To all our readers,

PKF Avant Edge wishes all of you a very prosperous Chinese New Year!

Every year, every business everywhere in this region grinds to a halt, this year being even worse than normal. Most times, we have the first four days of the new year cutting across the weekends. This year is the perfect storm. The Chinese New Year starts on a Monday.

This means for the first four days at least until Thursday, businesses won’t open. The fifth day, Friday is considered the wealth day, so some traditional businesses may open, but I don’t expect anyone to be closing huge sales. It would probably be more like a 3 hour lunch time kind of thing. Then it would be weekend, and after that, people will start dragging into the offices the following Monday.

For businesses like ours, we all know and concede that February is almost like a flat month. Not much sales, not much activities, and A LOT of holidays. But after this, the new year begins, and we are looking forward to the year of the Monkey. Yes, we expect enormous challenges especially in terms of ongoing projects and getting new ones, but everyone is in the same boat. With the continuing currency crisis and ongoing impasse in our government dealing with accusations of corruption, we are certainly at the crossroads in 2016 not just politically, but socioeconomically as well.

But enough of the harangue, let’s for the next few days put work and worries aside and look forward to a time with the young ones, family and the giving and receiving of Ang Pows!

Gong Xi Fa Chai!