RETHINKING BUSINESS FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
2020 has been a year of change. We have embraced a new way of working i.e. telecommuting and most organisations have also moved rapidly towards digitalisation. As we continue to adapt to change, how can we rethink the way we do business to ensure a sustainable future?
Sustainability has gradually established itself as a business strategy with more organisations starting to focus on purposeful businesses with growing awareness on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Sustainability is beyond corporate social responsibility and corporate reputation.
According to World Economic Forum, there is a need for companies to look beyond the bottom line to rethink and reimagine new possibilities of doing business. Recent reports also demonstrated that companies with ESG built into their business strategies are able to produce higher returns, mitigate risks and through improved governance, attract the best talent and run the most relatable and effective marketing campaigns.
Hence, to embark on this sustainable journey, companies will need to start with the fundamental – being ethical. Sustainability and ethics are interrelated; and with sustainable businesses, it encourages a balance between profitability and ESG responsibility which will eventually drive long term growth in the company.
Technology, identified as a key to address sustainability and ethics challenges, provides new business opportunities and enhances efficiencies in the digital economy. To drive sustainable growth, companies need to adopt technology with integrity to retain trust and gain long-term viability among their stakeholders, and the communities.
Join us at this first-ever virtual ACCA Ethics Film Festival where you will hear from industry experts and thought leaders in the region discussing about ethics, inclusivity and the right things to do as an accountant and finance professional in an ethical and sustainable business!
2020 has been a year of change. We have embraced a new way of working i.e. telecommuting and most organisations have also moved rapidly towards digitalisation. As we continue to adapt to change, how can we rethink the way we do business to ensure a sustainable future?
Ethics Film Festival 2019
PROGRAMME
This year’s Ethics Film Festival will be held virtually for the first time.
Screenings will be hosted on Netflix Watch Party and panel discussions will be hosted on Zoom.
TROUBLED WATER
The explosive growth of the bottled water industry has driven corporations to dip into public water supplies and left vulnerable citizens thirsty.
(Rotten Season 2, Episode 3)
Netflix Watch Parties:
16 Oct (Fri), 5PM & 17 Oct (Sat), 10AM
Panel Discussion:
21 Oct (Wed), 5PM – 6.30PM
PANELLISTS
Mr Chan Choong Tho
Chief Executive Officer
CFA Society Singapore
Moderator
Mr Chan Choong Tho, Chief Executive Officer, CFA Society Singapore
Mr Chan Choong Tho (CT) is currently Chief Executive Officer of CFA Society Singapore. He joined the Society at the start of 2020 after a career of more than twenty-five years in the investment industry. His experience ranges from investment research and portfolio management to senior management roles, gained from diverse stints across boutique fund houses and major international financial institutions. He has served in various capacities as a vice president at Salomon Smith Barney, general manager at RHB Research Institute, and as the chief investment officer of Great Eastern Life Assurance (Singapore and Malaysia, respectively), before starting his own fund management firm. CT started his career as an electronics engineer and has an MBA from the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia. He has been a CFA charterholder since 1998.
Ms Esther An
Chief Sustainability Officer
City Developments Limited
Ms Esther An, Chief Sustainability Officer, City Developments Limited
An active advocate for green building and sustainability for over two decades, Ms Esther An has been instrumental in establishing CDL’s leadership in sustainability. It is ranked top real estate company on the 2020 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World and is also the only CDP A-List company for climate strategy and water security in SE Asia. Key ESG initiatives she has spearheaded include publishing the first sustainability report using GRI standards in Singapore in 2008; issuing the first green bond by a Singaporean company in 2017 and pioneering an SDG Innovation Loan in Singapore in 2019. A forerunner in embracing the UN SDGs, Ms An was conferred 2018 SDG Pioneer for Green Infrastructure and A Low Carbon Economy by the UN Global Compact. She was also recently appointed Chairperson of Asia Pacific Real Estate Association’s Sustainability and ESG Committee and Co-Chair of Urban Land Institute Singapore’s Sustainability Product Council.
Mr Jimmy Greer
Head of Sustainability
ACCA
Mr Jimmy Greer, Head of Sustainability, ACCA
Mr Jimmy Greer is Head of Sustainability Research and Policy in the Professional Insights directorate at ACCA, the global body for professional accountants. He produces research and advises on policy issues for ACCA related to sustainability, social impact and business futures to support ACCA’s members and students around the world.
