Inaugural Singapore Accountancy Awards Unveils Four Individual and Seven Corporate Winners

• Outstanding individuals from DBS, Deloitte, PwC and Resorts World Sentosa win “Accountant of the Year” and “Young Accountant of the Year” awards.  
• Large as well as small-and-medium accounting firms honoured in the Practice of the Year, Technical Excellence, Excellence in People Development, and Excellence in Productivity & Innovation awards.

Singapore, 31 July 2014 – The winners of the inaugural Singapore Accountancy Awards were unveiled at the Awards Dinner held in conjunction with the Singapore Accountancy Convention 2014. Organised by the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA), the Singapore Accountancy Awards honour exemplary individuals and businesses in the local accountancy sector. It aims to promote good corporate practices, individual excellence and strengthen branding of the profession and industry. 

The Singapore Accountancy Awards comprises two categories, the Individual Excellence Awards and the Business Excellence Awards. The Individual Excellence Awards include the Accountant of the Year and Young Accountant of the Year awards. The Business Excellence Awards are made up of the Practice of the Year, Technical Excellence, Excellence in People Development, and Excellence in Productivity & Innovation awards.

The Awards received highly qualified nominations comprising well-established firms and outstanding individuals. The judges had a challenging time selecting the winners. The panel of judges is made up of respected leaders from a diverse range of industry, government and academic experts. (Refer to Factsheets for list of judges and judging criteria.)

Winners of the Individual Excellence Awards

These Awards commend individuals who embody strong professional qualities, possess sound technical knowledge and experience, and actively contribute to the organisation, profession and community. It seeks to honour exemplary individuals in the accountancy profession for their contributions to the industry and also spur young accountants to play a greater role in charting the future of the sector. 

Winners of the Accountant of the Year are:

• Mr Chaly Mah Chee Kheong, Chairman of Deloitte Singapore, and CEO of Deloitte Asia Pacific (Accountants in Public Practice segment)
• Mrs Chng Sok Hui, Chief Financial Officer of DBS Group (Professional Accountants in Business segment)

Winners of the Young Accountant of the Year are:

• Ms Lim Kexin, Senior Manager, Indonesia and International Tax at PwC (currently seconded to PwC Indonesia as Technical Advisor) (Accountants in Public Practice segment)
• Ms Annie Seah Yi’ En, Operations Finance Manager at Resorts World at Sentosa Pte Ltd (Professional Accountants in Business segment)

Commenting on the importance of the Singapore Accountancy Awards, Mr Gerard Ee, President of ISCA said, “With the Singapore Accountancy Awards, ISCA aims to celebrate the best in the local accountancy sector and inspire the profession to achieve greater heights. The winners of the Individual Excellence Awards have exhibited outstanding professionalism, depth of technical expertise and made significant contributions to the industry and wider community. I hope more members of the profession will be encouraged by these winners to contribute in their own ways, both big and small, to charting the future of the accountancy sector and also give back to the community.”

Winners of the Business Excellence Awards

The Business Excellence Awards aim to inspire other practices to achieve excellence in pursuing growth in an increasingly competitive market place and rapidly changing business environment. The Awards seek to honour accounting firms that stand out for their dedication to building a distinguished practice and are a leader in pursuing the following attributes:

a) Technical

The Technical Excellence Award recognises practices for their commitment to advancing the technical expertise of their firms and the industry while adhering to a robust quality assurance and control programme in providing quality client service.

Winner:

•  PwC (For the large practice segment)

b) People Development

The Excellence in People Development Award honours practices that have championed human capital development and have created the infrastructure that supports the professional development of their staff.

Winners:

• Deloitte Singapore and PwC (Joint winners) (For the large practice segment)
• Ardent and CA Practice PAC (Joint winners) (For the small and medium practice segment)

c) Productivity & Innovation

The Excellence in Productivity & Innovation Award recognises firms that have made significant efforts to boost their productivity, develop innovative and unique solutions that enhance client service and leverage new business areas to enhance growth.

Winners:

• Ernst & Young LLP (For the large practice segment)
• K.G. Tan & Co. PAC (For the small and medium practice segment)

d) Practice of the Year

As an important category of the Business Excellence Awards, the Practice of the Year Award is presented to well-rounded firms that provide high quality service standards, exhibited healthy growth and also engaged in meaningful corporate social responsibility. These are requirements that are on top of the areas of productivity and innovation, people development and technical excellence. 

Winners

• PwC (For the large practice segment)
• Ardent (For the small and medium practice segment)

Recipient of the Special Commendation

The special commendation is given in recognition of an organisation’s exemplary efforts in leveraging the mechanism of merger and consolidation to achieve growth. Merger and consolidation between practices, while challenging, provides organisations with a host of benefits, including expanded expertise, infrastructure, client base and service offerings. The combined resources would enable practices to better differentiate themselves, gain economies of scale and compete more effectively in a crowded market place. For its success, achieved through merger and consolidation, Mazars LLP is awarded a special commendation.

“The corporate winners and recipient of the special commendation represent the attributes of the awards in their uncompromising dedication to bolstering their firm’s capabilities – be it in infrastructure, productivity or manpower - to create greater client value and growth in a competitive environment. I hope other firms will be inspired by their spirit of enterprise and innovation to create their own unique success formula. A thriving accountancy profession will contribute towards Singapore’s position and growth as a vibrant business and accountancy hub,” added Mr Ee.

The Singapore Accountancy Awards is supported by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority and the Singapore Accountancy Commission.

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For more information on the Awards' objectives, segments and criteria, please click here.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Low Xiao Jing

Executive, Corporate Communications

Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants

DID: 6597 5609, Email: xiaojing.low@isca.org.sg

Jennifer Toh

Deputy Director, Corporate Communications

Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants

DID: 6597 5502, Email:  jennifer.toh@isca.org.sg  

About the Singapore Accountancy Award

Held in conjunction with the Singapore Accountancy Convention 2014, the inaugural Singapore Accountancy Awards (SAA) recognises outstanding practices and individuals in the profession. Supported by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) and the Singapore Accountancy Commission (SAC), the SAA is the first of its kind within the local accountancy sector and is intended as a platform to recognise business and individual excellence, promote good practices, and strengthen branding of the profession and industry. Themed “Celebrating Excellence in Accountancy”, the SAA comprises two main categories, Business Excellence Awards and Individual Excellence Awards.

About the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants

The Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) is the national accountancy body of Singapore. ISCA’s vision is to be a globally recognised professional accountancy body, bringing value to our members, the profession and wider community.

Established in 1963, ISCA shapes the regional accountancy landscape through advocating the interests of the profession. Possessing a Global Mindset, with Asian Insights, ISCA leverages its regional expertise, knowledge, and networks with diverse stakeholders to contribute towards Singapore’s transformation into a global accountancy hub. Our stakeholders include government and industry bodies, employers, educators, and the public.

ISCA is the Administrator of the Singapore Qualification Programme (Singapore QP) and the Designated Entity to confer the Chartered Accountant of Singapore - CA (Singapore) - designation.

It aims to raise the international profile of the Singapore QP, a post-university professional accountancy qualification programme and promote it as the educational pathway of choice for professional accountants seeking to achieve the CA (Singapore) designation, a prestigious title that is expected to attain global recognition and portability.

There are about 28,000 ISCA members making their stride in businesses across industries in Singapore and around the world.

For more information, please visit www.isca.org.sg.