-makers in large companies across the G-20 countries.

The top three investigation concerns identified by business leaders are business conduct and the treatment of customers; sustainability and ESG practices; and the company’s relationship with public bodies and government contracts. Approximately 30% of respondents tagged the above areas as leading concerns.

Megger Group and IPS Group have announced that they have reached a definitive agreement to work together as strategic partners, combining both their experience and product lines to create new value for the electrical supply industry. The agreement includes Megger taking an equity stake in IPS.

Hotel Tech Report launched the Official 2022 Guide to Guest Room Tablets and the guide is now available free of charge to the entire hotel community thanks to sponsor SuitePad.

This is a critical time for buyers to be adopting guest room tablets. Guest room tablets help streamline ordering processes and bring guests and hotel staff closer together. Many hotels see significant gains from guest room tablets, including increased hotel outlet sales, guest satisfaction, and hotel reputation. As guest room tablets become a more staple part of the hotel experience, they will heighten the experience of staying in a hotel for guests around the world.

Global financial markets might have a mild ‘taper tantrum’ this week following the Fed’s announcement, but there are bigger issues afoot that could spook them more significantly.

On Friday, the Tax Office issued Taxpayer Alert TA 2021/2, highlighting its concern around Australian residents who attempt to avoid or evade tax on their foreign assessable income by concealing the character of funds repatriated to Australia by disguising them as a gift, or a loan, from a related overseas entity.

The ATO is also concerned that such purported loans may be used to claim deductions for interest that was never incurred.

Cash flow and capital are always tricky for wholesalers making a new investment – especially in the current climate – but Fleximize CEO Peter Tuvey says there are options to consider

Increasingly, contractors and solar installers are being asked to install solar panels on existing metal buildings. Building owners are aware of the cost benefits of a switch to solar power, and pre-engineered metal buildings represent a substantial portion of new U.S. commercial and industrial construction. Additionally, metal buildings tend to have a low roof pitch and significant surface area, which makes them a good place to locate solar panels.

The attorney general for Washington, DC, has expanded an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon to allege that the e-commerce giant locks wholesalers into anti-competitive agreements. AG Karl Racine's initial suit, filed in May, broadly accused Amazon of having too much control over the amount outside vendors can charge for their products.

Higher Education, Science and Innovation minister Blade Nzimande says that his department plans to work closely with the construction industry in the coming years to boost employment in the sector.

Speaking at a construction summit on Wednesday (27 January), the minister said that the collective impact of these and other sectoral interventions aims to bring South Africa back on course towards the targets set in the National Development Plan, which includes, amongst others, aiming to grow the South African economy at a rate of 5.4%.

It's not a call you expect to make on your way to Vegas: "I'm going to be in Nevada this week. Any chance I could get inside your futuristic, airless travel tube to take a look around?" 

The White House’s plan to require companies with 100 or more employees to mandate vaccinations or conduct weekly COVID-19 testing was applauded by many trade and business groups, but a number are seeking more details around the logistics of such a requirement.

Describing the plan as a “colossal undertaking,” The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) said in its statement, “Coordination with industry and all levels of government is essential to avoid a chaotic and counterproductive situation. Further, testing capacity is already stressed and must be scaled immensely to meet the enormous demand that will result from these new requirements.”

To thrive in the post-Covid-era, professional services firms will need to take a dose of its own medicine writes Unit4 Vice President Mark Gibbison – work smarter and adopt a technology-enabled operating model.

The professional services industry will be irrevocably altered by the Covid-19 pandemic. Clients have been sparked into new ways of working and will be looking for services partners to fulfil different needs and behave in unaccustomed ways. They have learned a lot in their year-plus of living differently.

South Africa's private label (PL) sector has continued its upward trajectory despite Covid-19 restrictions and an altered consumer reality driven by the pandemic.

A NielsenIQ analysis shows that the PL sector now commands 24.3% of total basket* value sales in South Africa which equates to R71bn in annual sales (12-months to end May 2021). This served to cement PL’s growth path from 2019, when its share of sales was 22.8% which rose to 23% by May 2020 and 24.6% by May 2021.

Images have been revealed for the Zanzibar Domino Commercial Tower that will reportedly become the second tallest tower in Africa and the biggest hotel in East and Central Africa after the Iconic Tower in Egypt. Expected to cost $1.3bn, the commercial tower will be situated on a human-made island off the west coast of Tanzania's Zanzibar archipelago.

The world today is different to the inflation-wracked 1970s and as a result the Federal Reserve remains well placed to respond to evolving price pressures, said Catherine Mann, the newly-appointed Bank of England policy maker who was a former chief economist at Citigroup Inc.

“History is an important guide,” Mann told an Australian National University conference Monday by video, responding to a question on the similarities between the 1970s and today and whether the Fed should respond to the latest 5.4% surge in inflation.

IN BRIEF

The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has affected businesses of every size in every country, and the United States has been hit particularly hard. Many businesses are facing increasing doubts about their ability to continue as a going concern, and the decisions that surround that determination have an impact on both management and auditors. The authors provide an overview of FASB, PCAOB, and AICPA guidance regarding going concern issues, then discuss how these standards apply to federal programs designed to aid businesses during the pandemic, particularly those created by the CARES Act.

Thomas Ridley customers will receive help to comply with Natasha’s Law, thanks to a new labelling solution.
The foodservice wholesaler has created a bespoke service that allows customers to select the ingredients they use in a particular recipe and the system will do the rest – generating a label showing all the ingredients and highlighting the allergens in bold capitals.

A new “safety culture” programme has been rolled out at a Network Rail team where racial tensions were found to have contributed to a site collision, Construction News can reveal.

As reported on CN last year, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) found a “culture of racial prejudice among members of staff at various levels of the workforce towards contractors supplied by labour agencies” as it looked into an accident where a mobile elevating work platform collided with a stationary machine on which two people were installing overhead line equipment.

Google has committed $10 billion over the next five years to “advance cybersecurity” by fixing some of the key problems with open-source and offering more training.

The announcement follows Google’s participation in President Biden’s White House Cyber Security Meeting this week. Leading tech executives including Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai put their heads together following an increasing prevalence and seriousness of cyberattacks.

The Save Mart Companies is moving to unlock new revenue opportunities and increased digital experiences for its customers across all 202 stores, under the banners of Save Mart, Lucky California, and FoodMaxx.

It will leverage the Swiftly platform across its banners, connecting digital and in-store shopping experiences, and providing a seamless customer experience throughout the buying journey. In addition, the retailer will benefit from new ad revenue, closed-loop reporting with measurable SKU-level transactions and ad clicks to provide accurate, actionable insights unavailable anywhere else.

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Independent research firm Verdantix has released its annual global survey of 302 EHS decision-makers with direct responsibility for corporate-wide EHS management strategies and initiatives. The interviewees – EHS directors, senior managers, and managers from firms with revenues of at least $250 million – predict an increase in spend across all EHS services. High priorities for 2021 are EHS performance management (46% of respondents), sustainability management (23%), and EHS training (21%).

Golden Cannoli Shells Co., Inc. is a baked goods manufacturer in the Boston suburb of Chelsea, Mass.

Recently, the maker of cannolis reached a settlement with the state over four citations issued by the Attorney General.

How to manage revenue in a pent-up demand era?
Considering the unprecedented global travel disruption and performance declines we've endured; hoteliers finally have something to look forward to. The world has spent the last 18 months dreaming about travel, but not actually going anywhere. Increasing vaccination rates combined with relaxed travel restrictions are bringing travel back… with a vengeance. Most agree that the worst is behind us.

But so far, this pent-up demand or "revenge" travel is different. Driven almost entirely by domestic leisure demand, the patterns have changed. Some premium locations are already exceeding 2019 pre-COVID levels, while hotels just a few blocks away are still struggling. Hotels that targeted the corporate, international, or group segments are reinventing themselves, with mixed success.

Japan rebounded faster than expected from its pandemic-driven slump in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics.

Official figures show the world's third-largest economy grew at twice the rate forecast in April to June.

But analysts have warned growth will be modest this quarter after a state of emergency was reimposed to ease a spike in Covid-19 infections.

IN BRIEF

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted life around the world, but business, in altered fashion, goes on. Companies will have to report on their operations, financial condition, and cash flows during this crisis, and those reports will have to be audited. The author details considerations management and auditors will need to take when preparing and auditing financial statements.

Wholesale prices, boosted by rising food costs, increased 0.8% in May, and are up by a record amount over the past year, another indication that inflation pressures are rising since the economy has begun to re-open following the pandemic lockdowns

SA could find itself short of skilled construction workers in the next decade, says PPC MD Njombo Lekula.

Skills retention and transfer are two of the many problems the industry is hoping its construction masterplan will resolve.

The industry is also asking for local content designation, hoping that this will help with the fight against cheap non-South African cement.

As students and teachers prepare to head back to school, Microsoft is working on a new feature that will make it easier to share content when delivering presentations in Teams.

Earlier this summer, the software giant revealed that it's working on two new presentation views called Reporter and Side-by-Side for its online collaboration software to help make presentations more engaging so that speakers can better hold an audience's attention.

Pacsun hosted its first live streaming shopping event for the limited edition Vans shoe in collaboration with A$AP Rocky on August 6, marking the Soho flagship store's one year anniversary. Thousands of customers signed up to watch the first-ever live stream in less than 24 hours.

A booming East Yorkshire financial services company is recruiting 15 advisors to help it meet growing demand for mortgages and insurance services.

Apex Mortgage & Protection has secured more than £130 million worth of funding for customers in the two years since it launched, providing a range of insurance services for nearly 2,000 families and businesses.

Having started with four advisors in 2019, Apex - led by Hessle former commando Lewis Papa and based in Pocklington - now has a 35-strong team which he aims to increase to 40 by September and 50 before the end of the year.

The Digital Manufacturing Centre (DMC) is heralding a new era of UK manufacturing with the launch of its all-new advanced engineering and production facility at Silverstone Park. Built from the ground up to solve complex engineering challenges, the DMC utilises state-of-the-art additive manufacturing (AM) processes, connectivity and pioneering engineering to enable companies operating at the forefront of their sectors.

Having overcome the challenges of building a world-class facility during the pandemic, the 2000-square metre facility is now fully operational. With an engineering-led philosophy, the DMC works in partnership with customers to understand their specific requirements, designing for application as well as manufacture.

Hotel operations, strategy, human resources, marketing, finance - a hotel manager’s remit is as diverse as it is challenging. If you want to be a hotel manager, you will need excellent people skills and a calm, trustworthy, professional demeanor. This multi-faceted role demands leadership abilities, communication prowess and a good eye for numbers and emerging trends. As well as demonstrating talent and dedication, you will need to be agile, resilient and quick-thinking – and not too attached to spending your weekends with friends and family.

What is it that hotel managers do and what might their working hours look like? EHL Insights has the answers.

The world economy likely returned to its pre-pandemic size in the spring, according to economists, marking an extraordinary comeback from the deepest global downturn in decades. But new variants of Covid-19 are casting a cloud over the global expansion, disrupting manufacturing powerhouses in Asia, leaving some Western consumers on edge and driving a wedge between rich and poor countries.

Accountability and trust are the cornerstones of the accounting profession. The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) recently issued several calls to the profession to strengthen and uplift public trust. By doing so, the accountancy profession can maintain its public interest mandate, thereby ensuring public confidence, trust, and accountability. This is even more prevalent as economies navigate the Covid-19 crisis. The question is whether the combined assurance model could be a mechanism used to assist the profession in achieving these objectives.

