SINGAPORE SOCIETY OF ACCOUNTANTS (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

4.09 p.m.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance (Mr Tang See Chim): Mr Speaker, Sir,I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

The Singapore Society of Accountants Ordinance was passed in 1963 to register and regulate the conduct of all accountants and to maintain professional and ethical standards in the profession. This Ordinance gave, for the first time, recognition to locally-trained accountants and accorded them professional status.

The Society had a membership of 226 when it was first constituted. By the end of 1969, the membership increased to 708. Based on the experience in operating under the Ordinance over the last six years, the Society had made recommendations for amendments to the Ordinance, which recommendations have been accepted by the Government.

In brief, Mr Speaker, Sir, this Bill seeks to amend the Ordinance to provide for the following:

(a) an increase in the number of elected Council members from eight to 16;

(b) Council members to serve for a term of two years, with half the number retiring each year;

(c) an increase in the number to form a quorum for Council meetings from seven to 12 members;

(d) to enable the Accountant-General to nominate an alternate to attend Council meetings;

(e) to replace the representative of the Singapore Polytechnic on the Council by a representative of the University of Singapore.

The Council, as at present constituted, consists of eight elected members (four from Public Accountants and four from Registered Accountants) and three statutory councillors. The proposed amendment is to increase the number of elected members from eight to 16 in order to give better representation, as the membership of the Society has grown more than three times since 1963.

Hitherto, Council members retire at the end of one year. For the purpose of continuity, provision is now made to require Council members to serve for a term of two years, with half retiring each year.

With the enlargement of the number of elected Council members, the quorum for Council meetings should accordingly be increased from the existing seven to the proposed 12 members.

Now that the Department of Accountancy has been transferred from the Singapore Polytechnic to the University of Singapore, the representative of the Singapore Polytechnic on the Council should, therefore, be replaced by a representative of the University of Singapore.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Mr Tang See Chim].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.