As a permanent resident of Hong Kong, I hate to say this, but it seems Singapore is once again surging ahead in an important area of business. I refer to the final report of the government-formed Committee to Development the Accountancy Sector (CDAS) that was released last week. After a year of work, the group has come up with what it calls “a holistic view” of Singapore’s accountancy’s sector and presented recommendations to “transform the accountancy sector for the next 10 years.”

 

It’s a bold and ambitious plan. The committee wants to establish a CFO Institute and Centre of Excellence in Internal Audit and Risk Management, Business Valuation and Tax. The aim is to promote “the professional development of Chief Financial Officers, as well as the development of specialisation pathways in internal audit and risk management expertise, business valuation expertise (especially in the areas relating to intellectual property, brands, corporate finance and arbitration proceedings), and international tax expertise.”

 

It also wants to create a new professional accountancy qualification “of global repute and standing” while at the same time keeping the city a welcoming regional centre for international professional bodies such as ACCA and CIMA to offer other accountancy qualifications. “This will provide the diversity of the professional accountancy qualifications and add to the vibrancy of the Singapore sector,” says the committee.

 

“A strong accountancy profession and a talented pool of qualified accountants will support Singapore's position as the Global-Asia Financial and Business Hub,” the report adds. “Singapore accountants will be sought after to support Singapore companies having businesses in the region.” An Accountancy Services Research Centre will provide intellectual stimulation to this pool, promoting high quality and market-relevant research and “attracting local and international talent from the academia and the professional practice industry.”

 

Can Singapore pull it off? The island republic has a good track record of hitting its big targets, from becoming a completely wired and wireless island (done) to fostering arts and culture (getting there) to transforming itself into an entertainment and gaming tourism destination (still in the first stages). But building up a services and talent-oriented industry like accounting and finance is a different order of business. It requires a deep pool of young and trainable talent with numerate and business bent – a challenge given Singapore’s tiny population.

 

Still, you can’t blame a small city for dreaming big. Led by Bobby Chin, chairman of the Singapore Totalisator Board and former KPMG managing partner, with members from other Big Four firms, the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore (ICPAS) and the country’s business schools, CDAS has drawn up a thorough report. Do you know, for example, that accountancy in the Asia Pacific is a US$30.8 billion business? By 2013, says the committee, billings will jump 24% to US$38.3 billion on the back of growing demand in China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam and resurgent businesses in the rest of the region as economic recovery and expansion take hold.

 

That’s a juicy pie that Singapore is finding irresistible. At the moment, its accountancy market is valued at just US$862.4 million, 2.8% of the Asia Pacific total and 0.47% of the local GDP. In contrast, accounting in Australia contributed US$9.2 billion to the economy, almost 1% of GDP. “As Singapore aspires to be a leading global accountancy hub for the Asia Pacific region, it should seek to double the sector’s existing GDP contribution from the current level of 0.4% to about 1% over the next 10 years,” says CDAS.

 

For CFOs and would-be CFOs, particularly those who feel overwhelmed by the ever growing demands of the job, the mooted CFO Institute and Centre of Excellence can be a godsend. Companies coming face to face with a resurgent finance talent crunch should also be excited by the proposal to develop a new professional accountancy qualification, which can possibly expand the supply of accountants, financial controllers, treasurers, internal auditors, risk managers, tax specialists and other finance staff.