In this week’s recap of the Top 10 most popular Supermarket News articles, C&S Wholesale Grocers acquired Albertsons Cos.' frozen food contract. Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed. Keene, N.H.-based C&S said that it had entered into a definitive agreement to buy the Albertsons’ frozens contract from Burris in early spring and then closed the deal last week. Among other stories in this week’s gallery:

A High Court legal challenge to block Highways England’s £27.4bn RIS2 plans on environmental grounds has been struck down.

On Monday afternoon, Justice Holgate threw out the case, which centred on whether transport secretary Grant Shapps had considered the carbon emissions of the construction work on RIS2, and if emissions would have a “material” impact on overall climate targets.

The case had been brought by campaign group Transport Action Network (TAN) against Shapps and Highways England. The group had won an earlier case against the approval of a third runway at Heathrow on similar grounds. The RIS2 case had a two-day hearing last month.

Another day, and it's time for another Apple security scare: malware that can harvest keystrokes and log-ins and is available on the Darknet for only $49.

Malware-as-a-service for Mac attacks
Check Point Software’s research team claims to have identified the hack, which it is calling XLoader. Enterprise security specialists managing Macs and Apple devices (of which there are many) need to be aware of the new attack, as we’re told it can:

Harvest logins from browsers.
Collect screen shots.
Log Keystrokes.
Download and execute malicious files.

It's been another week with far more retail news than there is time in the day. Below, we break down some things you may have missed during the week and what we're still thinking about.

From Walmart's free wellness day to all the store-related news in the past few days, here's our closeout for the week.

The professional services industry is growing, with revenues and headcounts rising across the board. But the industry is increasingly being issued with a stark warning that cracks in its traditional model are starting to show. Four major trends that are driving change in the world of professional services.

Once one of Britain’s largest mass production plants, Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port facility is to be repurposed as a specialist manufacturer of electric vehicles (EVs), under plans announced by parent company Stellantis.

The future of Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant has been safeguarded after its parent company announced it will make an investment of £100m to make electric vehicles (EVs) at the Cheshire manufacturing facility.

Sometimes, the biggest threats in life are the ones that we cannot see – especially in a primarily digital world that offers frequent opportunities for anonymity across virtual channels and data-driven infrastructure. The technological ecosystems we’ve come to rely on both personally and professionally provide a wealth of convenience and personalization, but with great power comes great responsibility. With sophisticated technology comes sophisticated attacks.

Inflation surged in June, but it is now at or near its peak for this cycle.

What will determine the path of consumer-price inflation from this point on is how companies answer a key question: What is more important, protecting profit margins or protecting market share? 

There is no doubt that input costs have soared. Paying higher wages to attract new workers and retain current employees does raise operating expenses. So does spending more on key commodities. The temptation therefore to pass those higher costs on to customers is strong. 

As the use of automation grows within the accounting sector, CPAs must have the skills to do what robots can’t — in other words, accountants need to develop their soft skills.

Soft skills are non-technical skills related to how you work, such as communication, leadership and time management. You can have the right technical, hard skills to perform your work well; however, if you can’t deliver on time or communicate effectively with clients, these technical skills are rendered useless.

Continue reading to discover the value of soft skills and learn which are the most desirable soft skills in accountancy.

London-based premium meat supplier The Ethical Butcher has smashed its crowdfunding target to raise more than £1.1m within a day.

The wholesaler, established by former Smithfield trader Farshad Kazemian, launched a £400k crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube this week and within hours had surpassed the target to raise more than £1m on its first day.

From depreciation and carrying forward losses to research and development credits, public contractors rely on an array of tactics to help minimize tax bills.

A recent Construction Dive analysis revealed that public construction firms' effective federal tax rates are among the lowest of any sector. The 19 largest profitable firms in the industry paid a collective 16.8% on their U.S. profits in federal taxes in 2020, a fifth lower than the 21% statutory rate set by Congress.

The past year has presented businesses of all sizes with a series of new challenges. Interrupted supply chains, stunted demand, and, most importantly, fully remote workforces compelled businesses to get more creative than ever to stay productive and in the black. Many are still struggling.

Retail was completely upended in 2020 with slowing demand, shutdown of brick-and-mortar and problems in the supply chain. As in-person experiences were brought to a halt, consumers turned to online shopping for essentials — from food to appliances and furniture – to get through the pandemic. Amid the disruption, the need for customer support did not drop along with sales — in fact, it increased.

Professional advisory firm PwC has appointed nine directors alongside a new partner in Wales and the south-west of England.

Born and educated in South Wales, new audit partner Stuart Couch joined as a director in September 2014, having been with the firm in London since 2001. He is based at the firm’s Cardiff office and provides assurance, accounting, treasury and due diligence support to mainly to start-ups, private equity and owner-managed businesses in the manufacturing, technology and life science sectors.

Grimsby food packaging specialist Ultimate Group has been bought out by a global giant in its field.

ProAmpac, an international leader in flexible packaging and material science, has completed a huge undisclosed deal for the major Europarc operation.

Recent years have seen it expand substantially on the flagship business park, having started life as a solo merchanting operation in Brigg back in 1982.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office filed tax fraud-related charges Wednesday night that were made public Thursday afternoon against The Trump Organization and Allen Weisselberg, the company’s chief financial officer.

The company was charged with a 15-year scheme enabling executives to avoid taxes by paying them off the books. Weisselberg was indicted on conspiracy, grand larceny, and fraud charges related to allegations of not paying taxes for years on various perks and benefits. Fifteen charges in total were filed between the company and its CFO.

The Trump Organization and Weisselberg pleaded not guilty at an arraignment Thursday afternoon, the Associated Press reports.

Inflation has caught America’s attention and the Federal Reserve is reaching for Lego to explain why some price rises will probably prove temporary.

As policy makers strive to communicate their approach to keeping inflation in check — a vital step to preserve their credibility with the American public amid a recent surge in prices — the Cleveland Fed is taking a different approach

As more people get vaccinated against COVID-19 and companies settle into a new rhythm, some business leaders say they are ready to resume travel. 

In the AICPA’s Business and Industry Economic Outlook Survey for the second quarter, 34% of respondents said they have already returned to pre-pandemic levels of travel or plan to do so by the end of the year. Another 29% said the change will occur in the next 12 months.

Online sales are booming. Those looking for more income may want to consider getting in the selling game. To serve today’s online shoppers, sellers should offer in-demand and niche products at bargain prices. Examples of currently popular goods include work-from-home (WFH) equipment, Internet-related tools, and health, safety and personal care items. But beware of categories with intense competition.

From a macroeconomic perspective, lockdowns are creating a perfect storm of opportunities when combined with the steep rise of e-commerce, social media, online marketplaces and decentralization. The new economic landscape can benefit unemployed Americans, gig workers and soccer parents who become home-based sellers. Instead of watching Netflix and wondering what the new normal will mean for your wallet, use your Wi-Fi connection to make extra money. Here's how.

After a turbulent year of adjusting forecasts and changing expectations, 2021 will be a year of reemergence and growth in the construction industry. Rising construction costs and labor shortages persist, challenging the industry to innovate competitive new ideas, while stricter regulations contribute to a reduced margin for error and waste.

This year, the COVID-19 pandemic changed how the construction industry does business, from scheduling and closing projects to hiring workers to meeting with clients. Looking forward, many industry trends will be affected by the fallout from the pandemic. New technology continues to change the construction site, improve the ability to win projects, and increase profit margins. Trends and movements are changing the roles of industry professionals and frontline workers.

As the industry becomes more competitive and the market shifts, harnessing these construction trends will prove valuable for any construction firm. Read on for the 10 must-watch construction industry trends for 2021 to help you stay competitive.

Google is readying a new security update for its cloud storage service that will make it more difficult to access older Google Drive links.

In a post on the Google Workspace blog, the search giant explained that the update is being applied to some files in Google Drive in an effort to make sharing links more secure. 

The update itself will add a resource key to sharing links for older files in Drive and those without this key will need to request it to access these files. However, if a user has viewed one of the affected files before or has direct access, they won't need the resource key to access it.

Amazon Australia is dipping its toe into the preowned market, launching a separate online section for items that are used, pre-owned or "open box".
Called Amazon Warehouse, the section will focus on offering discounts on high value items commonly sought after by consumers like smartphones, laptops, tablets and home appliances.
Each product will be thoroughly tested to be in good working order, and will be rated on its condition.

When the going gets tough, companies often get desperate. So it should be no surprise that during the coronavirus pandemic and the concomitant economic crisis, professional service firms (PSFs) have been chasing after all kinds of business just to keep the lights on. We see this over and over: consultancies, law firms, accounting firms, and the like offering services and signing up clients they should never have considered. This approach to shoring up billings is perilous.

Hotel management software is a form of technology designed to help hotels enjoy a faster, seamless and more effective way of running tasks and operations.
It is quite obvious that technology serves as an essential part of the hotel industry. Just like every other sector, there is always the need to find a better and smarter way of doing things. Thus, there emerged the idea of having a hotel management software to achieve such improvement in the industry.

What is Hotel Management Software?
Put simply, a hotel management software is a form of technology designed to help hotels enjoy a faster, seamless and more effective way of running tasks and operations. They can come as Property Management Software, Revenue Management Software, Review Management Software, and even as an All-in-One Hotel Management Software.

Banks and money-market funds using the Federal Reserve’s overnight reverse repo program parked a record $755.80 billion in cash with the central bank on Thursday, a day after policy makers tweaked the facility’s payout.

High demand for the facility since April underscores how awash financial markets have become with cash during the pandemic, as trillions worth of fiscal and monetary stimulus slosh through the economy.

With interest rates low globally, banks and money-market investors have been eager to avoid negative yields and have been parking cash in the Fed facility, which as of Thursday pays 0.05% instead of 0%.

The owners of small businesses in the UK are reporting increased levels of stress and anxiety as they try to plan a route back to profitable trading, according to a survey from ACCA UK (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and The Corporate Finance Network (CFN).

The owners of small businesses in the UK are reporting increased levels of stress and anxiety as they try to plan a route back to profitable trading, according to a survey from ACCA UK (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and The Corporate Finance Network (CFN).

A figure of 37% business owners said they were feeling more stressed and anxious than normal in June – which is more than double the figure for May (16%). The steep increase appears to be due to more uncertainty caused by the government’s decision to delay fully reopening the economy until July 19.

The wholesale industry is known as a field that involves so many processes, from acquiring goods from suppliers to distributing them to retailers or to end consumers. If these processes are carried out manually or with separate systems, it will be difficult for wholesalers to monitor and analyze the performance of each process.

With an ERP system, time-consuming wholesale processes that are prone to errors can be automated and integrated. All processes can be monitored and managed from just one platform. Here are seven main benefits of ERP software in the wholesale industry.

Higher Education, Science and Innovation minister Blade Nzimande says that his department plans to work closely with the construction industry in the coming years to boost employment in the sector.

Speaking at a construction summit on Wednesday (27 January), the minister said that the collective impact of these and other sectoral interventions aims to bring South Africa back on course towards the targets set in the National Development Plan, which includes, amongst others, aiming to grow the South African economy at a rate of 5.4%.

GoDaddy has added extra functionality to its suite of Websites + Marketing tools, which will allow users to publish posts directly to Instagram.

The move is aimed at helping small business owners looking to grow their e-commerce profile and build a more effective digital strategy. Along with direct publishing, users will be able to schedule posts to appear when they’ll have the most impact.

