ACCA Virtual Conference 2021

A renewed optimism about the future, post-COVID-19, is establishing itself – led by the growth of the Digital Economy. Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has introduced several ground-breaking initiatives to promote Green Finance. There have also been significant developments in AI and intelligent automation; and the launch of 5G networks in Singapore, that will further transform the way finance functions operate in future. While these are primarily Singapore examples, they can serve to showcase trends and best practice in the Asia-Pacific region.

This Conference is guided by three themes: Shaping a Green & Sustainable Future, Shaping an Ecosystem for Innovation, and Shaping the Future of Your Firm. It will open with a strategic plenary session to set the common dynamic context, before being followed by three interactive tracks to provide you with targeted knowledge on specific areas of developments relevant to you, to enable you to respond to these evolving but dramatic changes to the economy.

The Role of Professional Accountancy Services in Enabling Exponential Transformations

Mr Joseph Alfred FCCA, Head of Policy - Singapore, Australia, NZ and Oceania, ACCA

In this session, we will be launching a new Asia-Pacific research report on professional accountancy services, a collaboration between ACCA, SAC (Singapore Accountancy Commission) and SNAI (Shanghai National Accounting Institute), that will cover, among other matters, the following:

Why professional accountancy services are required to rapidly develop a digitally-enabled and sustainability focused organisation
The top 5 professional accountancy services budgeted for and most demanded by businesses in the next 3 financial years
The top 5 professional accountancy services that businesses say are in short supply from the Big Four and SMPs in the ASEAN-ANZ region and China, respectively
The top 5 criteria considered by businesses when selecting a professional accountancy services provider.

Panel Discussion

Poised to Reset and Respond: From Digital Adoption to Green Finance

In this panel discussion, the panel will discuss:

The reason and the main drivers of the post-COVID 19 Reset
Drivers of change which include Green Finance, Digital Trade Networks, AI and intelligent automation
The implications for the economy, careers in general, and the accountancy profession
Ways to maximise pay-offs and what should organisations reset
The catalytic role of professional advisory services

Moderator:

Mr Joseph Owolabi FCCA, Vice President, ACCA

Panelists:

Ms Esther An, Chief Sustainability Officer, City Developments Limited
Mr Chia Tek Yew, Partner, Vice Chairman – Singapore, Oliver Wyman
Ms Ngiam Kim Fong FCCA, Asia Pacific CFO for Systems Business, IBM
Mr Ong Whee Teck, CEO, Trusted Services Pte Ltd; Deep Identity Pte Ltd and Temasek Management Services Pte Ltd
Mr Krishna Sadashiv, Trustee-Director, Forum for the Future AsiaPacific

Shaping the Future of Sustainable Finance – Green Finance Innovations and Governance

In this track, we will cover:

Climate Risk - insurance solutions
Sustainability bonds and loans.
New VRF (Value Reporting Foundation)
How to set up sustainable finance and reporting teams to account for carbon tax and disclose environmental risks
Explore the correlation between sustainability performance and good returns with lower cost of equity funding
Enhance the sustainability reporting performance of Singapore listco

How Accountants can Drive Green Finance and Sustainability Reporting for a better World

Prof Lawrence Loh, Director, Centre for Governance and Sustainability

Panel Discussion

Moderator: Prof Lawrence Loh, Director, Centre for Governance and Sustainability

Panelists:

Mr Rehan Badar, Director, Audit New Zealand
Dr Dharish David, Sustainable Finance Lead, Global Compact Network Singapore (GCNS)
Mr Paul Davis FCCA, Regional Managing Director – Finance, Asia Pacific, Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty
Ms Lau Xin Yi, Green Finance Lead, South East Asia, The Carbon Trust
Mr Cedric Rimaud, ASEAN Commercial Manager, Climate Bonds Initiative

Shaping an Ecosystem for Innovation - Digital (AI, RPA), eTrade Networks and Intangible Assets

In this track, we will discuss:

Digital initiatives and cross border collaboration between Singapore and major innovation hubs globally
IP and intangible assets – finance functions must be equipped to identify and protect, value and manage, and commercialise these assets as businesses innovate
The use of recently innovated e-trade networks, including TradeTrust and electronic Bills of Lading.
How Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will benefit organisations in getting better access to the Chinese and other markets

How to Harness Cross-Border and National Digital Networks to Accelerate Digitalisation and Internationalisation

Mr Winston Nesfield, Partner at Strategy&, PwC’s strategy consulting arm and Programme Lead, Proxtera

Panel Discussion

Moderator: Mr Mun Siong Yoong FCCA, Founder and CEO, Vallaris

Panelists:

Mr Sunil Golecha, CFO Asia Pacific, Thomson Reuters
Mr Tyler Capson, Managing Director – Asia, EverEdge
Mr Hans Gunawan ACCA, Head of Business Development, Hyperscale Datacenter Company
Mr Winston Nesfield, Partner at Strategy&, PwC’s strategy consulting arm and Programme Lead, Proxtera

Shaping the Future of Your Firm - AccTech and the Digital Firm

In this track, we will delve into:

Opportunities that arise with Digital Economy Agreements
Steps to transform to a Digital Firm to increase productivity and attract young talent
Government initiatives that you can incorporate into your Firm’s digital transformation plan
Job roles and careers pathways in your Firm which are relevant to the future

6 Steps to Transform to a Digitally-Enabled and Sustainability-Focused Professional Accountancy Services Firm

Ms Heather Smith FCCA, FCA, FICB, Hype Girl for Accounting Apps

Panel Discussion

Moderator: Mr Sarjit Singh, Senior Director, InCorp Global; Chairman, Kreston Ardent CAtrust

Panelists:

Mr Will Farnell, Founder & Director, Farnell Clarke Limited
Mr Evan Law, Chief Executive, Singapore Accountancy Commission
Ms Heather Smith FCCA, FCA, FICB, Hype Girl for Accounting Apps
Mr Lim Yeong Seng, Managing Partner, KLP LLP
Mr Henry Tan, Group CEO & Chief Innovation Officer, Nexia TS

Minister for Sustainability and the Environment

Ms Grace Fu is the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment and is a member of the Central Executive Committee of the People’s Action Party and holds the appointment of Organising Secretary.

Ms Fu graduated with a Bachelor of Accountancy (Honours), and subsequently obtained a Masters of Business Administration from the National University of Singapore. She began her career in 1985 with the Overseas Union Bank, and later with the Haw Par Group, in the areas of corporate planning, financial controls and business development.

Ms Fu joined the PSA Corporation in 1995, and took on different responsibilities in finance and marketing. She held the position of Chief Executive Officer, PSA South East Asia and Japan, where she was responsible for the business performance of PSA’s flagship terminals in Singapore, Thailand, Brunei and Japan.

Ms Fu was elected as a Member of Parliament in June 2006 for the Group Representation Constituency of Jurong, Yuhua Division. She contested and won her seat in the Yuhua Single Member Constituency in the 2011, 2015 and 2020 General Elections.

Head of Policy - Singapore, Australia, NZ and Oceania

ACCA

Mr Joseph Alfred is the Head of Policy - Singapore, Australia, NZ and Oceania at ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) Singapore. In this role, he is responsible for the formulation of policies, development and implementation of Professional Insights initiatives to drive ACCA’s public value mission and brand objectives; and ensure ACCA members, regulators and other stakeholders are updated on ACCA’s global technical policies. He works closely with stakeholders and organisations to identify opportunities where ACCA can contribute to the agenda in relation to accounting and business in Singapore, as well as ASEAN. He is a Fellow of ACCA, Fellow Chartered Accountant of Singapore; and holds an MBA from the University of Strathclye.

Chief Sustainability Officer

City Developments Limited

An active advocate for green building and sustainability for over two decades, Ms Esther An has been instrumental in establishing CDL’s leadership in sustainability. It is ranked top real estate company on the 2020 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World and is also the only CDP A-List company for climate strategy and water security in SE Asia. Key ESG initiatives she has spearheaded include publishing the first sustainability report using GRI standards in Singapore in 2008; issuing the first green bond by a Singaporean company in 2017 and pioneering an SDG Innovation Loan in Singapore in 2019. A forerunner in embracing the UN SDGs, Ms An was conferred 2018 SDG Pioneer for Green Infrastructure and A Low Carbon Economy by the UN Global Compact. An active advocate, she serves many civic appointments including World Green Building Council Corporate Advisory Board member; Chairperson of Asia Pacific Real Estate Association’s Sustainability and ESG Committee; Co-Chair of Urban Land Institute Singapore’s Sustainability Product Council and Vice Chair of Singapore Institute of Directors Sustainability Committee.

Strategic Partnerships Manager, Asia

Xero

Mr Christian Antono (Chris) joined Xero as early as 2016 and is one of Xero Singapore’s pioneering team members. In his time at Xero, Chris has helped numerous accounting practices across Asia embrace digital transformation, adopt cloud, and maximise the benefits of being a digitally-enabled practice.

Now, Chris looks after Xero's strategic and ecosystem partners, helping accounting firms and SMEs adopt cloud apps that help make their businesses more successful.

