Q1 March Newsletter - bdo singapore

MICA (P151/11/2004)
MICA (P151/11/2004)
Table of Content
Importance of Credit Risk
Management in a Global Credit
Crunch
“Overseas Marriage - Know thy
distributors well before tying the
knot”
Are you ready for FRS 108 Operating
Segments?
Temporary Liberalization of Income
Tax Exemption for Foreign-Sourced
Income Received in Singapore
Age of Contractual Capacity
IRAS Voluntary Disclosure
Program (VDP)
BDO Raffles News & Events
BDO International News
DISCLAIMER:
The information in this newsletter is for general
guidance only and is not a substitute for
professional advice. BDO Raffles and its staff
accept no responsibility for any actions taken or
not taken on the basis of the information in this
newsletter.
Copyright © March 2009 BDO Raffles. All rights
reserved.
BDO CONNECT
Q1 2009
Importance of Credit Risk
Management in a Global
Credit Crunch
“In the past 12 months, the world has witnessed a series of
events that were beyond anyone’s wildest imagination”
World stock markets crashing, huge financial institutions being either placed in
liquidation or bailed out with billions of government funds and governments
across the world coming up with revamped budgets to prevent a meltdown of
their own economies. This global meltdown has brought about sharp concerns
about the quality of credit being granted previously, resulting in significant
deterioration of market functions and the beginning of a global credit crunch
- severe shortage of money or credit. Credit has the power to drive businesses
beyond its ambitions while loss of creditworthiness can drive a healthy business
to ruin.
In a ‘credit crunch’, lenders stop lending and credit becomes tough to obtain.
The ability to have credit is something on which almost all businesses depend
to manage their respective cash flows. The inability to obtain credit can have
adverse effects on businesses. As one is aware, one of the key factors of most
business failures is poor management of cash flows. This is especially crucial for
small and medium enterprises operating on a smaller scale and having a smaller
customer base as compared to the larger multinational corporations.
Imagine if one of a Company’s customers runs into problems and cannot pay its
debts within the credit period. It will only take a few more of such customers to
hold back payments and this failure to collect debts will start taking a toll on the
business and its cash flow. It is therefore extremely vital to be vigilant especially
in these trying times.
Generally, some soft evidences may suggest that it is time to review a customer
credit standing. Are you experiencing the following difficulties with your
customer?

Continued......
Importance of Credit Risk Management in a Global
Credit Crunch
Cheque Payments
Is it an accident or a deliberate attempt by a debtor to
buy time? It should worry you if you start experiencing
the following situations more frequently:
• Missing signature(s) on cheque
• The words and figures on the cheque differs
• The cheque is post-dated
• Cheque that has been purportedly mailed out but
never received by you (lost in transit or was it never
mailed?)
Queries and Excuses
• Repeated requests for copy of invoices / statements
of accounts
• Numerous queries on account
• Phone calls are constantly channelled to voice
mails
• Resistance by customers to return calls
Information from Staff
Sales teams are the business’ eyes and ears in the
marketplace. It pays to keep our ears on the ground
and likewise, it is worthwhile to be in constant
communication with fellow industry players. Sales
staff should indulge in trade talks with their customers.
During visits to customer’s premises, one can observe
if there are high level of unsold stock or smaller
and infrequent orders. There are just some simple
observations to gauge how the customer’s business
is doing.
Besides soft evidences, the Company can make use
of hard evidences, which will require you to have
access to all available financial data of the debtor.
Information such as, income statements, balance
sheets and cash flow statements and interpreting
these financial data will facilitate your assessment of
the debtors. Analytical models / tools such as Altman
Z-score (Z-Score Insolvency Prediction Calculator),
Liquidity Ratios, Efficiency Ratios, Profitability Ratios
and reports from credit agencies also can be used
to assist the Company in reviewing your customers’
credit worthiness.
It is crucial for business to constantly examine the
debtors’ operations, much more so that the world is
in a recession, and it is of extreme importance not to
rely too heavily on one customer and review other
customers’ viability and creditworthiness.
And as the old saying goes,
“Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity
and cash-flow is reality”
Article contributed by:
Dev Nandwani
Senior Associate
Business Restructuring
Services
Tel: 68289118
devnandwani@bdo.com.sg

