Dear friends,

The info presented here and as always is, is to help to raise awareness of things surrounding you. This is also part of the training to review financial statements.

How much did ICPAS receive from its members?
Answer – It received $2.7mio (a drop of 3.6% against 2005) from its members.

How much surplus did SAA, the training arm of ICPAS, generate in 2006?
Answer – Despite having generated a healthy surplus of $1.9mio, it has declined significantly by 16% compared to 2005.

What is the overall bottomline then?
Answer – On the whole, ICPAS registered $1.5mio surplus (a negative 34% against 2005). The significant drop in surplus could be due to:-

1. higher expenditure in marketing & promotion activities and;
2. more than three-fold increase in deficit in the Practice Monitoring Division

Administrative expenses grew 25% to $4.07mio for 2006.

Cashflow

The most significant activity in 2006 which impacted ICPAS’s cashflow was the acquisition of City Campus for $15mio.

1. Cash and cash equivalents declined from $7.8mio to $2.2mio.
2. ICPAS entered into a finance lease position of $8mio.

Should you wish to review the full financial statements, you may approach the institute.

Dear friends,

In this posting, I attempt to BRIEFLY explain the main intention of all these changes.

In one sentence – ACCA intends to hard implant key values ie. professional values, ethics and governance into all aspiring members-to-be.

These skills are essential as the profession moves towards strengthened codes of conduct, regulation and legislation with an increasing focus on professionalism and ethics in accounting.

They will be examined at every subject (where applicable, with different emphasis) till the highest level in the new ACCA Qualification. They will also be a core element of students’ practical experience requirements. This point was stressed repeatedly in the recent lecturers’ briefing.

The intent is demonstrated by the creation of the compulsory online practical Ethics module for all new students.

The focus on ethics is not uncommon. It is a singular subject to be passed in the CFA programme. Given the many accounting blow ups in the recent years, I don’t think we are doing enough yet.

Dear friends,

There are a few requests for me to give some attention to the new ACCA programme. So this is the first of my series.

What is the name of new programme?
Answer – Boringly and amazingly obviously called – “ACCA Qualification“.
The programme was officially unveiled in Jan 2006 for implementation for Dec 2007 exams. That effectively crystallised the effort started back in Nov 2004.

Still the same number of 14 subjects but with significant change in the content of the respective subjects. It will change so much that you will NOT be able to correspond 1 from the old programme with another from the new programme. Example – Paper 2.1.

There is also the online Professional ethics module for new intake students to complete. I was briefed that they will actually track the time you spend on going through the module. Not compulsory for existing students. But you are encourage to do it.

In fact, “Accountancy, at its heart, is all about neatness. It is about of symmetry. It is about double-entry. It is about balancing things out. It breeds a feeling of control. The figures neatly agree. All is well with the world. Job done.”

This is the first paragraph from the article entitled “stay focused” by Mr Robert Bruce. It really wowed me with its simplicity and yet so encapsulating.

As accountants, are we always looking to put various transactions in different “boxes” quickly and efficiently, so that we can pass entries, balance our books and go home?

Mr Bruce also took a swipe at the auditors when he said, “Diligent auditors follow screen-by-screen, ticking all boxes, and then fold up the laptops and go home.”

He said the neatness give all of us a feeling that the job is done. But in fact it may not be and we could end up being at home for months after being fired for not doing our job. So Mr Bruce advised that we should tossed everything up in the air and watched how they come down to earth ie. undo the neatness!

Cheers to you, Mr Bruce. Interesting stuff.

P/S – a painting

There is a need for a CFO to move up the value chain, staying relevant and keeping pace with business development as rallied by Lim Yen Suan, executive director of KPMG’s Risk Advisory Service.

Is the general lack of such movement giving rise t0 a trend of non-accountants taking on the role of CFOs?

Hi friends,

Wish to share the highlights of today’s forum at M Hotel with Mr Kaka Singh, the immediate past President of ACCA Local council in Singapore.

He said once there were too many doctors and lawyers, now we are short of them. Then there were many people producing only on 2 children, now we are short of people in Singapore. He was responding to a question from a member who expressed his concern that ACCA as a desired qualification may be eroded given the high membership level of about 5,000 ACCA members and 3,000 affiliates.

Mr Singh noted a uniqueness of ACCA programme when he related this story. He attended the graduation for ACCA students and met a doctor who went through and graduated. Mr Singh asked why he needed to go through the programme. The doctor said the ACCA programme allowed him to gain competence in dealing with numbers in his job as an administrator of a hospital.

• The ACCA programme is the only avenue in Singapore that provides working adults and mid career individuals the opportunity to secure an a recognised financial training qualification part time.

CPD programmes under ACCA Singapore are priced on a cost recovery basis.

Mr Kaka’s final words today – “How good you are will depend on how prepare you are.”

P/S – Mr Kaka Singh is standing as a candidate for election to ACCA council in UK. Please give our support to him to ensure Singapore’s voice in international forum.