Retail sales grew in May at their strongest rate since the coronavirus pandemic hit the UK last March as the reopening of hospitality venues boosted footfall and spend.

Total sales increased 10% in May compared with the same month in 2019, according to the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor. That outstripped the 7.3% gains made in April on a two-year basis and the 8.3% growth recorded in March. 

The professional services industry is growing, with revenues and headcounts rising across the board. But the industry is increasingly being issued with a stark warning that cracks in its traditional model are starting to show. Four major trends that are driving change in the world of professional services.

FANUC America has introduced the next step in complete robotics and CNC integration for more efficient operations. FANUC CNCs now have the ability to control connected FANUC robots providing machine tending or other assistance through FANUC's Quick and Simple Startup of Robotization (QSSR).

"More manufacturing operations are taking advantage of adding more robotics to execute repetitive tasks previously performed manually. Advanced automation offers a competitive edge and greater profit margins to shops of all sizes," said a company spokesperson.

With the third wave looming in South Africa, FEDHASA has said that the Government is faced with a delicate balancing act – restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19 on one hand and the collateral damage of job and livelihood loss on the other. This once again puts the spotlight on responsible trade within the tourism and hospitality sectors as well as the general public’s adherence to health and safety protocols as set out by Government.

The statistics released yesterday, by Statistics South Africa regarding insolvencies and liquidations in the accommodation, food and beverage sector paint a gloomy picture. An increase of 78,6% was recorded for the three months ended April 2021, compared with the three months ended April 2020. The total number of liquidations increased by 55,3% in the first four months of 2021 compared with the first four months of 2020.

In the story of how the modern world was constructed, Toyota stands out as the mastermind of a monumental advance in industrial efficiency. The Japanese automaker pioneered so-called Just In Time manufacturing, in which parts are delivered to factories right as they are required, minimizing the need to stockpile them.
Over the last half-century, this approach has captivated global business in industries far beyond autos. From fashion to food processing to pharmaceuticals, companies have embraced Just In Time to stay nimble, allowing them to adapt to changing market demands, while cutting costs.

How can you claim to uphold the law if you are not transparent about your tax compliance status?

s tax always a dry and technical subject removed from basic corporate values and sustainable operations?

It certainly is not, argue both Damian Judge CA(SA), the CFO of Trellidor South Africa, and Canadian CA Carla Perry, who is the Senior Manager, Tax Reporting and Strategy at PwC. They point out that although it requires a methodical approach, tax is not something that only applies occasionally. It directly affects the status of individuals and companies as law-abiding members of society. ‘In essence, how can you claim to uphold the law if you are not transparent about your tax compliance status?’ asks Judge.

The 2021‑22 Budget will position Australia to capitalise on its economic success and provide a platform to attract global capital and talent.

The Government will introduce a Global Talent Attraction package of targeted taxation measures, regulatory relief and economic reform to encourage and facilitate high‑yield international businesses and exceptional talent to relocate to Australia.

Trade school, AKA vocational school or technical school, teaches the skills needed to perform the work for a particular job. A trade school offering courses on building and construction, then, can prepare you to do well in a construction job. But is it necessary, or a waste of time and money?

If you’re considering a career in construction, you may be weighing the pros and cons of trade school, considering whether it’s worth it. Short answer: Yes, it is. Longer answer: Read on.

So you decided to build a software or an app and you are faced with a question: Should you outsource your software or develop it in-house?

This can be a very tough decision to make, but we will try to help you choose which one is best for you in this post.

Since the price is something that can change everything, let’s start with costs:

Different costs
Having in-house developers is extremely expensive. 

Just consider all these costs: salaries, office, training, hiring an IT recruiter, monthly health and dental insurances, holidays, employment taxes…

Technology services provider Probrand has released a study highlighting the size of the margins IT buyers pay resellers, with retail revealed to be paying nearly five times the recommended mark-up

Time moves quickly in the business world. With subscription products on the rise and recurring-revenue business models becoming the darling of CEOs and Wall Street alike, Professional Services organizations are finding themselves in the midst of a revolution. If they want to keep up, Professional Services teams will need to redefine their definition of success, embrace new technologies, and put the customer’s needs at the forefront of every new operation. Only then will they be able to drive outcomes that deliver value to client and company alike.

Haas Automation’s UMC-1600-H is a 50-taper universal machining centre based on the company’s popular EC-1600ZT HMC.

Haas has mounted a massive 630mm rotary table to the machine’s integrated 4th-axis platter to provide 3+2 positioning and full 5-axis motion for machining large parts.

The machine’s 50-taper cutting ability, heavy-duty rotary axes, and large work envelope make it an ideal 5-axis solution for the large parts found in the oil & gas, alternative energy, and other heavy sectors.

One year after Covid-19 shut down the travel industry, recovery is starting to pick up. The leisure and hospitality industry once again took the lead for the most monthly job gains, according to the latest report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment within the industry increased by 280,000 jobs in March, following the addition of 355,000 jobs in February and a loss of 61,000 jobs in January.

Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) today filed a lawsuit in federal court in Virginia against the unknown perpetrators (“John Does”) responsible for illegal and fraudulent “robocalls” misusing Marriott’s name. The suit claims these bad actors are using Marriott’s brand for their own commercial gain in violation of state and federal laws. Marriott will aggressively pursue the identities of the robocallers to halt these illegal acts affecting Marriott customers and others.

New York (CNN Business)US retail sales came back down to Earth in April after stimulus checks sent Americans on a shopping spree in March.

Month-over-month, retail sales were flat in April, the Census Bureau reported Friday. Stripping out car and auto parts, sales actually declined slightly, by 0.8%. The massive March advance that came on the back of a new round of stimulus checks from the American Rescue Plan was revised up to 10.7%, from 9.7% reported initially.
Even though April sales were slightly weaker than economists expected, total sales over the past three months are still up a whopping 27% compared with the same period a year ago.
The consumer spending boom of the past few months is a good sign for America's recovery because some two-thirds of the economy is driven by people spending money.

With Notice 2021-26, the IRS explained on Monday that dependent care assistance program balances carried forward under temporary COVID-19 relief provisions retain their exclusion from participating employees’ gross income and wages.

Many businesses streamline their operations by using distribution software. Small business use of this technology was historically minimal due to the robust abilities and the high cost associated with distribution ERP tools. Fortunately, as software industries have changed and more solutions have become available, distribution ERP software has become a viable option for small businesses.

Distribution software for small businesses can help clients get orders out on time, track shipments and follow-up with customers. Many solutions allow you to customize your program with your specific business needs in mind. Changes in available pricing models and deployment strategies are some of the factors that are making this tool more readily accessible to small businesses.

With a rise in infrastructure projects, as well as considerations such as COVID-19 safe practice, it’s more pressing than ever that workers have quality, comfortable PPE to keep them safe on the job.

Working in construction is inherently dangerous, with a high risk of accidental injuries or long-term health and safety complications. This is especially crucial given that, on average, one in six workplace fatalities in Australia each year are construction-related.

Google Chrome developers have proposed adding support for a new HTML tag to allow web developers from ensuring its users aren’t tracked by third party cookies. 

All current web browsers allow third-party iframes to communicate with the website that has embedded them. This is something that unscrupulous web developers often exploit to invade the privacy of the visitors and track their online movements.

Clicks is the largest retail pharmacy network in the country and the acquisition will increase its national presence to 632 pharmacies.

In terms of the proposed transaction, Clicks will acquire the pharmacy licences and ethical drug stock, while all staff employed in the pharmacies will transfer from Pick n Pay to Clicks.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the internet has been a force for good, allowing people to stay connected during periods of extended isolation and bringing business operations online. People have increasingly relied on the internet to work, shop and stay entertained.

But, with this increased use of internet services, the online threats consumers are exposed to have also increased. Online bad actors have taken advantage of the pandemic and are exploiting remote working setups and new digital services. As an increasing number of brands rely on their online operations, what risks do they face, and what mitigating actions can they take to protect themselves and their customers both now and in the future?

If the pandemic taught supply chain leaders nothing else, it was this: Interdependency creates vulnerability.

True independence is virtually impossible because suppliers are critical to success, but some companies are taking more direct control. Such is the case for Ahold Delhaize USA. The U.S. arm of Dutch grocery retail company Ahold Delhaize is moving to a self-distribution supply chain model as a way to operate more efficiently and save money over time. Leaders at other companies can consider whether that model is right for their company based on a number of factors.

The right hotel management software makes a huge difference to the way properties are managed worldwide. The use of hotel software for one’s daily operations is beneficial to every type of hotel – be it a resort, independent properties, Bed and Breakfast and more. Some hoteliers have already moved on to the cloud-based hotel management software. Those, who are yet to make the change, are often bogged down with questions to select the best hotel management software. Choosing a software system should meet your business needs and most importantly, cut down time, and cost for every hotelier.

Looking for top hotel management software online? The choices are many ranging from cloud-based to traditional models. Here are 10 questions you must ask before making the final purchase.

Although recent vaccine approvals have raised hopes of a turnaround in the pandemic later this year, renewed waves and new variants of the virus pose concerns for the outlook. Amid exceptional uncertainty, the global economy is projected to grow 5.5 percent in 2021 and 4.2 percent in 2022. The 2021 forecast is revised up 0.3 percentage point relative to the previous forecast, reflecting expectations of a vaccine-powered strengthening of activity later in the year and additional policy support in a few large economies.
The projected growth recovery this year follows a severe collapse in 2020 that has had acute adverse impacts on women, youth, the poor, the informally employed, and those who work in contact-intensive sectors. The global growth contraction for 2020 is estimated at -3.5 percent, 0.9 percentage point higher than projected in the previous forecast (reflecting stronger-than-expected momentum in the second half of 2020).
The strength of the recovery is projected to vary significantly across countries, depending on access to medical interventions, effectiveness of policy support, exposure to cross-country spillovers, and structural characteristics entering the crisis

When COVID-19 restrictions were introduced in the early months of last year, “business as usual” took on a whole new meaning. For Perth-based practice Aspen Corporate, this meant hitting the accelerator on operational changes that had been in the pipeline for years. 

Some Aspen Corporate staff were already set up to work from home. Laptops had been slowly replacing desktop computers in the office and most business functions had been moved to the cloud.

“We knew that getting our accountants mobilised to work from home was going to be fairly simple,” says Aspen Corporate Director Bernadette Smith FCPA. “The biggest challenge was adjusting the role of our admin team, because a lot of their work – like scanning, for instance – can’t really be done from home.”

Wholesale business - or B2B business - isn’t discussed very much because it doesn’t deal directly with consumers. Because of this, wholesale businesses aren’t given much importance. But the reality is, these companies are the backbone of the retail industry. This type of business model involves two businesses trading directly with each other - typically, it’s a retailer and wholesaler. In recent years, wholesale eCommerce has grown in line with B2C online retail. In 2019, the market value of B2B retail was six times that of B2C retail and was valued at $12.2 trillion.

Because of their huge market value, online wholesale businesses are now looking for the same ease of doing business that B2C retailers have. That includes an easy process for ordering and fulfillment.

Successful wholesale businesses have two common traits:  they know what their customers want to buy, and they know what those customers have stopped buying.  With that knowledge of customer demand, they keep their inventory optimized at all times.

