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Faculty
 

The programme will be taught by SMU faculty and industry professionals.

Programme Director :

Themin Suwardy (PhD, Monash University)
Associate Dean (Curriculum and Teaching)
School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University

THEMIN SUWARDY (PhD, Monash University)

Themin Suwardy is Practice Associate Professor at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University. He was formerly a lecturer at Monash University, Australia and has taught both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Financial Accounting, Cost Accounting, Accounting Information Systems and Auditing. He has also consulted a number of businesses in Australia on accounting systems and GST compliance. His main research area is the strategic choice of IT investments and related accounting issues with emerging technologies and markets. He is a member of the Australian Society of Certified Practicing Accountants, Institute of Certified Management Accountants and Australian Computer Society.

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CHOW HWEE KWAN (PhD, London School of Economics)

Chow Hwee Kwan is Practice Associate Professor of Economics and Statistics at the School of Economics, Singapore Management University. She was formerly Lead Economist at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Vice President & Head at Overseas Union Bank, and Senior Lecturer with the Department of Economics, National University of Singapore. She taught Statistics, Financial Economics and Time Series Analysis & Economic Forecasting courses. Her main research areas are Econometric Forecasting, Exchange Rate Management in East Asia, and East Asian Economic & Financial Integration.

Assoc Prof Chow's publications have appeared in international journals such as Journal of Macroeconomics, Economic Letters, Journal of Applied Statistical Science, and Communications in Statistics. She provided consultancy services to ASEAN Secretariat as well as Department of Statistics, Ministry of Trade and Industry. She conducted many training programmes, for various organisations Econometric Studies Unit, Port of Singapore Authority and Civil Service Institute.

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ADEL F DIMIAN (PhD, North Dakota State University)

Adel F Dimian is Practice Associate Professor of Management at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University. He joined SMU after serving nearly 19 years with 3M in varied and increasing responsibilities in technical and business management for worldwide.

As a scientist he was awarded 9 patents for novel chemistry solutions. He is a certified six sigma black belt and master black belt. Adel spent 3 years based in Singapore in regional business development for 3M's Asia electronics portfolio. He was appointed vice president and general manager for 3M's healthcare IT compliance software business in New York City. Adel has worked in the healthcare, memory technology, medical device, commercial brand identity and graphic design, IT, and electronic market segments.

He received his formal education in the sciences, liberal arts, and business administration earning a BS and PhD degrees in chemistry, and an MBA with honors from the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota. His expertise is strategy, innovation, process improvement and general management.

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FOO SEE LIANG (PhD, University of Hull)

Foo See Liang is Practice Associate Professor at the School of Accountancy , Singapore Management University. Prior to joining SMU, See Liang has taught auditing and risk management courses at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels at Nanyang Technological University for several years. See Liang currently serves as Director of a public listed company in Singapore, Chairman of the PSB Academic Board, and member of the Auditing and Assurance Committee of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore (ICPAS). He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and the ICPAS. He was an Audit Manager in an international accounting firm prior to joining academia. He  was previously Co-Chairman of a listed company and Chairman of  its Audit Committee. See Liang has extensive experience in auditing and consulting.  He has conducted auditing and risk management seminars for major organizations and consulting on accounting and auditing issues. See Liang's primary teaching and research interests are in the areas of auditing, corporate governance and risk management.

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HWANG SOO CHIAT (PhD, Macquarie University)

Hwang Soo Chiat is Associate Professor at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University. He has many years of working experience and had held senior appointments in business and finance. Prior to joining SMU, he taught at National University of Singapore and was Associate Professor at Nanyang Technological University. He has extensive experience in consulting and executive teaching and his clients include Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, Civil Service Institute EPC, Institute of Certified Public Accountants (previously known as Singapore Society of Accountants), Marketing Institute of Singapore, Ministry of Finance, Promet Ltd, Singapore Institute of Directors (SID), Singapore Technologies Pte Ltd and Singapore Turf Club. His current research interests are in the use of accounting ratios for prediction of bankruptcy of companies, corporate governance and the changing cultural values in Singapore.

