ISCA Conference 2025 Opening Address – 2M Indranee Rajah

ISCA President Mr Teo Ser Luck,

ISCA CEO Ms Fann Kor,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. Good morning, everyone.

2. It’s wonderful to be back at the ISCA Conference this year, and the strong turnout shows just how vibrant our accountancy community is.

3. At last year’s ISCA Conference, I shared how all stakeholders were responding to the May 2024 Accountancy Workforce Review Committee’s (AWRC’s) findings and the recommendations to strengthen the attractiveness of the accountancy sector and to develop our talent pipeline.

4. Since then, ACRA and ISCA have built on the momentum, and the results are very encouraging, as shown in ACRA’s latest Accounting Entities Survey for 2024, published today. The data shows how our sector is rising to meet the challenges in three key areas:

   1. Growing the talent pipeline;

   2. Growing new capabilities; and

   3. Going global.

A. Growing the Talent Pipeline

5. First, on growing the talent pipeline. Accountants continue to be in high demand, as businesses navigate an increasingly complex and volatile environment. This has increased the demand for risk management and governance roles, as well as sustainability advisory. The numbers show that the profession remains attractive and competitive.

6. Median starting salary for accounting associates has increased from $3,800 in 2022, the year the AWRC was set up, to $4,200 in 2024. So that is just in two years. This is a 10% increase, higher than the 7% increase in median wages for fresh university graduates over the same period.

7. Another recommendation from the AWRC was to broaden entry pathways for the Singapore Chartered Accountants Qualification, or SCAQ. We have made good progress:

   1. Enrolments in the SCAQ have grown from 853 in 2022 to over 2,700 in 2025 so far.

   2. Student membership in ISCA has also expanded rapidly, from around 3,200 in 2022 to over 9,000 today. Over 1,000 of these new student members came from non-accountancy courses.

8. ISCA and ACRA will continue to strengthen recruitment by broadening SCAQ pathways, and I am glad to share that starting from January 2026, Accounting Diploma graduates from ITE and other recognised institutes of higher learning can also embark on the SCAQ. The new pathways will make the SCAQ more accessible to candidates from diverse educational backgrounds. ACRA and ISCA will share more at a later juncture. But you can see that we have made significant progress, so good job ISCA, and good job ACRA as well!

B. Growing New Capabilities

9. Second, on growing new capabilities. The green economy continues to gain momentum worldwide despite headwinds, and the accountancy profession is playing an increasingly important role in this transition. Accounting firms now expect accountants to provide sustainability services, with sustainability reporting and assurance among two of the top skills in demand. From the ACRA Accounting Entities Survey, we have seen a tangible shift where accounting firms’ total revenue for sustainability-related fields has tripled since 2022.

10. Because of this, accountants like yourselves are increasingly being called on to lend your skills to areas beyond traditional finance, such as carbon accounting and social impact reporting.

11. ISCA and the Government have been working to support this. In 2023, ISCA launched its Sustainability Professional Certification, co-funded by ACRA — the first such professional certification offered in Asia. Our agencies are working with ISCA to keep it updated with evolving international standards and in anticipation of future needs.

    1. For climate reporting, ACRA and SkillsFuture Singapore are working with training providers to  curate local training programmes, including ISCA’s Sustainability Professional Certification. This ensures that the programmes align with ACRA’s recently released Sustainability Reporting Body of Knowledge and other professional requirements. The revised curriculum, with updated modules, is targeted to launch this coming January.

    2. Participants of these programmes will be able to develop the specialised expertise needed to meet future climate reporting requirements, as Singapore’s regulatory landscape evolves.

    3. For social impact reporting, the certification curriculum was updated last July in conjunction with the National Council of Social Service’s (NCSS’s) launch of the Sustainable Philanthropy Framework. NCSS intends to build on this by launching the Guidelines for Social Impact Metrics in Corporate Sustainability Reporting, developed in partnership with ISCA and the Singapore Institute of Directors.

    4. The new guidelines will demonstrate how the Sustainable Philanthropy Framework and Social Impact Metrics can be adopted into companies’ sustainability reports. This will provide clarity on how you can help your companies to not just measure, but also report their philanthropic efforts in a robust and consistent way, in line with global reporting standards.

12. Beyond sustainability, it is also essential to build AI competencies. The streamlining of routine work with AI tools allows accountants to focus on higher value roles like risk analysis or client engagement. To encourage development of AI capabilities, ISCA will invest $1 million in offering a new AI Fluency Programme from next year. The programme is developed in partnership with the Infocomm Media Development Authority through its TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) to empower non-tech professionals to be AI-fluent, starting with Accounting and Corporate Finance professionals. ISCA has also worked with NTU to finalise its Responsible AI Framework in Accountancy to guide ethical and effective AI use, which will be launched later during this conference.

C. Going Global

13. Lastly, on going global. In 2024, 11% of our accounting entities’ revenue comes from overseas. This reflects Singapore’s continued reach and competitive value in the global economy.

14. I would like to commend the continued efforts of our industry partners, including ISCA, in expanding the international footprint of our professional services ecosystem. Their efforts have achieved tangible outcomes, including supporting local firms with plans to expand overseas.

    1. For example, with ISCA’s introduction, BIPO, a home-grown HR services company, has successfully set up its operations within the Singapore Nanjing Eco High-Tech Island this year.  

    2. With BIPO’s new office in Nanjing, BIPO now supports Singapore enterprises in expanding their business to China. BIPO and ISCA continue to work in close partnership. In the past months, ISCA has linked BIPO up a strong network of businesses, opening the door to more business opportunities.

15. I understand that ISCA is having ongoing discussions with other firms to similarly support them in establishing their overseas presence.  These cross-border collaboration opportunities are important to promote Singapore’s accounting expertise, and even more essentially, provide good job opportunities for our accountants.

D. Conclusion

16. These are exciting times to be an accountant. The sector has grown from strength to strength and I have confidence that it will continue to grow and adapt to the needs of tomorrow. And ISCA has been very instrumental in this journey.

17. On that note, I would like to congratulate the awardees of Workforce Singapore’s Workforce Transformation Award for the Accounting Sector, which I will be presenting shortly. The award is presented in partnership with ISCA, and with the support from ACRA and EDB. It recognises accountancy companies across different workforce sizes that have demonstrated exemplary accounting practices and strategic workforce development initiatives. I hope that this will inspire others across the sector to embrace similar transformative practices.

18. Accountants must continue to rise to the challenge, as you have done so many times before. As Ser Luck mentioned in an interview with The Business Times earlier this year: you are not “just another finance person in the company.” Each of you here today has an important role in guiding businesses forward — by upskilling yourselves, expanding your global knowledge, and fostering the kind of innovation that helps everyone succeed. Professional services contribute to one of the pillars of growth in the Singapore Economy 2030 vision, and as professionals, we play a very important part in that. So, the government is working on how we can boost the economy. They are working on the various strategies. There are work groups ongoing, but no matter what we do, there will always been a need for accountants, the advisory role that you play, as well as the compliance, the regulatory advice and other things that you do. So, you are very much part of Singapore’s trajectory of growth in the next part of this decade.

19. So, with that, let me wish you all a fruitful conference. Thank you very much for inviting me to be part of it.