He is a member of the UNCTAD-ISAR Consultative Group on Enterprise Reporting on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Accountancy Europe’s Environmental, Social and Governance Taskforce and is also a member of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board Technical Working Group.
He holds an MSc. in Globalisation and Latin American Development from the University of London.
Mr Vincent Lim
Deputy Group CFO
Hi-P International Limited
Mr Vincent Lim, Deputy Group CFO, Hi-P International Limited
With more than 25 years of commercial finance and business partnering experience, Mr Vincent Lim is the Deputy Group CFO for Hi-P International Limited, a manufacturing company with plants in various sites of China, Poland, Singapore and Thailand (SGX:H17). Prior to this, he was the CFO Asia Pacific and Legal Rep China for Datalogic S.p.A. (Borsa Italiana: DAL.MI), and was Director of Finance & CFO Asia for Motorola Solutions (NYSE: MSI). Scope covers from finance transformation and M&A (target, DD, integration) to traditional accounting and costing.
Mr Lim is active in the industry, was formerly Council member and Treasurer of Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA), member of ACCA Singapore Network Panel, Chairman of ACCA Singapore SME Transformation Committee, Chairman of ISCA CSS Advisory Panel and founding Chairman of ISCA Run. He is the co-author of Common Sense Service Measurement book, a Fellow of Chartered Accountant Singapore, a Fellow of ACCA and holds an MBA from University of Hull.
Ms Prae Piromya
Associate Director
AWR Lloyd
Ms Prae Piromya, Associate Director, AWR Lloyd
Ms Prae Piromya has over 10 years of experience in sustainability strategy consulting, corporate finance, investor relations, human-centered research and design consulting. As an Associate Director at AWR Lloyd, a boutique financial advisory with a focus on innovation and sustainability in Asia-Pacific, she is in charge of Stakeholder Engagement to support the firm’s client and partner relations and the Innovation for Sustainability service.
She has in-house corporate experience at Central Group as GM of the Sustainable Development Office and at Pace Development as VP of Sustainability Management. Previously, Ms Piromya was a Principal Consultant at ERM, a leading global sustainability consultancy. She led the Sustainability Strategy & Stakeholder Engagement team, advising top Thai listed companies in the banking, energy, chemical, food & beverage, telecom, and infrastructure sectors on corporate sustainability assessment, reporting, and stakeholder engagement.
She holds an MBA from Thammasat University, Bangkok, and a BS in Industrial Design from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia.
THE BLEEDING EDGE
America has the most technologically advanced health care system in the world, yet medical interventions have become the third leading cause of death, and the overwhelming majority of high-risk implanted devices never require a single clinical trial.
The film takes a look at the $400 billion medical device industry, examining lax regulations, corporate cover-ups, and profit driven incentives that put patients at risk daily.
Netflix Watch Parties:
23 Oct (Fri), 5PM & 24 Oct (Sat), 10AM
Panel Discussion:
28 Oct (Wed), 5PM – 6PM
PANELLISTS
Mr Sarjit Singh
Chairman
Kreston Ardent CAtrust PAC
Moderator
Mr Sarjit Singh, Chairman, Kreston Ardent CAtrust PAC
Recognised by NTU as a financial industry talent, Mr Sarjit Singh was the winner of the Nanyang Alumni Achievement Award in 2012. Mr Singh has built an extensive career in assurance and advisory, including 16 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Mr Singh leads the Risk Assurance practice at Ardent Business Advisory, a member firm of Kreston International and a unit of In.Corp Global. He and his team provide internal audit, risk management, regulatory compliance, financial due diligence, strategic planning, sustainability reporting, and governance and regulatory advice to ministries, statutory boards, public listed companies, financial institutions, multinationals, charities and Institutions of a Public Character.
Prior to Ardent, Mr Singh was the CFO of AIA Singapore and Aviva Asia. He was responsible for formulating and implementing the financial, investment and commercial strategies for AIA Singapore and Aviva’s diverse businesses in Singapore, Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific region respectively.
He was appointed by the Singapore government in 2016 to serve on the Committee on the Future Economy (CFE) – Working Group on Legal and Accounting Services.
Mr Singh is presently serving as the Chairman of the Singapore Accountancy Commission’s Chartered Accountancy Learning and Assessment Committee – Foundation Programme. He is also a Member of the Investigation and Disciplinary Panel at the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants.
He was conferred the Public Service Star (BBM) in 2011 and the Public Service Medal (PBM) in 2007 by the President of the Republic of Singapore in recognition of his contributions to the nation.
