Q: From your Tedx Talk you mentioned you studied accounting and you aced it despite having failed your Form 6. How did you manage to do that?

At 17, I was devastated because I felt like my whole life was gone and I’m going to be left behind among my peers. But then I told myself, so what if I failed? There must be other options. 

I was lucky I managed to get into a college because they were one of the few colleges that accepted students without General Paper. But I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do.

I ended up picking a professional accountancy programme as I didn’t know it’d be difficult (sometimes it’s best not to know). As I came from an average family, I told myself I wasn’t going to fail again!

Q: Great to know you bounced back! What would you advise those who've failed or did not perform well in their major exams?

If you failed in SPM or STPM, step back and ask yourself, why did you fail? Was it your study method that was wrong? If you’re able to apply for a programme, choose something you've an inclination towards. Put in the effort. Look at how you studied before, do something totally different, and find the right approach to study.

Also, failing is nothing. If you failed and you got up, you didn’t really fail. But if you failed and don’t get up, that’s when you really fail.

Q: Before you pursued accounting, you also struggled to find your calling. What advice do you have to those who’re trying to figure out their path?

I don’t think you can truly find yourself because you’re always changing. As you grow older and mature, your mindset changes. You need to ask yourself, “What’s your goal and what’s your vision of who you want to be?” And work towards it.

Every job has a reason and meaning. Go find the meaning of your job and connect that meaning of your job to your value and your vision.

Someone may say “Oh I’m an accountant, so I’m just a bookkeeper.” No, you’re not. If you made a mistake, someone’s salary, pension, or life’s going to be affected. You’re actually helping the world by getting it right.

Think big about what you want to do and find the worth and value of your job. Once you do that and understand it, waking up every day to work will be worth it.

Q: Based on your experiences in the workforce, what skills and attributes does an accounting graduate need to equip themselves to excel at work?

We don’t want to hire people who’re just book smart and when an issue occurs, you’re unable to be problem solvers. You must be analytical and be able to create meaning out of the numbers. So colleges and universities need to not just churn out numbers, but good, strong, and valuable assets that can be used in the accounting industry.

You also need to be collaborative and build good relationships with people. And to do that, you need to start connecting and networking with people when you don’t need them and not only when you need them.

Q: Many still think accountancy is just crunching numbers. If you were to sell the idea of becoming an accountant to our current generation, how would you do it?

Accountants need to stop thinking about themselves crunching systems because today the system crunches the number, you don’t have to do that. A lot of things are integrated into digital systems.

You've to be able to see and tell stories from the numbers that are meaningful for your leaders to make the right decision. Accountants today need to be at the table with leaders to make decisions that’ll impact the performance and future of the company.

It’s no longer just doing journals or trial balances but being able to look at the numbers to see if they make sense or detect what went wrong. You need to be able to predict the future and be forward-thinking.

Q: I’m sure being able to determine what’s to come requires skills. How can one learn to ‘predict’ the future?

You need to read a lot and know what’s happening not just in the accounting industry but in the world. For instance, take the Russian-Ukraine war, how does that impact the different industries? And say there are changes in the tax and employment laws in companies, you need to know how it may affect the tax rate of your company and what’s eligible or not to be deducted.

If you work in a palm oil company, and there’s a new sustainable law being implemented, you need to know how that’ll impact your company and translate or take advantage of it. So it’s important for you to know these and it can only happen if you actually read.

Q: Speaking of the future, what’s the future of accounting like? Would robots replace human labour? How will the jobs of future accountants change?

Robots can only do repetitive stuff. Even though Artificial Intelligence can learn, how much can they learn? It still needs a certain permutation and configuration. So if change happens the robots are going to be stuck.

Hence, you’d still need an accountant, but the role is changing. Now, you’ve to be more analytical rather than operational. You must know how to analyse the numbers to determine if it’s on track or not. That said, the education system also needs to change to be more hands-on and less theoretical.

Q: As the world is constantly changing and with the uncertainties we face, getting faster even, how can we adapt to changes?

You’ve to keep up to the trends and know what’s going on in the industry and what people are looking for and be able to provide things that are of value, not to you, but to your end customers.

Take BTS as an example. In the beginning, they were just like any other boy band. But what differentiates them now is that they're willing to change and adapt to the ARMY. They talk about the armies in their songs and have spoken up on many issues to show that they care (Yes I’m an ARMY). Everything they do, adds value.

So if you look at your job as about people that are impacted by you and not about you, you can put that into action. Isn’t it amazing how much you can learn from a K-pop group?

Q: Wow, who knew you could learn so much from BTS! Before we end, what's one advice you’d give to our readers who're thinking about studying a professional paper in accounting?

Study hard but make sure you read, because when you do, you’ll answer it in a more holistic manner that’ll impress the markers and you don’t end up sounding the same as everybody — that’s your differentiating factor.

Today when you graduate, you'll be competing with the rest of the world, so you’ve to be different. Don't be afraid to speak up, give ideas, challenge, and read. When you read and connect the dots, you’d be able to show that you’re different.