Mohd Faidz Massari

MICPA 55 Annual Dinner

Entri oleh: Unknown Ahad, 22 September 2013

SPEECH BY DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE

YB DATUK HJ AHMAD BIN HJ MASLAN

MICPA 55^TH ANNUAL DINNER

SHERATON IMPERIAL KUALA LUMPUR HOTEL

SEPTEMBER 20, 2013, 8.00 PM

Yang Berusaha Encik Ken Pushpanathan

President, MICPA

YBhg. Tan Sri Dato’ SetiaHj. Ambrin bin Buang

Auditor-General of Malaysia

Yang Berusaha Encik Mohamed Raslan Abdul Rahman

Vice President, MICPA

Yang Berbahagia Datuk Robert Yong

Chairman, Public Affairs Committee, MICPA

Yang Berbahagia Tan-Sri Tan-Sri, Datuk-Datuk and Datin-Datin

Members of MICPA

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

A very good evening to all of you.

I wish to thank The Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA) for this privilege to officiate the Institute’s 55th Annual Dinner celebrations. It is indeed a pleasure to be here with MICPA members and associates to commemorate its long history in providing leadership in a professional industry in both the domestic and international fronts. This is notwithstanding the Institute’s many contributions in advancing the industry in the areas of human resources, technical knowledge and also strengthening the capital market.

Human resource is indeed critical in ensuring that a nation can remain competitive with the rest of the world. The Government under the leadership of our beloved Prime Minister YAB Dato’ Sri MohdNajib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak has always put great emphases on Malaysia’s human resource development through various government policies, such as education which is a major contributor to the development of our social and economic capital,and education prepares our rakyat before they enter the labour market as professionals, including accountants, administrators, scholars, to name a few. This is especially important as we stridetowards a service-centric economy. In fact, the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014 categorises Malaysia as a country in transition moving from an efficiency-driven to innovation-driven economy. We were also ranked as the 24^th most competitive nation out of 148 countries and among the 25 Asia-Pacific nations, we improved our position to 7^th most competitive nation. This is a testament to strengths in innovation and a strong institutional framework. The WEF assessed that Malaysia’s most notable advantages were in its efficient and competitive market for goods and services (10th), its well-developed and sound financial market (6th) and its business-friendly institutional framework (29th). This performance is supported by indicators that include a number of procedures to start a business, where Malaysia was ranked 10th and total tax rate, which improved by 30 places (20th). Malaysia also maintains its sixth position in the financial market development pillar, which has been one of Malaysia’s strongest areas with consistent performance in the past few years.

Ladies and gentlemen,

In order to maintain our competitiveness in these tryingtimes, the Prime Minister, YAB NajibTunRazakannounced the formation of Fiscal Policy Committee in June this year. The Committee will play the leadership role to strengthen public finances and ensure fiscal sustainability and long term macroeconomic stability. As part of the strategy towards fiscal consolidation, the Government aimsto achieve a fiscal deficit target of 3.0% of GDP by 2015, and a balanced budget by 2020 without jeopardising the growth momentum of the domestic economy and ongoingefforts transformation initiatives. In the FPC’s assessment, the external environment is increasingly challenging. The moderation in the current account of the balance of payments (BOP), coupled with continued fiscal deficits pose medium-term risks to the economy. In order to strengthenthe fiscal position and sustain the resilience of the economy, the Government has introduced gradual measures to rationalise subsidies and continue to invest in infrastructure projects that have positive multiplier effects on the economy.

We as Malaysians are indeed very proud to know that Malaysia continues to receive international recognitions in many areas. Just now I mentioned about Malaysia’s achievement based on the WEF Global Competitiveness Report.There are more to share with our fellow rakyat. The World Bank in its Report on Observance of Standards and Codes - Accounting and Auditing (ROSC), issued in 2012, recognises Malaysia’s overall accounting and auditing profession as well-developed and Malaysian accounting and auditing standards in line with international standards.Followingthe World Bank’s recommendations in the Report, the Ministry of Finance took the initiative to set up the Committee to Strengthen the Accountancy Profession (C-SAP) in March 2013 comprising the Executive Chairman of the Audit Oversight Board and representatives from different agencies and regulators such as the Ministry of Finance, Bank Negara Malaysia, Companies Commission of Malaysia, Accountant General’s Department and the Malaysian Institute of Accountants.The Committee will focus onformulating and recommending strategies and measures to strengthen the accountancy profession, as well as helping to improve the contribution of the profession in enhancing the competitiveness of the country in line with the government's transformation agenda.I believe that in developing the strategies, CSAP will consider pertinent issues, inter alia, the future demand for accountants in Malaysia, accountancy education and training as well as regulatory issues including the governance of the accountancy profession. I am also pleased to note that MICPA continues to represent the Malaysian accounting professionas the professional body that continually plays a very important role in government and regulatory consultations.