He is a recipient of the prestigious SkillsFuture Fellowship 2019. Presented by the President of the Republic of Singapore, this award honours individuals as masters of skills and mentors of future talent.
Prof Eduardo Araral
Assoc Prof & Co-Director, Institute of Water Policy
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
Prof Eduardo Araral, Associate Professor and Co-Director, Institute of Water Policy, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
Prof Eduardo Araral is a practitioner and academic with 30 years of experience in academia, government, consulting and executive education for governments, corporations and donors in Asia. He holds a PhD Degree in Public Policy from Indiana University-Bloomington on a Fulbright PhD Scholarship with Elinor Ostrom (2009 Nobel Laureate in Economics) as his supervisor.
He specialises in the study of collective action for public goods and the commons. He has 70 papers in journals, books and working papers on foreign aid, infrastructure PPP and regulation, water governance, supply and sanitation, irrigation, telecommunications, COVID-19, housing, urban governance, land use policy, climate change and adaptation, digital nudging, cloud computing, smart cities, policy reform, corruption, bureaucracy, civil service reform and regional cooperation. He has published in policy, development and governance journals including World Development, Public Administration Review, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Governance, Policy Science, Policy and Society, Environmental Science and Policy, Land Use Policy, Telecommunications Policy, Water Policy, Water Resources Research, Cities, Geoforum, Human Ecology, International Journal of the Commons and Journal of Rural Studies. He has also presented in more than 50 international conferences.
His awards and recognitions include fellowships from the research centers of 3 Nobel Laureates in Economics (Coase, Ostrom, Stigler); the 2013 Ostrom Prize for the Governance of the Commons, a Fulbright PhD award and the Pamana ng Lahi Presidential Award for Outstanding Overseas Filipinos. His work has been cited by the President of the National University of Singapore as an example of research with both academic and practical significance.
As a practitioner, Prof Araral has a large and active portfolio of government advisory, consultancy, executive education and media engagement. He served as adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Central Bank Governor and Chairman of the Civil Service and Anti-Corruption Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He has also advised senior government officials from Vietnam, Myanmar, Philippines, UAE, Armenia, Uzbekistan, among others. He has consulted for the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, UNDP, Microsoft, Amazon, General Electric, local governments and NGOs. He has lectured in more than 230 Executive Education Programs for more than 5,000 participants – Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Directors, City Mayors, NGO leaders, CEOs of multinationals and ranking military officers – from more than 50 countries throughout Asia, Russia and Africa. He has been interviewed / quoted at least 220 times in the media including BBC, CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, China Daily, Al Jazeera, Straits Times, Channel News Asia, Insight, South China Morning Post, Washington Post, Voice of America, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, among others.
He has taught public finance, policy analysis, public management, research methods, politics and policy, program evaluation and institutional analysis for the MPP, MPA, MPM and PhD Programs at LKYSPP. He is currently teaching Governance and Regulation of AI, Blockchain, Cloud and Data. He was faculty associate at the Ostrom Workshop in Indiana University Bloomington, visiting fellow at the University of Paris-Sorbonne and faculty associate with the Ronald Coase Institute.
He served as Vice Dean for Research (2015-2017) and Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs (2009-2011) at LKYSPP. He represented the School at the University Senate, Dean’s Meetings, University Committee on Education Policy and the Board of Graduate Studies. He played a key role in setting up the Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Public Policy. He served in three editorial boards, is co-editor of the Cambridge University Press Series on Public Policy and the Oxford University Press Series on Water Governance and peer reviewer for journals. He is currently Co-Director of the Institute of Sustainability and Water Policy, Vice Chairman of the Asia Pacific Water Forum and principal investigator of the programme on ABCD (AI, Blockchain, Cloud and Data) at LKYSPP.
Chew Chin Wee
Financial Controller
ResMed
Mr Chew Chin Wee, Financial Controller, ResMed
Mr Chew Chin Wee has more than 15 years of experience in various senior financial management roles within the Medtech and hospital groups. He currently serves as a Finance Controller for ResMed’s (a company listed on the NYSE) Asia business unit in Singapore as well as directorship for ResMed subsidiaries in the APAC region.
In addition to the above, he is also serving as an independent non-executive director of a company listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange and is on the board of directors of a local chain aesthetic treatment centre. He is also appointed as trustee of the Education Trust of the Singapore Leong Khay Clan Association and serves as the treasurer of the education bursary committee.
