ACCA has announced the winners of its Public Sector Advocate of the Year awards. For China, the winner is Jing Shan FCCA; for New Zealand, Rehan Badar FCCA; for Malaysia, Mohd Salihin Bin Othman FCCA; and for Singapore, Vincent Lim FCCA.
For his work promoting ACCA’s standing in his country, Jing Shan has been named ACCA Public Sector Advocate of the Year in China.
‘Jing has emerged as a cornerstone of ACCA’s growth and influence in China,’ says Viola Tan, head of ACCA Southern China. ‘His contributions to strengthening institutional partnerships and membership growth have been transformative,’ she says.
‘Young people cherish the opportunity to be part of ACCA’
Jing, who is deputy general manager of the Finance and Asset Management Department, CGN Group, has worked tirelessly to help develop younger ACCA professionals and communicate the tangible benefits of ACCA membership.
Jing has also been pivotal in cementing the value the ACCA qualification within his employer organisation. He mentors younger ACCA professionals and has encouraged his employer to provide support to help students prepare for ACCA examinations. ‘ACCA has a good reputation among young people, and they cherish the opportunity to be part of it,’ he says.
‘For me personally, what began as my personal membership has evolved into a meaningful partnership – one where I’ve gained far more than I could ever give back,’ Jing says.
Giving a voice
Rehan Badar, audit director at Audit New Zealand, studied for his ACCA qualification in Pakistan, qualified in the UK and has also worked in the UAE and South Africa, taking up a position in practice at PwC’s Wellington office in 2013.
He soon realised that Wellington’s public sector offered great opportunities, moving to the Auditor General’s office, where he has worked ever since. New Zealand, he says, has a world-class public sector with high levels of efficiency and transparency.
Badar served on the ACCA ANZ member network panels. He also engaged with employers, recruiters and regulatory bodies to raise the profile of the ACCA qualification in New Zealand’s public sector.
As more employers started employing ACCA members, he actively engaged with students, encouraging them to take advantage of the global nature of its qualification.
In his role as director at Audit New Zealand, he has promoted the ACCA brand, advocating for the auditor to become an ACCA Approved Employer.
‘The personal satisfaction for me is making sure that members have a voice’
He has represented ACCA as a speaker, including in October this year when he spoke to ACCA members on opportunities and global trends in the public sector.
‘The personal satisfaction for me is making sure that members have a voice. I see members I have helped who are now able to help others. It’s like a seed that you sow.’
Ethics champion
Mohd Salihin Bin Othman is a special task officer in the Prime Minister’s Office of Malaysia, seconded from Perbadanan Insurans Deposit Malaysia, a statutory body under the Ministry of Finance.
As a champion of high ethical and technical standards in public sector finance, Salihin serves as board member at the Malaysian Institute of Integrity, representing ACCA and its standards within an entity devoted to embedding integrity and good governance practices within the working world.
‘We want to make sure that people taking up office are competent’
One of the key areas for financial management in government is competency, he says, ‘We want to make sure that people handling these issues or taking up office are competent.’
Another recent secondment has seen him involved in a project to rationalise government agencies, particularly those with redundant mandates. This work has the potential to save the Malaysian government billions.
‘We want to make sure that the grants given to these agencies are properly managed,’ he says. ‘The expertise of the finance and accounting professional plays a big role in this.’
Salihin is a council member on the ACCA Malaysia Advisory Committee and on its ESG sub-committee. He also represents ACCA on the Malaysian Institute of Accountants’ public sector committee, ensuring that ACCA is present in important policy conversations as a trusted and forward-thinking voice.
Inspiring speaker
Vincent Lim is responsible for managing a public research fund and the efficient financial management the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), which runs to 4,300 researchers with a wide innovation remit.
As a CFO of more than 20 years’ standing, he is committed to promoting high professional standards in accounting and fostering strong communication skills within the finance sector. He is also passionate about cultivating critical thinking and sustainable practices.
Since joining A*STAR earlier this year, he has encouraged staff to become ACCA accountants and has moved the organisation to an Approved Employer, giving his team of nearly 200 and other non-finance employees the opportunity to connect with ACCA.
He is dedicated to promoting strong financial management, is a former member of the Singapore ACCA member network panel, a former chair of ACCA Singapore’s SME Transformation Committee, and actively promotes digital transformation and growth strategies.
‘When I speak, I coach, I share and hopefully inspire’
Lim has spoken at many events, always with the aim of inspiring future accountants. His favoured themes include finance transformation, sustainability and public sector ethics.
To Lim, public speaking is both a skill he prizes and an opportunity to mentor others. He is adviser to ACCA Toastmasters and was a founding member of ACCA Mandarin Toastmasters, giving Mandarin speakers an opportunity to meet others, connect with ACCA and enhance their professional development by acquiring stronger communication skills.
‘When I speak, I coach, I share and hopefully inspire,’ says Lim. In Singapore, he says, finance departments can become siloed. ‘The ability to get them out to talk to different agencies with different areas of expertise is crucial.’