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BENEDICT KOH (PhD, University of Pennsylvania)

Benedict Koh is Practice Associate Professor of Finance and Director of MSc in Applied Finance programme at the Singapore Management University. Prior to joining SMU, Dr Koh was Associate Professor of Finance and Vice Dean of NUS Business School. He has previously worked as a corporate banker at the Chase Manhattan Bank N.A before joining the academia. He was a board member of NUS ASPF Fund, the pension fund of staff at the National University of Singapore from 1996 to 2002.

Assoc Prof Koh actively consults and trains banks, companies and government agencies. Some organisations that he had worked with include the ABN-AMRO bank, Capitaland, Citibank, DBS Bank, Government Investment Corporation of Singapore (GIC), Hong Leong Group Bhd, Johnson & Johnson, JTC International, Keppel Land, NCC, Norsk Hydro Group, Prudential, Royal Brunei Airlines, SIA, SGH and UBS.

Assoc Prof Koh was previously an Associate Editor of the Asia Pacific Journal of Finance. He has written numerous articles that appeared in books, academic journals, Singapore Stock Exchange Journal, investment magazines and newspapers. His book on Personal Financial Planning, published by Prentice Hall, was listed as one of the top 5 best sellers in the non-fiction category. His latest book entitled Managing Your Money is published by McGraw-Hill.

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WINSTON T H KOH (PhD, Princeton University)

Winston Koh is Associate Professor of Economics at the School of Economics , Singapore Management University . Dr Winston Koh was previously with the NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, from 1990 to 1994. From 1994 to 2000, Dr Koh was an investment banker with J.P. Morgan Inc.  In 2000, Winston joined OCBC Bank as a General Manager at the Bank of Singapore, where he was responsible for private equity investments. Dr Koh was also a Director of BOS Venture Management Pte Ltd, OCBC Capital Management Pte Ltd and several other companies.

Dr Koh is a recipient of the Lee Kuan Yew Fellowship for Excellence in Research in 2003, at Singapore Management University His current research interests include investment management in global financial markets, economics of information and collective choice, and industry competition and market structure. In 2005, he co-edited a book on “The Economic Prospects of Singapore,” in celebration of Singapore 's 40 years of nationhood.

Dr Koh is actively involved in consulting and executive development programs. Some of the institutions that he has consulted and taught for included the Allianz Group, Asian Productivity Organization, Economic Development Board of Singapore, International Development Research Centre (Canada), Ministry of Finance of Singapore, National Science and Technology Board of Singapore, Resource Development Corporation (Singapore), Singapore Government Investment Corporation, and Temasek Management Services Pte Ltd.

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ANDREW LEE (PhD, New York University)

Andrew Lee is Practice Associate Professor at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University. He has more than 16 years of experience in the financial services industry as well as academia. His industry experience covers corporate banking, credit risk analysis, bond ratings, and structured credit products. Prior to joining SMU, Assoc Prof Lee held various senior analyst appointments at DBS Bank, Standard & Poor's, UBS Warburg, and the former Banque Paribas. At DBS Bank, Assoc Prof Lee headed the fixed income credit unit of the corporate credit group responsible for evaluating and monitoring the credit risk of the bank's global corporate bond investment portfolio. At Standard & Poor's, Assoc Prof Lee was a senior regional analyst for corporate ratings covering the telecom, media and technology sectors in Asia. In addition to his industry experience, Assoc Prof Lee also previously taught at the Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University, where he was Senior Lecturer in Banking & Finance. Assoc Prof Lee has extensive experience in executive teaching, consulting, and speaking at institutional seminars and conferences. He has also appeared on media interviews and his professional opinion on various topical issues has been quoted by Bloomberg, Business Times, CFO Asia, ChannelNews Asia, CNBC, Dow Jones, Lianhe Zaobao, and Straits Times. Assoc Prof Lee holds a PhD degree in accounting from New York University , and is also a Fellow Certified Public Accountant (FCPA) of Singapore. His current research and consulting interests are in corporate performance evaluation, credit risk analysis, employee stock option valuation and expensing, and intangible asset accounting & valuation. Assoc Prof Lee currently serves as a member of the editorial board of advisors of CFO Asia (a publication of The Economist Group) as well as a member of the Accounting Standards Committee and Financial Statements Review Committee of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore.