Chris holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and prior to joining Xero, specialised in tax in Ernst & Young.

Director

Audit New Zealand

Mr Rehan Badar is a Director with Audit New Zealand and lead’s their environment portfolio. Rehan has extensive working knowledge of Greenhouse Gas accounting and reporting requirements and how societal and environmental factors impact on business values. Rehan also has a keen interest in Climate-related Financial Disclosures, covering governance arrangements, risk management and strategies for mitigating climate change impacts.

Rehan has a strong involvement in the accountancy profession, sitting on member committees for both Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Rehan is a fellow member of Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and was also top affiliate in Pakistan when he qualified.

Managing Director – Asia

EverEdge

Mr Tyler Capson is Managing Director – Asia for EverEdge. He leads the company’s intangible asset valuations team, as well as heading up finance and operations. In 2017, Tyler was instrumental in developing an alliance with IPOS International, a subsidiary of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, which helped establish EverEdge’s on-the-ground presence in the market.

Since this time, EverEdge’s local presence has grown significantly, with Tyler working with leading Singapore and international companies such as Singtel, Danone, Singapore Power, ST Aerospace (and more), to help them find ways to better leverage and value their intangible assets.

Prior to joining EverEdge, Tyler worked in New York for Deloitte and Goldman Sachs, advising Wall Street banks and financial institutions and working on a number of high-profile transactions including the Facebook IPO and the Apple Bond Offering.

Tyler is a Certified Patent Valuation Analyst (CPVA) and a Chartered Valuer and Appraiser (CVA). He also holds an MBA from the University of Utah.

Partner, Vice Chairman – Singapore

Oliver Wyman

Mr Chia Tek Yew has more than 30 years of consulting experience and is a subject matter expert in multiple aspects of financial services, including working with central banks and regulators across Asia and the Middle East. He is based in Singapore and is a Partner in the Financial Services and Public Policy teams.

During his consulting career, Tek Yew has most recently focused on areas of market disruption in financial services, working with regulators on payments modernisation and fintech promotion as well as with fintechs and payments organisations in their business and operational model development.

Some of these engagements include:

A 5 year Payments Roadmap for a leading ASEAN regulator
An Account-based Transit Payments framework for an ASEAN transport authority
A pricing review for non-bank payments operators allowed into an ASEAN country’s FAST network
Cross border payments inter-operability framework feasibility study for 2 ASEAN central banks
Cross border inter-bank payments and settlement using Central Bank backed Digital currencies – use cases analysis done jointly for 3 central banks
A strategy for the leading Payments/ATM operator in a Middle East country
A Fintech vision and strategy for an ASEAN regulator
A Fintech execution plan for a Middle East regulator
Creating an innovation program for a Middle East regulator
Mapping of additional opportunities for an ATM gateway in an ASEAN country

Tek Yew came to Oliver Wyman from KPMG Singapore where he was Head of the Financial Services Advisory practice as well as their firmwide Head of Banking and Capital Markets.

Tek Yew holds a Bachelor of Accountancy (Hons) degree from National University of Singapore and participated in the INSEAD International Management Development Programme and Hewlett Packard/Stanford University Executive Development Programme.

Regional Head of Policy, ASEAN ANZ

ACCA

Mr Chiew Chun Wee is the regional head of policy for ACCA, tasked with supporting its professional insights, advocacy and policy work across Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. He works with key stakeholders to identify and drive new research initiatives that provide evidence-based policy and thinking impacting the business community and profession, demonstrating ACCA’s regional and global reach and public values. He is a regular speaker and panel chair on topics ranging from talent strategy, integrated thinking, the evolving role of finance professionals to the value and quality of audit.

Chun Wee is a board member on the IAASB and serves as taskforce member on a variety of key projects including the audits of less complex entities. Chun Wee has also served and continue to serve on various committees with organisations like the IIRC, MIA, AFA and CAPA.

Prior to joining ACCA, Chun Wee was a key member of the Professional Practice Department of a Big Four accounting practice, where he focused on audit methodology and regularly delivered internal and external trainings on auditing and quality management matters. He has more than a decade of experience in public accounting and has worked in audits of and special assignments for multinationals and local listed companies.

Sustainable Finance Lead

Global Compact Network Singapore (GCNS)

Dr Dharish David is the Sustainable Finance Lead at the Global Compact Network Singapore (GCNS). He is in charge of developing content and initiatives on sustainable finance and labour-related issues.

