The Apprenticeship Support Programme is a cross-agency government response to help employers retain and bring on new apprentices, including Mana in Mahi participants, while dealing with the effects of COVID-19.

Employers and businesses will be able to access support from either Apprenticeship Boost, Mana in Mahi, or the Regional Apprenticeships Initiative. The Group Training Schemes which some employers are part of will also receive additional support.

Important information

The Apprenticeship Support Programme will be implemented from August 2020. More details on how to apply will be available as soon as possible.

The Apprenticeship Support Programme is delivered from a number of government agencies and includes:

• the new Apprenticeship Boost, which will help employers pay for new and existing apprentices in their first two years of training
• an expansion to MSD’s Mana in Mahi programme to help people into long-term work and gain a formal industry training qualification
• support for seven existing Group Training Schemes to help them continue to employ some 1,700 apprentices and trainees
• the new Regional Apprenticeships Initiative, funded through the Provincial Growth Fund, which will support employers in the regions to take up new apprentices.

Business debt hibernation is a government initiative created in response to COVID-19. It helps companies, trusts, and other business entities affected by COVID-19 to manage their debts.

If business debt hibernation is right for your business, this is how it helps you manage your debts.

• You set up an arrangement for your existing debts, eg paying your creditors only a percentage of what you owe them on time and delaying the rest.
• You get up to a month of protection while you set up the arrangement, meaning most creditors can’t enforce their debts, eg applying for your business to be liquidated.
• If your creditors agree, you get a further six months of protection.

Use the business debt hibernation decision tool to find out if it’s a good option for your business and if so, how to get started.

COVID-19: Business debt hibernation

Briefly, the loans provide businesses with $10,000 each, plus $1,800 on top per full time employee. They are interest free if repaid in the first 12 months. If not repaid within 12 months, interest is charged at 3% for the full term of the loan.

To qualify, you must have a 30% reduction in turnover and be a viable business post Covid (understandably, they don’t want to lend to non-viable businesses).

The accounting services industry is at the forefront of sweeping digital disruption. Momentous technology change, coupled with shifting consumer trends, has prompted a new methodology for how the industry creates value for clients. Great article https://www.accountingtoday.com/opinion/embracing-digital-disruption-to-drive-growth

Why is Sustainability Reporting important

The value of sustainability reporting is that it ensures organizations consider their impacts on sustainability issues, and enables them to be transparent about the risks and opportunities they face. In today’s world it’s not good enough to simply make claims about your level of sustainability. Now, organizations need to provide tangible, credible demonstrations of their level of sustainability, by following proper guidelines for sustainability reporting.

This way organizations build trust among customers and all stakeholders, which in turn directly impacts the bottom lines. As per the business axiom – you can’t manage what you can’t measure; transparency is a currency that builds trust, which build businesses.

So in a nutshell, sustainability reporting can have four major benefits to any organisation:

• It is a useful risk management tool.
• It can help generate savings.
• It helps in better decision-making.
• It helps in increasing stakeholder trust.