Landmark Herbalife Case Dissected
TAKEAWAYS The recent decision in the landmark Goods and Services Tax (GST) case of Herbalife International Singapore Pte Ltd (Herbalife) v Comptroller of GST [2023] SGHC 54 has sparked a series of parliamentary debates on revenue collection leakages. So, what exactly is the Herbalife case about and how will the Singapore High Court’s decision affect other direct selling companies? […]
What It Takes To Combat Money Laundering?
TAKEAWAYS Recent raids conducted by the Singapore Police Force saw the seizure and freezing of S$2.4 billion (US$1.8 billion) in cash and assets, and charges of money laundering and forgery pressed against the suspects. It was reported that several financial institutions had filed suspicious transaction reports and alerted the authorities to suspicious activities. With further assistance from […]
What Constitutes A Good Annual Report
TAKEAWAYS As a university professor, I am privileged to be constantly surrounded by inquisitive young minds with an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Among the thousands of students who have attended my lectures, there is always one recurring inquiry that captures the very essence of corporate communication: “What constitutes a good annual report?” While this question […]
Is Fair Value Always The Best?
TAKEAWAYS The dramatic collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) triggered much speculation and debate as many sought to unravel the cause behind the bank’s sudden downfall. Among the factors and explanations raised, there were criticisms levelled at how SVB was able to carry a portion of its bond portfolio at amortised cost. The deep paper […]
Great Leadership Starts With Personal Mastery
TAKEAWAYS Years ago, I worked with Penny, a senior director who had wanted to become more influential in her job. When I asked her how I could help her succeed, she said, “I want you to give me the recipe to become the inspiring leader I believe I can be.” I understand that she wanted […]
Emerging Technologies And Accountancy Education
TAKEAWAYS Artificial intelligence (AI) is not the only emerging technology that is disrupting accountancy education and practice. Other emerging technologies are also impacting different aspects of the accountancy profession and industry. How then should we deal with them? Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) took the world by storm when it was released on 30 November […]
Tapping Into The Enterprise Innovation Scheme
TAKEAWAYS The Enterprise Innovation Scheme (EIS) was introduced in Budget 2023 to encourage businesses to engage in research and development (R&D), innovation and capability development activities. Under the EIS, enhanced or new tax deductions and/or allowances (collectively referred to as “enhanced deductions”) are granted on qualifying expenditure incurred on five qualifying activities in the innovation […]
Restructuring Charities (Part 2)
BY PROFESSOR ANG HAK SENG TAKEAWAYS In my previous article, published in the September issue of this journal, I examined the driving forces behind the evolution of the social sector. They can be summarised into four points, namely the changing expectations as a result of the change in Singapore’s demographics, resource scarcity caused by the high cost […]
Job Satisfaction
TAKEAWAYS “Where have all the good jobs gone?” Many reminisce about the jobs of yesteryear – a time when jobs were steady, handshakes were covenants, and a “fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay” was not just a catchphrase but a lived reality. History has a funny way of idealising the past. From the […]
ChatGPT: A New Dawn, Or The Beginning Of The End?
TAKEAWAYS If 2022 belonged to TikTok, then 2023 is the year of ChatGPT. The current hype around the tool – and generative artificial intelligence (AI), the tool that powers it – might make it seem like it is a new phenomenon but this is far from the truth. It is merely building on technology that has been […]
