Even as the Singapore government takes concerted effort to prepare professionals for a different finance landscape transformed by technology, global recruitment specialist Hays is urging finance professionals to upskill as they face an increasingly complex business environment. Already, the Accountancy & Finance (A&F) sector in Singapore is facing a skills gap, despite the large supply of professionals available, according to Hays.

The last revision of Singapore’s Code of Corporate Governance (Code) that is applicable to listed companies in Singapore was in 2012. Owing to the evolution of global corporate governance practices and sentiments that there is room for Singapore listed companies to improve on their governance practices and disclosures, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) convened a Corporate Governance Council (Council) in February 2017 to review the Code. On 6 August 2018, MAS accepted the Council’s final recommendations. The revised Code took effect for annual reports with financial years beginning from 1 January 2019.

The need for governance, risk and compliance (GRC) at a commensurate level, especially for proprietary investment structures, may not have received much attention in the past in many countries, although it should. A proprietary structure is typically used when establishing a single family office, or a family trust using a corporatised private trustee arm or an investment holding entity, and other types of private investment vehicles.

Singapore’s position as a digital nation is shaping both the demand and supply sides of the employment landscape. Given the city-state’s high social media penetration, with 83% of the population on social media, it is not surprising that more candidates are making use of their social media profiles and presence as part of their professional branding, according to Grant Torrens, Business Director, Hays Singapore. Using “YouTube video submissions” and “leveraging LinkedIn to highlight their skills and experience”

The current international tax framework, which dates back to the 1920s, allocates taxing rights based on the location of physical assets, capital and labour, source of income and residence of taxpayers. While the tax framework has worked well at a time when the nature of world trade was predominantly physical, the meteoric rise of digital businesses has put enormous pressure on the traditional international tax framework, and its adequacy in addressing the digital economy has been called into question by many western jurisdictions.

As digital technologies continue to reinvent how businesses grow and operate, the associated risks and opportunities are prompting companies to expand their cost management strategies, according to Deloitte’s second biennial global cost survey, released in late April. The report, “Save-to-transform as a Catalyst for Embracing Digital Disruption”, shows that while traditional cost reduction methods are still crucial, many organisations are also investing heavily in transformative digital technologies to improve operational efficiency and cost savings while boosting overall performance and competitiveness in an increasingly digital world.

There has been much attention raised in recent years over the digital economy and its impact on economic growth and businesses in the modern day. While there has been some understanding on what the digital economy entails, there is a lack of consensus on the generally-agreed definition or practical concepts of the technologies that comprise it.

For years, we have been saying that automation is coming. It is firmly here today, yet gaps in the understanding of automation technologies continue to exist among business leaders – and not surprisingly so, given the pace of technological change.

For some, automation may immediately conjure a limited view of physical machinery or a grandiose vision of robots taking over the world. The danger with such views is that it almost always makes automation a technology project. On the contrary, automation should first and foremost be a business-driven exercise.

Indonesia plays an important role in regional and global accountancy developments. As the global voice for accountancy, the International Federation of Accountants has recognized Indonesia as a major stakeholder and a strategic player within the South East Asian region. The last three IFAC presidents have visited Indonesia and shared their perspectives on global accountancy development.

As businesses continue their assessment of the impact of COVID-19 to their operation and more importantly going concern, stakeholders start to pick up the pieces and prepare for life with the pandemic. Accountants as trusted advisors are expected to play an important role in among others providing assurance over accountability of financial relief introduced by the Government and assistance to businesses..

In many cases, accountants around the world faces greater scrutiny on their objectivity, integrity, competence, professionalism, their due care in conducting their duties as financial report reliability on both the issuance and the audit of it has become the major part of this advanced economy we are in now. Accountants around the world has always been facing issues.

Along with the trend of globalization in cooperation and economic development, the scope of activities of investors spread around the world, accounting is no longer an intrinsic problem of each country. In 2001, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)

The recent announcement of a roadmap for international financial reporting standards (IFRS) in Vietnam marks a key milestone on the path of improvement of financial reporting quality in the country

The Doing Businessproject provides objective measures of business regulations and their  enforcement across 190 economies and selected cities at the  subnational and regional level