Acra, SAC and ASC secretariat to merge under single entity in H2 2022

THE Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Thursday announced it will merge its accountancy-related units in the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra), the Singapore Accountancy Commission (SAC), and the Accounting Standards Council (ASC) secretariat into a single-function entity from H2 of 2022.

Currently, the Singapore government's accountancy-related functions are housed in the three entities.

Acra registers and regulates public accountants, business entities, and corporate service providers; SAC develops the accountancy sector and oversees the Chartered Accountant of Singapore designation as well as the latter's Singapore Chartered Accountant Qualification programme; while ASC sets accounting standards for companies, charities, societies, and co-operative societies.

The merged entity will encompass the enlarged functions and will be overseen by Ong Khiaw Hong, the chief executive of Acra.

According to MOF, the merged entity will retain the name Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) as it is well-recognised by accountancy and business stakeholders. (see amendment note)

It will retain the name Acra and harness synergies across these complementary functions to strengthen effectiveness of standards-setting, and sector development.

This will strengthen the merged entity's ability to better develop and manage talent in a sustained manner, as well as provide better career development opportunities to officers, MOF added.

Amendment note: A previous version of the article stated the merged entity is well-recognised by accountancy and business stakeholders. It is in fact Acra that is well-recognised.