Bank Negara Malaysia 2015 Report

Highlights of Bank Negara Malaysia's Annual Report 2015

23 March 2016 | Source: Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 (Bernama) -- Following are the highlights of the 2015 Bank Negara Malaysia Annual Report:

* Economy to expand by 4 per cent and 4.5 per cent in 2016 driven mainly by domestic demand (2015: 5 pct)

* Bank Negara Malaysia declares dividend payout of RM3 billion to the government for the year 2015

* The services and manufacturing sector expected to grow at a moderate rate of 4.4 per cent and 4.1 per cent, respectively, in 2016 (2015 : 5.1 pct and 4.9 pct, respectively)

* Mining and quarrying and construction to see an expansion of 3.5 per cent and 7.9 per cent, respectively, in 2016 (2015 : 4.7 pct and 8.2 pct, respectively)

* Agriculture sector to contract marginally by -0.3 per cent in 2016, largely due to lower palm oil yields following the hot and dry weather conditions brought about by the strong El-Nino weather phenomenon (2015: 1 pct)

* Gross exports are forecast to expand by 2.4 per cent in 2016, sustained by a modest improvement in demand from advanced economies and continued growth in regional economies (2015: 1.9 per cent)

* Gross import growth is projected to increase to 4.9 per cent in 2016 (2015: 0.4 per cent)

* Private consumption to growth is projected to moderate to 5.1 per cent in 2016 (2015: 6 pct)

* Private investment growth is projected to trend below its long-term average and grow by 5.5 per cent in 2016

* Headline inflation is projected to be higher at 2.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent in 2016 (2015: 2.1 pct)

* Public consumption growth is expected to moderate to 2 per cent in 2016, reflecting mainly the lower spending on supplies and services given the government's commitment to more prudent spending under the current uncertain environment

* Public investment is projected to turn around to register a positive growth of 1.1 per cent

* Consumer spending to be affected by an environment of higher prices and greater uncertainty but remain supported by continued income and employment growth

* Private investment to trend below long-term average in 2016, however, growth remains supported by on-going and new investments, particularly in the manufacturing sector

* While ringgit has strengthened in recent months, volatility is likely to persist going forward

* Total assets of Bank Negara Malaysia amounted to RM440.6 billion with international reserves of RM409.1 billion (US$95.3 billion)

* International reserves are adequate to provide a buffer against external shocks and facilitate international transactions

* Banking system surplus liquidity remained high at RM178.3 billion as at January 2016

* Malaysia's external debt stood at RM833.7 billion, equivalent to US$192.2 billion or 72.1 per cent of GDP as at end of 2015 (2014: RM747.1 per cent of GDP)

* The current account surplus may be lower at RM19.1 billion or 1-2 per cent of Gross National Income in 2016, on account of lower goods surplus and wider income deficits

* The unemployment rate may increase slightly but is expected to remain low at around 3.3 per cent and 3.5 per cent (2015: 5.7 pct)

* Malaysia's population to increase to 31.4 million in 2016 (2015 : 31 million)

Source: 
http://www.mltic.my/general/news/highlights-of-bank-negara-malaysias-annual-report-2015-MY15463.html

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OBU - ACCA related

The following question posted by Jahnvi 

Hi, 

I request you that if you could please try and help me out, It will be of great help if you can contribute any relevant information you have regarding my queries as below;

Firstly, I want to go to Canada during september, 2016 for further studies after I am done with the 9 ACCA papers, that is in June, 2016 and I shall as well apply for the OBU degree, which hopefully if I pass, I shall be awarded with it on 21st September, 2016. (Period 31)

Since there are no universities or institutions that teach ACCA in Canada, therefore, I will need to opt in for a bachelor’s degree, but I will if all goes fine, I will have a OBU degree in September, but it will be late because I will need to have applied before If I wish to join for September intake to give time for student visa procedures as well.

Therefore, my question is, should I wait for January, 2017, & apply for masters after this degree or should I try and get admissions in another degree and try to claim transfer credits/ exemptions because bachelor’s are 4 years. Regarding masters, I am unaware if I will be eligible for masters after this degree because their system is totally different, as their requirements are very many, they need 4 years bachelor’s, 150 credit hours!! Which I don’t know if the OBU is equivalent to or not! Plus most even need 2 year work experience which unfortunately I lack. As well I am sure they won’t give me a direct entry, because I will have to study some courses like their tax and law papers before masters And the list just goes on!

Hence, please suggest me what should I consider doing? Another bachelor’s or I wait until 2017 and apply for masters, I dont even know if OBU degree is of any value in Canada or not, anyones in canada who’s really got knowledge about this, please share any information or advice because I am really confused. Or should I apply in another country if not Canada?! Any ideas or advises on what I can do will be of great help.

Thank you

Answered by trephena

@Jahnvi – well done for thinking ahead.

