Singapore’s accountancy ecosystem is often lauded as a sustainable model by international stakeholders. At the PAO Regional Forum organised by World Bank’s Centre for Financial Reporting Reform, ISCA President Gerard Ee shared the challenges ISCA faced over the years in building a sustainable business model. Among the audience were PAOs from Central, Southeast and Eastern Europe, which are in different stages of development and face challenges but share the same goal of promoting excellence in the practice of the accounting profession.

In October 2016, ISCA was invited for the third consecutive time to attend the UNCTAD-ISAR. The invitation reflects the confidence and trust UNCTAD has in ISCA, and underscores ISCA’s growing reputation as a leading professional accountancy body on the global platform. Our President Gerard Ee was elected as Chair at the 33rd session for a one-year term. Mr Ee also presented Singapore’s case study on practical implementation of monitoring, compliance and the enforcement (MC&E) of accounting and audit requirements for high-quality reporting. A case study on Singapore’s robust MC&E infrastructure will be published in 2017.

On 28-29 September 2016, the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) organised the 3rd C-suite seminar in Singapore. This seminar aims to update Kenyan members on economic developments and professional trends outside the country and cross-pollinate ideas with other accountants, professionals and business leaders. ISCA Vice President Kon Yin Tong delivered the welcome speech and shared ISCA’s journey in being the national accountancy body. ISCA’s immediate past vice president R Dhinakaran presented on the role of accountants in Sustainable Development in Singapore. The presence of ISCA’s representatives at the seminar is a positive sign that ISCA is making progress in developing itself into a globally recognised professional accountancy body.

We are pleased to report that we have completed the MAM framework, with inputs from members of the AASG.

As stated in the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint 2025, ASEAN countries will be focusing on the development and promotion of MSMEs, which are an integral part of economic development and employment in the region.

The MAM is a self-contained financial reporting framework. It is developed for small companies, also known as micro entities, to use. The model contains significant simplifications to a number of accounting standards but at the same time, it keeps within the confines of pervasive principles derived from the IASB’s conceptual framework and full IFRSs. It also lays out principles that encourage the use of judgement in the particular circumstances of a transaction or event and includes a set of illustrative financial statements and reconciliations to IFRS for SMEs. MAM is intended to help micro-entities transit from cash accounting to the most basic form of accrual accounting and enables businesses to eventually adopt the IFRS.