Finding Overseas Partners - Know Thy Distributors Well
Before “Tying the Knot”
Exporting overseas remains a challenge for SMEs
wishing to venture into international markets. In
the latest 2008 DP Information Group SME survey,
companies stated that the top success factor was
being able to find “the right partner overseas”. Hence,
it becomes imperative for our local businesses to
possess the relevant knowledge on how it can go
about finding and securing the right distributors in a
systematic manner.
In this article, we examine some of the key issues on
how ideal distributors can be secured in terms of their
identification, evaluation and selection. In essence,
the entire process can be organised in five key steps
and they are:
• Know What You Want First
• Understand Your Markets
• Evaluate Your Potential Distributors
• Do Your Due Diligence
• Secure The Deal
Step One – Know What You Want First
Before a company embarks on finding its ideal
distributors, it has to know what it really wants.
This entails a thorough understanding of its own
market position, product and service portfolio,
target customers, key competitors and the strategic
outcomes it hopes to achieve via distributorship in
each market. These inputs should translate into a
desired criteria list that encompasses the financial
and human resources, image and reputation, market
access and network and preferred credit terms of the
distributors in each country.
Step Two - Understand Your Markets
Simultaneously, one should also assess the current
political, economic, social and technological
environment in each target market. In addition, a
holistic understanding of the relevant industry’s
market size, consumer spending, competitive
landscape, distributor channels and future trends
should be achieved.
Having determined the viability of distributorship in
these markets, a list of potential distributors could be
developed via one or more of the following ways :
• Company and relevant trade association websites
• Local and foreign investment trade agencies
• Insights from other local industry players and
business associates who have ventured into the
same markets
• Seek professional advisory services
Step Three - Evaluate Potential Distributors
This step represents the climax of the entire partner selection
process itself. How should one benchmark an interested
distributor? We advocate that it would be beneficial to adopt
a methodical approach which duly evaluates a distributor
using a combination of both hard and soft factors as
suggested below:
Focus Criteria
Management Profile
(Who is Your Distributor?)
Firm Resources
(What does Your Distributor have?
Market Access
(Where can Your Distributor Bring
You?)
Commitment
(Which way does Your Distributor
do Business?)
• Experience in same and/or
similar businesses
• Responsiveness in sending
necessary information
• Image and reputation
• Similarity of vision and business
goals
• Market knowledge
• Turnover
• Employment
• Strength of Business network
• Similar products carried by
distributor
• Countries with distribution
operations
• Cities with distribution operations
• Retailers distribution
• Annual order size of goods
• Credit terms
Undertaking a benchmarking exercise compels a company
to approach and customise their distributor analysis
according to their strategic needs. It allows for the
evaluation and ranking of potential candidates in order of
preference which saves time and resources when deciding
who to approach first when securing the all important
“breakthrough first deal”.
Step Four - Do Your Due Diligence
Due diligence of the distributors should be conducted to
validate the information provided by them. It reassures
the company that it will be dealing with both reliable and
reputable parties. Required information that could be
obtained on a best endeavour basis includes:
• Audited company financial statements
• Key customers references
• Independent credit bureau and agency ratings

Continued......
Step Five – Secure The Deal
Lastly, it is very important to address the specific
negotiation issues at hand for each distributor based
on the initial terms and conditions offered during the
correspondence process. This is often dependent on the
bargaining power of the respective parties. An important,
though often overlooked tip is to fully appreciate the
cultural and social aspect, and the mode of operations
of these distributors while being able to provide them
their needs when brokering a deal. This in turn enhances
your company’s chances of obtaining the best possible
outcome during the negotiation process itself.
To sum up, actively engaging the five major steps above
allows a business to expedite the process of securing an
ideal overseas distributor in a systematic manner and
achieve its long-term overseas expansion plan.
How BDO Raffles can help
The Management Consulting division of BDO Raffles
helps clients by identifying and securing suitable
business opportunities and partners to successfully gain
market entry in overseas markets. Currently, it is helping a
number of companies ranging from the retail, leisure and
lifestyle and F&B industries to secure overseas partners
in both Asia and Europe.
Should you like to find out more about how we can help
you in your internationalistion efforts, please do not
hesitate to contact our Management Consulting Division
at weehan@bdo.com.sg
Article contributed by:
Leo Kah Mun
Manager
Management Consulting
Services
DID: 68289603
kahmun@bdo.com.sg
Are you ready for
FRS 108 Operating
Segments?
A number of new or revised financial reporting standards
have been issued in recent years which will take effect
for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2009
and they may or may not have implications on your
company’s accounts. One of them relates to FRS 108
Operating Segments which will supersede FRS 14 Segment
Reporting.
FRS 108 aims to present more relevant information to users
by mirroring information used internally by chief operating
decision makers to manage segments to those disclosed in
the financial statements. Consequently, FRS 108 provides
more flexibility in disclosure requirements.
Consistent with FRS 14, FRS 108 is applicable to entities
whose equity or debt securities are publicly traded
and those that file, or are in the process of filing, their
financial statements with a securities commission or
other regulatory organisation for the purpose of issuing
any class of instruments in a public market. Similarly, only
consolidated segment information is presented when both
the separate and consolidated financial statements of the
parent company are presented in a single financial report.
Contrary to FRS 14 which requires the identification of
primary and secondary segments based on the definitions
given, FRS 108 adopts the “management approach” by
requiring the entity to disclose segment information based
on components of the business that management uses to
make decisions about operating segments.
In addition to the differing approach undertaken, FRS 108
also differs from FRS 14 in other requirements including
the following:

Continued......
Are you ready for FRS 108 Operating Segments?
FRS 108 FRS 14
Identification of segment Considers that a component of
an entity that sells primarily or
exclusively to other operating
segments of the entity meets the
definition of an operating segment
if the entity is managed in that
manner.
Measurement of segment
information
Disclosures Specified Items
Gives more discretion in defining
segment information, limited only
by an entity’s internal reporting
practice. The entity is required to
provide an explanation of bases
used and perform reconciliation
between the segment information
on an aggregate basis (of all
reportable segments) to the
amounts reported in the financial
statements.
Requires the disclosure of specified
amounts about each reportable
segment, if the specified amounts
are included in the measurement
of segment profit or loss or are
otherwise regularly provided to
the chief operating decision maker
(“CODM”), even if not included in
that measure of profit or loss.
Interest Income and Expense
Requires the disclosure of interest
income separately from interest
expense for each reportable
segment unless a majority of the
segment’s revenue are from interest
and the CODM relies primarily on
net interest revenue to assess the
performance of the segment and to
make decisions about resources to
be allocated to the segment.
General information
Requires the disclosure of the
entity’s products and services,
geographical areas and major
customers, regardless of the entity’s
organisation, if the information
is not included as part of the
disclosures about segments. Such
entity-wide disclosures are required
even when the entity has only one
reportable segment.
Limits reportable segments to
those that earn a majority (>50%) of
their revenue from sales to external
parties and does not require the
different stages of a verticallyintegrated
entity to be identified as
separate segments.
Requires segment information to
be prepared using the accounting
principles adopted for the financial
statements of the entity.
Segment information is therefore an
analysis of the entity’s information
disclosed in the financial statements.

Continued......
While FRS 108 is only effective for annual reporting
periods beginning on or after 1 January 2009, you
should now take steps to consider the impact of FRS
108 on your company’s financial statements if your
company falls within the scope of FRS 108.
The adoption of FRS 108 may also affect your company
in the identification of cash generating units for goodwill
impairment under FRS 36 Impairment of Assets. In
addition, when ED FRS 105 Non-Current Assets Held
for Sale and Discontinued Operations is approved and
issued, the adoption of FRS 108 may also affect the
identification of discontinued operation.
FRS 108:36 states that segment information reported
as comparative information in the first year of its
application shall be restated to conform with the
requirements of FRS 108, unless the necessary
information is not available and the cost of developing
it proves to be excessive. However, given that most of
the information is based on the information reported to
the CODM, and in view that a lengthy implementation
period has been allowed given that FRS 108 has been
issued in 2007, justifying that this information is not
available may be difficult.
In view of the above, if you are not already in the
process of doing it, it is time to start reviewing your
current management reporting system and consider
whether improvements are needed before collating
comparative information.
As a tip, the key to identifying an operating segment
under FRS 108 is to first determine your company’s
CODM. One of the criteria that a component of an
entity must meet to qualify as an operating segment
is that the information of that component must be
regularly reviewed by the CODM to make decisions
about the allocation of resources to the component
and to assess its performance.
FRS 108:7 states that CODM describes a function rather
a person with a specific title. The function is to allocate
resources to and assess the performance of the operating
segments of an entity. While the CODM of an entity can
often be its Chief Executive Officer or the Chief Operating
Officer, the CODM may also be a group of persons
comprising the entity’s executive directors or others.
Nevertheless, it is a relief to note that depending on the
manner FRS 14 was applied previously, the adoption of
FRS 108 may or may not change your Company’s current
basis of segment reporting.
Article contributed by:
Narissa Chen
Manager
Audit Technical and
Training
DID: 68289178
narissachen@bdo.com.sg

