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Acceptance Speech byYM RAJA DATUKARSHAD RAJA TUNUDARaja Arshad accepting Anugerah Presiden from YB Dato’ DrNg Yen Yen, Deputy Minister of Finance I. Looking on is Dato’Abdul Halim MohyiddinMACPA Insolvency Guidance Note, IG 1 – MinimumStandards of Practice by Insolvency Practitioners wasissued, the inaugural Excellence Awards for BestAccounting Graduates were presented and the Corporatevideo, The World of a CPA was launched by the Minister ofEducation, YB Datuk Dr Sulaiman Hj Daud.Over the years, Raja Datuk Arshad has held a numberof public appointments and is currently a Member of theBoard of Directors of Khazanah National Berhad, Memberof the Malaysian Communications and MultimediaCommission (MCMC), having been appointed by theMinister of Energy, Communications and Multimedia,Malaysia. He is also a Member of the Tax Review Panel,established by the Ministry of Finance to review the varioustax legislations and to formulate the concept, legislation,process and procedures for the GST and a Member of theCapital Market Advisory Council (CMAC) established bythe Securities Commission to oversee the implementationof the 10 year Capital Market Master Plan.His international roles include being a member of theStandards Advisory Council of the InternationalAccounting Standards Board (IASB), the body responsiblefor setting international accounting standards and amember of the PwC Global IFRS Board.Apart from his active involvement in the profession,Raja Datuk Arshad is also involved in charity being theChairman of Yayasan Raja Muda Selangor. He is also anAdjunct Professor at Universiti Utara Malaysia and was amember of the Board of Trustees of the National Art Galleryfrom 1985 to 2003.Raja Datuk Arshad was conferred Panglima JasaNegara by His Majesty Yang di-Pertuan Agong and alsowas conferred the Darjah Sultan Salahuddin Abdul AzizShah (DSSA) by the Sultan of Selangor. The conferment ofthese honours speaks well of his outstanding public servicecontribution to the nation and the state.I would like to thank the MICPA, in particular to thankyou, Mr President and your colleagues on the Council forthe privilege and honour of this award and for your kindwords.In listening to your remarks, I sometimes haddifficulty in realising that some of the references were tome. In making it sound so good, Mr President Sir, youhave portrayed me with all my warts removed and myrough edges smoothed over. And the first thing I shalldo after tonight’s dinner is to pray to God to forgive mefor enjoying every minute of it.Of course some may say that I have been given thisaward because the Council members of MICPA are allmy friends. I cannot deny that they are all indeed myfriends. But I would like to stress that the most preciousthing in this world for anyone, is the esteem of one’sfriends and for that I am truly thankful.Someone once defined a ‘derivative’ as “an instrumentthat derives value from its underlying assets”. Well,Ladies and Gentlemen, I am a living example of aderivative for whatever valuable contribution I havemade has not been without the help of many talented,knowledgeable and experienced people working for meand with me. Any of my successes and achievementsthat have led to this award – I owe to so many people –from my parents, particularly my late father for the strictupbringing and not only for instilling but alsodemonstrating to me what integrity is all about, to myteachers in school, to my former bosses and mentor, tomy colleagues and friends at work and in the professionand to all of these people from my parents, teachers,mentors, colleagues, friends and family – I would like tosay a big thank you and tell them that I am acceptingthis award tonight on behalf of all of us.Ours is a much respected profession and we mustensure that it will continue to be a much respectedprofession. I have always said that the profession is thebest training ground for any field that one chooses toventure into eventually. And the fact that many of ourmembers are in leadership positions, on the managementand board of corporations spanning a wide range ofindustries, and in other organisations both in the publicand private sectors bears testimony to these statements.But then with these positions come heavy responsibilityand accountability.Over the years, a number of corporate failures havewww.micpa.com.myJune/August 2007 | The Malaysian Accountant |27