Dr David has worked at the intersection of policy, academia and business. He previously worked at the Asian Development Bank Institute in Tokyo as a research associate working on low-carbon growth and infrastructure development in Asia. He has taught courses for the University of London - SIM – Global Education (SIM-GE) on political economy. He also has work experience in startups and consulting for other regional think tanks in Asia.

Dr David received his doctorate from Waseda University (Tokyo, Japan) specialising in infrastructure development and financing. He has written several academic articles, business reports, and op-eds on sustainable finance, infrastructure development, and Asian political economy.

Regional Managing Director – Finance, Asia Pacific

Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty

Mr Paul Davis is the Regional Managing Director – Finance, Asia Pacific for Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty since April 2015. In his role, he is responsible for supporting the steering of the business in line with financial and strategic targets, managing core financial functions, ensuring compliance of all local statutory and regulatory reporting requirements as well as responsibility for risk management, reinsurance and treasury within his function, and with his team across eight locations in the region.

Prior to this, he was the Head of Regional Planning & Performance Management (P&PM) of AGCS based in London, where he built a regional team spread over eight regional units covering nearly 30 countries. He joined Allianz Marine and Aviation as UK Financial Controller in 2003. Five years later, he moved to P&PM as Head of P&PM London and Nordic Regions where he supported the development and steering of both existing business and growth cases. Paul has been a member of the ACCA since 2000.

Founder & Director

Farnell Clarke Limited

Mr Will Farnell is the founder and a director of Farnell Clarke Ltd, an innovative and pioneering accounting firm based in East Anglia and London, UK offering a fresh approach to SME accountancy and business advisory services. Farnell Clarke was one of the first firms globally to fully adopt cloud accounting technology back in 2009 and remains one of the most innovation firms in the UK. The firm has been named Best Independent Firm (East of England) three times at the British Accountancy Awards, including in 2019 and was awarded Medium Firm of the Year award at the Accounting Excellence awards in 2019. The firm also won the 100% Xero award in 2017.

Will is author of ‘The Digital Firm’ a blueprint for digital transformation. He is a regular speaker on how accounting firms can leverage technology, people and process to achieve practice growth, as well as providing consulting services to support firms in becoming a digital practice.

CFO, Asia Pacific & Emerging Markets

Thomson Reuters

Mr Sunil Golecha is the CFO of Asia Pacific & Emerging Markets at Thomson Reuters, based in Singapore. He heads FP&A, operational planning, business partnering and decision support, and plays a vital role in driving growth strategy, M&A and partnerships. He also provides regional leadership for the APAC Finance community, which provides global business services, automation and analytics support to Thomson Reuters globally from dedicated centers of excellence.

During his 13 years with Thomson Reuters, he has held various leadership roles across North America, Europe and APAC.

Before joining Thomson Reuters, Sunil worked as a consultant for Fortune 100 companies in the US healthcare industry. He also founded and ran several family businesses before moving to the corporate world.

Sunil holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering from Madras University (India), and received his MBA with Honors from Emory University (USA).

Head of Business Development

Hyperscale Datacenter Company

Mr Hans Gunawan is an innovative leader who promotes diversity of thoughts, do unprecedented things and merge technology and business acumen to deliver breakthrough results across cloud infrastructure and digital transformation.

He has over 17 years of experience in a senior leadership role with Fortune 500 and tech companies with at least US$3B valuation. Throughout his career, he operates at the intersection of corporate leadership, GTM strategy for new market expansion, business development, cloud infrastructure innovation, management consulting and semiconductor design.

In his current role, Hans reports to Deputy CEO and drives his company business development initiatives, including developing business case and financial analysis, negotiating high value contracts with the customer, championing customer success and delivering personalised cloud infrastructure solutions to Top 10 global cloud players. He is also responsible for driving the company growth and ensuring his company remains the leader in the hyperscale datacenter market through continuous innovation and sustainable development.

Regional Control Manager

Galderma

Mr Prempal Singh Hundal (Prem) is a decisive Senior Finance Executive & Business Partner with a track record of financial control, business intelligence, profit optimisation as well as analysis, treasury compliance, accounting, transformation, systems implementation, risk, governance and internal audit – seven years of which was spent in England, Egypt, Tunisia and Nigeria. He is a culturally intelligent cross functional leader with low power distance and hands on experience working with clients/stakeholders in England, Egypt, Tunisia, South East Asia, India, China, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Poland, Germany, Switzerland and Australia.

Prem is a high performing professional pragmatic Chartered Accountant – ACCA Fellow (FCCA) with international experience equipped with an Executive MBA from the Nanyang Business School as well as executive programmes from the Wharton Business School and UC Berkeley – Haas Business School.

