Young Difference Makers S2 E4 - Jeremy Cheong From Engineering to Accountancy: A Chartered Accountant's Journey to Making a Social Impact

A graduate in Engineering from Nanyang Technological University, Jeremy defied norms by entering the accountancy profession. His unique journey breaks down barriers and aims to inspire aspiring professionals to pursue unconventional paths.

Listen and gain insights into Jeremy’s firsthand experiences in external assurance services; explore the intersections of sustainability, technology, and defence in accounting, and discover how an engineering background can lead to a successful career in accountancy.

Jeremy’s story isn’t just about his personal journey – it’s a call to action. By challenging traditional career paths, he envisions transforming the future of the Chartered Accounting profession.

Don’t miss out on the insights, wisdom, and motivation he has to offer!

Tune In and Get Inspired!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Being a charter accountant is a life-long journey. It's not just a day job that you'll have. Being a charter accountant is way more than that. I'm Jeremy. I'm 32 this year. I'm a manager from Pressworth House Groupers, singapore. Oh yeah, so I'm a charter accountant of Singapore. I did major in engineering. Interestingly, I did not major in accountancy, I did major in engineering. The charter accountant of Singapore. They do allow non-accounting graduates to take on this qualification paper which got me there.

Speaker 1: 0:45

Why I decided to be a charter accountant is because to me, accounting I'm always interested in the business world. Finance Accounting to me is the language of the finance industry. It allows me to understand the business world better through accounting and being a charter accountant allows me to get insights, more in-depth information on my profession. I have no idea what I wanted to do when I was young. In Singapore we go through our education system. As I went to university, I took on engineering. My wife majored in accountancy, so she was a major influence in me picking up accountancy as a career. Yeah, so that's really a very condensed journey of mine. It definitely goes beyond the numbers.

Speaker 1: 1:47

In my profession as an external auditor I see as a business of managing people. Communication is key. You get to look at the soft skills that you've developed throughout your career. Definitely, numbers is part of your day. You see numbers during your job, but aside from that, another big component is managing your soft skills, developing yourself, how you manage your stakeholders, be it your bosses, be it your clients, be it the audit committee in my career yeah, so that also played a big part in my role as a charter accountant. And that is, and more importantly, as a charter accountant, aside from dealing with numbers, building trust is a very important thing. So trust we're in the business of trust how we develop that trust among our stakeholders that is also a big component in how a charter accountant operates. It really depends on how you define Difference Maker. To me, a difference maker is simply providing a meaningful social impact to your community, to your company. It's up to your own definition. For me, as a difference maker, it's about instilling trust. At PWC, in my company, we focus a lot on building trust with our stakeholders, with our own teammates, as a family. For me to be a difference maker, I'll have to uphold this ethics of the, uphold what we really believe in and that's ready to build trust among the people that we're working with our stakeholders.

Speaker 1: 3:41

Accountancy is the forefront of all the changes that we are looking at in the world today. We look at the buzzwords like AI, artificial intelligence. We look at sustainability, for example. These are the two key buzzwords that we have that we are reading on newspaper these days. Accountancy is the forefront. Why I say that is because accountancy is a profession where we can monitor the businesses how they manage their sustainability through frameworks that we have developed. So, for example, the latest ISSB reporting framework for carbon emission, for sustainability. That's how we can monitor the carbon emission of these companies. What's the sustainability progress? And that, to me, is really providing a social impact to the world.

Speaker 1: 4:33

So it's not just numbers, it's more than that. Being a charter accountant, or rather a career accountant, see, is a life long journey. You get to learn everything accounting. The frameworks are always changing, it's up to date, it's up to speed. You get to learn through your entire life. It's not just a day job that you will have. Being a charter accountant is way more than that. It exposes you to all the changes technology changes, climate changes, whatever it is, we are always at the peak of it, and that itself serves as a very strong motivation for anybody who seeks a career accountancy and being a charter accountant. Well, I'm a lifer at my firm. I'm in the external audit line for going eight years, so I have not changed my career since. So I'm not really in a good position to say that. But of course I have peers and I have colleagues who have ventured out and they are in all sorts of different careers, not just in accountancy. They are in corporate finance, consulting, real estate, even marketing. I mean accountants are everywhere and it opens doors to all sorts of career that you cannot even imagine. So, yeah, being a charter accountant allows you to get that benefit you mentioned.

Speaker 1: 6:12

Purpose, purpose varies in everybody's mind. I believe in making a social impact. Being a charter accountant allows me to do that. I get to communicate with my stakeholders, building trust with them, working them through the numbers, working through with them the sustainability standards, and that itself gave me a purpose that we are important. They need us to drive what the agenda that we are looking at today. Of course we know that the perception. I think changing the perception of accountancy that it's a challenge and we will need people to stand up and speak up on the perception of being a charter accountant. I think it's not just numbers, it's way more than that. And how can we get people to understand what we are doing? I think that itself is something that we definitely need to stand up for, and I strongly believe that our message will be heard. Find your purpose in life. Start early, think about it. What impact do you want to leave in a society? I think that's very important.