Mr Teo Ee Sing, founder and Executive Director of the Financial Courses Division of Sunway University College, also known as SUNWAY-TES, speaks to Accountant Key about his personal life.
What would be your greatest achievement so far?
It would be my greatest achievement and also of SUNWAY-TES when we officially managed to secure the premier plus status back in year 2003, just 3 years after ACCA came up with the award to quality tuition providers all around the world. SUNWAY-TES was the first tuition provider outside UK to proudly clinch this award, whereby stringent criterias have to be fulfilled in order to qualify for the award.
For this, SUNWAY-TES had consistently surpassed all world pass rates especially all core papers at the professional level, and students have been top scorers not only in Malaysia, but in the world. Not only that, SUNWAY-TES has maintained the status ever since being awarded and in the year of 2008 further gained the platinum recognition, equivalent to the premier plus status following the change of syllabus by ACCA.
As the adage, life isn’t a bed of roses. Can you share with us when your lowest point of life is, or what were the difficulties that you have faced so far? In the face of adversity, what was your response?
My lowest point was upon graduation. Armed with a professional qualification (ACCA) and nurturing a dream to climb the corporate ladder towards partnership in one of the big 6 accounting firms, my applications were rejected, not just by the big 6 namely ( Pricewaterhouse, Coopers and Lybrand, KPMG, Deloitte, Arthur Andersen, and Ernst & Young) , but also many other accounting firms. At that time, I was dejected and frustrated. However, I pressed on and persevered with my applications, as I believed I hold a good qualification and my employer would benefit from my knowledge. Finally, I got a respond from one of the top 20 firms in the UK, UHY Hacker Young and secured my career as a junior audit associate.
There were also a lot of other difficulties that I faced during my journey with SUNWAY-TES. Being newly founded back in 1994, there was not many students that would come to the college to pursue the course as we were not as highly equipped with facilities as now. Being located outside KL city, far from the then student base definitely did not help. ACCA also was not well recognised, much overshadowed by preferred qualifications such as MACPA (now MICPA) and CPA Australia. However, our team of foreign visiting lecturers (then) attracted students and pretty soon we were on the rise. Unfortunately, during the 1997 economic crisis, we again hit the rock bottom when the fluctuating exchange rate resulted in a very high cost to maintain the visiting team of lecturers. This forced the college to switch to local lecturers (the current team) which led to a sudden loss in the number of students. It was a tough time to call up students and to persuade the existing ones to remain with SUNWAY-TES. At that time, we (I and the whole SUNWAY-TES team, including lecturers and administration) held on and supported each other through. As we produced more and more successes with the present team, the student base have grown significantly, and as up to now, I’m glad to say that we are doing well.
What is your career progression route ever since graduation? What made you switch careers?
Oh, that (smiles). Actually, previously besides my job as an auditor in UHY, I also worked part time as part of the administration staff in Emile Woolf, then a leading college specialising in accountancy courses. My job on weekends was to arrange timetables, schedule marking reports, go through lecture plans, etc. That made me up to date with the newest standards and amendments and my firm would often ask me to update them as my colleagues would have given back all the knowledge to their lecturers once they graduate (laughs). After juggling two jobs in UK for 4 years, Pricewaterhouse in Malaysia offered me a job as a senior associate. I gladly accepted as I wanted to come back. I had no intention of leaving Pricewaterhouse, but Emile Woolf decided to set a branch campus in Malaysia and Singapore, and had persuaded me to leave Pricewaterhouse to help them with it. This is mainly due to my previous work experience encompassing accountancy and also having adequate experience on the know-how of operating an education division. After setting up both the colleges, I eventually left due to a change in the operating management. It was then that Sunway College wanted to offer accountancy courses, and invited me to set up the division, also known as SUNWAY-TES, and I have been here ever since.
You have mentioned that ACCA was not popular as now. What made ACCA such a popular qualification now?
I must say, and it is fair to say that the popularity of ACCA has been spearheaded by SUNWAY-TES. This is because SUNWAY-TES have been offering placements of graduates in the big 4 accounting firms once they graduate. Not being initially receptive when I approached them with the idea, these employers were very soon impressed with the quality of ACCA graduates as they absorbed them into the system, mainly due to the wide span of accounting knowledge possessed by the graduates. ACCA graduates were especially sound with preparing consolidated financial statements, a complex area where graduates from other courses find it an uphill task to handle. This collaboration started first by SUNWAY-TES, made graduates with the ACCA qualification much pursued by the major accounting firms. This built brand and image of ACCA, therefore giving it due recognition and credit by the accounting industry worldwide now, especially in Malaysia.
Sunway’s ACCA graduates are much sought after, what do you think gives them the edge over their peers from other colleges?
I think that our ACCA graduates are well equipped not only with knowledge but also with soft skills, determination and enthusiasm to work, enabling them to stand above the rest. It is proven as so far, we are able to place all our graduates in the major accounting firms, and we try our best to provide each and every graduate with a secure job immediately upon graduation. We also have been approached by many accounting firms, not just the Big 5(Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, KPMG, and BDO Binder) but other medium sized firms to have a share of our graduates.
What would be your recommended career path for students intending to enter this field?
I would advise students to enter the auditing line and obtain a few years of experience in this field, as it is a job that exercises a maximum coverage of the knowledge that they have learnt throughout the accounting course. It embodies what accounting is about and offers a chance for diverse exploration into accounting in different industries as auditors will be exposed to different lines during audit. It would be a stepping stone for future progression in career not only restricted to auditing as they are well experienced to handle many different situations, thus enabling them to venture into different industries of their choice.
Lastly, any advice for students or is there any message which you would like to convey?
Well, there is certainly no short cut towards getting rich, and success does not come easy. It would be sheer hard work and determination that will bring a person towards achieving goals and eventually reach success.