Inventory management
Wholesale ERP must be accurate as to the quantity of any item on hand.  Perhaps more important is the location of each of those items. Is every item stored in the best bin location so that it can quickly be picked and shipped when the next order is received?  Wholesale ERP also must allocate inventory as orders are received. An item might still be on hand after the first order is received. ERP must prevent a sale of that same item when a second order is taken.  Wholesale inventory management includes slotting, where specific quantities of any inventory item are placed in bin locations optimized for particular customer orders on hand now or predicted in the near future.

Web-based software has changed the face of the construction industry. It has increased sales and efficiencies, all the while decreasing costs and keeping teams better connected. Large or small, construction jobs can be made easier with the right support system, especially when it comes to management software. Clear communication and transparent project management between contractors, teams, and management make for a smooth workflow and better bottom lines for all involved.

Below are eight benefits to using web-based software, which keeps you and your crews flexible, accurate, and efficient.

While web shells have been removed that previously provided attackers access to Microsoft Exchange Servers, the FBI has revealed that some malicious software might remain that hackers are still using as backdoors into victim networks.

Now, U.S. Justice authorities have initiated the copy and removal of evil web shells from hundreds of computers running on-premises Microsoft Exchange Server software to operate their corporate email services.

These attacks began back in January and February of 2021 when various hackers discovered and exploited zero-day vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server software. The hackers took advantage of these vulnerabilities to set up backdoors and gain persistent access to these servers, right up until they were caught in March of 2021. Even after the initial hackers came to light, more attackers looked for ways to attack following patching and publication of these vulnerabilities.

A McDonald's in Florida in he United States is paying people $50 (a bit over R700 at the current exchange rate) just to show up for a job interview. But it's still not attracting many applicants.

Blake Casper, the franchisee who owns the restaurant, told Insider that a general manager and supervisor came up with the idea for the interview reward after he told them to "do whatever you need to do" to hire workers.

"At this point, if we can't keep our drive-thrus moving, then I'll pay $50 for an interview," said Casper, who owns 60 McDonald's restaurants in the Tampa, Florida area.

Professional services automation (PSA) software offers an alternative to the array of separate project management, time tracking, invoicing, resource planning, business intelligence, and collaboration tools used by many project teams. This guide provides you an introduction to PSA software and offers resources for organisations considering an integrated software solution for managing project delivery.

PSA applications help professional services providers manage client engagements throughout the project lifecycle. A project starts when a sales opportunity is created, the deal is closed, and resources are allocated to deliver the work. The cycle nears completion when invoices are issued and cash is collected.

PSA software establishes a consistent process for planning, managing, and measuring the performance of each project throughout its lifecycle. By centralising business processes and data, services can be delivered more predictably, and repetitive manual processes streamlined or automated. It is analogous to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, and PSA is sometimes referred to as ERP for services organisations.

Tech-intensive lifestyle induces software to be an integral part of the everyday routine in the 21st century. Today, it is hardly possible to imagine any activity not powered by some kind of computer-related processes.

When digging deeper, software product development is a highly organized process with precise procedures and strictly defined steps known as Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). Whenever you need a sophisticated system, software suite or end-user web or mobile app your outstanding project delivery, besides all the other important factors, largely depends on a set of processes practiced by the development team.

The Software Development Life Cycle as a collection of rules and practices helps to connect tech, non-tech team members and project stakeholders to transform your exceptional idea into a unique software product or solution.

It is going to be a nice year for clients in the hospitality industry. Restaurant, hotel, and travel customers have already come to expect highly personalized and detail-rich booking apps, but technology is expanding further to make them feel like they are truly the arbiters of their experience.

Global stock markets rallied on Monday amid rising hopes for a sustainable economic recovery from Covid-19 and as investors’ concern over a sell-off of government bonds fizzled out.

The FTSE 100 gained more than 100 points to finish the day 1.6% higher at 6,558, as markets in the US and Europe recorded strong advances after a bout of sustained selling pressure last week had left investors nursing heavy losses.

The IRS announced on Friday that taxpayers who may have had excess Sec. 36B premium tax credits to report for the 2020 tax year are not required to file Form 8962, Premium Tax Credit, or report an excess advance premium tax credit (APTC) repayment on their 2020 Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, or Form 1040-SR, U.S. Tax Return for Seniors, Schedule 2, line 2, when they file (IR-2021-84). The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, P.L. 117-2, suspended the requirement that taxpayers increase their tax liability by all or a portion of their excess advance payments of the APTC for tax year 2020.

According to the IRS, a taxpayer’s excess APTC is the amount by which the taxpayer’s advance payments of the premium tax credit exceed his or her premium tax credit (PTC).

A properly set up supply chain management system combined with online accounting software can provide the following benefits:

The following is guest post of Matt Lee, owner of the Innovative Building Materials blog

Let’s face it. The construction industry has a bad rep when it comes to technology adaptation. According to a report by McKinsey & Company, the construction industry was one of the lowest-ranked industries for digitization. In 2012, only 16% of the entire industry was using cloud-based software.

Today, it’s a little bit of a different story. Now 85% of construction companies are using cloud-based software or are planning to use it in the future. However, the slower uptake has resulted in some construction companies and contractors feeling a little hesitant to adopt or fully embrace new technology.

In the coming year, cutting edge technology will be deployed in the software development process.
With the increase in online businesses, the development of websites and apps, a shift has been observed regarding the development of software. Disruptive technologies and new software development tools are getting to enhance the functioning and security of the software. With COVID-19, the demand across businesses and organizations to carry out operations with efficiency and efficacy has increased, hence cutting-edge technologies are getting deployed in software deployment. Henceforth, the following trends will shape the software development trends in the year 2021.

A professional service is an intangible product that a contractor or product vendor sells to help a customer manage a specific part of their business. Because professional service providers have specialized knowledge about niche areas of interest, such as law, marketing or accounting, they allow the customer to focus on core business concerns. Unlike a consultant, who may only be responsible for providing advice, a professional service provider may also be responsibility for the end result.

Professional services providers can be found in a number of public and private subsectors. For some providers, professional services may be a primary line of business, while for others, professional services may be sold as an add-on value driver to a core offering. Historically, professional services have been invoiced on a billable-hours basis. More recently, however, many professional service providers have moved to a fixed price or subscription-based pricing model. For providers that offer operations and maintenance services, this pattern may also be observed in the transition from break/fix work to managed services.

By Tina Kapoor, City of Fremont Economic Development Manager & Matt Pawluk, Evolve Manufacturing Sr. Director of Operations

Local governments everywhere have been immersed in recovery efforts to reduce unemployment caused by COVID-19. In December 2020, 498,000 U.S. leisure and hospitality jobs disappeared, according to the Labor Department. Making up a majority of those losses were restaurant and bar workers, disproportionately affecting low-income and workers of color. But in Fremont, California, 21 of those unemployed individuals are making an exciting career shift to advanced manufacturing.

While an all-in-one hotel management software offers several strong benefits, the most prominent one is the reduced amount of time you'd spend on switching between multiple applications and browser tabs!

Additionally, you won't have to train the staff in learning about multiple apps.

In this article, we're going to look into the advantages as well as the disadvantages of all-in-one software suites for independent hotels. We're going to focus on small and medium hotels, since bigger hotels often need more sophisticated and tailored solutions.

Businesses helped by a government initiative have said they can now "survive" the pandemic.

The Small Business Leadership Programme aimed to show companies and managers how to adapt and thrive post-Covid.

Bristol nightclub, Lakota, was closed during most of the last year making it hard for it to stay financially stable.

After attending the course, managing director, James Haggart, said they will now focus on a broader age range to bring in the money they need.

The project was funded by the government as part of its Covid-19 recovery strategy and delivered online across 10 weeks.

Accounting Software Makes Managing Your Business Much Easier
You did not start your business to spend your time handling paperwork—filling out forms, filing returns, billing clients, and paying bills. You want to spend your time focusing on growing your business. You want to spend most of your time doing the things you want to do—the reason you started the business in the first place! While it appears to be a daunting task to keep track of all the things you need to do to run your business and be in compliance with tax authorities, a good bookkeeper and accounting system will solve your “back office” problems and give you the time and control to run your business effectively.

1. Simplified decision making
Obtaining one complete view by integrating your software systems simplifies the decision making process. It removes the need to move between different applications to get to data that may influence your decisions.

2. Increased productivity
Integrating applications that use the same data sources will allow you to improve your operations productivity. This is particularly relevant where the same data is entered multiple times into different software systems. With one point of data entry and no need to switch between different software applications, processing is simpler and quicker.

If MRP is used correctly, it’s many benefits which will help advance productivity and other factors continuously. Below may be a summary of a couple of benefits.

Work Scheduling
Work scheduling handles active production time, predicting the estimated yield and therefore the adherence to the assembly schedule. With the assistance of obtainable inventory, MRPs paint the larger picture of the assembly process. Managers can use this data to regulate equipment and labor tasks, hourly operations, and even precisely predict operational costs and labor time.

Whether it's a desktop or laptop computer, a smartphone or a video game system, every modern computer needs an operating system. That's the core software on the computer that sits between application software and the hardware, distributing memory and computing resources to apps, managing files and enforcing security rules.

Walmart Inc. has removed rules requiring sellers on its marketplace website to be registered in the U.S. — an attempt to close the e-commerce gap with Amazon.com Inc. and tap into China’s vast network of manufacturers.

This month, the world’s largest retailer began opening up its third-party marketplace to foreign sellers, who no longer need a U.S. address or business tax identification. The vendors still will be carefully vetted, both locally and by Walmart’s global trust and safety team, to prevent the listing of unsavory items. The new sellers will make up just a fraction of Walmart’s total seller population, which is mainly based in the U.S.

Business leaders are bewildered by visa and work permit restrictions imposed by the UK-EU trade agreement

Farzana Baduel, CEO of London-based Curzon PR, voted for Brexit in the 2016 referendum, thinking it unfair that EU immigrants could enter the UK freely while her family members in Pakistan could not. Martin Darbyshire, head of Tangerine, a design consultancy, was a fervent Remainer and felt he had to apologise for the result during a post-referendum trip to Germany.

Innovation management specialist Axillium has convened a new £39.6-million (US$55-million) composite materials consortium, funded by a £20.0-million (US$28-million) commitment from industry and a £19.6-million (US$27-million) commitment from the UK Government via the ATI Program.

Named ASCEND (Aerospace and Automotive Supply Chain Enabled Development), the consortium will focus on facilitating the adoption of new composite technologies, the industrialization of new technologies, as well as accelerating aerospace production rates to meet future high-volume requirements.

Hotel industry runs on the essentials of proper management at every stage. All internal teams/departments need to find a cohesive way to work together to create the ideal experience for the guests. As you plan to expand your hotel business, the task of manual data organization and maintenance becomes even more time consuming and cumbersome. This is where an automated hotel booking system comes to your rescue. Moving to a hotel booking system provides hoteliers like you with a host of benefits that can improve efficiency and enable you to generate more revenue. Let’s see some of them.

Accounting software assists businesses in effectively monitoring the flow of finances by minimising administration work and ensuring ongoing tax compliance.

Accounting software assists businesses in effectively monitoring the flow of finances. In SA, many companies are using accounting software to minimise administration and ensure compliance with the SA Revenue Service (SARS).

Wholesale and distribution involve a variety of processes and workflows, from acquiring goods from suppliers to distributing them to retailers and end-consumers. If these processes are manually managed with separate systems, it won’t be easy to monitor and analyse the performance of each process. Using ERP solution for end-to-end processes in a wholesale and distribution business removes time-consuming manual processes and eliminates human-related errors. Below are the benefits of using an ERP for the wholesale and distribution industry:

As manufacturing activity picks up, the demand for construction equipment and tractors is spiking. Channel checks from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers shows tractor sales were up 15% in February and January.

