PRESIDENT’S CORNER

About Marydith C. Miguel

Dolly is a partner in Assurance with many years of experience in audit and is IRS-accredited based on EY requirements. She has extensive experience in financial audits, agreed-upon procedures, limited-review procedures, due diligence reviews, and cross-border and local equity offerings. She has worked with companies engaged in telecommunications, real estate, investment holdings, tollways, car assembly, food retailing, and entertainment, as well as airlines, hospitals, schools, and nonstick, nonprofit organizations. She also has deep experience in the review of internal controls over financial reporting.

She was a National Board member of the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) for 2008-2010, and served as President of the PICPA Western Manila Chapter in 2006-2007.

She was an SGV scholar at the Asian Institute of Management, where she obtained a Master in Management degree in 1996. She graduated cum laude from the University of the East in Manila with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, major in AccoFunting.

President’s Message

Induction and Turn-Over Ceremonies

To our guest speaker and inducting officer, Former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, who was so gracious to accept our invite and who was so generous of his words;  the Chair of the Board of Accountancy, Honorable Dr. Noe G. Quinanola (and to other members of the Board of Accountancy – Hon. Dr. Arlyn Villanueva. Hon. Atty Sam Padilla. Hon. Dr. Gloria Baysa and Hon. Dr. Gerry Piator); immediate Past President Lope L. Bato Jr and to all Past  PICPA National Presidents in attendance; Past BOA Chair Gerard Sanvictores, the incoming Board of Directors, National Committee Chairs, Chapter Presidents, Regional Sectoral Representatives and other PICPA officers; other distinguished guests, friends, ladies and gentlemen.

As I start to speak, am trying to recall how this all started. If I have one confession to make,  it is that  I started as a reluctant PICPA member. I was then a newly promoted supervisor when Mr. Celso Vivas , one of my former partners, asked me to  be the Assistant  Secretary for Western Metro Manila Chapter. He was then about to assume the Chapter Presidency and I suppose more than the need of an Assistant Secretary, he just wanted me to be exposed outside SGV. For my part, more than the need for exposure, I just wanted to please my partner. And so that was  how my membership in PICPA started… then I find myself liking it… the friendship I found, the activities… but it was the late Mrs. Violeta Vicente who pushed me to accept the chapter presidency in PICPA WMMC and before I knew it, I was  already immersed to being a PICPA member… to borrow the term used by many PICPAns “PICPA addict”.  I was in so much  awe on how the officers can give so much time for PICPA and they seemed to be enjoying it,  until I found meaning in the things they do  and the rest is history.

I am immensely grateful but humbled to be speaking in front of you as your newly elected PICPA National President. Thank you for the trust that you have bestowed upon me by choosing me to lead our great institution, whose members includes the who’s who in the Accounting Profession, people with great minds and passion.  Your support means a lot.  Rest assured that you all have my full commitment and dedication to serve our members and our organization so that we may further transform and accelerate our progress in support of the accounting profession and hopefully the country as whole.

It is an honor to have you witness the induction of the FY21-22 National Board of Directors and officers. As you all know, the well-being of our members is our foremost priority, which is why we are holding our induction ceremony online, for the second year in a row. Although we are all physically apart, I trust that our commitment to our beloved organization will keep us united in overcoming the challenges brought about by the pandemic.  

Sustaining the continuing development of the accountancy profession and serving the needs of Filipino accountants have always been at the core of who we are. PICPA has been standing firm for decades because we have always aimed to provide solutions that help enable and empower our professionals, the industries we work in, and the nation at large. Today, the current climate calls for us to take action after the changes in the environment and the changing needs of our members are starting to shatter our norms.

But how can we meet the moment? Simple – we need to embrace transformation.

As our theme of the year aptly states, we need to Transform by embracing possibilities and realizing potentials. It is time for us to unleash our immense untapped capabilities to help reinforce our profession and rebuild the economy. Now, more than ever, we need to conjure new ideas and find innovative solutions that can enable Filipino CPAs better support and advise our stakeholders.

Recall that our organization’s mission directs us to uphold the highest standards in the accountancy profession and protect public interest. Hence, we must leverage on our values such as resiliency, fortitude and agility to make sure that we remain relevant, effective and responsible in this fast-paced modern world.

As I have presented, our plans and programs will be anchored on the five strategic pillars – – professional development, membership services, partnership with regulators and international alliances, community and social responsibility and capacity building.  While the first step to transformation begins within ourselves, we also recognize that we can no longer separate transformation from technology. Day by day, we see new advancements that can help process our work. Indeed, automation is the way of the future. Our digital transformation this year will start with the preparation of digital roadmap that will serve a as guide for PICPA’s journey to digital transformation.

