VOICE OF THE PROFESSION

Being the national accountancy body with a membership of more than 28,000, lends ISCA a strong voice for the Singapore accountancy profession on both the international and local fronts. The resources and broad expertise within ISCA enable the Institute to advocate the views and ideas of the profession and advance the interests of our members. 

• The Institute produces opinion pieces and commentaries on many accountancy issues, ranging from risk governance and management know-how, new business funding trends, tax jurisdiction matters, to the future of corporate reporting. Our commentaries are frequently published in Singapore’s leading business news daily, and regional publications. 
  
  
• ISCA had also submitted comment letters to facilitate dialogue on the Changes to Certain Provisions of the Code Addressing Non-Assurance Services for Audit Client and Changes to Certain Provisions of the Code Addressing the Long Association of Personnel with an Audit or Assurance Client issued by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants. 
  
  
• The Institute will continue to monitor global developments, such as the International Financial Reporting Standards adoption and International Accounting Standards Board’s project on leases, and establish initiatives that will empower our members with the necessary knowledge to navigate through these changes.
  
  
• Throughout the year, ISCA continued to work at raising our profile in the global arena, by participating in global initiatives and international events. These deepened the engagement with our international counterparts and helped raise our international standing. 
  
  Some of these initiatives included collaborating with the World Bank on its study on “Current status of the accounting and auditing profession in ASEAN countries”, and speaking at the Chartered Accountants Worldwide event in Rome. 
  
  
• Singapore, through ISCA, chaired the efforts to develop the ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) on Accountancy Services. The key objective of the MRA is to facilitate a freer flow and mobility of accountancy service professionals across ASEAN. Under ISCA’s chairmanship, negotiations on the MRA were completed in late 2013. ISCA continued to lead the legal review on the ASEAN MRA until the MRA was successfully signed by all 10 ASEAN Member States in November 2014.
  
  
• ISCA also participated as a panelist at the MIA International Accountants Conference, spoke at the AFA Conferences, including the LICPA-ACCA Conference in Laos (held in conjunction with the AFA Council meeting), the AFA-IAI conference in Indonesia, and the AFA-PICPA Conference in Philippines, and contributed articles on the IFAC Global Knowledge Gateway.
  
  
• ISCA collaborated with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority in an initiative to raise the quality of corporate financial reporting in Singapore through the reviews of financial statements. The collaboration aims to provide constructive feedback to directors in areas where the presentation and/or contents of their financial statements fall short of compliance with the requirements of accounting standards. With high quality financial statements, the financial reporting supply chain will be strengthened to better safeguard public interest.