By the SMU School of Accountancy Social Media Team
When registration for the ISCA One Young #CharteredStar 2022 opened earlier last year, Tan Ci Hui, Audit Senior Manager at Deloitte, and SMU Accountancy alumna, felt an impetus to step out of her comfort zone and make an impact to her organisation and the accounting industry in Singapore.
The ISCA One Young #CharteredStar is an annual competition organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Singapore (ISCA), designed to select an outstanding chartered accountant to represent ISCA and Chartered Accountants Worldwide (CAW) at the One Young World Summit. The One Young World Summit brings together the brightest young leaders from over 190 countries and every sector, working to accelerate social impact both in-person and digitally.
Through a rigorous selection process and online voting through social media, Ci Hui eventually clinched the honour of being the ISCA One Young #CharteredStar for 2022 and represented Singapore at the One Young World Summit in September this year. We caught up with Ci Hui to find out more about her experience.
Congratulations on winning the ISCA One Young #CharteredStar Competition and being selected to represent Singapore at the One Young World (OYW) Summit in September 2022. Can you tell us a bit more about OYW and its purpose?
Thank you! One Young World is a global community founded by Kate Robertson and David Jones, for young leaders to come together to share ideas and confront various issues and challenges faced by humanity. The Summit is an annual landmark event for young leaders to connect and share experiences in person or virtually.
One Young World Summit 2022
The One Young World Summit took place in Manchester and its programme spanned three days. Can you share with us what your experience was like at this Summit?
The three- days of the Summit was action packed with inspiring speeches from influential leaders and delegate speakers, fireside chats, workshops, and networking. The 2022 Summit focused on five plenary challenge themes, namely:
- Conflict prevention
- Gender inequality
- Safeguarding and restoring world’s ocean
- Ethical leadership
- Ensuring health equity for all
It was a mind-blowing experience at the OYW Summit, hearing the many inspiring stories and ideas on making a difference. Having grown up in a more fortunate part of the world and in a generation where I have more ready access to resources, some of these themes that were discussed may not have immediately resonated with my life experiences. It did however, make me realise that we have the capacity to give more and start thinking about how we can make a significant impact as accountants to improve the lives of others.
The ISCA One Young #CharteredStar Competition aims to find outstanding young accounting professionals to represent Singapore at the Summit. What prompted you to sign up for this competition?
As a Chartered Accountant and relatively young leader within the organisation I work for, I have been thinking about how I can make a meaningful impact to the organisation as well as to my community. The competition gives participants an opportunity to be exposed to a network of people not just within the industry and country but also globally. This motivated me to sign up for the competition for a chance to interact with others around the world to share experiences, ideas and to learn from them.
Ci Hui (front, centre) and other country representatives at the Summit
In your opinion, how did your education and experience in SMU and the School of Accountancy (SOA) help you in clinching this honour?
My education and learning experience in SMU and SOA have helped me to build strong technical foundation in accounting concepts, confidence in delivering presentations and the ability to articulate my thoughts fluently and coherently. These are fundamental skillsets that SMU and SOA have instilled in me which helped me to stand out in the competition to clinch this honour.
As an accounting professional in audit for over ten years, what is the biggest draw for you in this field and what transformations have you observed in the audit profession?
The biggest draw for me are the endless opportunities to learn and develop through various engagements, projects, and interaction with clients. The audit profession has greatly transformed to one which now leverages on many of the exciting technological tools such as data analytics and artificial intelligence. These tools help us make even more meaningful analysis of our clients’ operations and numbers and also enable us to provide more valuable insights to our clients.
What are your words of advice to your juniors in SOA and other aspiring accounting professionals who are leaning towards a career in audit?
Always keep an open mind to every opportunity that comes your way, and start asking “why not?”. Be it a good or bad experience, there is always something positive that we can take away with us. You will be surprised by how that would help you become a better individual, personally and professionally, along your career journey.
Have your sights set on a career in accounting? Apply now to the SMU School of Accountancy before application closes on 19 Mar 23!