He is multi-lingual, fluent in English, Malay, conversational Mandarin and Hokkien in addition to Hindi, Punjabi and Bahasa.

Green Finance Lead, South East Asia

The Carbon Trust

Ms Lau Xin Yi is Green Finance Lead, South East Asia at the Carbon Trust. In her current role, she works closely with financial institutions and corporates on a range of Green and Sustainable Finance projects involving different financial instruments such as bonds and loans. One of her projects involve providing a Second Party Opinion on UOB’s Smart City Sustainable Finance Framework and internal procedures in accordance with the Green Loan Principles and Sustainability Linked Loan Principles as part of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’ Green and Sustainability-Linked Loan Grant Scheme.

Xin Yi previously spent five years at a leading independent think tank, the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA), as a Senior Policy Research Analyst (Sustainability). At SIIA, she coordinated the Collaborative Initiative for Green Finance in Singapore and was a co-author of the report, “Singapore as a Green Finance Hub for ASEAN and Asia” – the first Singapore-centric green finance report. In addition, she led a study in 2019 on “Financing Sustainable Infrastructure in ASEAN” which examined the environmental and social (E&S) standards adopted by Singapore-based financial institutions to assess power and transport projects in ASEAN.

Prior to this, Xin Yi was working at Sustainalytics where she evaluated and benchmarked the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices of public-listed companies in three industries: Consumer Discretionary, Food and Utilities

Xin Yi holds a Bachelor of Science (Economics) with a second major in Political Science (Public Policy, Development and Management) from the Singapore Management University.

Chief Executive

Singapore Accountancy Commission

Mr Evan Law is the Chief Executive of the Singapore Accountancy Commission (SAC). SAC is a statutory board under the Ministry of Finance that spearheads the development of Singapore’s accountancy sector with the vision of developing Singapore into a leading global accountancy hub. SAC is working to achieve this by deepening the skills of the accountancy talent pool through professional qualification programmes; developing the industry by helping to build business capabilities to capture growth opportunities; and creating a hub and exchange by building Singapore into a centre for thought leadership.

He has more than 20 years of experience having held positions including Deputy Chairman of PSB Academy, and Acting Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer at the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and Management from the University of Oregon as well as a Master in Business Administration from Portland State University.

Managing Partner

KLP LLP

Mr Lim Yeong Seng is the founder and Managing Partner of KLP LLP. Yeong Seng started the firm in 1999 and is today a 40-staff strong Audit and Accounting firm in Singapore.

With more than 30 years of experience in audit, corporate recovery, tax, secretarial, finance and administration, Yeong Seng has cross-functional skills which enable him to assist clients in various ways. These include consultancy relating to financial management and enterprise risk management. His experience in judicial management, liquidation and litigation support also invaluable in helping clients in cases of financial difficulties.

Additionally, Yeong Seng has been appointed the Chairman of TASK International, a member of the Forum of Firms and sister organization to Abacus Worldwide. He also serves on the Advisory Board of Abacus Worldwide. Yeong Seng regularly attends regional and international audit and accounting conferences and the Forum of Firms meetings. His presence in these conferences and organizations help enhance information and feedback to the Committee as to the development of International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), and other matters in the industry.

Prior to starting the firm in year 1999, Yeong Seng was with a Big 4 firm for 7 years and a Japanese multinational company for 4 years. Having worked in the big public accounting firm, Yeong Seng has extensive experience in the audit of medium to large companies, including those listed on the Stock Exchange of Singapore and Australia.

Director, Centre for Governance and Sustainability

NUS Business School

National University of Singapore

Prof Lawrence Loh is Director, Centre for Governance and Sustainability (CGS) at the NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, where he is Associate Professor of Strategy and Policy.

Prof Loh received a PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His thesis on technology governance was awarded first prize in the worldwide doctoral dissertation competition in the field of management information systems.

At CGS, Prof Loh leads the sustainability initiatives for ASEAN and Singapore. He also steers the Singapore Governance and Transparency Index and the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard projects. In addition, Prof Loh heads various studies on business integrity and workplace diversity.

Prof Loh is a regular commentator on governance and sustainability for many leading global and local media. He conducts various executive development programs in governance, sustainability and strategy for board directors, senior management and business professionals.

Prof Loh is a recipient of the NUS Business School Teaching Excellence Award.

President 2020-21

ACCA

A proud public sector accountant and leader, Mr Mark Millar joined the NHS from school and studied for the ACCA Qualification rather than going to university. Over a 45-year career, he has held a variety of finance director roles in the NHS and has been chief executive of a number of NHS and public bodies as well as contributing to national policy.

