Appointment of Accountant-General at the Accountant-General's Department

1. The Minister for Finance has appointed Mr Ow Fook Chuen as the next Accountant-General with effect from 23 March 2015. Mr Ow, currently the Senior Director (Special Projects) at Accountant-General Department (AGD), will succeed the incumbent, Ms Chua Geok Wah, who will be retiring on the same date. Ms Chua, who assumed the Accountant-General post on 1 April 2000, will relinquish her appointment and retire on 22 March 2015, after an illustrious 40-year career with the Singapore Civil Service.

2. Under Ms Chua’s leadership, AGD has evolved and transformed from a traditional government accounting department to a strategic finance partner for the public sector.  A tireless champion of IT, Ms Chua has led major efforts to automate and innovate the government financial and accounting processes to eliminate inefficiencies and increase productivity.  She also pioneered the central pooling of public sector cash floats to improve liquidity management and spearheaded the prescribing of accounting standards for the Statutory Boards. 

3. Ms Chua played a significant role in strengthening corporate governance within the public sector. She set up the Value-For-Money Review Office in 2007. The Office has since played a pivotal role in helping the Ministry of Finance to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of spending on government programmes. She also worked with agencies to tighten financial controls to deter potential frauds and facilitate learning and sharing of best practices in public sector financial management.

4. Mr Ow Fook Chuen, aged 43 years, joined the Civil Service in 1996 as an accountant in AGD under the Accounting Profession Scheme of Service. In 2000, he was posted to the Ministry of Finance and later helmed the position of Director (Governance & Investment). Subsequently, Mr Ow was appointed Deputy Chief Executive of the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority and then Director (Industry Division) in the Ministry of Trade and Industry thereafter. In 2008, he was part of the Committee to Develop the Singapore Accountancy Sector that was tasked to review the Singapore’s accountancy profession and sector. Mr Ow also served on the Singapore Accounting Standards Council between 2009 and 2011.  

5. A brief write-up on the new Accountant-General is attached at Annex A. (262 KB)

6. The Ministry of Finance and the Accountant-General’s Department would like to place on record their deep appreciation to Ms Chua for her dedication and invaluable contributions to the Singapore Civil Service.

Issued by Ministry of Finance
Singapore
13 February 2015