The Singapore Accountancy Commission (SAC), the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) have signed an Expression of Intent (EoI) in an effort to strengthen relationships between the three organisations.

The EoI aims at exploring potential reciprocity for members of ICAS and ISCA, meaning that members of one body could become members of the other if the members meet the requirement conditions of the agreement.

The signing of this EoI is the latest step in Singapore’s effort to become the accountancy hub of the Asia-Pacific region by 2020. The Singaporean profession has set itself this objective in 2013 and for that purpose the SAC was formed in April of that year.

Since then, Singapore’s accountants have moved from a Certified Public Accountant to a Chartered Accountant designation. The country has vowed to be IFRS compliant by 2018 and have embraced Integrated Reporting (<IR>) of which they want to be the champion in Asia.

Earlier this year the SAC has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW) whereby both institutes agree to partial mutual credit recognition of their respective qualifications.

Interviewed by The Accountant last October, SAC chief executive Uantchern Loh said that even though his organisation was in contact with other global professional bodies it was somewhat of a challenge to get full recognition.

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"Our first exam will be held in December 2013 and our first graduates won’t finish the programme before 2015. So even if we sign a memorandum now, no matter with which country, we have no graduates to show them," he explained.

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