In 2000/01 Mark was chairman of the UK Healthcare Financial Management Association, promoting the role of the accountant in healthcare.

Following his NHS career, Mark spent five years as chief executive at St Elizabeth Hospice, Ipswich, and a non-executive director of Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for seven years. He retains an interest in the NHS through chairing funding appeal panels.

Mark is also trained in both mentoring and mediation.

He’s long been involved with our UK Health Panel and served on our International Assembly for two terms. Mark has served on ACCA Council since 2010.

Founder and CEO

Vallaris

Mr Mun Siong Yoong is a business owner who helps businesses acquire, grow and separate. He is a SGD1.5 billion deal adviser, and has advised the Singapore government on deals, as well as disputes as a Supreme Court expert witness.

His advisory roles include:

Standards and Technical Committee, Institute of Valuers and Appraisers of Singapore
Financial Reporting Surveillance Programme, Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority; and
Investigation and Disciplinary Panel, Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants.

He has advised government, private sector and not-for-profit Boards and Management across Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Philippines, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, India, Greece, Netherlands and the United States of America.

Siong Yoong is a registered Chartered Valuer and Appraiser (CVA) with the Institute of Valuers and Appraisers of Singapore (IVAS), a Fellow Chartered Accountant of Singapore, a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and has a Bachelor's of Engineering degree from Nanyang Technological University.

Partner at Strategy&, PwC’s strategy consulting arm and Programme Lead, Proxtera

Mr Winston Nesfield is a Partner at Strategy&, PwC's strategy consulting arm. Winston leads the Financial Services team advising private and public sector clients to strengthen their digital capabilities and transform to more regionally integrated operating models to better leverage advancing technologies and partnerships opportunities. Working within financial services, fintech, payments and consumer healthcare industries, Winston serves clients across ASEAN, and in several North Asian, South Asian and European markets.

Winston is also the programme lead for the commercialisation team of Proxtera, a realisation of the Business Sans Borders (BSB) initiative supported by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Infocomm Media Authority of Singapore (IMDA). Proxtera is an open network of B2B marketplaces and digital services providers aimed at improving digital and financial inclusivity of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Executive Director and Head of Department, Corporate Finance & Consumer Department

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)

Ms Abigail Ng is Executive Director and Head of the Corporate Finance & Consumer Department, with supervisory responsibility for capital markets, including regulation of offers of securities, the conduct of takeover and merger transactions, and the Singapore Exchange as a frontline regulator for listed entities and as a listed entity itself. Ms Ng also oversees the Consumer Issues Division which spearheads financial education initiatives through MoneySense, Singapore’s national financial education programme that aims to help Singaporeans manage their money well, and make sound financial decisions. This Division also coordinates MAS' responses to consumers’ reports of regulatory breaches or misconduct by financial institutions or its representatives. In her role, Ms Ng represents MAS at various international committees, such as the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) Sustainable Finance Taskforce, where she is actively involved in work dedicated to improving securities issuers’ sustainability-related disclosures.

Ms Ng joined MAS in 2006 in the Capital Markets Policy Division, and was involved in amending legislation and the review of policies. She subsequently held appointments as Head of the Strategic Planning Office (Managing Director’s Office) in charge of corporate planning and organisational development, and as Head of the Human Resource Development Division overseeing general development training and talent management.

Ms Ng served with the Singapore Legal Service in the State Courts and the Attorney-General’s Chambers prior to joining MAS. Ms Ng holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree from the National University of Singapore, and is admitted as Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore.

APAC CFO, System Business

IBM

Ms Ngiam Kim Fong is currently the APAC CFO for Systems Business in IBM and has 24 years of working experience of which 17 years in managerial/leadership roles. This spans across business units which includes Systems, Software, Strategic Outsourcing and Business Consulting Services. Prior to this role, Kim Fong was the APAC Consolidation Manager, ASEAN CFO for Global Technology Services, ASEAN Pricing Leader, etc. In her current role, she partners actively with APAC Technology GM and the leadership team on offering strategy and portfolio mix to drive profitable revenue growth. As financial stewards, she focuses her team on data automation and AI to drive business insights, predictive metrics, and recommended solutions to enable business success. She also provides leadership to her team to drive finance transformation and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) relentlessly, through leveraging on Tools and simplifying Process to do things more effectively, efficiently and consistently across APAC. This has proven results with finance team reorganising themselves as squad to better share experience and support the business team.

CEO

Trusted Services Pte Ltd; Deep Identity Pte Ltd and Temasek Management Services Pte Ltd

Mr Ong Whee Teck is the CEO of Trusted Services (subsidiary of Temasek Management Services). He is responsible for the sales and delivery of the full spectrum of services across Board Technology, Human Resources, Finance and Events in Singapore and beyond. Under Whee Teck's leadership, Trusted Services has created its flagship Board Portal – Board.Vision.

