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Accountants Today profiles the leading lady accountant in the Malaysian public accounting sector, Accountant General YBhg Puan Wan Selamah Wan Sulaiman

In the service of the

omen power is integral to Malaysia in the countrys quest to become a member of the high income club. Indeed, the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (PEMANDU) has identified the need to better leverage on the underutilised talents of the fairer sex in its efforts to sharpen the countrys competitive edge and heighten productivity. One prominent lady who is serving the country to the best of her ability is Malaysias newest Accountant General Puan Wan Selamah Wan Sulaiman. Indeed, her single-minded determination to become an accountant has seen her achieving the pinnacle in the governments accounting service. From the start, I intended to become an accountant, said Wan Selamah during an interview in early April at her office in Jabatan Akauntan Negara Malaysia (JANM) in Putrajaya. Her alma mater Tunku Kurshiah College organised a series of motivational talks in the seventies during Wan Selamahs high school years. Malaysias first lady accountant spoke at the event and voila, planted the early seeds of Wan Selamahs ambition. She inspired me to take up accounting even though I was in the science stream, she reminisced. Building on that dream, the Muarborn Wan Selamah took up the challenge

Division in JANM. After six years, she of becoming a certified professional was then transferred to the Management accountant, qualifying as a member of Division of Kumpulan Wang Amanah the Association of Chartered Certified Pencen, JANM (now known as KWAP) Accountants (ACCA) in 1978. She sat where she served for seven years. for her foundation ACCA papers localSubsequently, Wan Selamah was promotly in Institut Teknologi MARA (now ed as the Director of JANMs Information UiTM) before going abroad to the City System Management Division in year of Birmingham Polytechnic in the UK 2000. After four years in the to complete her ACCA qualification. Accrual accounting IT Division, she was given the responsibility to lead On her return from will allow the the Consultancy Services the UK in the late 70s, government to do Section until 1 October Wan Selamah joined the government accounting costing better and to 2008 before being entrustservice. As a governprovide some kind of ed to be the Director of JANMs Central Operation ment scholar, I had an measurement for and Agency Ser vices obligation to work for outcome-based Division. Wan Selamah was the government who later appointed to be the sponsored me, she budgeting. Deputy Accountant General noted. (Corporate) from 16 December 2009 I enjoy my work with the governuntil 28 November 2010. Finally, Wan ment. Throughout many years, I have Selamah received the mandate to lead been posted to many departments, she the Accountant Generals Department of explained. Wan Selamah has chalked up Malaysia as the Accountant General of a wealth of experience and risen steadily Malaysia on 29 November 2010. Thanks through the ranks. She has been workto this diversity of roles, she has experiing with the Government since 1978 with ence in accounting systems development her first appointment as an accountant as well as financial accounting, to name in the Lembaga Peperiksaan (Malaysian a few. Examination Syndicate), Ministry of Her role today entails serving Education before being transferred to the as the chief accountant of the Federal Ministry of Defense in the year 1983. Government. Under the Ministerial In 1984, she was appointed as a Senior Functions Act, the Accountant Generals Accountant at the Accounting Project

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IN THE SERVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT

office is responsible for the preparation of government accounts, including setting accounting standards and procedures and handling transactions and processing. However, these are not carried out centrally but at 25 branches throughout Malaysia. Indeed, one of the immediate KPIs for the Accountant General when she took office was to issue accounts and reports with timeliness and accuracy. She noted with pride that the Financial Statement of the Federal Government for the year 2010 was submitted and signed on 1st March by the Secretary General of Treasury before being presented to the Auditor General on 4th March, well before the statutory requirement of 31st July. A longer-term KPI would be the imminent adoption of accrual accounting, moving away from the current modified cashbased system, which will be a transition fraught with challenges. Going forward, she lists her goals as head of the accounting service to ensure that our core duties are done well in line with improving public service delivery and ensuring continuous improvement. She added that it is essential to ensure that everybody is on the same page and dedicated to the same unified vision and mission. Human capital and talent management is also central to the office of the Accountant General. The Accountant General is head of the government accounting service, which currently comprises about 5,000 personnel, including accountants, assistant accountants and bookkeepers or accounting technicians. The Accountant Generals office is also responsible for training government accounting personnel through the Institut Perakaunan Negara (IPN). In addition to this, IPN also provides training services in public sector accounting and finance as well as carrying out research in the field of accountancy. Other duties entrusted to the Accountant Generals office include acting as the registrar for unclaimed monies, holding these funds in trust for the beneficiaries who must provide the necessary supporting documents to claim these monies.

From Cash to Accrual Accounting

Her tenure as Accountant General coincides with one of the most chameleonic periods in the history of the accounting profession. While business is grappling with convergence and the global adoption of international financial reporting standards, the public sector too has to undergo its own accounting transition. To achieve Malaysias goal of becoming a high-income nation, one of the key priorities is to strengthen and reform fiscal discipline. To achieve this goal, one of the initiatives recommended by the National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC) is to migrate from cash-based accounting to accrual accounting in the public sector to facilitate asset-liability management, and hence, comprehensive and prudent fiscal management (see cover story on The Case for Accrual Accounting by MIAs Professional Standards and Practices Division). At the time of the interview, the transition exercise was still in the planning stage and the strategic reform initiatives lab organised by PEMANDU lasting six weeks had ended. Most people know about cash but not accrual. This is the way forward. In the past, we didnt have the people to do it (go on an accrual accounting basis) on a

large scale. Now there are many graduates and the talent is there. We will retrain the people and undertake the change management process, she explained. Certain challenges to adopting accrual accounting include investing in the appropriate systems to support the volume of government transactions as well as the eventual required shift to outcome-based budgeting by 2015. Accrual accounting will allow the government to do costing better and to provide some kind of measurement for outcome-based budgeting, she said. The Accountant General subsequently gave a presentation on the transition from cash to accrual accounting during the recently-concluded National Public Sector Accountants Conference (NAPSAC) which was jointly organised by MIA and Persatuan Akauntan Sektor Awam Malaysia (PERASAMA) in Kuching, Sarawak. Despite her busy schedule, Wan Selamah also finds time to wear other hats. She sits on the boards of the Inland Revenue, Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Guru, JKP Sdn Bhd as well as Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad and she is also a Committee Member of ACCA Malaysia Advisory Committee (MAC) and ACCA (UK) Public Sector Technical Committee. The resourceful lady also holds a Masters in Business Administration from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, graduating in 1992. n

Advice for Accountants

As a successful member of the profession, Wan Selamah urges accountants to keep in mind that they need to conduct their duties with integrity. Wherever you are working, you should demonstrate loyalty to our country and your organisation and carry out your work with professionalism, passion and perseverance. Wan Selamah also advises public sector accountants who spend a lot of time dealing with public monies and public funds to behave with integrity. She also believes that besides professional will it is important for accountants to have personal humility to be successful. You cannot be arrogant. However far you go, you must remember it is a blessing from Allah, she said. This humble attitude has certainly carried Wan Selamah a long way up throughout a career spanning 33 years since 1978, all the way from junior accountant to the lofty echelons of the Accountant Generals office. We can only wonder whats next for this disciplined and dedicated lady.

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accountants today | JUNE 2011