Member firm Fazzari + Partners in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Canada, establishes ‘COVID-19 Council 2 You Assembly’ to offer guidance and support to businesses

Frank Fazzari, from accountancy network and association member firm, Fazzari + Partners LLP, located in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), has launched a new initiative – the COVID-19 Council to You Group (“COVID-19 c2u Group”) – to help support and guide businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During a 45-minute weekly conference call on Mondays at 10:00 am, participants are able to discuss their concerns, ask questions, share ideas and seek business guidance.

An informative inaugural meeting

The COVID-19 c2u Assembly had its inaugural meeting on Monday, March 30th, and brought together people that represent over 10,000 employees primarily in the Greater Toronto Area. Participants included the Mayor of Vaughan; Roger Isaacs, MGI Worldwide with CPAAI Co-Chair and Forensic Partner at Milsted Langdon LLP, Joseph Tarasco and his son in New York City; Terry Leon, Vice Chair of Leon’s Furniture and Humber River Hospital; Joseph Mimran, founder of many well-known brands in Canada, and many more.  

Utilising the Zoom platform, this first meeting was attended by approximately 40 participants, and will be continuing weekly for as long as the current climate dictates.

Roger Isaacs discusses how the government has introduced measures to help businesses

Roger explained that the UK government had introduced a raft of measures to help businesses both large and small. Of most significance was a furlough scheme, whereby companies can send staff home and the government pays 80% of their wages up to a limit of £2,500 per month. In addition, the UK government is underwriting loans to businesses with initial interest-free periods and no fees. These measures are proving a lifeline for clients of Milsted Langdon LLP, Roger’s firm in the UK because they enable businesses to hibernate and effectively mothball their activities. The challenge will be to ensure that when the time comes for them to come out of hibernation, they will be able to juggle their cashflows and deal with any backlog of debts that may have accumulated during the period in which trade was suspended.

Topics under discussion

Open conversations were had around the numerous ways in which COVID-19 is impacting businesses, and what steps can be taken now, and in the future. Some of the subjects and questions discussed included:

• Is it too early to start planning past COVID-19?
• What in the workforce could change permanently?
• Are there and novel ideas about how to adapt?
• What are the HR implications in terms of managing productivity, layoffs, EI top-up, work from home, etc?      

The duration of the COVID-19 c2u Group will be dictated by how long the pandemic continues to affect businesses, but Fazzari + Partners are committed to running the weekly conference call for as long as there is interest from the group.

There is no charge, no fee, just a request for active participation.

To find out more please contact Frank Fazzari, managing partner at Fazzari + Partners LLP, on +1 905 695 9830 or [email protected]. For more information about Fazzari + Partners LLP visit Fazzari + Partners LLP's member profile page or their firm website.

MGI North America is part of MGI Worldwide with CPAAI, a top 20 ranked global accounting network and association with over 10,000 independent auditors, accountants and tax experts in some 460 locations in almost 100 countries around the world.