IN a series of illuminating interviews with The Manila Times, it became evident in the brilliantly executed regional conference of Urbach Hacker Young International Ltd. (UHY) at the tropical paradise of Boracay that when it came to the smooth sailing of events, no man was an island indeed. Titled "Gearing for growth through change," the conference was piloted by local network member UHY M.L. Aguirre & Co., CPAs (UHY MAC) for the first time in the Philippines.

When UHY MAC joined UHY in 2015, the international chairman challenged the local member partners to find a solution for the growth of the firm and the network. UHY MAC's answer was in the savvy positioning of providing "timely business advice" through online outsourcing and artificial intelligence (AI).

The eponymous founder and managing partner of the UHY network member, Michael "Mhike" Aguirre, credited the innate intelligence of his partners and officers for the applause-filled reception of the conference talks on the accounting applications of AI and other growth strategies for the runaway success of the regional conference.

Growth through thought leadership

During the kickoff dinner at The Market, the poolside restaurant of Movenpick Resort & Spa Boracay, foreign and Filipino UHY delegates were regaled with a welcoming speech from Floribar Bautista, the mayor of Malay, the municipality of which Boracay was a part.

"In accounting there's always what we call opportunity cost," Bautista said in English and Filipino. "Some of the establishment owners were always talking about losses, but they were not thinking about how, after the rehabilitation, there were gains."

Echoing the theme of the UHY regional conference, Bautista said the changes really were for the better and that these needed to be continued. He said the changes were all about bearing short-term losses in order to gain long-term, sustainable goals, and that these involved innovation and strategic thinking.

Speaking of innovation, among the keynote speakers at the resort meeting rooms in the following days was former Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy member Concordio "Con-Con" Quisaot, who spoke about accounting unstructured data in relation to AI.

"When you say structured [data], the database is arranged in a table, and there is a header under which are all the data records," Quisaot explained. "But in unstructured data, the AI will scan random letters and numbers such as on a receipt and arrange it all into required information, based on the AI's existing understanding."

In structured data, insights had to be built in already. In unstructured data, Quisaot compared, it was already the capability of the AI to analyze and find insights.

Nicolas "Nic" Valentin and Leonil "Onil" Alabado, Barbaza Multi-Purpose Cooperative chairman of the board and chief executive officer (CEO), respectively, spoke about the strategic growth of their organization as the biggest cooperative in Western Visayas in terms of assets and membership.

"It's maybe because of the collaborative effort of our managers in the field," Valentin said.

"We involve all from the guards, from the collector up to the chairman," Alabado agreed.

"The board of directors [is] the policy-making body of the cooperative while [the managers] are in charge of operations. So, we work hand in hand. That's the secret," Valentin revealed.

Another speaker, Edmund Araga, president of the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines, spoke about government tariffs, subsidies and tax incentive periods on electric vehicle sales that impacted year-on-year growth.

"For the tax incentives, they would see how the accountants would address this if one company in particular would check on this subsidy or incentives," Araga said. "Even the charging stations are a factor for them to look into for tax incentives."

Araga posed questions on how companies could participate in subsidies. He asked how companies could apply for and get incentives in the industry of electric vehicles. He also asked about the implementation of the government sector on how such auditing would be rolled out.

Wilfredo "Willie" Baltazar, chief inspector of the Quality Assurance Review Office and the past president of the Association of Certified Public Accountants in Public Practice, also spoke about the new accounting and auditing standards, the implementation of the quality assurance review in the Philippines and the emerging issue in relation to the innovation in artificial intelligence.

Baltazar opined: "I think one of the challenges is that our CPAs now don't have the skills in terms of how to use artificial intelligence; what kinds of knowledge need to be known about enterprise resource planning, using cloud-based accounting; [and] what needs to be known about business analytics."

Because this was a new field of study, Baltazar believed that curricula should first be updated, and accounting teachers should have the energy and capacity for empowering learners.

Growth through complementary partnerships

One of UHY MAC's four partners, Eliseo "Ely" Aurellado, the firm figurehead whose expertise was more on human resources and on audit, credited the founder's energy: "What I noticed about Mhike [was that] he was very aggressive, and he always was an early riser. The reason he went to the office early [was] because he would watch the fax machine. [If] something comes out, he's the first one to get a crack at it. If it's a prospective client, he will get the account."

Another of the firm's four partners whose expertise was in taxation, Ruel Facundo, said in Filipino, "When it started, I wasn't really part of ML Aguirre. I joined in 2018. [After some growth], now, I'm also head of the firm's subsidiary, Assistant Pro Services & Advisory Inc., an outsourcing company, based in Cebu."

In a conversation with Facundo, it was revealed that UHY MAC was B license 1 accredited — an accreditation of which there were only between 20 to 30 holders as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It was disclosed that ML Aguirre also had accreditation with the Bangko Sentral ng PIlipinas and with the National Electrification Authority. It was learned that another competitive advantage of ML Aguire, aside from its foreign affiliations, was the way it strategically positioned itself in a niche in which it excelled.

Meanwhile, Dondon "Dino" Sison, another one of the four partners whose expertise was chiefly in licensing, and in corporate and internal audit, seemed more a man of action than of many words. During the UHY regional conference, he was more often seen navigating the crowds during social and physical activities.

Growth through personal friendships

The UHY MAC management was also very active in socials, and depending on the year, the firm had been a member of 7 to 10 local organizations with international affiliations averaging about seven.

The founder himself only attended meetings of two affiliates while others were attended by lawyer Gerry Franciso, the corporate advisor and Human Resources manager; Imy Eulin, senior tax specialist; and Cleomeila "Kim" Engcoy, Business Development senior associate.

During a candid chat, UHY MAC Admin head Monina Aguirre shared that apart from fun and playful get-togethers, the firm also had an anniversary event, a separate midyear motivational event, a team-building event and a strategic planning event as well, as most accountants finished their work in May, June or even July upon the completion of SEC reporting.

Officially though, the brick-and-mortar business of the partners' group of companies had been in operation since its founding on March 22, 2007, which meant that ML Aguirre has had 17 anniversaries.

Unfortunately, the founding day fell on a busy business season, which was why, in conjunction with its anniversary, the firm tended to organize company outings — such as during the recent UHY conference from July 10 to 12, 2024 — after the tax season.

After the accounting season, when the officers of UHY MAC — such as Audit Director Andrew Loteyro, Quality Assurance Manager Oliver Desquitado, Tax Paralegal Supervisor Charles Agunos, and Technical and Research Assistant Manager Rodel Imperial, among many others — finished crunching numbers and giving sage advice, the executives indulged in the fun and games that were like wind in their proverbial sails.

Truly, the ML Aguirre partners and officers were very into sports such as running, basketball, bowling and badminton, and they encouraged employees to be active in the leagues organized by the management.

Thus, it was a genius stroke to make a fun run/walk-for-a-cause as the culminating activity for the fun-loving and sociable accountants in cooperation with Philippine Red Cross Chapter Administrator Rona Orada.

At the UHY event in Boracay, clearly, the networks and firms that played together, stayed together.