Optimism in the industry and the prospects of a large infrastructure bill from the Biden administration have given lift to the industrials stocks. Caterpillar and Deere, for example, are less than 3% from record highs and have well outperformed the S&P 500 so far this year.

Mark Tepper, president of Strategic Wealth Partners, said it may serve investors to look elsewhere for better value to ride a boom in manufacturing

As companies continue to invest in their technology and processes, it is becoming apparent, one size does not fit all. The same goes for investing in business applications through out of the box software packages, software consultancies or application frameworks. While business owners may choose generic software applications, there are many benefits to developing custom programs. In this post, we will cover how those custom applications can drive growth for your business.

In recent years, retailers saw a rise in the returns and sales rate upon implementing a more efficient and sustainable approach. However, the issues pertaining to managing returned and excess stock isn’t being resolved at a fast-enough rate. Retailers have to look closely at how they handle returns, the value of which is foreseen to reach $400 billion this year, excluding inventory losses or restocking expenses. Inventory Management Software is among the latest kinds of technology that can be used by retailers to meet this challenge.

Inventory Management Software can serve as a competitive advantage for retailers when it comes to managing stock or returns. Here, we will highlight 15 such benefits of using inventory management

Professional services automation (PSA) software offers an alternative to the array of separate project management, time tracking, invoicing, resource planning, business intelligence, and collaboration tools used by many project teams. This guide provides you an introduction to PSA software and offers resources for organizations considering an integrated software solution for managing project delivery.

PSA applications help professional services providers manage client engagements throughout the project lifecycle. A project starts when a sales opportunity is created, the deal is closed, and resources are allocated to deliver the work. The cycle nears completion when invoices are issued and cash is collected.

With manufacturing gearing up for Industry 4.0, the rapid development of automated equipment and processes mean the pace of manufacturing has outgrown traditional techniques and procedures.

Keeping track of everything going on in a modern manufacturing shop is incredibly difficult. Using excel sheets and paper-based systems is highly inefficient and will undoubtedly lead to a wide range of issues down the line. This is where manufacturing inventory management software comes in.

In this article, we’ll look at some benefits of a software-based inventory management system and why you’re manufacturing business might be missing out.

Competition in the hospitality industry is already high. The peer-to-peer stay model aggravates the situation by capitalizing on the hotels’ perceived inability to provide personalized guest experiences.

To remain competitive, hoteliers are jumping through hoops to meet customers’ needs and expectations throughout the experience. This includes online search, booking process, on-property interaction with the hotel staff, in-room experience, and post-stay feedback on social media. Simultaneously, they need to operate multiple departments and activities of their hotel businesses smoothly and cost-effectively.

Luckily, hoteliers can leverage enterprise resource planning solutions to their advantage. Namely, hotel property management systems are there to help with all their needs.

Super-low interest rates will remain for at least another three years, the Reserve Bank has said, increasing the likelihood of a continued surge in house prices exacerbating what one leading thinktank called the division of Australia into a nation of haves and have-nots.

After the central bank kept rates at the historic low of 0.1% at its monthly policy meeting on Tuesday, its governor, Philip Lowe, said the higher inflation needed to see a rise in rates would not return until “2024 at the earliest”.

Doing accounting for your small business can turn into a complex and time-consuming process really fast. As your business grows, your accounting also becomes more difficult.

You need to create more invoices, make new journal entries, create financial statements, and the list goes on.

That’s why, in this day and age, most businesses use accounting software to manage their accounting. Accounting software can help you automate most steps of the accounting cycle, allowing you to spend time on what really matters, like growing your business.

A wholesaler is a business that buys products from manufacturers and sells them to other businesses. The wholesaler doesn't operate a store; instead, they supply your small business with inventory that you sell to customers.

Whether you run a brick and mortar business or e-commerce store, wholesale distributors play an important role in connecting manufacturers and store owners.

Buildots is an innovative construction tech start-up established in Israel in August 2018. The company was created with the aim of creating the equivalent of a mission control room for construction sites. Bringing together AI and wearable hardware, Buildots technology creates seamless construction process visibility and fully digitized construction workflows with the aim of optimizing processes, minimizing delays, and avoiding budget overruns.

The start of a new year often brings with it a renewed commitment to organizing, rethinking, and restructuring life and work.

The E-Commerce Times spoke with productivity experts to get their perspective on apps, platforms, and techniques that help organizations and individuals become more efficient.

"Productivity apps have changed the way businesses work and are enabling them to increase productivity and efficiency across the board," Zeb Evans, CEO of ClickUp, told the E-Commerce Times.

If you want to run a successful retail business today, you have to connect with your customers when and how they want. As technology touches every stage of your customers’ buying journey, it’s vital to choose the right retail software solution for your company.

In this article, we talk about the main types of retail software that can help to provide a seamless and consistent customer shopping experience. Let’s consider each of them in detail.

It is common knowledge to most professional services organizations (PSO) that they can benefit greatly from the use of a professional services automation (PSA) system. A recent study by SPI Research shows that organizations that use PSA software tend to have a higher rate of on-time project delivery, more accurate project estimates, and increased personnel productivity through more efficient scheduling and communication. This benchmark study also demonstrated that embedded services organizations, product development companies and other non-traditional PSOs have been the fastest growing sectors of the professional services industry.

Manufacturing software offers a wide variety of functions that can affect businesses in different industries in different ways. For example, there are entire systems dedicated solely to process manufacturing. Process manufacturing software benefits are widespread but depend on the specific features included in a software tool. Factors such as the vendor you go with, functionality included in the program and your preparation before deployment will impact the degree of success that you get out of these systems. So, what are the benefits you could see in your business with the successful introduction of process manufacturing software? Let’s find out.

What is Hotel Management Software?
Put simply, hotel management software refers to any software package that is designed to assist with the day-to-day management of a hotel, resort or similar property. Examples of this include property management systems (PMS), revenue management systems (RMS), rate shopper software, reputation management software and channel managers. These solutions are popular within the hotel and hospitality industry, allowing tasks that previously needed to be carried out manually on paper to be performed digitally – typically with some degree of automation.

New York (CNN Business)It's an exciting day if you're an investor in Bitcoin (XBT) and/or Tesla (TSLA). The cryptocurrency soared to a new all-time high of $44,868.98 per bitcoin after the electric car maker said in regulatory filings that it will soon accept it as payment for its vehicles.

Tesla also said it has invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin as part of an effort to invest some of the company's cash in "certain specified alternative reserve assets."
Bitcoin fell back from its new record but was still up some some 16% at more than $44,000 on Monday afternoon.

Five international tax enforcement heads, including from the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation unit, have been meeting this week to discuss their joint initiatives for combating tax evasion.

The group of five leaders, known as the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement, or J5 for short, represent the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia and the Netherlands. They have been meeting with each other on a yearly basis to discuss and work together on common tax evasion issues and challenges, but this year due to the pandemic they had to meet virtually. This year, the designated challenge they focused on involves the role of cryptocurrency and the financial technology industry in tax evasion.

After a turbulent year of adjusting forecasts and changing expectations, 2021 will be a year of reemergence and growth in the construction industry. Rising construction costs and labor shortages persist, challenging the industry to innovate competitive new ideas, while stricter regulations contribute to a reduced margin for error and waste.

This year, the COVID-19 pandemic changed how the construction industry does business, from scheduling projects to hiring workers to meeting with clients. Looking forward, many industry trends will be affected by the fallout from the pandemic. New technology continues to change the construction site, improve the ability to win projects, and increase profit margins. Trends and movements are changing the roles of industry professionals and frontline workers.

Analysts have gone mad for Microsoft.

Goldman Sachs, Evercore ISI and Morgan Stanley secured Microsoft’s place in Wall Street’s good graces last week, with Goldman initiating coverage of the stock as a buy, Evercore adding it to its tactical outperform list and Morgan Stanley calling it its top recovery pick.

Microsoft currently does not have a single sell rating from the major analyst firms, according to FactSet.

Retail management software isn’t a new invention, but you might be wondering if it’s worth your time. Let’s look at who can benefit from retail management software.
Software tools and apps play a much larger role in the success of small businesses than they did even five years ago. Experienced entrepreneurs know the advantages that technology gives to them. There’s no better way to streamline operations, grow revenue, and manage day-to-day business.

Manufacturing is one of the highly dynamic and competitive industries. The high level of competition in this industry requires manufacturers to race to meet the increasingly and rapidly changing consumer demands. In order to achieve their objectives, manufacturers must be able to accelerate all the processes and make everything more efficient.

One of several actions that can be taken by manufacturers is to utilize an ERP software. The system is basically built to simplify the entire operations, improve efficiency and reduce costs (read this article for more info). Then, what are the main benefits of ERP software for the manufacturing industry? Find out the answers below.

With the latest technological advancements in the hospitality industry, hotel management software has come a long way in assisting the management or owner to improve the overall functions of their facility. In fact, the management can easily streamline the administrative processes of the hotel as well as improve the overall operations of the entity.

How do you create content that gets clicks? It's not an insignificant question.

There was a time, not so long ago, when pundits like me had the content business all to ourselves. Man, those were the days.

But that's a quaint notion now.

Nowadays, almost everyone creates content of one type or another. Whether it's blogs, infographics, videos, newsletters, podcasts, articles or social media updates, almost all business now are creating a variety of content. And they all have the same goals in mind, namely, to get people to click and engage with their content.

As marketing specialist Guy Kawasaki once said, retweets (sharing on Twitter) are social media gold.

Business leaders and the CPAs who serve them will need to use a variety of strategies all at once as they pursue economic support in the newest round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding.

Borrowers will need to be aggressive, as the AICPA has mentioned, to get applications filled out in a timely fashion. They will need to be patient, as the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and Treasury may take more time than in the past to screen applications and reduce the risk of fraud. Finally, borrowers will need to be vigilant and watch for changes to guidance that might affect their applications, funding, or loan forgiveness.

For wholesale distributors, the benefits of implementing software can feel like going from struggling to make instant noodles every night to delivering a five-course meal with ease. I’ll state the obvious — distributors have a tough job to do. Implementing wholesale distribution software can make the range of workflows that you deal with daily much simpler, so you can go from working extra hard to complete a smaller amount of tasks to automating functions and conducting more business than before. Sounds pretty great, right? It is. However, choosing the right solution and determining the functionality that you need out of your software program is key in order to actually reap the benefits associated with these systems.

In this article, we will take a look at the best wholesale distribution software on the market today, along with analyzing some of the common features and benefits of these solutions.

With ever evolving technology, the construction industry has long caught up and recognised the need for integrated systems and construction management software to stay competitive and to support their business goals. But how do you replace a legacy system with new software without losing data and without generating chaos? More importantly, how to choose the right software for your contracting business?

CSL's Systems and Networking Research Group (SyNRG) is defining a new sub-area of mobile technology that they call "earable computing." The team believes that earphones will be the next significant milestone in wearable devices, and that new hardware, software, and apps will all run on this platform.

A point of sale (POS) system can be a great addition to your business. Capable of far more than simply taking credit cards, POS systems offer features like inventory management, reporting, and even time clock options.

In my work for CardFellow, a leading resource for small businesses looking for credit card processing and terminals, I regularly test, research, and write overviews of equipment. As a result, I field a lot of questions about POS systems.

But one question always comes up: “There are so many options. How do I choose?”

The good news is that picking the right POS system doesn’t have to be a chore. Follow these three steps to find the right POS system for your business.

