AN Ernst & Young partner has made history in the accounting profession by becoming the first non-European to be elected International President of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in the organisation's 99-year history.
In May, Sam Wong, a partner with Ernst & Young in Hong Kong, was elected to the top post of the world's largest and fastest growing global professional accountancy body.
He will be visiting Jamaica to attend the 21st Caribbean Conference of Accountants, organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean, to be held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel June 26-28. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica, in partnership with the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation, will host the event.
With 300,000 students and members in 160 countries, the ACCA is one of the most respected and influential accounting bodies in the Caribbean and the world. According to a release from Ernst & Young Jamaica, "Mr. Wong's appointment comes, however, at a time when the profession is working on restoring its public image." As ACCA president he says "we want all our members to recognise that they are standard-bearers for the quality and excellence for which ACCA is now well recognised."
The release said Ernst & Young views this election as an important step towards that goal, and an extension of the company's own emphasis on "quality in everything we do".
Jorge Diaz, Managing Partner of Ernst & Young Caribbean, agrees with Mr. Wong that his election sends a strong signal to the world that "high standards in professional services are not confined to particular regions or countries, which is something we strive to prove every day in our interactions with our clients."
Speaking from his Kingston office, Mr. Diaz said "our firm globally has 106,000 people in 140 countries, all committed to restoring the public's trust in professional services firms and the quality of financial reporting by getting the right information, making the right judgements and taking the right actions. We at Ernst & Young Caribbean, as part of that global family, seeing one of our own entrusted with this kind of responsibility at this time, tells us that our efforts to set a high global standard are taking effect."
Mr. Wong holds an MBA from the University of Bradford in the UK. He joined Ernst & Young in 1979 as a trainee auditor and became a partner in 1993. Since 1993, he has also held leadership positions within the ACCA at the local and international levels.
