A TASK force has been set up to ensure Singapore has enough accountants and dispel the perception that the profession is boring.

Announcing the new Accountancy Workforce Review Committee jointly headed by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the regulatory body overseeing the profession, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong on Tuesday (Jun 27) said: “There are shortages emerging in the pipeline of young accountants.”

Over the past five years, accounting degree students at universities here have fallen by more than 10 per cent, he revealed. The number of graduates who eventually go on to become accountants or auditors has also fallen, compounding the problem.

Wong suggested that part of the issue may be the perception young people have about the profession. “They think that accounting work is boring, monotonous and repetitive,” he said.

An estimate last year projected that by 2025, demand for new accounting jobs would reach about 6,000 to 7,000. This will add to the current workforce of more than 100,000 employees, which includes 80,000 workers in in-house finance and accounting functions, and about 20,000 in accounting practices.

The task force has been set up to turn the situation around and enhance the attractiveness of the accounting profession. Made up of industry players and academia, the committee will be led by the second permanent secretary of the Ministry of Finance (MOF), Lai Wei Lin, as well as Chaly Mah, the former chair of the Singapore Accountancy Commission (SAC).

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While the task force will be backed by both the ministry and the accounting authority, Wong believes that it will also take the combined efforts of the accountancy sector “to address these concerns, and to shift the prevailing attitudes and mindsets about accountancy”.

Tuesday’s event also marked a major milestone for the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra). Previously, the authority had focused only on registering and regulating public accountants, business entities and corporate service providers.

In 2021, the MOF announced that Acra would merge with the Accounting Standards Council, which sets accounting standards, and the SAC, which develops the accountancy sector and oversees the Chartered Accountant certification programme. The merger was completed in April this year.

It is hoped that this would not only see the merged entity reap the synergistic benefits of the three functions but also improve its ability to nurture and manage talent sustainably, providing professionals with more opportunities to develop their careers.

Acra also has an important role in helping the sector respond to fresh changes, such as the ever-evolving tax and regulatory regimes, or dealing with the impact of new technology on the profession and the need for accountants to learn new skills, Wong said. THE STRAITS TIMES