ECHTUAL Accounting Firm

Title: Public & Chartered Accountants

URL Source: https://www.echtual.com/

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SHAPING YOUR BUSINESS
Leading Accounting Firm in Singapore|5-Star Rated and AI Driven

Welcome to Echtual, one of the leading accounting firms in Singapore. We specialize in providing comprehensive audit, tax, and advisory services tailored to meet the unique needs of businesses in Singapore.

ACTUALIZING YOUR SOLUTIONS
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Advisory
Whether you are starting up or an established business, we are here to help you at any stage of your growth. Click below to find out more about our advisory and consultancy services!
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Compliance
Concerned about complying with the myriad rules and regulations governing your business? We help you navigate through these waters so you can concentrate fully on your business. Click below to find out more about our compliance services!
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Assurance
Your bankers, suppliers and investors need assurances. Look to us to give them the confidence that only a trusted independent and competent auditor can give. Click below to find out more about our audit and assurance services!
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Your Digital Financial Officer
It doesn't matter if you are just a startup or a small business, you can now have C-Suite level financial advice at just a fraction of a cost of hiring a financial officer. Our DFO service delivers strategic insights into your business so that you can have the information you need to drive your business forward.
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Your Xero Certified Advisor &
​QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor
Xero and QuickBooks are both the leading cloud accounting software in Singapore. As your Advisor and partner, we'll get your business set up and running smoothly on Xero or QuickBooks,  with training and support tailored to your needs as your business grows. So whether you are starting up or an established business ,drop us a line so we can start building an ongoing relationship with you! Looking to just subscribe to Xero or QuickBooks? You can sign up through us as well for exclusive discounts!​​
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Echtual News
The Value Opposition
27/11/2024 - 0 COMMENTS
In 2017, ​I wrote about the "seller" pays conundrum that most SMPs face when they have clients that don't need or want an audit. Are there situations where assurance is desired? Yes; when you have shareholders that needs to be assured. And in such situations, they are the ones who would foot the bill.​That is why the issue is less pronounced for the Big 4, who have the lion's share of such clients. But SMEs form the lion's share of most economies, and assurance is not particularly desired or needed when you have just one or two shareholders. And the SMPs would have the lion's share of such clients.Audit exemption thresholds alleviates this to a certain extent; lesser companies would find themselves required by law to be audited. But an audit may still be required due to regulatory requirements, bank conditions for loans, supplier demands, or government conditions for grants. So in such situations, we are back to the same conundrum when statutory audits were mandatory across the board - those demanding the audit are not the ones paying for it.If you're in a business selling a service to customers who don't want or need it but are made to pay for it, there is likely to be no value proposition for them. On the contrary, they would be quite opposed to whatever value you are trying to propose...and price.To make the situation even more impossible for SMPs, recent changes to the auditing standards and the Accountant's Act require more work to be perform to increase audit quality. But who wants to pay for quality? This coupled with rising staff costs as a consequence to attracting talents, one can imagine the sense of impossibility a SMP practitioner face in doing this piece of business.Even further raising the audit exemption threshold would not help as I believe the root cause is those who require the assurance is not paying for it. And in the entire industry, only the Public Accountant faces this. In tax compliance, clients need tax agents because they lack the expertise to prepare and file returns. In accounting services, businesses need proper bookkeeping for decision-making.These systemic challenges also explain why fewer and fewer talents are choosing public accounting. While not all audit engagements are viewed as reluctant purchases, the continuing perception of audit as a compliance burden rather than a value-added service makes the profession less attractive...and less appreciated.Making the ones who need the service pay for it should not be as radical as it seems. Pre Covid-19, I was told there were considerations to make this happen. I do hope it has not been totally abandoned now. Also, I was told there are already jurisdictions where this was already so.Removing the opposition to the value of audit is critical as this service is deemed the pinnacle of the profession. And for SMPs, this is existential. How can we attract talented professionals to a service that clients view as a grudging compliance cost rather than a value-add? How can we maintain quality and professional standards when their compensation is constantly under pressure? The solution isn't complex. Those who require assurance - be it shareholders, banks, or regulatory bodies - should be the ones funding it. Until we make this shift, audit services by SMPs will remain stuck in a cycle of diminishing perceived value and increasing professional frustration.
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Wanted : Business Storytellers!
27/11/2024 - 0 COMMENTS
