Malaysia needs 60,000 accountants to become developed nation by 2020

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia needs about 60,000 accountants to become a developed nation by 2020, but it is competing hard with other countries to fill the global demand for accountants, a report said.

UK business newspaper Financial Times (FT) reported today that Malaysia’s TalentCorp has taken part in London-based career fairs to lure local accountants back home, while the government agency’s Returning Expert Programme allows Malaysian returners to pay 15 per cent income tax for five years, instead of 25 per cent.

Chartered Institute of Management Accountants managing director Andrew Harding, however, reportedly said countries should recognise that prosperity and long-term growth are mainly obtained through skills, not compensation rewards.

“Once they appreciate this, the rest follows and there will be less of a need for big recruitment fairs because the talent will be ‘home-grown,’ with a more exact skillset,” Harding was quoted as saying.

The head of the global professional body of management accountants noted that Malaysia has identified the shortfall in accountants early, saying he has observed a 300 per cent increase in trainees going for specialist management accounting in the country since 2010.

FT also reported of initiatives from other countries like China, UK and Uganda, which are vying to fill their skills shortages in accounting.

“It’s no longer a case of countries making individual efforts to attract accountants back home. You’re now seeing countries grouping together in regions to stage recruitment fairs,” said Harding, citing sub-Saharan African countries as an example.

Despite global efforts to lure back local talent, however, a 2012 survey by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) of almost 2,000 accountants in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand found that 82 per cent of respondents expressed interest in overseas secondments.

Andrew Robb, a director in the Global Mobility Transformation practice at Deloitte UK, reportedly said accountancy is one of the top 10 hardest jobs to fill in the world.

Arif Mirza, regional head of policy for the Middle East, North Africa and south Asia for the ACCA, reportedly said companies were trying hard to lure expatriates back home by offering benefits like company cars and childcare centres, and by building iconic workplaces.

FT reported him as saying that Pakistan now offered private gated and serviced housing schemes that used replicas of the Eiffel Tower and London’s Trafalgar Square to lure expatriates.

“This growing urbanisation, ironically funded by expat workers, is becoming the gravitas also for expats to return home,” Mirza was quoted saying. -Malay Mail