We need to improve on our CPD offerings for the eventual adoption of the professional qualification framework and  we need to invest for the creation of PICPA Academy for the institutionalization of these CPD Offerings. Professional development is a core commitment of PICPA to its members.

There will also be other projects. Thus year, we pledge to initiate more projects centered to address the needs of the SMEs  as well as the SMPs,

our support to BOA for the Quality Assurance Review implementation,  amendment of the Accountancy Law to the extent we deemed beneficial to the profession and the amendment also of the PICPA articles  to amend the primary purpose, to cite a few….

Of course, we would not be able to set our sights on such immense goals, if it were not for the people who have paved the way and set the foundation to our future success. That is why I want to recognize our immediate past national president and the FY20-21 board of directors for their valiant efforts during the past year. It is inspiring how, despite being faced with such unprecedented and challenging circumstances, they still managed to spearhead and manage numerous projects that focused on important areas, such as quality with our ISO certification;

I also want to acknowledge the efforts and work done of all the other past PICPA National Presidents who were all  instrumental in building PICPA to what it is today. Allow me to cite some of the key accomplishments of our leaders  in  the last five years :

• Immediate Past President Lope L. Bato, Jr. for our ISO certification as mentioned
• 2019-2020 Past President Evelyn S. Corpuz for launching our online Voting System and pioneering our digital webinars.
• 2018-2019 President Ma. Asuncion M. Golez for launching Eventbank and Quickbooks and for garnering the Outstanding Accredited Professional Organization (APO) award for PICPA.
• 2017-2018 President Zenaida P. Alcantara for her commitment to accounting and finance education through the joint program with Card MRI Micro Business Enterprises that helped students across the country.
• 2016-2017 President Ramonito D. Pernato who strengthened ties with International organizations. During his term, CAPA cited PICPA in helping develop the CPD Toolkit of CAPA. We also hosted the CAPA International Conference.

Each of our past PICPA National Presidents definitely had their own significant contributions to PICPA.  We all thank them for their invaluable services.

In closing, I wish to share a quote from a PICPA past president, who recently celebrated his centenary, Mr. Washington SyCip:

“Leadership qualities must be backed by high ethical and moral standards, humility, fairness, and a willingness to learn and to change”

 I urge the incoming officers for FY21-22 to take this message to heart. It tells us that in order for us to be effective leaders, we must remain unfazed by disruption and instead, focus on learning, growing and transforming so that we can adapt to challenges and seize new opportunities as they arise. By being open to change, embracing progress and demonstrating resilience, we will be better able to serve and address the needs of or members. Above all, we must become servant-leaders who practice integrity, excellence and humility in everything we do.

I trust that through our hard work and collaboration, we can further elevate the profession and uplift the lives of our members.

Before I end, allow me to thank those who were with me in this journey . ..

First I would like to thank my SGV Family who have been very supportive of all my PICPA activities .  Would like to thank our CMP Wilson Tan, our former CMP, Itos Cruz and Vic Noel,  and some of SGV’s  leadership, my SGV Partners in Market Group 2, other SGV partner friends and my managers, whom I refer to as my warriors, for their presence this afternoon. .

My sincere gratitude also to my very own chapter, Western Metro Manila Chapter, where my PICPA journey started. WMMC members have been very supportive of me ever since my Chapter President’s days, always willing to stand  in my absence and give extra hands when help is needed. . . and of course the entire Metro Manila region… thank you for the support and trust.

Shout out to my special friends who are here this afternoon  – they are my shock absorbers, supporters and at the same time my critics. You know who you are, thank you for always being there, and for the many years of friendship

To my family, for the love, care and understanding in all the things I do. Most of  the times, I am the reason why some family plans have to be moved or cancelled, always adjusting to my schedules…

And to all of you who  helped in this journey, and of course to GOD the Almighty, who made all of this possible. . . I am grateful and feel blessed.

I know that this role will not be easy and that challenges awaits me, but it is a  source of great confidence and comfort to have all of you as partners and the former leaders as my role models in this monumental job of upholding the mission and vision of PICPA and the dream to even bring our beloved PICPA to a greater heights.

Thank you very much and may we all have a purposeful day and year ahead.

Mabuhay ang PICPA!

Ms. Marydith C. Miguel
National President
FY 2021-2022