My parents taught me the valuable lesson of saving and investing. When I was younger, they owned a convenience store and constantly faced difficulties in sustaining the business amid changes in market demand, legislation and the economy. Despite the hardship, they have always provided my siblings and I with the best. I remember my Dad got me the Nintendo Gameboy (back then it was black and white) when it first came to Malaysia. This truly inspired me to venture into the accounting profession, so that one day I could provide my parents with the best.
I’m lucky to have had several very respectable and great mentors throughout my career
I graduated from Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology in Malaysia in 2017 and joined Deloitte Asia Pacific as a tax associate. A senior tax lecturer’s passion encouraged me to pursue a career in tax. I’m lucky to have had several very respectable and great mentors throughout my career, including my tax partner. They have shown me the beauty of tax, and how we can assist clients in complying with tax jurisdictions without jeopardising business structure, market position and potential savings due to lack of awareness.
I’m currently a corporate tax assistant manager. My role includes managing local and conglomerate multinational clients by providing compliance, advisory, deferred computation and due diligence services. Compared to being a tax junior or senior, I’m now able to access a more broad view of the entire compliance process and I value the strong relationships I’ve built with my clients and colleagues over the years.
We recently ‘re-engineered’ our entire tax preparation processes by significantly reducing the time required for each team member to produce deliverables. When promoted to assistant manager, my peers and I noticed that our existing review and preparation processes could be tweaked to achieve greater efficiency. This gave us more time to cross-check our work to ensure quality.
Seize opportunities as they arrive. You can never be sure of your capabilities until you’ve tested them
I co-manage a team of team of nine, which consists of tax associates and seniors, and am most proud when observing improvements in their performance and technical knowledge. It’s especially true when I see how well they manage client expectations, produce quality deliverables, and guide new joiners. It means I can be more hands-off and trust them to deliver quality work.
My advice to young accountants is do not be afraid to try. Seize opportunities as they arrive. You can never be sure of your capabilities until you’ve tested them. YOLO — you only live once — I think this attitude can be applied to career development.
If I weren’t an accountant, I might have become a full-time dancer. Street dancing has always been a passion. I love to release stress through body movement; I can express feelings that can never be expressed through words.