You have highlighted a problem area – the OBU degree is not recognised everywhere and neither is ACCA in the USA and most of Canada. Obviously you don’t really want to spend time and have to re-study the same subjects to just get the North American equivalent of what you already have. So this may call for an ‘out of the box’ solution.

I think you really need to stand back and ask yourself where realistically do you see yourself career-wise in 5 or 6 years time? What do you really want to do with your life and career? I don’t want to be a scaremongerer but I found the attached quite interesting

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34066941

The inevitable fact is that many who are currently training as accountants will find themselves in the Western world at best struggling to find work and at worst replaced by artificial intelligence. The real survivors will be those with specialisms that artificial intelligence will find hard to replicate.

So my advice is to develop new skills and qualifications rather than mere alternatives that are basically the same as what you have or hope to have in a year’s time. The other thing to remember is that just because you intend to live in Canada doesn’ t mean you have to physically study there unless your mind is firmly set on being a CPA. Personally I think an MBA or other appropriate masters degree would advance your long term career prospects and this could be done distance learning. Choosing a distance learning Masters from a UK University solves the recognition problem. Another recommendation is going for the CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner) qualification. ACCA is recognised by ACFE and if you wanted to do a Masters subsequently you could choose one that include aspects of criminology such as forensic accounting, fraud management or financial investigations. These types of specialist investigative roles are likely to increase going forward and unlikely ever (at least in the foreseeable future) to be replaced by machines

Source:Canada Visa
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ACCA to ICAEW to ICAA route

ACCA to ICAEW to ICAA route

For those who wish to hold more than one (1) professional body memberships, this is the post you should check before proceeding.

A lot of people are asking :

(i) Can i become ICAEW member if I have ACCA member?

(ii) How can I become ICAA member after ACCA member?

(iii) How many exemptions can I get from ICAEW if I am ACCA member?

So.... like you all, I wish to gain more than 1 professional body memberships. I've did research and these are the information I can gathered for those students or members who wish to pursue additional memberships after ACCA.

However you need to know this first, you got to have ACCA membership in order to go further than where you are right now. That means you need to complete 14 gruesome exam papers, obtained 3 hell-bend work experience and 14 Practical Experience (9 Essentials and 4 Options), and paid GBP 221 admission fee. I assume you did your research on ACCA membership and obtained the ACCA membership too.

Eventhough, the ACCA memberships (180,000 members encounting.....) had overtook ICAEW memberships in numbers; this means ACCA has more recognition than ICAEW. However, employers are still perceiving ICAEW as more prestigious than ACCA.

NOW.......

Once you've obtained ACCA membership, then you have to register yourself as ACA student.

ACCA students and affiliates - How to register as an ACA student

FIRST STEP, in order to join ICAEW, you’ll need to complete formal ACA training. You can register in two ways:

(a) Registering as a student in a training agreement – This applies if you have been offered an ICAEW training agreement with an ICAEW authorised training employer (ATE) at the time of registration. Students must have their training office number to complete registration. If they are not already authorised, your company can become an authorised training employer. It’s a free and straightforward process. Alternatively, if your manager or any other senior manager in your company is a qualified accountant, they may be eligible to become an authorised training principal.

(b) Registering as an Independent student – This applies if you have not yet secured a training agreement with an ICAEW ATE. You would be unable to gain any practical work experience as an independent student until you have secured an ICAEW training agreement. Independent students are required to fund their own studies and their registration fee must be paid upon registering and must be paid on a calendar yearly basis. In order to complete your registration, you must also email copies of your qualifications to applications@icaew.com.

SECOND, you go claim the maximum exam exemptions. As an ACCA student or affiliate you may be exempt from up to 12 of these exams by applying for Credit for Prior Learning (CPL). Bear in mind that you can only claim maximum of 12 papers (Passing P6 and P7 in ACCA)

Currently ACCA students and affiliates are able to claim credits free of charge providing registration and CPL application has been received by 30 September 2016 as follows (TABLE 1):

Subject	Qualifiers and criteria
Accounting	ACCA Membership
Assurance	ACCA Membership
Audit and Assurance	ACCA Membership and P7 Advanced Audit and Assurance
Business and Finance	ACCA Membership
Business Planning: Taxation	ACCA Membership and P6 Advanced Taxation
Business Strategy	ACCA Membership
Financial Accounting and Reporting	ACCA Membership
Financial Management	ACCA Membership
Law	ACCA Membership
Management Information	ACCA Membership
Principles of Taxation	ACCA Membership
Tax Compliance	ACCA Membership and P6 Advanced Taxation

Now you'll have 2 Advanced level papers and 1 case study to complete the whole ICAEW course.

Last, you need to tick off the checklist.

You are required to fulfill the requirements in order to become member of ICAEW, as below:

(i) registered as ACA student and claim 12 papers of exemption as stated in the above TABLE 1;

(ii) then passing last 2 final Advanced level papers (Business Strategy, Business Reporting) and a Case Study (3 out of 15 papers, not too difficult right??);

(iii) 2 years of experience requirements under ICAEW firm.