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LEONG KWONG SIN (MComs, University of Canterbury)

Leong Kwong Sin is Associate Professor of Accounting at the Singapore Management University. Prior to joining academia, he had worked in Management and Systems Accounting with a multinational conglomerate. In academia, spanning SU, NUS, NTU, and then SMU, Assoc Prof Leong had taught in both undergraduate and MBA programmes. His administrative appointments include, chronologically, founding Deputy Director of the Entrepreneurship Development Centre (ENDEC), Director of the MIT-NTU Collaboration Programme, Head, Division of Actuarial Science & Insurance; Head, Division of Financial & Management Accounting; member of the initial planning team for SMU; and Vice-President, Finance and HR at SMU. His current research interests include accounting disclosure, accounting education, and corporate governance.

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LOW KEE YANG (PhD, University of London)

Low Kee Yang is Associate Professor of Law and Deputy Dean, School of Law, Singapore Management University. He holds an LLB from the NUS, and an LLM and Ph D from King's College, University of London. After working as a legal manager in the Singapore office of an international law firm, he joined the academia. Before joining SMU, Assoc Prof Low was Head of Business Law at Nanyang Technological University. He was also the founder-editor of the Asia Business Law Review. His book publications include The Law of Guarantees in Singapore and Malaysia, and The Executive's Guide to Business and Law. He is also the editor of the forthcoming 2006 Reissue of Halsbury's Laws of Singapore, Volume 6 (Companies, LLPs). Over the years, Assoc Prof Low has conducted executive training for many organisations and companies, including DBS Bank, the Institute of Banks in Malaysia , the Enterprise Promotion Centre and Singapore Power. His current research interests are in the Law of Guarantees, Corporate Law and Commercial Law.

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SUM YEE LOONG (Partner, Deloitte & Touche)

Sum Yee Loong has specialised in taxation since qualifying as an accountant in the U.K. He has over 17 years of experience in Singapore taxation. Yee Loong has substantial experience serving multi-national companies and local corporate clients including financial institutions. He provides advisory tax services to these corporate clients and his specialties include corporate structuring & restructuring, restructuring for IPO, acquisition & mergers and international tax planning. He is active in providing strategies and leading tax review teams to create and identify tax saving opportunities for both corporate and individual clients. He also advises and provides tax opinions on cross-border transactions and structured finance. Yee Loong is also active in advising and negotiating for tax incentives for various corporate clients. Yee Loong was Associate Professor (Adjunct) at the Nanyang Technological University lecturing Taxation to undergraduates and Advance Taxation to post-graduate students till 2003. Yee Loong has been member of the Taxation & Levies Committee of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore since 1989. He is examiner for the Advance Taxation Paper (Singapore Variant) of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (UK). He was also previous examiner for the Taxation Paper (Singapore Law) for the Institute of Chartered Management Accountants and Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.

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GILBERT TAN (PhD, University of Pittsburgh)

Gilbert Tan is Practice Associate Professor of Management, Singapore Management University. He has extensive experience in consulting and executive teaching. Currently, he is Principal Consultant, IC² Training Consultancy Pte Ltd. He has provided consultancy services and training to companies and organizations such as CPG Laboratories Pte Ltd, Vietnam Brewery Ltd, Mei Shan Hospital (Mei Shan, China ) on Hospital Management, Macau Executive Management Development Program (Macau Civil Service), Asia-Pacific Breweries (S) Pte Ltd and American Standard, Shanghai. Assoc Prof Tan had served as co-editor of Singapore Management Review (1997-1999) and reviewed papers for Asia Pacific Journal of Management and Research & Practice in Human Resource Management. His research interests are in Human Resource Development & Pro-creativity leadership and Human Resource Management & Business Ethics.