Professional service organizations are different than many other organizations, especially when it comes to choosing software applications for their business.

When discussing professional services software, you will often hear it referred to as professional services automation (PSA), Services Resource Management, ERP for Professional Services, or Project Portfolio Management (PPM). PPM has a slightly different meaning than the others, as it is often driven more towards internal IT groups or internal project groups with a focus on capitalization of the overall project.

Manufacturing ERP software is a business management solution that allows organizations to deal with all facets of an operation in one convenient place.

ERP software solutions such as 2020 Insight can help with product planning, development, manufacturing, assembly, sales, accounting, scheduling, and even installation.

If you’re thinking about adopting a manufacturing ERP software, you’ll have to do some research before making a decision. If you’re not sure where to start, we’ve prepared a checklist that will help you choose the best solution for your business.

Selecting the best hotel management software system
When it comes to hotel management computer software solution, hotels often make the mistake of choosing complex systems that don’t fulfil their basic requirements – or in other scenarios, they opt for a high-end solution that comes with a lot of features which may not be of much use to them.

To help hotels make the right decision when selecting a web-based management system, we’ve created a quick feature checklist to refer to.

What 6 features should you look for in a complete hotel management software system?

The number of help-wanted ads increased more slowly in December, evidence the labor market is losing momentum amid rising coronavirus cases.

Available jobs posted online were down 10.6% at the end of December from a year earlier, according to job-search site Indeed’s measure of job posting trends. Postings rose from the end of November, when the number of available jobs were 11.8% below 2019’s trend, but the pace of improvement has eased since the summer, when businesses started to reopen after spring lockdowns. Indeed measures postings by comparing the recent rate of growth to that of a year earlier.

Accounting software helps you record the flow of your company's money and examine your financial condition.
Accounting software helps you track and organize your financial data, giving you an accurate, real-time look at your business's finances.
Features like the bank feed and automatic invoicing save you time by automating tedious accounting tasks.
Some accounting systems have advanced features or add-ons like payroll, shipping inventory and project management that can streamline other aspects of your business.

Tracking finances, sales, movements, inventory – including any surpluses or deficits – distributors have to wear many different hats. Yet unlike manufacturers and wholesalers, distributors also have capital investments in complex supply chains that must be kept in check. With so much at stake, selecting the wrong ERP for distributors that doesn’t fully match their needs can waste precious time and money.

Medium-sized distributors invest in ERPs (Enterprise Resource Planning) since they usually run a tighter ship and can’t afford needless fluctuation in their stock. They also have a higher spend per inventoried item leading to smaller profits. Lastly, mid-sized distributors tend to be more vulnerable to uncertainties in the business world compared to their larger counterparts.For larger distributors, ERP systems are worth their weight in gold as they uncover opportunities for revenue generation or trouble areas within complex internal processes. For them, the biggest driver for updating their ERP is driven by market pressures and the rise in competition. More recently, the advent of technology and digital innovation has transformed the way data on customers, resources and operations is used.

How to achieve operational efficiencies and cost reductions with an all-in-one soution that takes a construction project from take-off and estimating through job costing and project management.
Operating a construction business can be extremely complex since each project has so many moving parts. The obvious challenges include weather, site conditions, material specification changes, owner preferences and coordination between other on-site contractors. The complexities increase dramatically once you consider other risk and accountability factors.

To be successful, contractors must mitigate construction risks and ensure accountability. By reducing risks (such as missed deadlines, lack of profit, safety and environmental violations and damaged reputations), more time can be spent accomplishing strategic initiatives instead of putting out fires.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has spurred massive spending increases on data centers from the world’s largest data center operators—led by Amazon, Google, Facebook and Microsoft—which spent a record $37 billion in the third quarter of 2020.

“The hyperscale companies are once again breaking all records for their level of spending, spurred on by business models that have actually benefited from the pandemic,” said John Dinsdale, a chief analyst at market research firm Synergy Research Group, in an email to CRN.

The shopping journeys of customers vary from one shopper to another. Some people walk through your doors because they saw a great product on display. Others may find you while doing online research. Maybe you have customers referred to you by their friends.

Regardless of how they find you, anyone who decides to buy from your store ends up in the same place: the point of sale (POS). This is the point where the purchase is completed and you hand over the products to the customer.

Not too long ago, if you asked any professional services organization to tell you how they managed client projects, resources and utilization rates, the answer was always the same: spreadsheets. Someone would inevitably create an Excel document that included complicated formulas to identify resource and project needs against existing and projected revenues.

TOKYO -- Nissan Motor has decided against manufacturing its newest electric vehicle in the U.K. for sale in the European Union, Nikkei has learned, over concerns that the automobile will face higher tariffs in the absence of a post-Brexit trade deal.

Instead, Nissan will ship the Ariya from Japan when the vehicle goes on sale in the EU next year.

Nissan initially considered making the Ariya at its Sunderland assembly plant in Britain. But London and Brussels have yet to sign a free trade agreement, even with the British exit from the EU set to be finalized at the end of the month.

For hotels, finding the perfect automated hotel revenue management software is vital to provide clients a stellar guest experience.

Deloitte claims that understanding guests has always been the linchpin of delivering outstanding hotel guest experience, which is why hotels must concentrate on providing exceptional high-touch hospitality while working on supplying instant utilities received by guests from other industries.

There’s no denying that this slips from the mind of some hoteliers, thanks to the time and effort they spend to improve hotel revenue management. A quick fix would be acquiring a hotel management software. An all-in-one hotel management system can do wonders for your enterprise, especially when the hospitality industry landscape is rapidly evolving.

The IRS issued final regulations implementing changes to Sec. 274 that disallow a deduction for the expense of any Sec. 132(f) qualified transportation fringe (QTF) provided to an employee, effective for amounts paid or incurred after Dec. 31, 2017 (T.D. 9939). The changes were enacted in the law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), P.L. 115-97. The regulations provide guidance to determine what QTF expenses are nondeductible and how to apply certain exceptions under Sec. 274(e) that may allow QTF expenses to be deductible. The final regulations make a few changes to the proposed rules (REG-119307-19) in response to comments received.

What are some things that are standing in the way of better wholesale inventory management inside your distribution company?

To get the right answer, you need a critical eye and a strategic approach to addressing the needs of your business. Ask yourself:

Web-based software has changed the face of the construction industry. It has increased sales and efficiencies, all the while decreasing costs and keeping teams better connected. Large or small, construction jobs can be made easier with the right support system, especially when it comes to management software. Clear communication and transparent project management between contractors, teams, and management make for a smooth workflow and better bottom lines for all involved.

These are the best virtual private networks for protecting your privacy on your Android mobile device.

Working remotely has become the new norm for millions of people, which means using a VPN to protect your online privacy and security is more important than ever -- you may even want to use one on your Android phone or tablet. And I have good news for Android users: Virtual private networks are no longer the exclusive domain of bloated software and bulky desktop clients. It's now possible to find a number of VPNs that are lightweight, easy to use, and optimized for mobile.

From improving transaction processing efficiencies to facilitating inventory tracking and more, a retail business point of sale (POS) system can play a major role in the success of your business. However, choosing the right retail business POS software and hardware necessitates a strategic approach. This blog post, offers five steps for selecting retail business POS software.

Professional service organizations are different than many other organizations, especially when it comes to choosing software applications for their business.

When discussing professional services software, you will often hear it referred to as professional services automation (PSA), Services Resource Management, ERP for Professional Services, or Project Portfolio Management (PPM). PPM has a slightly different meaning than the others, as it is often driven more towards internal IT groups or internal project groups with a focus on capitalization of the overall project.

At the risk of stating the obvious, manufacturing business software systems are critical to the success of a company. Without it, you will be flying blind. But, what happens when you need to make a change to your manufacturing business software? How can you change out the system that monitors the status and health of your business without causing disruptions to your business?

Marriott leaders like some aspects of the short-term rental business, but that doesn’t mean they want to go all Airbnb and start renting out your spare bedroom.
— Cameron Sperance

Stocks pulled back slightly from their record levels Monday as Wall Street put a quiet coda on one of its most rocking months in decades.

The S&P 500 fell 0.5%, but the benchmark index still clocked a surge of 10.8% for the month, it’s biggest monthly gain since April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which has far less impact on 401(k) accounts than the S&P 500 does, had its best month since 1987.

If you have a business, you need an accounting software to record your income and expenses. Ideally this is the first piece of software you should purchase when you start the business. However, most business owners get one only when they need to pay taxes or apply for loans.

So, how to choose a right accounting software for your business? This can get confusing as there are plenty of products available in the market today. I’m trying to make your job easy by listing down some important filtering criterias that you should consider before you invest in an accounting system.

There is also a short step by step process in the end to help you in decision making process.

E-commerce is a breeding ground for new businesses for many reasons. For starters, it requires little overhead. It also provides access beyond the local market, and for the most part, an evasion of collecting state taxes. This technicality is all due to a Supreme Court Ruling from the nineties, Quill v. North Dakota.

or 50-plus years, cold-formed steel (CFS) c-shape joist systems have offered superior performance when compared to traditional wood framing joists. Because steel has the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any building material used for construction, utilizing c-shaped steel joists can significantly reduce the cost of labor and materials because architects and builders find that one can achieve similar spans and loads with wider joist spacing.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk jumped past Bill Gates to become the second richest person on the planet, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. Musk is worth $128 billion, with Amazon boss Jeff Bezos still holding the top spot at $182 billion.

Learn what features to look for when choosing the best retail POS system for your company.
A retail point-of-sale (POS) system consists of POS software and hardware that enables retailers to ring up customer orders, record payments and perform several other operational tasks.
When choosing a retail POS system, look for essential features like inventory management, employee management, real-time reporting and retail-centric features like customer management, loyalty programs, and matrix inventory tracking.
To get the best deal on your retail POS system, look for companies that offer month-to-month contracts and open-source POS hardware.

(CNN)November isn't even over, and the US has already seen more new Covid-19 cases than any other month of this entire pandemic.

More than 3 million new cases were reported between November 1 and 22, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That's about a quarter of all US cases since the beginning of this pandemic.

To improve flight efficiency, the pannier bracket that attaches the sensor package to the fuselage and supports the landing gear had a requirement to be re-designed to a lightweight alternative that retained the same mechanical performance.

Silvertone UAV develop, design, and manufacture unmanned aerial vehicles with flexible payload capabilities. One of their drone aircraft systems, the Flamingo Mk3, carries a heavy package of telemetry and sensor equipment.

London’s Soho is teeming with people who are eating, drinking and being merry. The streets are crowded, the bars are overflowing and music pulsates from the windows. But just a few hours later every stool and dining table is empty - and will stay that way for a month.

The government is to invest £4bn in creating 250,000 new green jobs as part of its plan to hit net zero emissions.

It also aims to equip a generation of workers with new green skills.

The government will release its long-awaited 10-point plan to make the UK carbon neutral by 2050 later on Tuesday.

IN BRIEF

The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has affected businesses of every size in every country, and the United States has been hit particularly hard. Many businesses are facing increasing doubts about their ability to continue as a going concern, and the decisions that surround that determination have an impact on both management and auditors. The authors provide an overview of FASB, PCAOB, and AICPA guidance regarding going concern issues, then discuss how these standards apply to federal programs designed to aid businesses during the pandemic, particularly those created by the CARES Act.

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. wholesale prices rose moderately in October as food costs jumped by the largest amount in five months.