Hence, you can claim reciprocal agreement between ICAEW and ICAA via ICAEW-ICAA mutual-recognition agreement. Otherwise, reciprocal agreement cannot be claimed.

And NO, you MUST fulfill all the above requirements or else you would not get the ICAEW membership! Stop asking "what-if" (ie. did some articleship or no practical experience). ICAEW not founded by your parents, so wake up and smell the reality!

There is another way to claim ICAEW membership

Student who has passed all the examinations required for membership of professional accountancy bodies recognised under the European Union's Directive 2005/36/EC or Directive 2006/43/EC. Or you are a Member of the followings:

- Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA),

- Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA)

- Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand (NZICA)

- Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe (ICAZ)

- South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA)

are eligible to apply for reciprocal membership under clause 12 of the Supplemental Royal Charter. Similar arrangements apply to Members of professional accountancy bodies recognised under the European Union's Directive 2005/36/EC or Directive 2006/43/EC.

Furthermore, ICAA Hand Book states:

"209.4 An applicant shall have been admitted to the overseas accounting body by the usual education and professional examination requirements, not by special recognition or any other mutual recognition agreement. 

209.5 An applicant shall have professional experience of not less than three (3) years in the case of an applicant who has graduated from a tertiary institution, or five (5) years in any other case."

Therefore you are a eligible to apply as a member of ICAA once obtained ICAEW membership.

WHAT IF I DON'T HAVE P6 ADVANCED TAXATION IN ACCA?

Well then you can either take 1 extra paper in ICAEW or you can write in ACCA to take additional exam (yeah you can do that eventhough you have passed all 14 papers and obtained membership) hence, passing the P6 will allow you to claim extra ICAEW exemption.

Source:

ICAEW

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ACCA Exam Tips

Good morning,


2.1 Preparation Tips

Except for core papers, research the optional papers before deciding. Now, people normally would decide papers based on their job specialization. For example, if you are doing accounting & tax, you would take P6. I don't actually recommend this practice because be reminded the new ruling is 7 years to complete P papers, it might seem to be enough but I have seen people failing P-level paper (single) for numerous times, including myself : ) . So, just pick the option papers that you are confident with. Also, dont be afraid to switch papers but this need to be use with EXTREME CAUTION, I dont want to be held responsible. So, dont quote me on that.

After deciding what to sit, prepare your resources.The most critical resources are listed below:

1. Study text (backbone of your study material) - BPP (highly recommended), Kaplan and GTG also not bad. But it seems like GTG is shrinking, I used to like their P3 and P7 books.

2. Revision Kit (A must for practice) - BPP (highly recommended). I have never used other publisher. So, cant comment.

3. Your own personalized notes - depends on your style, I like to do my own summarized notes based on study text because I dont want to freak myself out during exam by seeing the wall of text.







Another important preparation is to know the examiner, you need to know your enemy before going into battle. Few ways to know your examiner, read examiner comments which can be found in ACCA web, read all the technical articles, surf opentuition.com (some top students will post tips there) and discuss with friends who have pass their papers recently.


2.2 Study tips


Consistency, study with consistency. I can say this, last minute study in ACCA will not work. Consistency here means, every week, you must be putting some input into your brain.

Usually, my plan is to familiarize a subject in the 1st - 3rd month. Then, 4th and 5th is usually practice and fixing weaknesses and loopholes.

Create your own personalized notes, making use of abbreviation, mnemonics, mind mapping and other study techniques you are comfortable.

After familiarizing, make sure you practice past year questions and ample practice via revision kit (at least 70% of the total questions).

Besides practice, you need to recall your subjects regularly. That's why you need a summary notes because P-level is very memory, fact-driven and theory intensive. Just like P5 examiner said, equivalent to a Master's degree with the exception you are writing your thesis in the exam hall with a time constraint of 3 hours 15 minutes. So, your research and inputs must be stored in your brain before exam : ) .




2.3 Exam tips


Exam tips is more towards health.

1. One week before exam, relax, exercise, go for movies. Don't let issues affect your emotional state. If you are in a relationship, tell your gf/bf to gtfo for the week or two until exam is done. Healthy mind, physical and emotion are important.

2. Before exam, I highly recommend avoiding caffeinated drinks because you are going to feel exhausted after 2 hours consuming caffeine. Highly recommend drinking FRESH FRUIT JUICES, good energy booster especially when you need to write a lot to increase your chance of passing.

3. Please go to web and research food to avoid before exam, oily & fatty foods for instance.

4. Attempt all questions. You need to try your best to attempt all questions even if you aren't confident. Markers can't award marks if answer scripts are blank.



These are mostly the tips I used to employ. So, if i recall anything, I would update again. Thanks for reading and Good Luck to you. Please share if you find this helpful.

Credit to: Binary Teo

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