SHAH ALAM: Malaysia needs to double its accountants to 60,000 in an effort to support its transformation into a developed nation by 2020, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar said.
He said accountancy is one of the key areas where the country is significantly under-served and the public and private sectors need to ensure that the demand driven by Malaysia’s steady and strong growth is met.
“There are currently about 30,000 accountancy professionals in Malaysia, of which 28 per cent are registered chartered accountants,” he told reporters after witnessing the exchange of two memoranda of understanding (MoU) at the Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) campus here today.
The MoUs were between Talent Corporation Malaysia Bhd (TalentCorp), UiTM and two professional accounting bodies - Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Australia and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).
The first MOU between TalentCorp, UiTM and CPA Australia will enable 300 accounting students at UiTM to begin their professional qualification journey by taking one professional paper under the CPA programme while still pursuing their degree programme.
Meanwhile, the second MOU between TalentCorp and CIMA is an industry-academia collaboration where participating employers and TalentCorp will jointly support 200 Malaysian accounting students at local universities undertake an internship and sit for CIMA professional papers.
Urging more accounting graduates to pursue professional accounting qualifications, he said: “The government’s efforts to produce industry-relevant graduates is to ensure that our young Malaysian talents are able to access the high-income opportunities arising from our economic transformation.
“Upskilling our graduates with industry recognised professional qualifications will help our Malaysian talents realise their potential,” he said.
Earlier, Abdul Wahid launched the Industry Engagement Zone (Ind-E-Zone) at the UiTM Puncak Alam campus, which aims at addressing the skills mismatch between new graduates and industry demands while empowering students to better prepare themselves for employment.
TalentCorp chief executive officer Johan Mahmood Merican said the professional accountancy upskilling programmes and Ind-E-Zone centres are part of TalentCorp’s efforts to enhance graduate employability through industry academia collaborations.
UiTM vice-chancellor Tan Sri Prof Dr Sahol Hamid Abu Bakar said the Ind-E-Zone would help bridge the gap between academia and the industry, and enhance students’ employability.
“This coupled with today’s MOU with TalentCorp and CPA Australia, will increase the number of registered chartered accountants amongst Bumiputera which currently constitutes only eight percent,” he said.
In his welcoming remarks, Sahol said UiTM, apart from the CPA and CIMA, has to date collaborate with professional accounting bodies such as Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). – Bernama