Welcome Address by ISCA Vice President, Ms Yvonne Chan at ISCA New Members’ Ceremony at Sofitel Singapore City Centre on 9 October 2018 at 7 pm

Members of ISCA,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good evening.

Thank you for joining us today at the Institute’s second New Members’ Ceremony for the year. This evening, we welcome newly conferred Fellow Chartered Accountants of Singapore and Chartered Accountants of Singapore into our growing family of over 32,000 members.

As part of the Institute’s Member Recognition Programme, for the first time, members who have attained 50 years of membership will receive a 50 Years Recognition Award this evening. To thank them for their loyalty to the Institute and commitment to the profession, we will be presenting them with a specially-designed plaque. The plaque represents 50 years of commitment in upholding the highest ethical standards and professional conduct as a Chartered Accountant. To our members of 50 years, thank you for your dedication and for being an integral part of the Institute’s continued success.

The 50 Years Recognition Award is part of the Milestone Awards, which will be rolled out in full next year, to recognise members who have been with the Institute for 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years.

The Milestone Awards seek to instil a sense of belonging and pride in members. We will share more details when ready.

Tonight, we will also be honouring Life members who are our long-serving members of over 30 years and are at least 70 years old and above. In addition, I would also like to express my thanks to former ISCA Committee Members who have stepped down in 2018. On behalf of the Institute, thank you for your dedicated service to the profession.

Vast Opportunities as a Chartered Accountant of Singapore

To our new members, this ceremony marks the beginning of your journey as an ISCA member. A vast array of resources and opportunities are now open to you. For instance, we launched the ISCA Professional Accountants in Business Framework or PAIB Framework in short, at the ISCA PAIB Conference last month. The framework provides finance professionals with an overview of the five key essential DNAs that a finance professional should possess to stay relevant and competitive in a constantly changing business environment. The five DNAs are Future Finance, Business Acumen, Professional Values & Ethics, Technical Excellence, as well as Leadership and Personal Empowerment.

Referencing the PAIB Framework, we also developed the PAIB Learning Roadmap for Financial Accountants and Management Accountants to support members in charting their learning journey. The Learning Roadmap maps ISCA’s Continuing Professional Education courses to the five DNAs of the PAIB framework. 

Courses include emerging topics in business such as “Big Data and Machine Learning in Finance with Learning Journey” and “Electronic Payments in a Changing World of Innovation”. Members can select the courses to their level of proficiency – Foundational, Intermediate, Advanced and Expert. With these resources, we aim to empower you to take charge of your professional development and career planning.

As an ISCA member, you are part of a vast network of more than 32,000 accounting professionals, who are serving in varied roles across diverse industries.  I encourage you to connect with fellow members who are now part of your professional network.

In today’s increasingly globalised business environment, international recognition is vital to your career mobility. You will be pleased to know that the stature of the CA (Singapore) designation has been further enhanced with the Memorandums of Understanding and Reciprocal Membership Agreements the Institute has signed with internationally recognised accountancy bodies such as Chartered Accountants Ireland, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.

With internationally recognised credentials, specialisation pathways and new courses, members can choose to transit into high growth practice areas and explore a wide range of possibilities a career in accountancy can offer. Our specialisation pathways include the ISCA-SUSS Business Analytics Certification Programme and the ISCA Financial Forensic Accounting (or FFA) Qualification. The Institute is also developing a specialisation pathway in project financing, an area that is expected to be in demand.

Earlier this year, the Institute commenced taking in applications for the ISCA FFA Qualification. I would like to thank members of the Financial Forensic Accounting Oversight Committee, who played an important role in establishing the Financial Forensic Accounting qualification. The first of its kind in Southeast Asia, the ISCA FFA qualification provides a pathway for accounting professionals to specialise in the growing field of financial forensics.

Candidates who have successfully completed the FFA Qualification programme will be conferred the ISCA FFP credential. Experienced ISCA members who are already in the field of financial forensics can be conferred the ISCA FFP credential via a grandfathering scheme.

I am happy to share that we will be conferring the ISCA Financial Forensic Professional (or ISCA FFP) credential to six ISCA members. They are the first to be awarded the ISCA FFP credential.

You may be curious about what financial forensic professionals do. I now invite you to watch a video featuring Ms Belinda Tan, Partner for Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services at Ernst & Young Advisory.

Incidentally, Belinda is among the members who will receive the ISCA FFP credential this evening. Congratulations to her as well as the other members for attaining the credential.

Emerging ASEAN Markets

As an ISCA member, you can also apply for the ASEAN Chartered Professional Accountant designation, or ASEAN CPA in short. Those with the ASEAN CPA designation are legally allowed to provide non-regulated accountancy services in other ASEAN markets. With ASEAN poised for greater economic growth, I encourage you to take advantage of this pathway to gain market access to the rest of ASEAN.

Introduction to invited speaker

At every New Members Ceremony, the Institute invites an experienced industry leader and an ISCA member to share with us valuable insights and experiences. Tonight, we have the honour of hearing from Ms Lelaina Lim, the Chief Financial Officer from Eu Yan Sang International Ltd, one of Asia’s largest traditional Chinese medicine conglomerates. Lelaina is an ISCA council member and a Fellow Chartered Accountant of Singapore. An established leader, she has made outstanding contributions in the business community. We look forward to her sharing later.

Conclusion

Congratulations once again to our new members. I invite you to make full use of your membership by actively participating in the many events and activities, as well as accessing the various training opportunities and publications the Institute has in store for you. I wish you all the best in your professional journey as a Chartered Accountant of Singapore.

Thank you and have a pleasant evening.