Prior to joining TMS, Whee Teck was the Partner in Technology Consulting responsible for the South East Asia business at PriceWaterhouseCoopers(PWC), a global consulting firm. In that capacity, he led his team in fulfilling both the sales and delivery of technology projects across multiple countries and various industries, but primarily in the Financial Services sector. Before that, Whee Teck held various strategic leadership roles at United Overseas Bank (UOB), where he managed teams of IT professionals in Wholesale Banking, Global Treasury, Risk Management, Trade & Remittance and Payment while overseeing deployment of group technology solutions.

Prior to UOB, he was partner at Accenture responsible for their ASEAN Technology Consulting business. In his early career, Whee Teck was a programmer who was involved in creating large core systems and solutions in transaction management, security authorisation and applications architecture.

Vice President

ACCA

Mr Joseph Owolabi is CEO at Rubicola Consulting – a green finance advisory firm. His previous senior management roles are as director at Deloitte Asia Pacific, senior manager at PwC Australia, and leader of EY West Africa’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services. Before his election to Council in 2015, he was a member of the ACCA International Assembly.

He has made significant contributions to the profession as a champion for the implementation of International Financial reporting Standards (IFRS) across Africa and pioneer advisor for global adoption of non-financial reporting (sustainability and integrated reporting). He assisted in the issuance of the first Sovereign Green Bond from an emerging market.

Joseph holds a Masters of Arts degree from the York St. John University, U.K., he has attended executive programmes at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Business School. He is also a Certified Internal Auditor.

ASEAN Commercial Manager

Climate Bonds Initiative

Mr Cédric Rimaud, CFA, has got 20 years of experience covering global fixed income and emerging markets credits. Cedric has been preparing new facilities in the Asia Pacific region to attract capital flows from institutional investors into green/social projects in low income countries. Cédric has been a Credit Analyst for the last 10 years with two top independent credit research providers. At Spread Research SAS in France, he was a senior credit analyst on the European High Yield markets, covering Retail, Capital Goods and Financial companies. At Gimme Credit LLC, he has been covering corporations from various industry sectors in Latin America, Middle East and Africa, as well as China and South East Asia. In this capacity, he regularly publishes investment recommendations on the corporate bond markets, allowing institutional investors to make strategic investments on the pricing of corporate bonds in these markets. He analyses corporations, non-bank institutions and other financial institutions with a high capacity to repay loans. Cédric holds a Masters in Finance from London Business School and is currently enrolled in the Executive MBA joint programme of INSEAD Singapore and Tsinghua University in Beijing. He’s also a CFA charter holder. Since 2018, Cedric has been working as the ASEAN Program Manager for the Climate Bonds Initiative, a non-for-profit, investor-led organization working to promote climate bonds globally and offering a certification to issuers of green bonds that guarantees their compliance with the objectives of the Paris Agreement. He’s a regular contributor to the Business Times in Singapore on the topic of green and social bonds. He’s also working with the ASEAN+3 Bond Market Forum (ABMF), part of the Asian Development Bank, to promote local corporate bonds in South East Asia, Japan, China and Korea. He is currently based in Singapore.

Trustee-Director

Forum for the Future AsiaPacific

After retiring from Ernst & Young Singapore as Partner & Managing Director (ASEAN) of EY’s Singapore, Climate Change and Sustainability Services practice which he pioneered in 2009, Mr K. Sadashiv (Sada) now serves as a Director of “Forum for the Future” AsiaPacific – a London-based sustainability not-for-profit. Prior to EY, he was Director, Strategy Group at PwC Singapore and earlier AGM in Exim Bank.

Sada, currently serves on several committees by public appointment:

Member, Expert Board for Appeals under Singapore Carbon Pricing Act at Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, Singapore;
Member of the National Working group for GHG and Product Life Cycle Assessment at Enterprise Singapore;
Member of Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA)’s Corporate Reporting Committee which is tasked with promoting adoption of Sustainability Reporting in Singapore;
Accredited examiner for TÜV-SÜD PSB Singapore’s Scheme for Certification of Management Consultants; and
Member of Infotech and Media Development Authority, Singapore (IMDA’s Indian Programmes Advisory Committee.

For several years, Sada was the advisor to the Singapore Environmental Council (SEC) for their Singapore Environmental Achievement Awards and for Singapore Institute of Director’s Singapore Sustainability Reporting Awards.

