The China Bank Payroll Summary PDF and the China Bank Automatic Credit Arrangement (ACA) files are now available for download from the Forms Page.
You can access them from your Payroll > Reports > Forms page.
China Bank Payroll Summary PDF screenshot:
China Bank Automatic Credit Arrangement file screenshot:
To learn more about PayrollHero, contact us for a free consultation.
The new BDO Enrollable Report v2 Form is now available for you to download on PayrollHero!
For customers that need to use the BDO Payroll File v2 you can select the new form on your accounts Payroll > Reports > Forms page.
The new form is called “Philippines: Payroll BDO Payroll Version 2”
See what other bank files can be generated for the Philippines.
We get asked all of the time what hotels should you consider when coming to the Philippines (ie. Manila, not to one of the islands, that is a different blog post). I recently made a list for an EO event that we are hosting in the coming weeks and thought I would share it here as well.
In Fort Bonifacio, Taguig
There are only a handful of hotels in the Fort (or BGC as some call it) but there are a few opening. Here are the ones currently open;
F1 Best Western – www.f1hotelmanila.com
Not a bad hotel, pricing is usually around $110 – $140 a night an includes breakfast. But check with them for their latest deals.
Seda Hotel – www.sedahotels.com
A boutique hotel right off of High Street. It is usually priced similar to the F1 but has a great roof top bar that can be fun to check out.
Ascott – www.the-ascott.com
The Ascott just opened in the Fort a few days ago.
Shangri-La – www.shangri-la.com
Not open yet and behind schedule, but when it opens it should be awesome. It is at the other end of High Street from the Seda and looks to be the tallest tower in the Fort.
Grand Hyatt
Also not open, but will be an fantastic addition to the Fort when it does.
It is Alphalist time in the Philippines and we wanted to put together a list of resources to help you get your Alphalist done in time.
What is an Alphalist?
How do I prepare an Alphalist in the Philippines?
What are the 3 documents contained in an Alphalist?
In the news… BIR tightens rule on Alphalist submission (via PhilStar)
This was going to be a blog post about restaurants that are open for business on Christmas Day, but after quite a bit of digging, it is hard to tell who is open and who is closed.
When I Google “What Restaurants are open Christmas Day in Fort Bonifacio?” the only post that comes up is from Black Sheep confirming that they are open on Christmas Day. But nothing else that talks about restaurants that are open. If you own a restaurant, why not advertise that you are open? Black Sheep made a simple Facebook post and it comes up #1 when I asked Google;
But where are the rest of them. I’m sure there are many that are open and many people looking for a place to be on Christmas night. Why not make it known that you are open.
We have covered this topic before. From my point of view, many restaurants in the Philippines don’t make the effort to market their businesses online. They leave that to 3rd party companies like MunchPunch, LooLoo and the like. For example, here is a Google search looking for “Todd English, Fort Bonifacio”. You would think their website would come up #1, but it is all 3rd party services. Here is what shows up;
PayrollHero has a couple resources to help restaurant marketing departments up their game. Download these for your team. Let us know if you have questions.
Here are 10 things your Philippine restaurant needs to have on their website;
Here are 9 ways to promote your restaurant in the Philippines;
Another one of PayrollHero’s Adventure Engineers has arrived in Canada. Nico Suria, a Philippine native has moved over to our Whistler office as part of his quest for Canadian Residency. I sent Nico a few questions about his experience thus far (he has been there about 1 week) and here is what he had to say:
1. What was the biggest shock when coming to Canada?
A lot of us Asians, especially ones that haven’t been to Canada before, will say the cold. I’ve spent some time in Ontario as a kid so I don’t have the same problem. But.. yup, it was still the cold.
Also being able to drink directly from the tap. Melted glacier water is yummy.
2. How do you like the weather?
You really just have to dress correctly and, once I got used to it, I had a great time walking around and just enjoying the sights. There’s something about walking the streets of a city like Vancouver or the forest paths of Whistler, all bundled up and with your breath fogging that I find really pleasant.
3. What do you think of Vancouver?
Rainy. I didn’t get to really go out a lot outside Yaletown, and it was only sunny for an hour the whole time I was there but when it did, it was lovely. Looked like there were lots of interesting places and people everywhere.
4. What do you think of Whistler?
I’ve never lived in a small town but I can definitely say that I like it. The weather’s cold but the people are warm and friendly. The place itself is quite beautiful. They’ve done a great job of designing the town to complement nature instead of just building on top of it. All of this and I’ve never even visited the mountains themselves – which people spend heaps of money just to be around of.
5. What do you miss about the Philippines?
Mostly my family and friends. The food (and prices) too.
6. What Filipino thing did you find in Canada that shocked you?
Well, Filipino’s themselves! They everywhere. I needed a single envelope for mail but the post office only sold them in 50’s so I went to the UPS store to see if they sold singles. The guy just asked me in Tagalog how many I needed and gave it to me for free.
7. How was the process of getting setup? (SIN number, bank, etc)
Let me just say this: with nobody to show me around much less serve as my ‘fixer‘, I was able to 1) Get a post-paid mobile plan with great data, 2) Get a Social Insurance Number, and 3) Open a bank account – all within 12 hours.
Read more about our Adventure Engineers here.
What is an Adventure Engineer, watch below;
We are always hiring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx3YmAGU3l4
Most software as a service (SaaS) companies focus on the US market, or other western countries with little regard for emerging markets. While there are definitely challenges with focusing on emerging markets (internet, power, traffic, corruption, to name a few) there are some big advantages.
For example, the above photo was taken at a department store in the Philippines. In this photo, of one of the many areas of the 3 floor department store has no less than 12 employees. For a company like PayrollHero that charges based on employee count, you can see why we like emerging markets. In Canada or the US, if I took the same photo, you would be lucky to see 1 employee.
But it is not all as easy as it seems. These employees are actually not employees of the department store but rather merchandisers who work directly for the brands they are standing beside. So while you might see 12 employees, they most likely work for 12 different companies. Making selling a product or service to them a bit more of a challenge.
But still, employee counts in restaurants, retail, etc are usually much higher in emerging markets due to the cost of labour.
Would you like to learn more about PayrollHero? Contact us and we would be pleased to speak further or visit our country specific websites; Philippines, Singapore with the rest coming soon.
I had the honour of being invited by the Camarines Sur Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CSCCI) in Naga, Philippines to speak at their 1st Annual Youth Entrepreneurship Congress Conference. It was an amazing event with over 1000 in attendance from all over the region. My talk was on techno-entrepreneurship in which I told the story of how Mike and I started out working together and how we have progressed over the pat 14 years.
My friend and EO forummate Carlo Buenaflor who is the CEO of Bigg’s Diner (check it out, great food) and the Honorary Consul of Spain for Bicol also setup a private event at his residence with a few of the regions top technology startups. It was an intimate event where we got to chat a bit about the region, the challenges of running a startup in a province of the Philippines and how we came to be a payroll platform for emerging markets. All in all an awesome weekend.
What is the Pag-IBIG Fund?
Here is a quick video that explains the Pag-IBIG Fund in the Philippines and how you can use it to purchase a home. (hat tip: ZipMatch.com)