gary-lau

This interview was first published in the February 2015 Singapore edition of Accounting and Business magazine

I began my career after studying for a Diploma in Business Administration and Bachelor Degree in Commerce. This provided me with an overview of business functions such as marketing, management, finance and accountancy. I decided then that accountancy was the path for me, as, in my opinion, it provides specialised knowledge essential for business management and analysis.

After more than three years in the industry, I’ve come to notice that in order to remain competitive, business and the profession are undergoing a drastic change due to digitisation and the mobile internet. Once considered merely number crunchers, the finance profession today requires technologically savvy professionals who are capable of thinking outside the box.

It’s a double-edged sword, however, and there’s the threat of suffocating under mountains of raw data. In order to overcome the downside of ‘too much data’, computer-assisted audit techniques (CAATs) are growing within the profession.

There are also dramatic planned changes to the accounting standards. These continue to evolve in areas such as fair value measurement, employee benefits, joint arrangement, revenue recognition and so on. Professionals need to be aware of these changes in order to advise clients.

Being a part of the audit and assurance team, exposure is what I enjoy most since no two audits are alike. Understanding different industries and businesses is vital to effectively audit an entity, and it can be a real challenge to understand certain specialised industries. However, it provides a sense of achievement, as well as satisfying my curiosity towards business, and being able to identify risk areas and plan audits according to a firm’s needs.

Leading and coaching the team in the field is key to ensuring procedures have been carried out to plan and to prevent unexpected and unwanted issues. Communication within the team is vital in order to comprehend the capabilities and limitations of junior associates, but seeing them grow throughout the audit process provides enormous satisfaction.

The long hours auditors put in are well known. So I’m very grateful my company places an emphasis on work-life balance and is considerate of an individual’s situation. As long as our time is managed well, we, the auditors, should also be able to spend quality time with family and friends.