VIEWPOINTCHOOSING THE RIGHT ACCOUNTANT

IS Chartered Accountant 34

CHOOSING THE RIGHT ACCOUNTANT

BY

TITUS KUAN AND TAN CHIU PING, SHARON

Based on Scope and Complexity of Engagement

B

DIFFERENT PLAYERS IN

THE MARKET

s... if the engagement is for a

statutory audit that requires the issuance of an audit report,

then the individual assigned must be a Chartered Accountant of Singapore, and also a Public

Accountant (PA) registered with Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA). To be a PA, it is mandatory to be a member of the Institute

of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA).

August 2016 35

1 Extracted from the “Accounting Entities Census 2015”, conducted by Singapore Accountancy Commission; www.sac.gov.sg/sites/default/files/%23AECensus%20Report.pdf

Profile of

Accounting Entities in Singapore

*Estimated

AE Size Number of AEs

Big 4 ( 1000 staff) 4

Large (101-999 staff) 7

Medium (31-100 staff) 33*

Small (10-30 staff) 174*

Micro ( 10 staff) 483*

Total 701

PHOTO SHUTTERSTOCK

VIEWPOINTCHOOSING THE RIGHT ACCOUNTANT

IS Chartered Accountant 36

THE CHOICE OF ACCOUNTANT

sThe accounting entity

(AE) should have a robust infrastructure already in place to execute its

duties, with ready access to technical resources. It is crucial that processes

are streamlined and procedures are well

established in the AE for it to deliver the tasks with confidence and efficiency.

August 2016 37

PHOTO SHUTTERSTOCK

Titus Kuan is Director of Technical Advisory, Professional Standards, and Learning & Development, ISCA, and Tan Chiu Ping, Sharon is Senior Manager, Quality Assurance, ISCA. An edited version of this article was first published in The Business Times on 17 June 2016.

THE RIGHT FIT

ISCA

FACTORS TO CONSIDER