- 2009 and beyond

Since almost everyone has something to say about 2008, I shall give my views on what’s in store next year and beyond on this new year’s eve.

Economy
Despite the gloomy economic landscape painted by many learned analysts, I believe the present financial woes will not continue for long. Analysts predict it would take at least another year and into the second half of 2010 for the global economy to pick up. I think things will stabilize by the middle of 2009. Our national economies are too dependent on each other that we could not afford to isolate ourselves. Realistically, it is actually a blessing that the present financial crisis is brought about by the subprime housing problems in America instead of a smaller nation. It is by far the world’s largest debtor. But, because its business operations are so huge and so globally spread that it is also to the advantage of other nations to ensure that the American economy does not shred to pieces.

Business
When the dust has settled and economy activities get into gear, IT will be the hype again. We have matured from the make belief enchanted IT world of yesteryears, promoted by young IT geeks who sold us dreams and fantasies. The IT bubble is now well behind us. This time round businessmen will use IT to drive their business operations and not the other way round.

Education
There will be a proliferation of educational programmes. A university degree will be within everyone’s reach. If you do not have the means to go overseas, study locally. If you do not have the means to study full time, you can study part-time. If you find a particular course of study too difficult, you could choose a porgramme of study within your mental faculty. Foreign universities will increase their presence here and they will all talk about quality. Success in an educational institution is measured by the number of graduates they churn out each year. It would be a sad day if professional bodies also allow themselves to follow this path.

Humanity
The loss of innocence will accelerate. The young are getting older and bolder. They are maturing younger. The Information Age has given us great benefits. It opened up a world of opportunities, knowledge and enjoyment which we could never imagined would happen a few decades ago. But, it also gives us the negative impacts. The Internet is a useful tool to enhance knowledge, but conversely it can also be used to promote hatred, pornography and evilness.

Environment
Greater momentum will be gained in the protection of our environment. But, there will continue to be disagreement between the developed and the underdeveloped and developing countries. Natural resources once destroyed will never be able to be restored to their former beauty. So, you better start collecting and keeping photos of natural mountains, valleys and blue oceans etc.for your future generations to admire. These are depleting assets.

East and West
The gap is getting narrower no doubt. But, it would be a long time yet before the East can truly stand equal with the West. Many nations in the East boast of early discoveries or inventions about almost everything. But, what have they done to improve such discoveries and inventions? What have they done to benefit mankind in general? To the contrary the Western discoverers and inventors do not keep them to their chests or take them to their graves, but instead they share and spread their knowledge far and wide. Mankind has benefited greatly from their legacies over the past few hundred years.

Today, our understanding in the fields of economics, finance, arts and sciences are all products of Western scientists, thinkers and philosophers. The Western political system is also much more transparent, accountable and democratic.

- more women partners at Big Four

That’s the title of an article appearing in the December issue of Accountancy; the ICAEW’s official journal. Table below shows promotions of female accountants to the top of their profession in the Big Four for the past 2 years (i.e. 2008 and 2007):

Firm	Total new partners 2008	No. of female partners 2008	% of female partners 2008	Total new partners 2007	No. of female partners 2007	% female partners 2007
Pricewater house Coopers	58	17	29%	56	7	13%
Deloitte& Touche	42	7	17%	43	7	16%
KPMG	31	8	26%	25	4	16%
Ernst & Young	36	8	22%	25	3	12%
Total	167	40		149	21
Average	42	10	24%	37	5	14%

Had more women been involved in audit and corporate reporting decisions, would the financial world be any different today from the global financial mess we are now facing I wonder. Well, one thing for sure. Their voices are getting louder by the day. In future, their opinions and decisions will have greater impact on our lives; be it political, social or financial.

- why do accounting students keep repeating?

I have come to know of a group of uninitiated individuals who often remark that they could not understand why students sitting for professional accounting examinations keep repeating certain papers. What prompted me to write this article is not so much because of the lack of understanding but rather the reasons they offer in explaining this situation. Unsavoury remarks are being hurled; for examples, below-average students are being accepted, under-achieving lecturers, low passing rates to penalize students and some even went further to blame it on the ineffective management of the courses by the awarding professional bodies. Surprisingly, amongst the people who made such remarks comprised academicians from universities and other institutions of higher education.

The fact is very few students managed to pass all their professional accounting examinations at the first sittings. Most will repeat certain papers until they finally pass. Some students take 5 or 6 attempts just to pass a single paper. The passing rates for various papers range between 50% to as low as 10% which is true for the more advanced final stage papers. That’s why some professional accounting bodies allow their students up to 10 years to pass all the examinations. Do these students have low intelligence or is it because the awarding bodies are staffed with hellish people who derive satisfaction in failing students? Not true, of course. I come across students who are good in passing examinations but are poor workers. Conversely, there are some students who took longer time to pass their examinations turned out be good employees. Maybe by repeating, they are able to learn more. Heard of the proverb, ‘Failure is the mother of success?’. Here are some good reasons why they repeat:

• professional accounting examinations are ‘external’ examinations. Questions are set externally by the respective professional bodies. Thus, candidates need to cover widely the topics in the syllabi. The do not have direct contact with their examiners. They do not even know who they are;
• professional examinations demand knowledge both in width and depth of the topics. This is especially true (and quite rightly so) in the final advanced stage of the examinations;
• candidates need to keep up with the complexities and rigors of new and revised accounting standards;
• a candidate must have attained a certain minimum academic standard as judged by the professional accounting body to be worthy of calling himself / herself a professional accountant.
• 3 hours written examination which demands not just knowledge but speed as well!

There is also a misguided belief among some students that examiners set questions to fail candidates. In fact, most examiners are sympathetic people who look for valid ways and reasons to pass candidates. But more importantly, it is what lies behind a title that is being scrutinized.

It is every student’s dream that one day he / she can use the title CA (Chartered Accountant) behind his / her name. A qualified CA could choose to go into practice i.e. setting up his / her own accounting firm or he could opt to work as a senior finance personnel in a public listed company. Whichever route he takes, his title says a lot about him. For example, a partner in an accounting firm participating in a business function, will dish out his business cards to business people he meets at the function. A businessman who may be a total stranger will no doubt judge his professional competency by the title he carries. It could be just due to the CA title he carries, that the businessman feels it justifiable enough to engage his firm to be his company’s auditor, tax agent or even business advisor.