Last November 19, Punongbayan & Araullo gathered together local business leaders and CEOs for the Firm\'s first CEO Business Forum, themed \"Riding the shockwaves: Opportunities in the Philippines amidst the global financial crisis.\"

The business forum, moderated by ANC news anchor Mr. Coco Alcuaz, gathered an excellent pool of financial experts to shed light on the topic, including Assistant Chief Economist of the Asian Development Bank Mr. Joseph Zveglich, who offered a global perspective on the crisis.

Zveglich in his presentation explains, “Recent world economic news has cast a shadow on the advanced economies’ prospects for continued recovery, yet developing Asia has managed to maintain its growth in the first half of this year.” Seen in the Asian Development Outlook 2011 Update, Mr. Zveglich uncovered the specific factors that have driven Asia’s growth.

Other speakers and panelists offered various perspectives on the topic. These include: Dr. Felipe Medalla, Member of the Monetary Board of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Hon. Margarito B. Teves, Chairman of Think Tank, Inc. and Former Secretary of the Department of Finance, with Ms. Solita Collas-Monsod, Professor Emeritus of the School of Economics of UP Diliman and Mr. Alex MacBeath, Global Leader for Markets of Grant Thornton International as reactors.

March 2010 -- Juancho Robles, the Risk Management Partner of leading auditing and business advisory firm Punongbayan & Araullo (P&A), was guest speaker at a seminar organized by the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) entitled “A Finance Guide to Driving Costs Down and Out.”

Robles discussed various cost management methods and strategies that can be employed by companies. He also explained how risk management can help in determining which methods are most effective in eliminating or mitigating the highest cost risk, meaning those risks that have the most impact on a company.

The seminar was spearheaded by FINEX’s Professional Development Committee. Other topics covered during the event were “Conserving Risk Capital and Leveraging the Upside of Risk in Difficult and Uncertain Times,” and “Finance Definitive Guide to Cost Cutting.”

January 2010 -- Jessie Carpio, a partner of leading audit, tax and business advisory firm Punongbayan & Araullo (P&A), was one of the resource experts at a management benchmarking seminar entitled “Key Strategies for Outsourcing the HR function.”

As one of the partners of P&A’s Business Support Services Division, the Firm’s outsourcing arm, Carpio discussed payroll outsourcing, citing the three key benefits that companies who choose to outsource can enjoy: cost savings, convenience and full use of the competent resources of a service provider.

The seminar was organized by Deming Management Systems (DMS) for senior corporate executives and people managers across industries. DMS is a division of management consulting and training company Kairos Management Technology (KMT).

Last January 19, 2009, P&A Chairman Ben Punongbayan was guest speaker at the UE Accounting Lecture Series, where he discussed the current state of accounting in the Philippines, the controversial \"mark-to-market\" system, and how undergraduates can prepare themselves for joining the professional world.

The seminar that will hand you the knowledge keys to good governance, controls, fraud, risk management and information technology.

When: November 27 and 28, 2008

Where: Renaissance Hotel, Esperanza St. cor. Makati Ave., Makati City

November 27, 2008

• Corporate governance - executive brief
• The recent financial meltdown - executive brief
• Enterprise risk management concepts and implementation
• Fraud concepts and fraud management

November 28, 2008

• Internal controls and principles and best practices
• IT governance and best practices