The Labor Department reported Friday that its producer price index, which measures inflation pressures before they reach the consumer, increased 0.3% last month, slightly lower than the 0.4% gain in September.

When the pandemic began affecting California this spring, the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) wasted little time in doing what it has come to be known for—forging partnerships. CCTA teamed with Brosamer & Wall—the contractor on the $136-million Interstate 680/Highway 4 Interchange Improvements project—to create a COVID-19 Safety Compliance Officer position.

Apple just rolled out more exciting news about the macOS Big Sur, its next macOS, at its recent 'One More Thing' event, including its official release date. Finally, after months of waiting, the general public will be able to download the full version of macOS 11 on Thursday, November 12.

oe Biden hopes aggressive spending will revive a pandemic-battered economy and offset any negative impacts from new taxes and regulations. Much depends, however, on which side controls the Senate.

“With such high unemployment, low inflation and zero interest rates, Biden’s proposal to go big on government investment will get us back to full employment fastest,” Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s, tells USA Today.

Former Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday, November 7 passed the 270 vote electoral college threshold needed to claim victory in the 2020 presidential election, making him president-elect of the United States and Senator Kamala Harris vice president-elect.

Tampa-based Mainsail Lodging & Development has announced the reopening of The Karol Hotel (2675 Ulmerton Road, Clearwater, Florida) on Wednesday, Nov. 11. Centrally located in beautiful Feather Sound between Clearwater, St. Pete and Tampa, and the first member of Marriott's Tribute Portfolio in Pinellas County, The Karol Hotel is welcoming guests back after a temporary closure due to the pandemic.

The U.S. may need several hundred billion dollars a month in “disaster relief” to keep the economy afloat as a raging coronavirus outbreak continues to suppress prospects for workers and businesses, Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said on Thursday.

The value of alleged cybercrime cases reached over £1 billion in UK Courts in 2019, according to research by KPMG – showing fraudsters are becoming more persistent, says Accountancy Age.

Recording fraud cases of more than £100,000 hitting UK Courts, KPMG’s Fraud Barometer reports a total of £1.1 billion alleged fraud in 2019, the sixth largest value in the report’s history.

Public and private companies have transferred billions of dollars to their investors over the years. Could that money have saved their business instead?

A local authority in the U.K. is to provide university researchers with a house to test low-carbon technologies, with the collaboration set to gather potentially valuable data which could inform how buildings are designed in the years ahead.

The partnership, between Hull City Council and the University of Hull in the northeast of England, will focus on the use of “combined ventilation and air source heat pump technology.”

Software will change in 2020. But let’s be clear about this i.e. software changes every year, every month, every week and in some cases every day. Cloud-centric software platform companies have the ability to change, tweak, tune, update and augment the functionality of different parts of their software suite 10 times a day (or more) if they want to.

The traditional professional services industry will likely be radically different in ten years. Changing clients’ demands, employee expectations, rapid technology developments, and other external factors will change the nature of jobs and skills required in the future. Ultimately, these factors, with technology in the lead, may even challenge the very nature of the “practical expertise” that professionals deliver.

If taking New Burton Road or the POW/MIA Parkway between Dover and the Camden-Wyoming area, you may see some big changes happening along the typically quiet, railroad-lined stretch as early as the end of this year.

The Dover Planning Commission unanimously approved a 457,500 square-foot manufacturing plant at 1436 New Burton Road, west of Rodney Village, Oct. 19.

Restrictions on travel introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic continue to hit global tourism hard, with the latest data from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) showing a 70% fall in international arrivals for the first eight months of 2020.

U.S. Treasury yields extended their move higher on Friday as investors monitored signs of progress on a stimulus deal in Washington.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note climbed for a seventh straight day to 0.859%, the highest level since June. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond also rose slightly to 1.680%. Yields move inversely to prices.

When Brian Janous started at Microsoft in 2011 as a data center utility architect, he joined at a time when energy and sustainability issues were still nascent.

“I was the first person that was brought into the organization to work on energy and sustainability issues. This was back in the time when it … certainly wasn’t clear to me why a company like Microsoft even needed someone like me,” Janous told CNBC by phone.

Even as the coronavirus pandemic worsens in the U.S., stay-at-home orders in some areas have loosened and companies have sent some workers back to offices with social distancing restrictions, temperature checks and plexiglass sneeze barriers.

LONDON — When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, it proved to be a tipping point for Walmart, the world’s largest retailer.

While the business was doing well at the time, it was focused on customers and employees over the broader environment, according to CEO Doug McMillon. “We were a large company but had not fully understood what that meant or what was required of us socially and environmentally,” he said, addressing the Climate Week NYC conference in an online broadcast last month.

At a joint session as part of EU Green Week 2020 hosted by ACCA, the Capitals Coalition and Deloitte, experts discussed the benefits of putting the value of natural capital at the heart of business decision making.

The Asia mining landscape has faced a challenging outlook in 2020 with the covid-19 pandemic casting a shadow on mineral production growth as operations slow and metal prices disappointed, but Fitch Solutions says in its latest industry report it expects the worst to be over.

EPA says it has started five prosecutions against agency in land and environment court

The Forestry Corporation of New South Wales could face more than $1m in fines for the alleged illegal logging of trees in protected areas, including koala habitat, in the state’s north.

Retailers expect consumers to spend rather than save the income tax cuts unveiled in the budget, boosting retail sales in the run-up to Christmas.

EXPERT OBSERVER

Australian is on the cusp of a national real estate boom. And I do emphasise “national”.

We haven’t had a genuine national real estate boom in Australia since the one from 2001 to 2004, when all the major markets experienced strong price rises.

Dinner banquets and award ceremonies have given way to on-line appeals and slick productions

In 1962, Rachel Carson published an expose on the impacts of pesticides on birds, the title of her groundbreaking book, Silent Spring, warned what the future held if the use of some of these chemicals—including DDT—was not curtailed. For scores of conservation groups who rely on in-person fundraising events that draw millions of Americans each year, the Silent Spring title could have been used to describe their annual auctions. As sheltering in place and social distancing became the new normal, the revenue model that has generated billions of dollars for American conservation over the last century appeared to be headed the way of the dodo.

The rush for industrial property has led to Centuria Industrial REIT increasing its exposure in Queensland while LOGOS Property has entered into exclusive due diligence on Qube Holdings $2 billion Moorebank logistics park.

Business conditions are improving, but employers remain cautious about taking on new workers or restoring their staffing levels as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Renault F1 team is at the vanguard of innovative solutions pushing development of the V6 turbo hybrid engine rules, embracing the full potential of material science in its bid to get back to the top

The current turbo-hybrid Formula 1 power units take an unfair amount of flak. Mostly, the pejoratives directed at them are predicated on the fact that they're not the wailing V12s or screaming V10s that past F1 fans were treated to, while other points of concern are usually in relation to their hefty price tags and complexity.

In this edited extract from his book Financial Autonomy Paul Benson outlines six budgeting strategies and provides a quiz to help you work out which one might best suit you.

"I’ve been waiting for this day my entire life," the Million Dollar Listing New York agent wrote.

After more than a decade at Nest Seekers International, Ryan Serhant has announced he is starting his own real estate brokerage called Serhant.

Excessive logging in British Columbia interior has ‘increased the frequency, duration and magnitude’ of floods, according to civil claim

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — Nashville Mayor John Cooper says a proposed charter amendment aiming to repeal Metro 34% property tax hike would cause layoffs to first responders, even calling it a "self-inflicted disaster for Nashville"

For years, life science companies have made their home in metro areas like Boston and the Bay Area. But Mark Hefner, CEO and shareholder of MGO Realty Advisors, says that is changing.

“Major metropolitan cities like Boston, San Francisco, Seattle and San Diego that have been long-established life science hubs are expensive to operate in,” Hefner says. “Everything from real estate to cost of living in these cities is expensive. Now, with the Covid-19 crisis, companies are facing tremendous budget constraints and increasing pressures on their bottom line, forcing them to reconsider where they are located.”

When your business depends on inventory, any mishap can lead to trouble. From dissatisfied customers to wasted funds, problems can compound quickly as seemingly small errors turn into profit-eating catastrophes. Here’s how to stay ahead of issues so you can avoid an ugly snowball effect.

New Zealand’s government last week announced plans to put cameras on board 345 fishing vessels, a plan that will cost more than NZD 40 million (USD 27 million, EUR 23 million).

In a press statement, New Zealand Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash said the introduction of on-board cameras will be across the nation’s inshore fishing fleet. He said the government will provide at least a portion of the funding required to install and operate the cameras, but “the precise amount will depend on the business case put together by officials for Cabinet sign-off..”

Today’s number one challenge in field service is the knowledge gap between Baby Boomer technicians – an aging workforce – and the next generation of technicians who have less experience and want more independence. The population aged 60+ is growing faster than any other group. According to the United Nations’ 2019 World Population report, by 2050, 1 in 6 people will be over the age of 65, up from 1 in 11 in 2019. Older field service technicians are retiring in droves, causing several challenges for field service organizations. In fact, Field Service News reports that 73% of organizations have identified an aging workforce as a potential threat to their field service operations.

Clean Energy Wire
Germany’s new “Commission on the Future of Agriculture” tasked with drawing up recommendations for a productive and time resource-efficient agriculture industry model has met for the first time. The 31 members of the commission aim is to develop a comprehensive common understanding of how improved animal welfare, biodiversity and climate and environmental protection can be reconciled with the safeguarding of harvests and the economic viability of domestic farms.

Google backs Myst AI and Overstory raises a seed round as utilities grapple with energy forecasting and wildfire prevention on a warming planet.

Skin Actives proves that digitizing production operations doesn’t necessarily require big ticket software technologies. Modern Material Requirements Planning software can address every step in the production process, from order processing to fulfillment.

The days of expensive human resources compliance, irrelevant benefits and haphazard hiring are numbered.

If you think human resources (HR) is your highest sunk cost, you're right. If you think HR is your biggest profit driver, you're also right. What gives?

OK, it looks like we’re finally going to be talking about a vaccine logistics issue that many people (including me) have been worried about. Specifically, how are these things going to be transported and stored? If you’re not in the biomedical field, that question might seem a bit boring and bring up mental pictures of 18-wheel trucks and forklifts of cartons, but remember, these vaccines generally aren’t dry powders. Some of them are infectious viruses themselves (the adenovirus vectors and others in that category), some of them are purified proteins (such as the Novavax candidate), and some of them are mRNAs that are packaged in very specific lipoprotein nanoparticles.

Have you ever found your business was short on cash and you were struggling to meet your financial obligations? You have money coming in but it goes out the door just as quickly.

Cash shortages can be a sign of trouble within your business. Cash is the lifeline of the business, and to be short on cash keeps you from meeting your financial obligations. If you can’t meet your financial obligations, the business could be shutting its’ doors. Cash shortage is one reason why 82% of businesses fail.

As the fall semester begins, the College of Engineering is moving into the new William N. Pennington Engineering Building

On August 25, Nevada System of Higher Education Regent Carol Del Carlo, University President Marc Johnson and College of Engineering Dean Manos Maragakis ceremonially opened the 100,000-square-foot William N. Pennington Engineering Building. Before an autonomous robot facilitated the ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark a new era for the University, President Johnson outlined the goals for the building as an economic catalyst and an incubator for high-impact research that will improve lives the world over.

Wolff Mining, part of the National Group, is well-known in the Australian mining industry for its implementation and optimisation of semi-autonomous tractor system (SATS) technology. In association with Caterpillar on their Cat Command for Dozing module, Wolff Mining�s technology is a world�s-first application into a mining production environment, providing the ability for one operator to control up to four dozers from a control room.

