Singapore’s national accountancy body sets up task force to strengthen financial reporting

[SINGAPORE] Singapore’s national accountancy body has formed a task force with business and finance leaders to examine how the country’s financial reporting ecosystem can be overhauled for better communication with stakeholders.

The Strengthening Financial Reporting Taskforce was launched by the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (Isca) at the Value Unlock Forum, held in partnership with the Singapore Exchange (SGX), on Monday (May 11).

“Companies are increasingly expected not only to report performance, but also to communicate resilience strategy and long-term direction with greater clarity,” said Cyndi Pei, chairperson of Isca Academy, the institute’s for-profit adult learning arm that was spun off and privatised in January. She is also chief financial officer (CFO) of Digital InfraCo at Singtel.

Examples of such improvements include issuing “clear and trusted financial reports that are informative based on consistent key judgments, assumptions and beliefs”, said Euleen Goh, the task force’s chair and distinguished lifetime member of Isca. She is also chairman of the Singapore Institute of Management Group.

She added that this sets “a narrative that aligns performance to stated goals that demonstrate organisational capabilities and achievable strategic implementation”.

“By doing so, investors will be encouraged to fully appreciate the real worth of the company,” she said.

The task force will analyse how companies can improve their communication of financial performance, business risks and long-term value creation to investors and stakeholders.

It will also explore how Singapore can continue to uphold high standards of governance, transparency and accountability amid a rapidly evolving business environment.

“High-quality financial reporting and strong financial controls are essential to investor confidence and market integrity,” noted newly appointed Isca president Lee Boon Teck.

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Lee, who is regional managing partner for audit and assurance at Deloitte South-east Asia,was elected last month for a two-year term, succeeding Teo Ser Luck.

In the forum’s keynote address, Goh highlighted that investors today are demanding more disclosures, including on financial performance, governance and business operations.

She said: “We need disclosures that are not just complete, but clear, consistent, relevant and forward-looking (as well), in order to explain performance risks and value drivers in a way that users can understand and assess for themselves.”

Going beyond compliance

While Singapore’s equities market review has made important progress in enhancing investor interest and the standing of the Republic’s capital markets, sustained effort is needed to maintain this momentum.

Financial reporting plays a key role in this, Goh told The Business Times at the sidelines of the Isca event. “A key part of good corporate governance is financial reporting. In fact, it is an essential component of governance.”

Having sat on boards both locally and internationally, she has seen how corporate governance is practised across different markets.

She described financial reporting as a core pillar of a company’s interface with the external world, and a “shopfront” that reflects what an organisation currently is while also signalling what it could become in the future.

She noted that in Singapore, financial reporting standards are already strong, supported by robust professional expertise, audit processes and regulatory oversight.

But “to draw investor interest, we have got to go beyond”, she added, pointing out that companies need to make disclosures more relevant to investors by providing clearer information that helps them better assess value.

She said that some SGX-listed companies are already improving in this area by providing more forward-looking disclosures, including business direction, monetisation strategies, productivity improvements and alignment with global trends.

Addressing the differences between listed issuers, she noted that larger ones typically have more resources and systems to support detailed disclosures, while smaller and mid-cap companies face constraints in resources.

“If you are small or mid-cap, you may not need to try and do everything and be everything to everybody,” she said.

Instead, she suggested that smaller companies prioritise key strategic areas. Similarly, mid-cap firms can focus on growth drivers most relevant to their business model, she added.

Corporate capability building

Pei of Isca Academy also introduced the Value Unlock Series, a capability-building programme designed to support SGX-listed companies in articulating value drivers and strengthening investor engagement.

The academy is an approved training provider under SGX’s Value Unlock programme, which was rolled out in January.

The S$30 million initiative comprises two grants – Equip and Elevate – funded by the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Financial Sector Development Fund, and is designed to build corporate capabilities in strategy, capital optimisation and investor relations.

The launch of the Strengthening Financial Reporting Taskforce comes amid ongoing discussions on reducing compliance costs for smaller companies, including the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority’s (Acra) review of Singapore’s audit exemption framework.

The other members of the task force are:

• Liew Nam Soon, EY Asia East deputy regional managing partner and EY Singapore managing partner;
• Leong Yung Chee, group CFO of UOB;
• Lawrence Loh, director of the Centre for Governance and Sustainability at the National University of Singapore Business School;
• Belinda Tan, managing director of finance at Temasek International;
• Ang Hao Yao, vice-president of the Securities Investors Association (Singapore); and
• Karen Loon, governing council member of the Singapore Institute of Directors.

SGX Regulation CEO Tan Boon Gin and Acra chief executive Chia-Tern Huey Min will act as the task force’s observers.

As at end-December 2025, Isca had more than 43,000 members, more than in the year before. These included 23,920 Chartered Accountant (Singapore) charterholders and 9,722 student members.