I started working after A levels as an audit assistant just to have a taste of the accounting profession. I was extremely good at maths, and people said if you are good at maths, you’ll be good at accounting.
I was very passionate about tax and wrote four books on Singapore and Malaysia taxation before I was 30. When I was studying in London, my college offered me the opportunity to write books on Singaporean taxation, as at the time there were no books on the subject.
While at accounting firm Pannell Kerr Forster (now PKF) in London in the 1980s, I learned how to help SMEs improve productivity and achieve potential, which quickly led me into a consultancy role at the firm. One of the biggest problems I found was how resistant people were to change; the only way to work around it was to shift their mindset through training and development.
It’s not easy, coming from the older generation, to adapt to technology, but we live in a digital world and it was a necessary jump
In 2004, while CEO of Singapore-based AEC Education (now Malvern Educational), I took the company public in London. It was the first Asian educational organisation to be listed on the AIM stock exchange. A year later, I left the strategic partnership and business development role I’d been doing for 20 years in the education field and moved back into my comfort zone – accounting – as finance director at AEC. From here I moved to accounting firm Parker Randall as vice president for Asia Pacific, and then to McMillan Woods Global where I’m vice president.
The biggest thing I’ve enjoyed in my career is the travel, which I’ve been fortunate to be able to do through my various roles. I’ve visited almost every part of the world. I would always try to understand a place a bit more, and that made it more meaningful for me.
Initially I was very slow to adapt to technology and I had a lot of learning blocks. It’s not easy, coming from the older generation, but we live in a digital world and it was a necessary jump. Technology is moving so fast, I’m not sure if I can keep up, but I’m trying my best.
My professional network is critical, as well as being quite large and extensive. These include ACCA, the Institute of Certified Public Accounts Singapore, and the Institute of Management Consultants Singapore. I’ve been very active in all these professional bodies, both as a council member of ACCA Singapore Branch, and president of the Institute of Management Consultants Singapore.
