UNDERGRADUATES from Singapore and beyond will be given a glimpse into the Republic’s accounting sector under a new S$1 million programme by the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (Isca).

Each year, the week-long business-study programme will be run in Singapore, open to undergraduates from all countries and disciplines.

Participation is free, and costs such as travel and accommodation are covered. The initiative is fully funded by the industry body.

Participants will work on and present solutions to problem statements provided by industry players and Isca. They will also get to network with companies from various sectors, as well as Singapore government agencies.

“We need to have a programme like this to attract the best talents that we can find, and from all over the world,” Isca president Teo Ser Luck told The Business Times. “It also positions Singapore and Isca itself within the sector, and I think it helps to develop Singapore into an accountancy hub.”

The programme aims to dispel the notion that accounting is “boring” or involves only conducting audits, said Teo. “It’s also about having the essential skills to understand how to run a business.”

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Students from all disciplines are encouraged to apply as the programme is not focused on “pure accounting”, but rather the intersection of “commerce, the economy, and business as a whole, and how accounting is applied to it”, he added.

About 300 participants are expected over the next three to five years. Applications open from mid-July, with the first run of the programme in September.

“I hope to attract students from the best universities in the world,” said Teo. “Singapore has really good universities, so I know that we can get very good students here, but I am also hoping that students from the best universities in different continents will apply.”

Given the ongoing talent crunch in Singapore’s accounting sector, the programme aims to raise awareness of the profession as a viable career path, and attract participants to eventually join it.

And even if the foreign participants do not end up working here, the hope is that they will be able to contribute to Singapore’s economy in one way or another.

“What we hope is that they go back (home), and sing praises about Singapore,” said Teo. “You grow that talent, and they could become an instrumental part of Singapore companies who want to launch an international business.”