Sada is a frequently invited speaker and trainer on sustainability topics and emerging aspects in corporate reporting. His articles and interviews have appeared in several business publications and dailies. He is a regular panelist at SID’s programs for company directors and has trained senior executives of Singapore Exchange and Bursa Malaysia. He has also lectured as adjunct at NTU’s Nanyang Business School on “Sustainability: Issues, Reporting & Finance”.

Sada is committed to sustainability and Singapore’s Zero Waste Vision through his involvement with Repair Kopitiam, a community initiative to encourage citizens to repair, reuse and recycle household consumer durables.

Senior Director, InCorp Global;

Chairman, Kreston Ardent CAtrust

Mr Sarjit Singh leads the Risk Assurance practice at Ardent Business Advisory, a member firm of Kreston International and a unit of In.Corp Global. He and his team provide internal audit, risk management, regulatory compliance, financial due diligence, strategic planning, sustainability reporting, and governance and regulatory advice to public listed companies, financial institutions, multinationals, government ministries, organs of state, statutory boards and charities.

Prior to Ardent, Mr Singh was the CFO of AIA Singapore and Aviva Asia. He was responsible for formulating and implementing the financial, investment and commercial strategies for AIA Singapore and Aviva's diverse businesses in Singapore, Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific region respectively.

Recognised by NTU as a financial industry talent, Mr Singh was the winner of the Nanyang Alumni Achievement Award in 2012. Mr Singh has built an extensive career in assurance and advisory, including 16 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

He was appointed by the Singapore government in 2016 to serve on the Committee on the Future Economy (CFE) – Working Group on Legal and Accounting Services.

Mr Singh is presently serving as the Chairman of the Singapore Accountancy Commission’s Chartered Accountancy Learning and Assessment Committee – Foundation Programme. He is also a Member of the Investigation and Disciplinary Panel at the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants.

He was conferred the Public Service Star (BBM) in 2011 and the Public Service Medal (PBM) in 2007 by the President of the Republic of Singapore in recognition of his contributions to the nation.

He is a recipient of the prestigious SkillsFuture Fellowship 2019. Presented by the President of the Republic of Singapore, this award honours individuals as masters of skills and mentors of future talent.

Mr Singh is a Fellow Chartered Accountant of both the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. He is an alumni of National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and Harvard University.

Hype Girl for Accounting Apps

USA’s Accounting Today listed Ms Heather Smith as one of 21 people helping shape (and reshape) the accounting industry in 2020 and beyond and is the recipient of the 2020 ACCA Asean-ANZ Advocacy Award.

Heather is obsessed with how effective automation and integration can produce timely clean data to surface information for informed decision making. Heather creates, co-creates and curates Accounting Technology content. She produces the Accounting Technology podcast Cloud Stories, publishes the Accounting Apps newsletter http:\\HeatherSmithAU.com, is the author of Xero for Dummies and runs a practice from her handbag.

Heather is one of 15 global Hosts of the ACCA The Practice Room community series dedicated to supporting small and medium firms: https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/employer/employer-help-and-guidance/practice-connect/the-practice-room.html.

She’s an Ambassador for Innovation for the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand CACatalyst, and through this supports the design and delivery education programs for modernising SMP’s.

Group CEO & Chief Innovation Officer

Nexia TS Group

Mr Henry Tan obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Accountancy with First Class Honours from National University of Singapore. He is a fellow of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants, an ASEAN CPA, a fellow of Chartered Accountants in Australia and New Zealand, Chartered Valuer and Appraiser (CVA) and member of Mensa.

Mr Tan, Group CEO & Chief Innovation Officer of Nexia TS Group, has been serving as advisor to clients in Singapore and the region. As Group CEO, he manages the firm and grows its footprint to a major player in the market. His previous roles include Asia Pacific Chairman and Board member of Nexia International. Mr Tan sits on the boards of YHI International Limited, BH Global Corporation Limited, China New Town Development Limited, Asia Vets Holdings Ltd and Dyna-Mac Holdings Ltd. He is the Chairman of the Audit Committee for most of the Boards he sits on.

Reshaping Finance: Digitally Enabled, Sustainability-Focused

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News coverage of ACCA Virtual Conference 2021

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Businesses must get ahead of the curve in Singapore pursuit of green growth: Grace Fu

Businesses must get ahead of the curve in Singapore pursuit of green growth: Grace Fu

Businesses must get ahead of the curve in Singapore pursuit of green growth: Grace Fu

Businesses must get ahead of the curve in Singapore pursuit of green growth: Grace Fu

Businesses must get ahead of the curve in Singapore pursuit of green growth: Grace Fu

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