Mr Chew, who believes in making financial knowledge accessible to all, is an accredited facilitator for ZODIAK (Game of Business Finance & Strategy) by Paradigm-Learning, for business simulation & business acumen training for corporate employees. He enjoys continued professional interaction with healthcare professionals & administrators and is currently an Adjunct Lecturer for Financial Management and Economics in Health Care Module, of the Flinders University Master of Health Administration.
Mr Chew holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the National University of Singapore and is a member of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
Dr Chong Yoke Sin
President
Singapore Computer Society
Dr Chong Yoke Sin, President, Singapore Computer Society
Dr Chong Yoke Sin is the President of the Singapore Computer Society which has 42,000 members and is an advocate for professionalising IT through continuous skills upgrade for employability.
Dr Chong is the Managing Partner of iGlobe Partners, a venture capitalist firm with interests in Smart Cities, Fintech and BioTech startups and growth companies. She sits on the board of Tinctorium Inc, a biological Dye product company, in the Silicon Valley.
Dr Chong was the founding CEO of Integrated Health Information Systems which delivers highly integrated and automated systems for the clinical and patient-administration systems for the entire public healthcare system in Singapore. She spearheaded the re-architecture of clinical and business systems across the hospitals, specialists and primary entities to create integrated electronic health records that facilitated the continuum of care across public healthcare. She also implemented the HealthHub, the personal health record for all, nationally. She oversaw the attainment of the HIMSS EMRAM Stage 6 and 7 levels of IT adoption for the healthcare systems. She was admitted to the Hall of Fame by HIMSS in 2016 for her achievements in raising the level of technology in healthcare. As the past president of HIMSS Asia Governing council and board member of the US HIMSS organisation, she contributed to the IT standards for primary care, analytics and decision support for HIMSS.
Prior to her stint at IHIS, she was the CEO of NCS, a Singapore Systems integrator spun off from the Singapore Government, that specialised in applications and infrastructural solutions for the government, healthcare and finance industries. She expanded NCS to the Middle East, Hong Kong, China, Australia and Korea. NCS grew its footprint to become the largest systems integrator in Singapore. She was involved with the development of the national e-government Masterplan and SME technology adoption at the national level.
Prior to joining iGlobe, Dr Chong was the Chief of Enterprise Business at StarHub and grew its AI, Cybersecurity, IOT and digital platform business. She oversaw the formation of Ensign, a cybersecurity company, specialised in cybersecurity forensics, advisory, systems integration and monitoring. She serves as an advisory member of the KLAS board, the independent benchmarking service for software in the healthcare industry globally.
Dr Chong is a member of the IJ Board of Management for the IJ Convent schools in Singapore.
Dr Chong is a Board Member of the Singapore Land Authority and is Chairman of the Technology Board. She also sits on the Board of SG Enable and the National Kidney Foundation. She is also a member of the National Jobs Council in Singapore.
She is a fellow of the Singapore Computer Society, as well as the Health Information Management Systems Society. She is a certified Healthcare Professional (CPHIMS), certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO) and a certified Project Manager (Senior). She holds a PhD in Chemistry and attended the Advanced Management Programme of the Harvard Business School.
Mr Ernest Wong
President and Group CFO
KVB Holdings Limited
Mr Ernest Wong, President and Group CFO, KVB Holdings Limited
Mr Ernest Wong has been a Committee Member of ACCA Hong Kong since 2014, in addition to his role as the Co-chairman of Professional Development Sub-committee and SME Sub-committee since 2014. He is currently the President and Group CFO of KVB Holdings Limited.
Mr Wong has more than 25 years of experience in venture capital, corporate finance, business development, legal, IT, financial and general management. He has been working as executive director, independent non-executive director and CFO of listed companies in Hong Kong and London Stock exchange and private equity fund manager in international PE funds.
Currently, he is the Deputy Chairman of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) Convocation, the Court member of HKU, the President of The Scout Association of Hong Kong 229th Hong Kong Group and the IMC member of HKUGA Primary School. He is also the former President of the Hong Kong University Graduates Association and the former Executive Director of the CFA Society Hong Kong.
Mr Wong obtained a master’s degree in management from Saïd Business School of Oxford, a master’s degree in investment from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, a master’s degree in electronic engineering from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and a BBA degree from HKU. He is a fellow member of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He is also a chartered financial analyst of the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts.
ORGANISED BY
ACCA Singapore
Singapore Film Society
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