New Chief Executive for Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) and Changes to ACRA Board

Appointment of New Chief Executive, ACRA with effect from 1 February 2013

1. The Minister for Finance has appointed Mr Kenneth Yap Yew Choh as the new Chief Executive (CE) of the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) with effect from 1 February 2013. He will also be appointed as a board member to the ACRA Board in ex-officio capacity, with effect from 1 February 2013 to 31 March 2015. Mr Yap is currently the Divisional Director of the Legal Services Division with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

2. Ms Juthika Ramanathan will relinquish her appointments as the CE and board member of ACRA with effect from 1 February 2013. She has been holding the portfolio since 1 April 2004. Miss Ramanathan, who is a Legal Service Officer, will return to the Legal Service to assume a key appointment.

3. Under Ms Ramanathan’s strong leadership and management, ACRA has made great strides in providing a responsive and trusted regulatory environment for businesses and public accountants locally. It has also attained high international standing as an authoritative and influential business reporting and auditing regulator.

4. Ms Ramanathan has contributed significantly to improving and reshaping the corporate regulatory framework of Singapore. For example, she played a key role in the recent rewrite of the Companies Act.

5. During Ms Ramanathan’s tenure, ACRA rolled out various regulatory frameworks and programmes such as the BizFile, a one-stop business facilitation portal which offers more than 300 e-services and value-added services at the point of business registration. BizFile has helped to provide faster and hassle-free online filing and retrieval of information for the business community. Separately, ACRA also raised the level of voluntary corporate compliance through a series of initiatives such as the use of colour-coded compliance rating system and certificate of compliance; launch of directors’ handbook and directors’ proficiency training.

6. To improve the quality of financial statements and enhance the efficiency of information value chain, Ms Ramanathan oversaw the adoption of the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) filing system.
 
7. The various changes that ACRA has made to the business regulatory environment has helped Singapore to retain its position as the easiest place to do business in the World Bank Doing Business Report, for the seventh consecutive year.

8. A brief write-up on the new Chief Executive and outgoing Chief Executive is attached at Annex A (180 KB).

Appointment of ACRA Board Members with effect from 1 April 2013

9. The Minister for Finance has also re-appointed Accountant-General Ms Chua Geok Wah in an ex-officio position, and appointed the following three new board members to the ACRA Board for a tenure of two years, with effect from 1 April 2013 : 

• Mr Ho Meng Kit
  Chief Executive Officer
  Singapore Business Federation

• Mr Lee Chuan Teck
  Assistant Managing Director, Capital Markets Group
  Monetary Authority of Singapore

• Professor Tan Cheng Han
  Professor, Faculty of Law
  National University of Singapore 

A brief write-up of the new members is attached at Annex B (159 KB).

10. The Ministry of Finance and ACRA would like to place on record our deep appreciation to Ms Ramanathan for her dedicated commitment and invaluable contributions to ACRA.  We would also like to express our appreciation to the retiring board members - Dr Andrew Khoo, Ms Kristin Paulson, and Mr Thean Lip Ping for their contributions to the Board.

11. The list of board members of ACRA Board with effect from 1 April 2013 is at Annex C (53 KB).

MINISTRY OF FINANCE
3 JANUARY 2013