RU SHARING SESSION
HOW COVID-19 DISRUPTED THE WORKPLACE
ALUMNI AND INDUSTRY PARTNERS SHARING ON HOW COVID-19 IMPACTS ON THE WORKPLACE
Raffles University held an Industry Partner and Alumni Sharing Session in Accounting Industry on 8 July 2020 (2:00pm – 3:30pm) via Microsoft Team. The theme was How Pandemic disrupted the Accountancy Industry.
The pandemic of Covid-19 has affected various areas of business. It has transformed the conventional ways of working into virtual ways. Therefore, it is utmost important for the students to aware and reflects on whether they are well prepared to embrace the challenges.
Raffles University has invited our industry partners and alumni who are active in the accountancy industry to share their views on:
- How the pandemic has influenced the business and accounting work?
- >What are the skill sets needed to deal with this?
*All RU students from Bachelor of Business (Accountancy)(Honours) and Bachelor of Accountancy(Honours) are compulsory for this event.
In the sharing session, the speakers have described how the accounting industry has been affected by Covid-19. The sharing session is moderated by Ms Low See Mei, the Programme Director of Accountancy at Raffles University.
Ms Ong was the first speaker to share with the students the impact of covid-19 and during Movement Control Operation (MCO).
In Ms Ong’s word, “The MCO has caused a shift in leadership attitude. The leader has to cultivate the skill to energise the employee during MCO.”
In her words also, “The mindset of an individual is important. You have to think of “How do you carry yourself?”Is it an opportunity for you to upgrade yourself/ new skill to learn or to pass by?””
It was then followed by Mr Wong’s sharing.
“You will need to cultivate the new skill in both hard skill and soft skill, you will have to be adaptable, flexible, start small and think big. At the same time, the demand for the employee who has the skillset such as programming, data scientist, and cross-specialisation,” said Mr Wong.
He asked, “Have you ever thought about why the world needs an accountant? From here, you will find the value of an accountant. The accounting represents the reality of business, identify the business performance from the figures. These figures are used by the management to make a business decision.”
The alumni sharing session is followed by the industry partners’ sharing session. Ms Chan, an alumnus of Bachelor of Accountancy (Honours) in Raffles University was the speaker of this session. She completed his internship in KPMG and receive the offer as a full-time job. However, she has decided to focus on her ACCA study. Interesting, she mentioned that she was a science stream students since she was young. She had no any experience in accounting until she has chosen Raffles to further her study in Accounting.
She shared a little bit of her experience in her internship where “what you learnt in university is important to be your foundation.” She was grateful that she has learned Audit and assurance and Business statistic in RU. She especially thanks to Ms Joanne who taught her Excel during her study in RU.
“There is no standard rule to apply for all company or industry but you must make sure that you are familiar to Microsoft Excel”
During MCO, as she had to work from home, she had to attend more virtual training. “Everything is on your fingertip” she described the scenario of working during MCO.
#TAKEAWAY POINTS -
Top 5 skills you will need during the pandemic in Accountancy Industry
1. Adpatabiliting and flexibility in handling the issue
Adopt a positive attitude – always confident to face the challenges and shape the attitude of willing to learn something new.
2. Expert your Excel!
Always sharpen your skill in Excel!
3.Communication Skill
The communication skill does not happen through one night. Practice makes perfect! The most important point is you have to understand how you can communicate effectively.
4. Research skill
Do not wait for an answer! Activate your fingertips to search useful industry insights (Linkedin, social media, e-newspaper, e-database)
5. Understand and Application skill
Don’t memorise everything! Try to understand the logic behind the theory and apply it!
INDUSTRY PARTNER SPEAKER
MS ONG HUEI LIN
Audit Executive Director
KPMG Malaysia
Ms Ong started her career with KPMG in 1997 upon her graduation from the University of Glasgow, United Kingdom and qualified as a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountant in 2000.
She has extensive audit work experience in a wide range of industries. Her key clientele comprises multinational corporations and public listed companies which are involved in trading and manufacturing businesses, particularly in electronics, food and drink, oil and gas, plantation, property development and real estate.
She has been involved in the role of reporting accountants for initial public offer assignments.
INDUSTRY PARTNER SPEAKER
MR WONG WEN TAK
Managing Partner of Grant Thornton MSW
Member of the Young Professionals Committee of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants
Leader for MIA Johor Young Professional Group
Mr Wong started his career with PwC London, in audit and assurance and subsequently, he worked as a Senior Internal Auditor for G4S plc. In 2009, he joined his family practice – M.S. Wong & Co, which he man-aged and oversaw a period of significant growth and capability building until the firm merged with Grant Thornton Johor operations in 2018.
In his personal capacity, he is serving as an independent, non-executive director and Head of Audit Commit-tee in Gromutual Berhad, a company listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia. He is also a member of the Young Professionals Committee (“YPC”) of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (“MIA”) and heads the Johor regional committee of YPC. He holds Bachelor of Arts (Economics and Management) from Oxford University, is an Approved Company Auditor and a Licensed GST Tax Agent.
RU ALUMNI SPEAKER
MS CHAN HUI JUAN
RU ALUMNI, Bachelor of Accountancy(Honours)
Ms Chan is the Alumni of Raffles University. She has completed the Bachelor of Accountanc(Honours) at Raffles University.
