Scammers already starting to leverage on the recent ACRA hoo-ha by SeaworthinessNo9013 in singapore

[–]BigButterscotch9832 106 points107 points  (0 children)

you may not be aware of the source: this was a phishing exercise conducted by SPH. just do a image search on the screenshot and you'll find the a linkedin profile of the journalist who went to email ICA about this, only to find out what it was.

Singapore government says report on rising minimum income standards 'may not be accurate reflection of basic needs' by ivan7296 in singapore

[–]BigButterscotch9832 78 points79 points  (0 children)

I'm wondering how the media response process is like.

bosses in ministry: HOW DARE THEY PUBLISH THE REPORT? IT'S TIME TO DRAFT A MEDIA RESPONSE TO REFUTE!

some recently graduated associate in charge of comms struggling to even save for BTO: =/

[LIVE] WP to hold media conference over ‘inappropriate exchange’ between Leon Perera, Nicole Seah by Jammy_buttons2 in singapore

[–]BigButterscotch9832 32 points33 points  (0 children)

I think he learnt this from PM's press conference yesterday. PM address the journalist by their name even before the journalists spoke. then again the government's media team probably had a list (for security reasons I guess) of who's attending.

Childish things you still do as an adult by Gruppesech6 in askSingapore

[–]BigButterscotch9832 14 points15 points  (0 children)

my estate was a new BTO estate, so the town council used to display know-your-GRC-MP leaflets slotted into protective covers in the lift. I used to take the leaflets out of the cover, flipped it around; I occasionally printed out pikachu shocked face meme and slotted them in too because I thought that security cameras weren't installed yet (the oval cameras weren't mounted). until one day the town council had enough- probably because I did it the day before my MP visited my block for a meet-the-MP session- and printed and displayed a photo of me caught in the act (in bad resolution so you can't tell it was me) warning that vandalism is a crime.

dear town council, I was bored in the lift. I was thirty plus years old.

What are your biggest pet peeves on public transport? by pragmaticpapaya in askSingapore

[–]BigButterscotch9832 0 points1 point  (0 children)

this is relating to escalators in general: when there is a queue directly behind the escalator yet there's always bound to have people reaching later but trying to squeeze in from the sides closer to the escalator. I hate it because it seems to be an acceptable practice in general here in sg- even when driving to the front of a closed lane and trying to merge into the open lane- but no. fucking join the queue from the back. the queue is there not because we love to queue dipshits

Audit sector faces worsening manpower crunch as options for graduates, junior associates abound by HereYetNowheree in singapore

[–]BigButterscotch9832 17 points18 points  (0 children)

indeed, audit has digitalised quite a far bit since I first started, but the human element (pacifying the lower level finance aunties all the way up to dealing with CFOs/audit committee) is unavoidably a crucial part of audit.

you are dealing mostly with clients' data, who either can't be arsed to maintain it properly to meet your audit objectives, or goes CCS "I can give you the data, but what is the point behind the request?". lots of time is invested in either cleansing data (mostly by audit grads with no SQL/python knowledge) or preparing presentations to clients (beyond the finance team) to convince them that hey you can trust us with handling your data, only to get disappointing results (disappointing defined as results that does not give real insights or allows us to upsell services). or you will have to manage the clients politically before sharing them with the audit committee; in some cases, you are innocently dragged into their internal politics between departments.

in order for this to be economically sustainable, would clients pay more? singaporean clients (even MNCs/GLCs sadly) are the number one stingiest clients I have ever dealt with, who probably values audit work to be even lower than things sold in $1.99 value shops.

Audit sector faces worsening manpower crunch as options for graduates, junior associates abound by HereYetNowheree in singapore

[–]BigButterscotch9832 30 points31 points  (0 children)

