Deloitte’s Lee Boon Teck, new Isca chief, urges accountants to be fluent in accounting and tech

[SINGAPORE] Amid potential disruptions brought about by artificial intelligence, accountants should be “effectively bilingual” in accounting and technology, the newly elected head of Singapore’s national accounting body has urged.

Lee Boon Teck, who took over as president of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (Isca) on Apr 28, told The Business Times in a recent interview that helping accountants build career resilience would be his top priority during his two-year term.

Lee is also regional managing partner for audit and assurance at Deloitte South-east Asia, where he oversees “a few thousand” people in more than 10 markets.

He said that in practical terms, building resilience means preparing new entrants to the workforce – including students – to work alongside AI, while also equipping existing practitioners to navigate rapid technological change.

One initiative is a S$1 million AI training programme announced in November 2025, which offers free online learning courses to Singapore’s 120,000 accountants.

Isca is also working with polytechnics and universities to ensure that their curricula remain relevant, although Lee acknowledged that change is likely to happen faster than updates to formal syllabuses.

“You can never outpace or outrun developments,” he said. “One of our key focuses is on preparing our people to be agile, and to be able to adapt to all these changes. In today’s world, we have to unlearn what we know – and that, to me, is more important than whether the curriculum (or) the content is able to catch up.”

It is not the first time the profession has had to adapt to technological disruption. In previous waves of change, manual records and pen-and-paper calculations were replaced by digital software. Now, AI has the potential to take over repetitive tasks from accountants, freeing them to focus on those requiring judgment and even some business acumen.

“The challenge for accountants is: How can we elevate ourselves beyond bookkeeping and accounting? We have to be effectively bilingual,” he added.

Regional ambitions

Continuing and building on the institute’s push overseas will be another priority for Lee – one in which he is arguably well placed to contribute, given his regional ambit at Deloitte.

Discussions within the Isca Council on expanding the institute’s regional footprint have thus been particularly close to his heart.

The council, the body’s highest decision-making body, held its elections in April to select its office holders, including the president.

Lee, who was first elected to the council in 2024, said: “I always (get) very excited when we debate or have ideas about how Isca can scale itself outside the shores of Singapore, and having the regional South-east Asia lens does ignite the passion within me, in having that discussion and bouncing ideas within the council.”

A key pillar of Isca’s international strategy is extending the reach of the Singapore Chartered Accountant Qualification (SCAQ) programme – the only pathway to the Chartered Accountant (Singapore) designation – to aspiring practitioners in the region.

Under former Isca president Teo Ser Luck, the institute inked 43 partnerships in five countries in 2025, including with universities and counterpart professional accounting bodies.

Early signs of progress have already emerged. In 2025, 431 individuals from 10 countries enrolled in the SCAQ programme, making it the first time that those based overseas have access to it.

Lee also paid tribute to his predecessor, who led the institute from 2022 to 2026 and then stepped down in line with term limits. Teo has since been appointed senior adviser to Isca.

Calling himself a “big fan” of Teo, Lee said: “Mr Teo encouraged everybody to do things differently, (and) not just for the sake of changing. It is this principle, I truly believe, that has helped Isca transform over the past couple of years under Mr Teo’s leadership.”

Asked how he would balance the demands of his Isca role and his career at Deloitte, Lee offered an analogy. “If I’m a pilot flying a big plane, you would need more than just a pilot – the pilot needs to have at least two co-pilots, and then you need to have a whole crew supporting you, to make sure (that) things are done the right way,” he said. “That’s exactly the principle I am following.”