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Are SG bosses too cheap to know the FTs they’re hiring?
An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/05/09...theyre-hiring/ Are SG bosses too cheap to know the FTs they’re hiring? May 9th, 2015 | Author: Contributions After witnessing events that have unfolded in my beloved country of Singapore during the last few years, I am of the opinion that many Singapore employers just lack simple basic common sense. So common sense may not be so common after all. Here’s why. Recently a Filipino friend of an acquaintance of mine (who was in Singapore for a holiday) casually mentioned this to my friend. He noted that somehow many Filipinos from the lower end Universities (or tertiary institutions) from the Philippines do not seem to have any problems in getting well paid jobs in Singapore. He was actually impressed that a tiny little red dot like Singapore with only a population 5 million can create so many jobs for so many people (not just its own citizens but also citizens of other countries). After conversing with him, I began to understand why. In the Philippines, they have about 280 universities or tertiary institutions serving a population of 100 million people compared to 4 universities in Singapore serving a population of 5 million people. So in the Philippines, they have something like their own version of Ivy League Universities. It is their own way of ranking the best universities in their country. After some time, employers usually know which are the good and prestigious universities, which universities are considered average or below acceptable standards. This will have an impact on the graduates and their career prospects. So if a person graduates from a prestigious University with a degree in accounting (for argument sake) he/she will not have any problems in finding employment with a prestigious accounting firm like SGV & Co or any of the big 4 accounting firms. Maybe after working for a few years this person might end up with a well-paid job with another large American MNC or oil company. There are some MNCs in the Philippines whose hiring policy meant that they will only employ graduates from certain top Universities for certain positions. Of course, if you graduate from one of the lowly-ranked Universities, you might still find a job with these MNCs, perhaps as accounts clerk or data entry operator but never as accounting manager or accountant. So for the Filipinos who graduated from prestigious Universities, they will usually stay behind in their own country and work their way up the corporate ladder. After all, they have a career ahead of them in their own country. So why take the risk and go to a foreign country where costs of living is so high and other issues are so uncertain? For those Filipinos who graduated from the lowly ranked universities, they know that if they stay back in the Philippines, they will get a job but they will never have a career. So what is there to lose? Take a risk and try greener pastures in this tiny red dot called Singapore. Who knows? You might make it big. After all, it seems that some Singapore employers can be quite ignorant. Very often, I heard of situations where Singapore employers will prefer to employ a Filipino over a Singaporean just because he/she is cheaper than a Singaporean. In many instances, it is almost half the price. For some Singapore employers, they naively believed that all accounting degrees are the same. However that is not the case. =>>> 60%: OK lah! Right now, we are living in a world where Accountants need to have working knowledge of International Financial Reporting Standards, keep themselves updated and abreast with the latest developments in taxation, GST and changes in legislation. All these will have an impact on the way financial transactions are recorded in the accounting books and disclosed. Furthermore if you are involved in international trade, you need to be aware of all the changes in tax legislation worldwide such as the recent issues concerning transfer pricing, changes in INCOTERMS and so forth. However it seems that many Singapore employers just have difficulties in understanding this. They will employ a Filipino to do accounting work, simply because he/she is cheaper than Singaporeans. These Filipinos may have an accounting or business degree but they usually do not have any working knowledge of the GST or companies legislation in Singapore. However it seems that this will not have an impact on Singapore employers. Either they do not know or they do not care. It is like they are just out there shopping and looking for the cheapest bargain. Remember. If something is cheap, it may not be good. If it is good, chances are, it is not cheap. Before I continue, I would like to make my position clear. I am not xenophobic. I have a lot of respect for some Filipinos myself too. I remember that during the 1980s, while working in the audit department of SGV-Goh Tan & Co, I had the opportunity to work under some audit supervisors from the Philippines and they were really good. They knew their job really well and got things done. So it is hard to generalize that all Filipinos are good or bad. It was only some years later that I found out that those Filipinos (that I worked with in SGV- Goh Tan & Co) graduated from well-known prestigious universities in the Philippines. If they had graduated from lowly-ranked universities, they will probably be working as cashiers in supermarkets or bank tellers. So this is my sincere suggestion to all Singapore employers out there. If you want to employ a Filipino because he or she is cheaper than Singaporeans, just do a few simple things. Firstly verify if the successful incumbent did graduate from the University that he or she claims. You can do so by writing an email to the University’s registrar or sighting their original university degree . Secondly check the ranking of that University in the overall ranking of Universities in the Philippines. You can do so by Googling or searching in Wikipedia. If the university that your successful incumbent graduated from is lowly-ranked, think twice. Thirdly, you may want to test his or her knowledge. If this person graduated with an accounting degree, perhaps get a qualified accountant or your own external accountant to test his or her knowledge in accounting and other issues (if applicable). It is better to be safe than sorry. Remember. If you employ an unqualified accountant, he/she might (in Singlish) “anyhow do their accounting work”. Maybe by the time the damage is done, it may be irreversible or may be too expensive to undo. JY TAN * The author is a qualified accountant in Singapore now in his fifties. Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com. |
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