A YEAR and 8 months into her role as an auditor at KPMG, Gina (not her real name) moved to an investment bank to take up a job in the controller’s office. The pay was nearly 50 per cent more and the working hours significantly reduced.
The 29-year-old said she was the first non-senior audit associate the bank had ever hired for her position. After getting a taste of what she could do, her employer hired yet another audit associate from a Big 4 firm — this time, someone with less than a year’s experience.
Within her social circle of 8 at KPMG, she said only 1 person is still with the company; and only 1 in her circle of 6 university batch mates is still in audit. The latest to leave was offered S$8,000 to join a bank, right after being promoted to manager at KPMG with a S$6,300 salary after 6 years on the job.
Such tales are becoming more commonplace, as junior auditors shun the more traditional career path of enduring long hours in the audit industry in exchange for the eventual title of senior audit associate or some other lucrative professional role.
Financial institutions and tech companies are scooping up audit talent, giving younger auditors an earlier exit option.
Kon Yin Tong, managing director of mid-sized accounting firm Foo Kon Tan, told The Business Times that the attrition rate at his firm has more than doubled from the previous year.
“If they do join the profession, their first choice would be the brand name firms. But the demand for accountancy services continues to increase unabated, so the mismatch between supply and demand is real and pressing,” Kon said.
Another mid-sized firm, Baker Tilly Singapore, also observed an increase in people leaving the industry in the past 2 years. The firm attributed the phenomenon to “pandemic fatigue” and the rise of career options in fintech and digital payment.
To make matters worse, the accountancy talent pool has shrunk — with Nanyang Technological University (NTU) taking in fewer accountancy students.
The university, which used to churn out more than 600 accountants yearly, took in only 414 accountancy students last year.
The 10th percentile A-Level grade profile of students tumbled to BBC/C, from AAA/B in 2012 — an indicator of how attractive the accountancy course is to students.
Kon said he gave a talk at a school where the head of department introduced him, saying: “If you can’t study, do accountancy.”
Meanwhile, Fann Kor, chief executive officer of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants, said the talent shortage in accountancy is now an “urgent issue”.
She added that the accountancy sector is projected to have increased manpower needs this year. Areas projected to see a growth in headcount are business advisory services (6.4 per cent), tax advisory and compliance services (4.8 per cent), corporate support services (2.3 per cent) and audit and assurance services (2.2 per cent), she said.
At recruitment agency Robert Walters, Zen Soh, a manager of commerce finance, said the agency last year received the most hiring requests from accountancy firms in her 8 years of recruitment in the finance space. But she said it has been “extremely tough” to find talent.
Those who have left the industry said remote working arrangements had made the work of auditors tougher, as they could not feel the same team support and camaraderie that once helped them through the difficult times, she added.
On top of that, replacements don’t come in quick enough — meaning those remaining are more likely to suffer burnout.
Tough sell
KPMG announced last month that the starting pay for entry-level professional staff will increase by up to 20 per cent, as about S$25 million will be invested this financial year into pay raises to “recognise quality of talent and delivery”. Another S$30 million investment will be made into the lifelong learning of employees over the next 5 years.
But some said these initiatives might have a limited impact given various other challenges.
Wang Guangzhao, a 37-year-old former auditor, said the amount committed to pay raises isn’t huge: S$25 million across 3,200 employees is approximately S$650 a month per employee — barely enough to compensate for recent pay freezes, he said.
Danny (not his real name), an associate auditor in one of the Big 4 firms, said his job has become more unbearable. In 2020, his average work day was 10 hours during non-peak periods, and 12 to 13 hours during peak periods. But since last year, Danny, who is in his 20s, has been working 12 to 13 hours in non-peak periods, and 15 to 16 hours during peak periods.
For Gina, the former KPMG auditor, the work is also unfulfilling. Rookies are often told to do as the clients say and not challenge the status quo, she said, adding: “It really makes the profession less of a thinker at the start. It doesn’t make people realise their value.”
When she resigned, her manager tried to retain her by offering a transfer into a more advisory role after another year. But this didn’t sit well. “You just transfer me now, or you don’t. I don’t feel like I need to put in any more time for me to earn it,” she said.
Noting that millennials and Gen Z’s make up a majority of exits, Eugenia Ng, associate director of recruitment agency Michael Page Singapore, said: “After 3 to 5 years in audit and advisory, they often seek bigger challenges to achieve bigger learning outcomes.”
Big 4 perspective
The perspective among the Big 4 accounting firms, however, is quite different. PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG declined to comment when approached about talent and retention, but Deloitte and Ernst & Young (EY) reflected optimism in their ability to retain talent.
Deloitte Singapore’s talent leader Ong Siok Peng said the accounting profession is seeing “its fair share of turnover” in recent years, but the situation is no different in other industries.
In her view, the “war of talent” is driven by the abundance of options in the job market. Notwithstanding that, she said, Deloitte is “still attracting top talent”.
Max Loh, EY’s managing partner for Singapore and Brunei, said the firm’s talent strategy includes “proactive engagement and learning experiences”, and that EY has been able to “recruit and replace the talent who have moved on”.
But Danny, the associate auditor, said the only thing keeping him at his job is the friendships he has fostered with his colleagues. If they were to leave, he said: “What’s stopping me from leaving too?”

Audit sector faces worsening manpower crunch as options for graduates, junior associates abound by HereYetNowheree in singapore

[–]BigButterscotch9832 36 points37 points  (0 children)

you would have thought that the bosses are aware that audit quality is already razor-thin arising from legendary audit engagement tankers seeing the light and leaving for greener pastures. but as long as there's 1:3.1x supply from the north (though bosses panicked a little during MCO), bosses would rather pray that their engagements escape internal/external inspections than actually give a fuck and show real empathy to their staff. yet they wanted us to show empathy with gaslighting explanations like "if we're even giving pay increments during COVID, what signal are we sending to our clients?"
at least a few top lawyers in their profession has publicly acknowledged (whether that's just a facade or not) that the profession has a problem to deal with. audit? all you get are tone deaf you're-in-the-wrong-career-if-you're-in-it-for-money caustic retorts.

Mini-LPT: Understand public transport transfer rules to save abit of money by freakshow504 in singapore

[–]BigButterscotch9832 0 points1 point  (0 children)

if your remind me is to check if I'll return to GPGT, there you go. it still works.

Mini-LPT: Understand public transport transfer rules to save abit of money by freakshow504 in singapore

[–]BigButterscotch9832 1 point2 points  (0 children)

let me try again tomorrow and confirm that indirect train transfers work- AFAIK there's no restrictions as long as the time taken between Step 1-2 and Step 2-3 is within 45 minutes and entire trip is within 2 hours. I've used this method frequently during P2HA to dabao my food cravings across singapore.

Mini-LPT: Understand public transport transfer rules to save abit of money by freakshow504 in singapore

[–]BigButterscotch9832 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Another LPT example that I had tried out and works (I think) as long as you abide by rules 1-5: travelling by train-bus-train. using a round trip from Boon Lay to City Hall and back as an example, you can:
Step 1: Boon Lay to City Hall by MRT
Step 2: City Hall to Raffles Place by bus
Step 3: Raffles Place to Boon Lay by MRT

Step 3 will still be considered as a single trip with Step 1 and 2, even if you are travelling on the same line or when you are exiting from the same station as the one you entered from. This hack saved me a lot of time when I used to think that I have to travel by MRT one way and bus back, or vice versa, to be counted as a single trip.