A TOTAL of 10 teams from nine schools competed as finalists in the MIA-Sunway TES National Accounting Quiz 2014 (AQ 2014) held in Sunway College, Bandar Sunway recently.
The schools are from five states, namely Selangor (4), Sarawak (2) and one each from Penang, Negri Sembilan and Perlis.
Since the competition began last April, some 1,000 teams comprising more than 3,500 students from 300 schools around the country took part in the various qualifying rounds.
Elite of 13, the team from SMK USJ 13, emerged in first place, Revenue of SMK Bandar Puchong Jaya (A) was the first runner-up and Team Leaf from SMK USJ 13, the second runner-up.
Rounding off the top 10 teams were Better Than Best of SMK Tunku Besar from Negri Sembilan; CLB team of SMJK Chung Ling from Penang; CA Wannabe of MRSM Beseri  from Perlis; Pacioli of SMK Methodist and CHWIN of SMK Chung Hua from Sarawak; and Don’t Play Play of SMK Serendah and Pluto of SMK Subang Jaya from Selangor.
The top three winning teams received scholarships and financial assistance worth more than RM200,000 to study accountancy at Sunway College.
“Taking part in this national accounting quiz was a wonderful experience, very stressful but worth it,” said Elite of 13 team leader Liaw Jia Yoong, 17.
He added that the team was basically confident although they also felt nervous at times during the competition.
“All of us are science students and are happy we took up accountancy as an additional subject,” he said.
“We truly enjoyed studying accountancy as the concepts are interesting and easy to understand.
“We worked hard and were well-prepared for the quiz final. In addition, our parents, teachers and friends were very supportive throughout.”
SMK USJ 13 head of accounting unit, Kok Gan Cheng, said: “All eight students are bright and hardworking. They are science students who took Prinsip Perakaunan as an extra subject.
“I am so happy their hard work has paid off. I have always encouraged my students to learn accounting as it is a very useful subject especially when it comes to dealing with business and finance matters.
Despite the tremendous pressure, the students performed very well.”
This competition was aimed at exposing and garnering interest among secondary students in learning and gaining knowledge about the accounting field and the accountancy profession.
The quiz final was launched by the Education Ministry’s senior principal assistant director for co-curricular and arts division Mohd Anuar Abdul Hamid.
Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) chief executive officer Ho Foong Moi said there are about 30,000 accountants in the country but the number needed in the industry is twice that.
“This is a recession-proof profession, yet there are still not enough accountants here,” she said.
MIA chief operating officer Datin S.K. Yap said that organising the national quiz was a good way of promoting accountancy to young students.
“Kids enjoy quizzes, and the participants come from all backgrounds,” she said.
“Once exposed, many will discover that numbers can actually have a magical effect, as there is so much more one can do with them and not just adding or multiplying. Accountancy helps to broaden one’s thinking.”
MIA director (education) Siew Wai San said the image of accountants being only preoccupied with numbers no longer applied.
“Today’s accountants not only have to be technically competent, they often serve multi-faceted roles and are also involved in commercial decision-making process,” she added.
MIA’s co-organiser of the AQ 2014 is Sunway College’s TES Centre for Accountancy Excellence. The event is supported by the Education Ministry and Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), which is the strategic partner.
Sunway Education Group senior executive director Elizabeth Lee said that Sunway TES students ranked among the top 10 in the world for the ACCA programme, with more than 100 world prizewinners.
“Our graduates are work-ready and all-rounded too,” she said.