(From second left) Johari, Mohammad Faiz and MIA vice president Datuk Zaiton Mohd Hassan at the official launching ceremony of the MIA new corporate office in Bangsar South City.
KUCHING: The accounting profession in Malaysia will soon undergo changes that will see that chartered accountants to meet with global standards.
The changes will be brought about by the upcoming implementation of recommendations made by the Committee to Strengthen the Accountancy Profession (CSAP) set up by the Ministry of Finance.
“The main aim is to ensure that whoever called themselves a Chartered Accountant should have gone through a professional examination which meets global benchmark,” said YB Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani, Minister of Finance II of the CSAP recommendation, which aims to enhance governance and quality of the accounting profession.
The remarks were made in his speech while launching the new office of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) in Bangsar South on September 24, 2016. Johari also emphasized the need to build a well-rounded talent for the profession.
Towards this end, he said the Government has established Malaysia Professional Accountancy Centre (MyPac) to strengthen the capacity building of the Bumiputera through academic and vocational education in line with Malaysia’s vision to achieve high income status by 2020.
“This process of continual development is our collective responsibility. We need to work closely with everyone, from multinationals to regulators to further develop the profession.
“With that in mind, I would like to express my appreciation to the MIA for its continued dedication to champion the accounting profession, maintain high standards among members and nurture the next generation of accountants, while navigating the future and focusing on continuous improvement for the betterment of the profession and the nation,” he added.
Meanwhile, MIA’s president Dato’ Mohammad Faiz Azmi said in his speech that the profession is moving forward with reforms and changes to ensure the accounting profession is still relevant in the future.
One example was the move from Brickfields, where MIA’ s office was located for the past 25 years, to Bangsar South, where the new area has a significant number of ICT related companies.
“The MIA has come a long way since its establishment in 1967 and our membership has increased exponentially over the years. Currently, there are more than 32,000 accountants registered with the MIA.
“As a result, the Institute has been expanding its use of technology to meet member needs. In addition, we continue to promote Malaysian Chartered Accountants by signing the Asean MRA on Accountancy Services.
“This will provide opportunities for our members as Asean countries have agreed to mutually recognise accountants with the right skills, experience and quality in each other jurisdictions,” he said.
He added that the MIA continues to emphasise the need for members to improve themselves to ensure they are still relevant.
Over the last decade, the MIA has led the way by training and developing skill sets of accountants by offering hundreds of programmes with topics covering technical, cognitive and professional skills.
For instance, the MIA in partnership with Royal Malaysian Customs, has been offering a six-day assessed course for potential goods and services tax (GST) agents. The course, which was introduced in 2012, has drawn about 3,800 participants nationwide.
“Moving forward, the MIA is committed to nurturing future accountants who are competent and skilled, in both the public and private sector, that will support our nation’s aspiration of achieving a high income economy.
“We will do so by redefining what we expect of our future accountants by creating a MIA competency framework to define baseline skillsets for accountancy professionals,” he said.