About two weeks ago, at the annual Public Accountants' Conference held by ISCA (Practitioner Renaissance), the highly respected Mr. Ho Kwon Ping (Founder, Banyan Group) gave a keynote speech. What struck me during the speech, amongst other valuable insights, was his waxing lyrical of the value his accountants and auditors bring to the table.It must have been a great surprise for him then to learn that the profession is facing a crisis not only locally, not only regionally, but also globally.Yesterday, ISCA held another engagement session with the SMPs and sought to gather our feedback and take on what still needs to be addressed to tackle the issue at hand. The efforts taken so far by ISCA (shared to us during the session) in this area are heartening, and kudos to them for even wanting to learn what more can be done from us smaller stakeholders.One of the efforts to promote the attractiveness of the profession was to market how well the profession can pay. To prove this point, the Big 4 led the charge and publicized raising their starting pay by about 20%.I opined that while this is one way to make the profession more appealing again, I can't shake the feeling that we are still missing the forest for the trees. Most folks out there still don't know what our profession does, beyond the perceived convention that we are bean-counters and checkers and analysts, etc. What's so great about that?In contrast, most people know what a doctor does, what a lawyer does. So what does the accountant do? Balance the books? Prepare boring highfalutin statements and reports? Surely this isn't what Mr. Ho values from the accountants serving him?In 2017, I happened to overhear a loud conversation discussing the importance of financial statements. And while I wished I had been the one to crystallize the concept, this gentleman's take and brilliant point was that the financial statements are the language of business. Any business out there wanting your investment would like to tell you how great and successful their business is, but only through the financial statements can that be articulated properly. The reporting standards form the grammar of the language, allowing businesses to speak a common language when telling their story through financial statements.From this wonderful snippet, I would (and have said to many people over the years) say that Accountancy is the study of the language of business. And accountants are its linguists. When I shared this with the ISCA President two years ago, his initial remark was 'what's so great about that?' Who would be interested in that?I countered that while it might not be great and while it might not interest many; at the very least we can now tell people what it is that we do exactly. More importantly, this is our purpose: to help businesses tell their story. The accountant from the business writes the story, the accountancy-trained analyst analyzes the story, and the auditor checks out the story.​So if that interests you and you aspire to be a storyteller for businesses, go study Accountancy! And do hit us up once you're there and out of there!
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The Secret Sauce
9/5/2024 - 0 COMMENTS
Came across this fantastic video on the modern banking system, the type of economies it can create, and the good a sound one can transform a society.  
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Happy Year of the Dragon!
6/2/2024 - 0 COMMENTS
To all our friends and clients,
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Season's Greetings!
22/12/2023 - 0 COMMENTS
Please note that our office will be closed from 26 December to 29 December!
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Word Of the Day
1/10/2023 - 0 COMMENTS
We are proud to be associated with Meriam-Webster's WOTD:
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Reflections on Singapore's Accounting Profession
28/7/2023 - 0 COMMENTS
ISCA (Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants) has just celebrated its 60th anniversary and our very own PM-in-waiting graced (yes, she was there too) the occasion. He gave an interesting speech about the profession and industry, and the transcript can be found here.Of particular interest was where he touched on the future of the profession, where he rightly noted the deteriorating state of our supply chain and how the root cause is fee driven:
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The Dawn of A New Age
9/5/2023 - 0 COMMENTS
By now, I'm sure most of us would have known of Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (GPT) AIs. The AI wave is well and truly upon us and I must say, the pace of adoption and development is well beyond my initial expectations.I first started experimenting with ChatGPT in January this year. At first, I was very impressed with its cognition. So I was very excited and wanted to find out what it can or cannot do. But when I realised how smart it can be, I became a little scared.So you can say that I was excited and scared at the same time. And I mused to my friends that its like being in a new relationship.But I recognised how this was going to be a game changer and started evangelising it's usage to the people I know. So it was heartening to see at a recent event organised by my constituency, quite a number of people there have heard and are trying out GPT AIs. It has been suggested that AIs are threatening to replace certain jobs and professions. But I've opined previously where the accounting profession faced the "threat" of digitalization, cloud computing etc, that we should always look to see how technology can enable us rather than fear using it.So I did put ChatGPT through its paces to try and understand its limitations. And just like what John Oliver said in this episode of Last Week Tonight,​
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Hoping Into A Good Rabbit Year
19/1/2023 - 0 COMMENTS
Warmest wishes to all of our valued clients and friends as we welcome in the Year of the Rabbit. May this year bring prosperity, good luck and happiness to all. We are grateful for your continued trust and support, and look forward to serving you again as we hop into the New Year!Our office will be closed from 20 January 2023 to 24 January 2023.
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Industry News

IRAS’ Partnership Efforts Simplify Corporate Income Tax Filing 2021
Thursday, October 7, 2021

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No evidence firms were involved
Wednesday, October 6, 2021

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Summary of Income Tax Advance Rulings (1 Oct 2021)
Friday, October 1, 2021

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Sole Proprietor to pay $977,898 in Penalties for Submitting Incorrect GST and...
Friday, October 1, 2021

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Dormant Companies
Thursday, September 30, 2021

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Tax Treatment of Expenses Incurred on Work-Related Assets to Facilitate Worki...
Thursday, September 30, 2021

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5 Temasek Boulevard #17-131 Suntec Tower 5 Singapore 038985
t: +65 6513 5871