Self-service analytics and business intelligence may help ease the sharp divide that exists between those who speak the language of data and non-technical domain experts.

Years ago, Jeff Bezos famously said:

“I very frequently get the question: ‘What’s going to change in the next 10 years?’ And that is a very interesting question; it’s a very common one. I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?’ And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two — because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time.”

After conducting a search on your favorite search engine, the results appear before you, ordered and organized in a vertical column. Some of these businesses appear at the top of the page. Others appear ranked lower and are even relegated to page two and beyond.

The sale process for embattled construction company Group Five’s Everite business is on track, with the business rescue practitioners (BRPs) on August 19 confirming receipt of a “credible and funded offer” that is being pursued.

The research report on ' Work Order Management Tools market' now available with Market Study Report, LLC, offers a detailed analysis of the factors influencing the global business sphere. This report also provides precise information pertaining to market size, commercialization aspects and revenue estimation of this business. The report further elucidates the status of leading industry players thriving in the competitive spectrum of the ' Work Order Management Tools market'.

Risk management is necessary for organisations of all sizes. It enables you to take action on the ever-changing inventory of risks besides helping your organisation to meet its needs.

Technological advances come with a fair share of risks. In today’s tech-savvy world, risk managers are increasingly looking hard at technology risks since this enables them to make better-informed decisions.

The Nipissing Parry Sound Student Transportation Service (NPSSTS) says that they are not going to reduce the number of students on one bus this year as plans for student transportation are beginning to take shape.

Self-service analytics and business intelligence may help ease the sharp divide that exists between those who speak the language of data and non-technical domain experts.

Focusing on local procurement can induce a ‘virtuous demand cycle’ of boosted production, employment and people buying more local products: Manufacturing Circle’s Philippa Rodseth.

Residents of Melbourne and Mitchell Shire who do not wear a mask when heading to the shops can expect to be refused entry by major retailers such as Bunnings and Myer on Thursday.

However, industry bodies and unions are concerned shopkeepers and staff may face unwelcome altercations if non-mask wearers are refused service, with store owners advised to call police if disagreements get heated.

The alternatives fundraising environment has been resilient, but virtual raises have had implications, Carlyle Group Inc. Co-CEO Kewsong Lee said on the firm's second-quarter earnings call.

The Global Digital Printing Packaging Market 2020 Research Report is a professional and detailed study about the current and forecast state With COVID 19 Impact Analysis of the market.

It has been five months since the COVID-19 pandemic has created a tidal wave of public and private policy shifts which dictate how humans go about their everyday lives. Many of our daily activities, once thought of as normal, have been upended with no certainty to be considered “normal” again.

Accounting software makes it easier for you to track your business's financial health and monitor the money moving in and out of your accounts. It can create invoices, track expenses and generate a variety of reports that help you analyze your business's performance from various angles. Many applications can also help you track your bills and manage your inventory or projects.

Hotels need to put aside their frustrations with software for forecasting and rate-setting. Revenue mangers will need all the help they can get to make sure they grab their fair share of the recovery in bookings.

The life insurance industry is bracing for a surge in mental health claims amid expectations social isolation and financial hardship caused by the coronavirus pandemic will exacerbate existing conditions or cause new ones.

The head of life insurance at financial services company MLC, Sean McCormack, said dealing with mental health was one of the most significant issues facing the insurance sector as COVID-19 had accelerated an already growing number of claims related to psychological health.

Early Wednesday, the market sees the preliminary reading for the June month Retail Sales data from Australia at 01:30 GMT. Following a 16.9% increase in May, markets are expecting a 7.1% rise in the key data. Traders are particularly interested in the data as the RBA Governor Philip Lowe showed readiness to cut the rated, if needed, on Tuesday.

The past few months have seen several media reports and lamentations by urban pundits about the desirability of a more locally-focused food distribution system. The stories seem to be inspired by the perceived failure of retailers to stock every possible food and household item every day at their stores during the pandemic.

If you purchased a 100-year old house that had never been rewired, what do you think would happen to it?

There is a very good prospect that it would burn to the ground, as the old wiring would not be suitable for many of the more modern gadgets you would be running in a house of today, not to mention the out of date materials used to carry the power to these gadgets. Imagine you’ve finished a renovation and were faced with the heartbreak of your investment burning to the ground because you failed to attend to the most important upgrade in the project?

Employers are quickly learning that returning to the workplace does not equal returning to life as it was pre-pandemic and is actually more complicated than previously budgeted for.

But given the demands on employers to preserve their employees’ health and wellbeing and keep them energised and productive, they will have to balance empathy and economics, even in the face of tough decisions, finds Mercer’s Return to a New Normal white paper.

A spate of scandals has put accounting firms in the U.K. on the back foot. The collapse of Carillion Plc, and subsequently Thomas Cook Group Plc, have been among cases that raised questions about auditing standards at the so-called Big Four firms. In response, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers have agreed to separate their auditing and consulting departments by 2024 to avert possible conflicts of interest, a move that critics say doesn’t go far enough.

The COVID 19 pandemic dramatically altered the day-to-day existence of most companies. Though businesses may have had remote-work contingency plans in place, few could have expected the need to implement these procedures almost overnight. And just as state governments enacted shutdowns requiring all non-essential workers to work remotely, many businesses were working with their auditors to finalize year-end financial statement audits and other attest reporting.

Since 2019, 75 per cent of Waterline’s multi-disciplinary engineering projects were delivered without an engineer ever setting foot onsite.

Utility Billing Software Market analysis is provided for the Global market including development trends by regions, competitive analysis of Utility Billing Software market. Utility Billing Software Industry report focuses on the major drivers and restraints for the key players.

COVID19 Impact Analysis | Key Players: SkyBill SIA, Cogsdale, Enghouse Networks, Continental Utility Solutions, Utilitybilling

The UK government has made bold promises to reform the planning system to deliver infrastructure and housing. Most necessary planning tools are already in place but they need refreshing, resourcing and rebooting.

CEO of LogicGate, a GRC process automation platform that enables organizations to transform risk and compliance programs.

Warren Buffett famously said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

Next month marks the beginning of the 2020/2021 academic year in several US states, and pressure is mounting to reopen schools even as the COVID-19 pandemic persists. Florida, for example, is now considered the nation’s No. 1 hot spot for the virus; yet on Monday, the state’s education commissioner issued an executive order mandating that all Florida schools open in August with in-person learning and their full suite of student services.

Coronavirus, now globally carrying the status of a pandemic, has led to a worldwide crisis with its effects on the hospitality industry potentially heavier than those of 9/11, SARS, and the financial crisis in 2008. This time, however, the hospitality industry has never experienced and sudden downturn. Putting the human at the center of the situation, the virus generates deep fear, confusion, and impacts us in a deeply emotional way that this generation has never felt. Of course, on top of this, physical confinement is aggravating the situation.

Retail was in trouble long before COVID-19 hit. The past five years saw daily reports of store closures and retailer bankruptcies.

The growth of online commerce eroded many retailers’ top-line revenues, forcing them into an ongoing cycle of discounts and promotions just to keep up.

Managing accounts and maintaining proper records of all employees’ time and attendance to prepare payroll manually is a complex and time consuming process. Payroll system developed for small business has made the tasks easier. Now, most of the companies prefer to use payroll software for their small business to calculate employees’ salaries accurately and quickly.

If you own or want to start a business, budgeting is its central nervous system. But this isn’t an easy exercise. Steve Jordan, senior manager at Wipfli in Rockford, Ill, tells us how to do it:

Rapid advances in technological innovation, including through automation, digitization, and electrification, are having a fundamental impact on the mining sector. A few technologies reshaping the sector include autonomous vehicles, automated drilling and tunnel boring systems, drones and smart sensors.

Technological advancements will make the work of humans considerably more interesting, challenging, and valuable in the new decade. Still, as AI and cognitive solutions evolve, companies will need to re-examine how they structure their teams, design jobs, and plan for future growth.

Examples of digital marketing tools and techniques to give you an edge in the year ahead
Well, we’ve nearly made it! For years I’ve been looking to the future, predicting how innovations in digital media, platforms and technology will shape marketing in 2020. The cutting edge examples certainly show the exciting opportunities available - there is almost too much choice…

In this article, I’ll explore six key marketing trends based on examples and research on the adoption of the latest marketing

Just think of what project management industry looked like ten years ago? Fewer methodologies, lesser tools, smaller teams, and simpler projects. Cut to 2019, things have changed tremendously as the teams are no longer smaller and the projects no longer simpler.

Like with fashion and Instagram Story features that tell you what Disney character you are, the tech world is full of trends. The annual CES is a chance for tech companies from all around the world to bring their new products—or at least promises of new products—into the Nevada desert and show them off to the world.

The esteemed Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter coined the term "creative destruction" in the 1940s to describe the way technological progress improves the lives of many, but only at the expense of a smaller few. Creative destruction occurred during the industrial revolution when machinery and improvements to the manufacturing process such as the assembly line pushed out craft and artisan production. While the economy as a whole benefited from such improvements, those craftsmen who were displaced saw their jobs destroyed, never to return.

In 1968, the late Robert F. Kennedy, then a presidential candidate in the United States, pointed out in a famous speech that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) “measures everything … except that which makes life worthwhile.”

Harmony is key for success in today’s wholesale distribution industry.

A symphony is a great example of the power of harmony. When an orchestra’s percussion, woodwind, string, and brass sections merge seamlessly around a sheet of music, they deliver an experience that can win over the harshest music critic.

When you think of technological advancements, your mind might automatically gravitate toward industries like medicine or electronics. The construction sector doesn’t automatically seem like the kind of industry with innovative technological advances, but in reality, it’s one of the most innovative industries out there.

Today digital transformation reshapes shopping, online experiences, and even customer expectations of physical stores. The COVID-19 outbreak changed not only our every-day life but also the way of doing business. But by turning the world upside down, it also brought many technological innovations.

Not very many years ago, professionals could count on their reputations and country club contacts to obtain a steady stream of clients or patients. Today, though, lawyers, accountants, management consultants, architects, engineers, dentists, doctors, and other professionals must do extensive marketing to maintain and build their practices.

Advances in technology are changing the way nearly every industry operates. As manufacturers look to stay competitive in the marketplace, they are constantly searching for the latest and greatest inventions, strategies, and systems. As you research what’s next for your facility, you might want to consider the following trends that we think are influencing manufacturing.

Say so long to Instagram bait: Eight restaurant and hotel designers predict what is in and what is out in the year ahead.

The new decade has arrived with a flourish—and with it a new era of hotels, restaurants, and other creative hospitality spaces. But which trends are designers leaving in the teens and which ones will endure?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter at its sharpest pace since the Great Recession as stringent measures to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus almost shut down the country, ending the longest expansion in the nation’s history.

Like many technology trends, “Software as a Service” (SaaS) has entered into the realm of buzzwords that can be confusing and easy to ignore.

So, what is Saas, and what good does it do you to know?

It’s a method of software delivery where applications are hosted remotely by a vendor or service provider and are made available to customers over a network. Simply put, users rent the software instead of purchasing it.

Newswise — There is much debate over the economic costs of our lockdown lives: whether the price of disease mitigation is worth the risk of an enduring financial crisis.

New research from the University of Cambridge suggests that there is no absolute trade-off between the economy and human health – and that the economic price of inaction could be twice as high as that of a “structured lockdown”.