A look at the impact Covid-19 has in the financial sector.
How has your job changed because of the coronavirus crisis?
I’m in auditing, and auditing is a job that requires physical contact. I would be regularly assigned to a client, where most of the work would be done in the client site. A lot of the work would include meetings and face to face discussions with client employees. Due to the pandemic, I had to quickly adapt to the current situation and begin working from home. The use of technology was instrumental to enhance communication between my colleagues, clients and I.
The technology I use on a regular basis today, I had been reluctant to use before Corona. This situation has helped change the way I go about my job on a daily basis, and has definitely made me more agile and flexible to work in different conditions and circumstances.
Can you share something you have been doing during this time to help you grow?
I’ve been doing several activities to stay productive and continue to grow. First, I finished a joint online ACCA and CSOEC certification in Business Valuations, which was an area I was interested in understanding better. I have also been reading various books on mental health awareness and self development. I discovered that, in the current situation, there are many challenges that require one’s mental wellbeing; and given my situation as an expat living alone in a foreign country, this became very important. Finally, I’ve been trying to exercise everyday to help stay fit during this pandemic; it helps me stay productive and actually perform better at work.
How do you think the industry you’re in is going to change after COVID? What do you think the “new normal” will look like?
Being in the professional service industry, I believe that the way we work and how we deal with clients will dramatically change in both the short and long term. In the short term, companies will have to manage their working capital to be able to mitigate the risk of cash collection delay by clients, which puts a lot of pressure on the companies performance and abilities. On the other hand, there will be opportunities for these companies to provide services needed during times of crisis, so companies which adapt will find ways to continue to grow and generate income in the long term. As service providers, we have already changed a lot of how we do things in the short term to react to the sudden crisis that we faced. In the long term, we will have to reflect back on how we reacted to vet out the best practices and adopt them.
WRITTEN BY
Mohamed Dahawy
ACCA | 4x Prizewinner | Cert BV.
Qualified Audit Associate based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Mohamed
works for the external audit department, with experience in various
industries including construction, aviation, financial services, and retail. He
recently finished his ACCA qualification, the highest score in Egypt in all 4
professional papers.
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