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PEARL TAN (PhD, University of Queensland)

Pearl Tan is Practice Associate Professor at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University. Prior to joining SMU, Assoc Prof Tan had taught advanced accounting courses at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels at Nanyang Technological University for several years. She also has had extensive experience in auditing and was an Audit Manager in an international accounting firm prior to joining academia. Besides being a Fellow Certified Public Accountant (Non-practising member) of Singapore and Australia, Assoc Prof Tan holds a Masters degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a PhD degree from the University of Queensland. Her primary teaching and research interests are in the areas of financial reporting standards and corporate governance. She has also co-written reports and made recommendations to the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore, Disclosure and Accounting Standards Committee, the Council on Corporate Disclosure and Governance and the Annual Report Award Committee. She has conducted accounting seminars for major organizations and also provided advice on accounting issues.

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TAN TECK MENG (MComs, University of New South Wales)

Tan Teck Meng is Professor at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University . He was the Chairman of a Task Force to study the setting up of the first private university in Singapore, Singapore Management University (SMU). He became SMU's first appointee and was appointed as its first Provost and Deputy President from March 1998 to August 2001. Besides his academic and professional qualifications, he was awarded an Honorary PhD by Liaoning University (China) and appointment the Honorary Professor of Dongbei University of Finance and Economics (China), and Liaoning Administration College (China). In 2001 he was a Visiting Professor to Cranfield University, UK. Prof Tan was previously the Dean of the School of Accountancy and Business (SAB), at Nanyang Technological University . During his tenure, he transformed the former Accountancy School into a full-fledged Business School through the establishment of a number of specialized undergraduate business degrees; the MBA programmes and the PhD by research as well as PhD (Business) by coursework. He founded of the Journal of Enterprising Culture where he served as its Editor-in-Chief and set up the Nanyang Technological University Entrepreneurship Development Centre in 1988, to provide consulting and training programmes to small and medium-sized enterprises.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of four Singapore listed companies and serves as Chairman of the Audit Committee in two of them.

Prof Tan is a Fellow Certified Public Accountant, Singapore; Fellow Certified Public Accountant, Australia; Fellow Chartered Institute of Secretaries and Administrators, UK; and Fellow Chartered Institute of Management, UK .

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JOHN JOSEPH WILLIAMS (PhD, Pennsylvania State University)

John Joseph Williams is Practice Associate Professor at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University. Assoc Prof Williams received a BCom (Hon) and an MBA from the University of Alberta (Canada), and a PhD from The Pennsylvania State University (USA) in 1978. He has taught and carried out research projects in several countries including Canada, USA, Kenya, and Singapore. Throughout the latter 1980s, Assoc Prof Williams served as Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Final Accreditation Exam Board for the Society of Management Accountants of Canada and was conferred Fellowship in the Society in 1992. He has consulted for government agencies in the U.S. and Canada, published extensively in leading academic and professional journals, and was instrumental in producing the 20-book Nanyang Business Report Series published and distributed worldwide by Prentice Hall. While devoted to teaching advanced accounting theory, as well as managerial accounting in graduate programs, Assoc Prof Williams remains active in empirical research involving the design of highly reliable organizations and the development of strategies for resilient organization control structures.

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JAMES C WONG (Managing Director, JCW Consultants)

James Wong received an MBA in international business and finance from the University of Southern California and is a US CPA, certified in Texas and California. He is currently a doctoral candidate at RMIT University for the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree.

James has been an educator and an independent consultant since August 2004. He is on the adjunct faculty at the School of Accountancy , Singapore Management University , and provides business risk/control, internal audit and other financial and management advisory services through his own consulting firm.

Prior to that, James has more than 25 years experience in business risk/control projects and auditing. During this period, he developed first hand experience in business risk/control issues from multiple perspectives arising from his experiences and roles in auditing (both external and internal); corporate controllership and treasury; and business risk/control consulting while with an international accounting firm and in industry.

Current professional memberships include the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and The Institute of Internal Auditors.

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Last updated on 26 December, 2008 by School of Accountancy.