Accelerate November 2014 | Page 12

News “Thus, the conference today is timely as it provides us with the right platform to discuss and understand what else is needed to produce worldclass, industry-ready professional accountants. By this, I mean good accountants with good values who are very professional,” she said. In the forum that followed, a four-strong panel further expounded the qualities the industry seeks in new hires for the accounting and finance field. Representing the voice of the industry and academia were Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC); Dato’ Abdul Rauf Rashid, Country Managing Partner of EY; Dr Lau Chee Kwong, Associate Professor of Accounting at Nottingham University Business School; and Robert Lim, Head of HR Strategy at CIMB. Dato’ Rauf candidly shared that the difference between local and foreign graduates lies not in their technical capabilities but their soft skills. “In professional services firms like EY, the accounting knowledge and skills are provided by us through professional qualification training such as the ACCA. The bit that we are looking for, during interviews, is candidates with all-round capabilities. “In the business world, it’s not about how much you know about accounting standards but how well you can articulate the issue. Our value 12 November 2014 as professional accountants lies in our ability to slice, dice and analyse the problem to come up with a solution for the client. To be able to do that, we need to be good at thinking and putting it forward to the people who need it,” he said. Speaking for the public sector, Datuk Nur Jazlan said that the need for professional accountants is just as urgent in the public sector as in the private: “Our academics should also focus on grooming talents for the public sector. In terms of the national budget, the public sector spends about RM270 billion every year. There is a huge demand for professional accountants in civil service to look after how the government spends the money, especially with the accounting system in the government sector changing to the accrual system next year.” To provide the academicians with a comprehensive understanding of the accounting profession, the ACCA Learning Conference included a session on Integrated Reporting updates provided by Jonathan Labrey, Director of Policy and Regulations at the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). Other speakers include Wang Lihua, ACCA Programme Leader at Sichuan University in China, and Alison McHugh, Director of Education Development at ACCA.