DPM Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the launch of the Deloitte University (Asia Pacific) on 27 June 2016

Mr Punit Renjen, Deloitte Global CEO
Mr Yoichiro Ogawa, Deloitte Asia Pacific Regional Managing Director
Mr Chaly Mah, Former CEO, Deloitte Asia Pacific and Southeast Asia
Mr Philip Yuen, Deloitte SEA and Singapore CEO
Mr Ko Asami, Deloitte University Asia-Pacific Dean
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,   

Introduction

I am delighted to be here at the launch of the Deloitte University (Asia Pacific). It marks a significant milestone in the long-standing partnership between Deloitte and Singapore. For Deloitte, this is a critical extension of your network of universities in Texas and Brussels, bringing your model of customised learning to your people in this part of the world.

It is also well-aligned with how we are growing our human capital in Singapore, as the fundamental pillar of our social and economic development. Through SkillsFuture, we are providing people at every of their careers with opportunities to acquire skills, to develop mastery of their craft or profession, and to renew themselves.

Over the years, we have also devoted considerable resources to nurture a vibrant talent ecosystem. It includes world-renowned business schools such as INSEAD and ESSEC, and institutions such as the Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI), which undertakes human capital research and partners companies to develop Asia-ready leaders. It also includes a growing base of leading corporate universities set up by Unilever, BASF, and now Deloitte.

This growing cluster of corporate universities in Singapore is itself an advantage. It brings together global best practices in leadership and talent development from a range of fields, and new strands in curriculum development and delivery.

In siting your campus here, Deloitte will be able to foster thick partnerships with other players, to design an Asian‑focused but globally-relevant curriculum. These programmes can allow participants to better understand  the distinct  nuances of doing business in Asia.  They can also equip leaders with the skills to manage innovation and disruption, and to marshall new technologies to enhance the audit process.

I understand that the consistent philosophy underpinning curriculum development at all Deloitte University campuses has been that these programmes should be “leaders-led”, where Deloitte’s partners themselves play a leading role in training by sharing the knowledge that comes from their own business terrains.

I understand over 1,000 participants are expected to participate in DUAP programmes in FY17 alone. Many Singaporeans in Deloitte will benefit from learning alongside their global counterparts to hone their technical knowledge, and becoming Asia‑ready business advisors.

Move towards advanced audit analytics

The launch of this campus has come at an opportune time, considering the nature of technology disruption confronting many sectors, including the professional services sector. The audit sector is one which can leverage new technologies to develop new capabilities in advanced audit analytics. Technology, such as big data analytics and machine learning, will have significant disruptions and opportunities for this sector.

1. First, even in the accountancy profession, there is a significant amount of routine and repetitive tasks, which are hence automatable. At the same time, interpersonal skills, which are immensely difficult for machines to replace, remain as important as before.  

2. We must therefore expect an unbundling and re-bundling of skills needed in every occupation.

3. And along with that, the need for continuous and often intensive corporate training.

4. There is however a positive angle to this, not merely defensive. There is a huge potential to enrich work, liberate employees to focus on more interesting tasks, and deliver greater value. 

5. As more businesses become digitalised or go online, the surge of organizational and transactional data cannot be tackled by conventional auditing approaches.  Advanced audit analytics, which relies on data analytics and smart algorithms, will allow for mining of massive data sets, to deliver smaller sets of high-value data for auditors to evaluate. 

6. The auditor can hence improve both audit quality as well as business insights
   
   ^[1]
   
   .  The role of the auditor then becomes more strategic and insight-driven, and less to do with of checking and cross-footing.

Deloitte is already a leader in this area of advanced analytics.  For example, you have recently developed machine learning tools like Argus to complement the work of your audit workforce and help them improve productivity.  Argus helps identify and extract key accounting information from any electronic document, which historically has been a time-consuming process.  It is an example of the technologies that enable auditors and data scientists to derive robust and relevant insights for clients.  Those who can adapt nimbly to these new trends will be able to draw on their years of experience and move up the value chain into areas of strategic risk advisory and corporate governance.   

Deepening capabilities in Singapore

This University is hence timely in developing capabilities and skills relevant for the Asian market and staying ahead of disruptive trends. 

It will add to and strengthen the partnerships Deloitte has developed with Singapore over the years, to develop deep capabilities and talent in Singapore. 

1. In 2011, Deloitte and the Singapore Economic Development Board jointly launched the Deloitte Analytics Institute (Asia), which develops and commercialises predictive analytics solutions, supporting member firms globally in business analytics capabilities.

2. In 2015, the Deloitte Risk Innovation Centre was launched, focusing on Cyber Risk, Future Healthcare and Smart Governance.

Deloitte also has a good programme to develop Singaporeans through exposure to overseas job assignments, and other mobility or secondment programmes. It takes employees to other Deloitte offices worldwide, including 24 offices in Southeast Asia itself.

Conclusion 

DUAP, here in Singapore, will serve Deloitte’s diverse business, innovation and talent needs. It also adds to, and I am sure benefits from, Singapore’s efforts to be a place where commercial, technological and leadership solutions are developed for the Asia-Pacific. I congratulate Deloitte for your foresight in making this investment, and am glad we are partnering you on this journey.

[1] For example, auditors historically use samples of contracts/transactions.  Using big data analytics, they could now quickly analyze the whole population instead of samples and improve reliability of insights.  Aside from new insights from a richer data pool, faster turn-around could also enable more continuous audit processes.  See for eg : http://dupress.com/articles/audit-analytics-cognitive-technology-artific...

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