The Town Hall Meeting series provides a platform for Board and Senior Management of charities to discuss and explore practical solutions to address common challenges faced by the sector.
The theme of the fifth Town Hall Meeting was ‘Accounting for Good’. The program included sharing by accounting experts, as well as a panel discussion. Town Hall V had a total of 141 participants from the charity sector and 67 guests in attendance.
Professor Teo Chee Kiang, Professor (Practice), NUS Business School (Accountancy Department) shared about the e-book ‘Accounting for Good’, that was launched during the Town Hall. The book is a compilation of 7 articles, serving as a reference for what good governance in charities encompasses, as well as providing an overview on accounting needs in the charity sector and highlighting possible areas where accountants can help.
We were also very honoured to have Mr Tay Woon Teck, Partner, RSM Singapore, to share more about the role of accountants in charities and how they can contribute. He also highlighted the steps that charities can take to attract volunteer accountants.
The Town Hall meeting will not be complete without a panel conversation segment. The session was moderated by Mr Tay Woon Teck.
The panellists were:
- Mr Gerard Ee, Chairman, Charity Council
- Ms Lilian Tay, Former CEO, Shared Services for Charities
- Mr Alfred Tan, CEO, Singapore Children’s Society
- Ms Choo Siu Ling, CEO, Assisi Hospice
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The panel had a robust discussion which revolved around the key topics presented. Below are some key takeaways from the panel session:
- Accountants can contribute expertise and skillsets in areas beyond functional roles. Conversely, charities can provide other scopes apart from accounting.
- It is essential for charities to be open to feedback from accountants and to work on areas surfaced for improvement. Conversely, inputs from charities are valuable. Thus, dialogue between charities and accountants is important.
- It is worthwhile for charities to invest time with accountants to articulate the vision and mission of the charity, areas that the charity require help in, as well as basic information about the charity sector.
- Accountants have to be aware that charities differ from corporates. Acquired knowledge of Charities Accounting Standard and charity regulations will be useful.
- As professional indemnity is critical, charities need to build in processes to protect volunteer accountants.
- To attract volunteers, charities must be convincing and sincere in tackling problems. More so, as accountants are risk-averse.
- For a long term partnership, charities can provide accountants a schedule or time line and bite-sized assignments.
- Charities are encouraged to be unflinchingly outcome-focused so as to stay relevant to the community that a charity serves as well as to be relevant to the volunteers a charity wants to attract.
To learn more about what was covered during the Town Hall meeting, please see below for the materials that were presented:
A Video recording will be uploaded soon.
This Town Hall Meeting V was made possible with the support from partners such as Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) and National Council of Social Service (NCSS).
