Making Malaysia’s voice heard

Many a time, the written word in one form or another has nudged a person into a rewarding career path. It must be rare though that the catalyst is an accounting standard exposure draft.

Tan Bee Leng FCCA, executive director of the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (MASB), is among the handful who get to tell that story.

In the late 1990s, when Tan was working in a listed company with property development and manufacturing businesses, her CEO handed her a draft published by the MASB and told her that the booklet was an interesting read. She found it remarkably so and a seed was planted.

About a year later, again fate stepped in to steer her towards standard setting. Somebody asked if she was keen to join the technical team of the standard-setter.

‘I thought, “Why not?” I had already spent a decade in professional practice and in commerce and industry. It would definitely be good to experience something different, more so when the MASB was then only two years old,’ she recalls.

Some 20 years later, ‘something different’ has turned out to be the equivalent of having a front-row seat to major developments in Malaysia’s accounting landscape.

Tan counts herself fortunate to be a part of the board as it hit milestone after milestone.

In her early years there, the focus was on building up the organisation, which was then headed by its first chairman, Raja Tan Sri Arshad Raja Tun Uda.

Convergence

The aim was to get ready for the huge tasks ahead, and perhaps they do not get any bigger than the target of Malaysia achieving full convergence with IFRS Standards by 1 January 2012.

‘Naturally, with the drive to full convergence came a shift in how we worked,’ says Tan.

‘The MASB’s international profile needed to be raised so that our voice is heard. This also enables us to contribute effectively and positively towards the global standard-setting process and to collaborate with other national standard-setters.’

Every stage in the board’s growth journey presented her with different opportunities for professional and personal development.

She has also benefited a lot from working with the past and present leaders of the MASB and the Financial Reporting Foundation, the independent body that oversees the standard-setter.

The list of MASB and FRF chairmen reads like a who’s who of corporate Malaysia and the local accounting scene: Tan Sri Wan Azmi Wan Hamzah, Raja Arshad, Datuk Ali Abdul Kadir, Dato’ Seri Johan Raslan, Dato’ Zainal Abidin Putih, Dato’ Mohammad Faiz Azmi, Tan Sri Azlan Zainol and Mohamed Raslan Abdul Rahman.

‘I learn new things every day and I appreciate the knowledge I have gained over the years. That explains how time flies and hence, my long stay in the MASB!’ Tan explains.

Global influence

It helps, of course, that the MASB has broad and deep impact.

For Tan, it is especially gratifying that Malaysia’s accounting issues are addressed in the IFRS.

She reckons that it is testimony to the fact that even the national standard-setter of a relatively small economy can have a hand in forming the global standards when its views are backed by strong and quality technical work.

For example, it is well documented that the MASB had a key role in the push for changes in the accounting rules for certain agricultural assets and for recognising revenue, particularly in property development.

In addition, the board has persuaded the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to consider clarifying acceptable methods of depreciation and amortisation, and borrowing costs eligible for capitalisation. This has led to amendments to IAS 16, IAS 23 and IAS 38.

Tan has been in the thick of the efforts to collaborate with the IASB to review the standards to take into account the issues on the ground pertinent to Malaysia and other countries in the region.

It has often required intensive preparation and much discussion, but it has paid off time and again.

‘This confirms my belief that the international standard-setting process works,’ she says.

It goes a long way towards dispelling the misperception that full convergence with IFRS Standards is a matter of national standard-setters merely rubber-stamping the standards issued by the IASB.

Two-way street

Tan also values the IASB’s willingness to actively engage with the accounting standard-setters.

The appreciation flows both ways. When speaking at a December 2017 dinner in Kuala Lumpur to celebrate the MASB’s 20th anniversary, IASB chairman Hans Hoogervorst described the Malaysian body as a ‘very important partner to the IASB’.

‘Not just representing the views of Malaysia on the global accounting stage – a role that it plays very well – but also as a role model to others around the world, showing how well-organised, smaller economies really can help shape the rules of global finance,’ he added.

About a year later, Erkki Liikanen, chairman of the IFRS Foundation Trustees, was in KL too for a meeting of the trustees.

Here is how he concluded one of his speeches then: ‘IFRS Standards are a great example of what can be achieved when countries work collectively to solve global challenges. Malaysia has been at the heart of this work, and your commitment is very much appreciated.’

Such is the MASB’s current standing within the global standard-setting arena that Tan has a seat in the IFRS Advisory Council, which provides strategic support and advice to the IFRS Foundation.

She was appointed to the council as a representative of the MASB. Her three-year term started on January 1 this year.

‘I am thrilled and deeply honoured to be given the trust and opportunity to serve in this very important council,’ she says.

This is the latest of several personal highlights of her time in the MASB so far.

Tan is proud to have a role in the setting up of the Asian-Oceanian Standard-Setters Group (AOSSG). What began in October 2008 as a brainchild of China, Japan and Korea, came to fruition in November the following year when the MASB hosted the group’s first meeting in KL and was made the chair.

In between, there was a preparatory meeting in Beijing in April 2009. After that, Tan acted as the ‘temporary secretariat’, which meant handling the nitty-gritty of the project as it progressed from idea to reality.

Upon the formalisation of the AOSSG, with 16 jurisdictions signing up, she was put in charge of the actual secretariat until a year later when Japan took over the chairmanship. The AOSSG today has 27 members.

Recipe for success

The presence of IASB’s Hoogervorst at the MASB’s 20th anniversary dinner in 2017 is another thing that means a lot to Tan because it demonstrated the strong working relationship built over the years. The IASB chairman’s laudatory words about the MASB made the event that much more memorable.

Also on Tan’s list of MASB achievements is the stakeholder event in KL in January 2019 that was attended by Liikanen as chairman of the IFRS Foundation trustees.

It was organised by the foundation in partnership with the MASB, and coincided with a meeting of the trustees, the first to be held in Malaysia since the foundation’s establishment in 2000. And again, it was encouraging that Liikanen praised Malaysia’s and the Asia-Oceania region’s contribution to international standard-setting.

Given these firm indications that it is on the right track, the MASB intends to continue participating actively in IASB’s standard-setting process, including giving quality feedback to the IFRS draft pronouncements, producing sturdy technical output, and working closely with other national standard-setters.

Tan likens it to being clear and timely about the sort of food we want to be served.

‘We should state our requirements while the food is being cooked, whether we want it with a bit more salt, less oil and so on, and not say so only after the food is cooked, which would be too late,’ she explains.

It is therefore important, she adds, that all parties in the financial reporting chain (such as regulators, investors, preparers, practitioners and academia) provide feedback in the development of IFRS Standards.

For Tan, any success stems from a team effort, and the main challenge of her job is to recruit team members who are not only technically adept but are also passionate about accounting standards. She is thankful though that the people at the MASB are dedicated and experienced.

ACCA role

Tan has been a member of the ACCA Global Forum for Corporate Reporting since its launch in 2011.

‘I enjoy the discourse very much as it covers not only the international reporting standards but also the non-financial reporting space. That is why I am still serving in the forum,’ she says.

‘In addition, it is an opportunity to not only give back to the profession but also to learn from my fellow ACCA members in the forum.’