Enriching work, pay growth help keep accountants in sector

Opportunities to upskill among pull factors, even as fewer young talent join profession

- Rosalind Ang

While younger talent in the accounting industry has decreased due to relatively lower starting salaries and long working hours, those who have stayed the course say the profession can be rewarding, with good opportunities for upskilling and for pay to grow.

As for the common bugbear of long and unpredictable hours, audit professional Audrey Tong reckons the workload can be intense, but this applies only during peak periods.

"I find that I have time to pursue my hobbies, like dancing, yoga, para-gliding and surfing," she said, adding that she tries to dedicate about 30 per cent of her time in a year to her sports and social pursuits.

Ms Tong, 34, has been in the audit profession for 12 years since graduating from the National University of Singapore with a degree in business administration (accounting). She is currently a general assurance director at PwC Singapore.

According to the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (Isca), its number of young members decreased by about 42 per cent between 2020 and 2023.

Isca, the national accountancy body of Singapore with over 36,000 members, defines young accountants as those aged 35 and below.

Singapore's accountancy sector is estimated to be 120,000-strong.

But accountancy cohort sizes in Singapore's autonomous universities have dropped by more than 10 per cent since 2018, according to data from the Singapore Yearbook Of Manpower Statistics 2024.

A report released in May by the Accountancy Workforce Review Committee (AWRC), which was set up to address manpower challenges faced by the accountancy sector, said lower starting salaries and long and unpredictable working hours are some of the reasons for the dip in younger accountants.