New ACCA President pledges to inspire young people in her year in office

Alexandra Chin is first Malaysian to hold prestigious role

The new President of ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and the first Malaysian to be elected to the role, Alexandra Chin, has pledged to inspire young finance professionals during her year in office.

Alexandra, who holds the prestigious honorary title ‘Datuk’ in Malaysia, has been in public practice since 1981 and has her own practice in Sabah, Malaysia. She is the fourth woman to be elected ACCA President.

Alexandra qualified as an ACCA member in 1986 and she has been a member of ACCA’s Council since 2005. Before being elected to Council, Alexandra was an International Assembly Member representing Malaysia from 2003 to 2005. She was also President of ACCA Sabah from 1999 to 2005.

Alexandra has been Chairman of ACCA’s Qualifications Committee and will chair ACCA’s Nominating committee during her year as President.

Besides ACCA, Alexandra, who is married to Datuk Peter Thien, has also been actively involved in various professional bodies and community organisations in Sabah. These include the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (Sabah Branch) and the Chartered Tax Institute of Malaysia (CTIM) Sabah Branch. She has served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Sabah Park and as a Board Member of Sabah Sports Board.

Alexandra is a Board member of the Sabah Tourism Board. She was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 2009 and is also a member of the Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges Association.

Following her election, Alexandra Chin said: “My main aim for my Presidential year is to inspire younger people in the way that ACCA has inspired me.

“As the first Malaysian and only the fourth female President of ACCA I also want to focus on diversity, particularly in relation to open access and opportunities for thousands of people around the world.

“Having worked in practice since 1986, and having had my own accounting practice in Sabah since 2006, I am also very interested in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and the issues which affect them. SMEs are critical since they form the backbone of all the world’s economies and finance professionals have a huge role to play in supporting and advising them.”   

ACCA’s new Deputy President is Brian McEnery, a partner in BDO Ireland and a specialist in corporate restructuring and healthcare consulting, while Leo Lee, a former director of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), has become global Vice President.