Sidang hadirin sekalian,

Malaysia secara tradisinya telah diiktiraf di peringkat antarabangsa kerana telah melahirkan akauntan-akauntan yang berbakat dan terlatih serta sentiasa mendapat permintaaan tinggi di pasaran pekerjaan. Ini menjadi satu daya penarik yang berjaya memikat pelaburan dan perniagaan ke negaraini. Kita dapat lihat penubuhan pusat-pusat perkhidmatan dikongsi bersama kewangan oleh syarikat-syarikat multi nasional di negara kita. Tidak syak lagi kekuatan kita dalam bidang ini terus menyumbang kepada daya saing ekonomi Malaysia seperti yang saya maklumkan sebelum ini.

Saya ingin menyeru agar badan-badan profesional seperti MICPA untuk terus melatih akauntan profesional dan memacu profesion ini kearah yang lebih maju di masa hadapan. Ini adalah selaras dengan Program Transformasi Ekonomi kita yang bertujuan untuk meningkatkan kualiti akauntan bertauliah Malaysia melalui program profesional dan membangunkan kepakaran Malaysia dalam bidang khusus perakaunan bagi merebut peluang-peluang eksport. Ini adalah penting dalam perlumbaan untuk menjadi hab perakaunan bagi rantau ini, terutamanya dengan liberalisasi yang berterusan dalam sektor perkhidmatan di seluruh rantau ASEAN.

Suka saya menarik perhatian hadirin sekalian kepada statistik terkini bagi bilangan akauntan di Malaysia. Daripada lebih 30,000 orang akauntan berdaftar di Malaysia yang kini memberikan perkhidmatan dalam pelbagai bidang, antaranya firma perakaunan, perdagangan & industri, institusi kewangan dan lain-lain, peratusan akauntan bertauliah Bumiputera hanyalah 8%. Maka, dalam usaha Kerajaan memperkasakan ekonomi Bumiputera, angka ini saya percaya masih boleh dipertingkatkan lagi dengan melahirkan lebih ramai akauntan bertauliah Bumiputera yang dapat bersaing secara sama rata dengan rakan-rakan bukan Bumiputera mereka. Hasrat Kerajaan membantu Bumiputera bukanlah bermakna Kerajaan tidak berlaku adil kepada bukan Bumiputera. Sebaliknya, apabila kita membantu usahawan Bumiputera agar mereka lebih maju dan mampu bersaing dengan rakan-rakan mereka dalam ekonomi dan perniagaan, kita sebenarnya turut membantu mewujudkan persekitaran ekonomi yang lebih baik di negara ini.

Akauntan-akauntan di Malaysia seharusnya terus berani merebut peluang yang semakin terbuka di peringkat serantau dan antarabangsa. Seperti mana kita sedia maklum, ASEAN Economic Blueprint yang bertujuan untuk merealisasikan ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) pada tahun 2015 telah diterima dan ditandatangani oleh Pemimpin-Pemimpin ASEAN pada November 2007. Melalui AEC, ASEAN akan melalui satu transformasi untuk menjadi satu pasaran dan pusat pengeluaran tunggal di rantau ekonomi kompetitif, sebuah rantau pembangunan ekonomi yang saksama dan rantau yang telah diintegrasikan sepenuhnya ke dalam ekonomi global.

ASEAN merupakan rakan dagang terpenting bagi Malaysia, dan dijangka menyumbang sebanyak 27.8% daripada keseluruhan jumlah perdagangan Malaysia bagi tempoh Januari-Jun tahun 2013 iaitu RM654,049 bilion. Pada tahun 2012, jumlah dagangan Malaysia dengan ASEAN telah menyumbang sebanyak RM1.31 trillion jumlah perdagangan Malaysia. Pertumbuhan positif ini seharusnya menjadi peluang kepada golongan professional seperti akauntan dengan platform sedia ada dalam sektor-sektor integrasi keutamaan AEC dan perlu meletakkan diri mereka secara strategik untuk mengambil kesempatan keatas peluang-peluang serantau yang dijana daripada inisiatif tersebut.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to congratulate the MICPA on its 55th Anniversary and for all its efforts in providing the professional leadership, international representation and contributions towards the development and progress in the nation’s financial services sectors. I would also like to commend members of MICPA for your aspiration to further strengthen the professionalism, independence and integrity of the Malaysian Certified Public Accountants.

Thank you and have an enjoyable evening ahead.

Wabillah itaufiq walhidayah wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

Gambar Fail: Datuk Hj Ahmad Hj Maslan (kiri) ketika di Seminar Tenaga Penggerak Bersama Y. Bhg. Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (kanan) pada 21 Januari 2010 yang lalu.