Temporary Liberalization of Income Tax
Exemption for Foreign-Sourced Income Received in
Singapore
Following the budget announcement on 22 January 2009
with regard to the temporary lifting of the conditions
for remittance of foreign-sourced income, the IRAS had
subsequently released an e-guide on 20 February 2009
which specified in details on the nature of the foreignsourced
income and the conditions for the exemption.
Foreign-Sourced Income Exemption (FSIE)
Currently, under the Foreign-Sourced Income Exemption
(FSIE), foreign-sourced dividends, foreign branch profits
and foreign-sourced service income received in Singapore
by any resident non-individual or any individual resident in
Singapore through a partnership in Singapore are exempt
from tax provided the following conditions are met:
a. In the year the income is received in Singapore, the
headline tax rate (i.e. the highest corporate tax rate of the
foreign jurisdiction; it need not be the actual rate of tax
imposed on the foreign income) of the foreign jurisdiction
from which the income is received is at least 15%;
b. The specified foreign income must have been subject
to tax (i.e. tax must have been paid or is to be paid and
does not include deferred tax) in the foreign jurisdiction
from which they were received. The IRAS has clarified
that foreign-sourced income would be considered to
have met the “subject to tax” requirement if the income is
exempted from tax in the foreign jurisdiction as a direct
consequence of that foreign jurisdiction granting a tax
incentive for carrying out substantive business activities
in that jurisdiction; and
c. The IRAS is satisfied that the tax exemption would be
beneficial to the person resident in Singapore.
Deemed remittance
Currently, under Section 10(25) of the Singapore Income
Tax Act (SITC), foreign-sourced income is considered to
have been received in Singapore if :
a) the income is remitted to, transmitted or brought into,
Singapore; or
b) the income is applied in or towards satisfaction of any
debt incurred in respect of a trade or business carried on
in Singapore; or
c) the income is applied to purchase any movable property
which is brought into Singapore.
New tax treatment
To help businesses to tap on their foreign funds during this
current period of tight credit, the conditions (a) to (c) as stated
above under the FSIE are temporarily lifted. Additonally,
the FSIE scope is also temporarily expanded to cover all
foreign-sourced income (including interest, rental, royalty
etc). However, exemption applies to foreign-sourced income
that is earned on or before 21 January 2009 and received or
deemed to be received in Singapore during the period from
22 Jan 2009 to 21 January 2010.
In determining whether the foreign-sourced income has
accrued to a taxpayer in Singapore on or before 21 January
2009, the Comptroller of Income Tax (CIT) will take guidance
from considerations set out in the Financial Reporting
Standard (FRS) 18 on revenue recognition for financial
reporting purposes.
In the case of foreign dividends, CIT considers such dividend
to have accrued to a taxpayer in Singapore on or before 21
January 2009 only if the dividend was actually paid by a nonresident
company on or before 21 January 2009 to the taxpayer
in Singapore. Hence, the above will not cover any proposed
dividend payment provided in the financial accounts on or
before 21 January 2009.
However, as a concession, in the case of dividends paid by
non-resident companies which are substantially (more than
50% of the ordinary shares) and directly owned by specified
resident taxpayers on 21 January 2009, the liberalized FSIE
Scheme will also apply to dividends received during the 1year
exemption period where they are paid out by revenue
reserves accumulated up to 21 January 2009 by their directlyowned
foreign subsidiaries.
Both foreign-sourced income and capital funds
kept outside Singapore
Currently, where a taxpayer has kept both foreign-sourced
income and capital funds outside Singapore, CIT may accept,
as an administrative concession, the taxpayer’s claim that the
funds remitted by him to Singapore comprises solely only
capital funds provided that the taxpayer could track his funds
and demonstrate that
(a) after remittance, funds remaining outside Singapore is
more than the foreign-sourced income which has yet to be
remitted to Singapore; or
(b) funds remitted are less than the capital funds invested
outside Singapore (net of any losses incurred on the capital
account).

Continued......
Taxpayers who have availed themselves of the above
concession will also enjoy the tax exemption granted
under the liberalized FSIE Scheme by remitting their
foreign-sourced income to Singapore during the 1-year
exemption period. However, if they wish to continue
availing themselves of the concession after 21 January
2010, they will have to continue to track their remittance
of funds according to income or capital sources.
Application
In order to be eligible for the foreign-sourced income
exemption, the specified tax payers are required to
make a declaration in their income tax return and
provide the following information in a Form to be made
available on the IRAS’ website:
• Nature & amount of income
• Date of receipt in Singapore
• Country;
• Name of payer
• Use of remitted income
Supporting documents do not need to be submitted
to the CIT until CIT asks for the documents for
verification.
It is anticipated that the liberalization of FSIE Scheme
would allow the expeditious remittance of foreignsourced
income to Singapore during the one-year
window period to meet the financing needs of business
in Singapore. For example, businesses may consider to
remit the foreign-sourced interest income which may
have accrued offshore over many years.
However, issues highlighted below may have to be considered
by the taxpayer prior to remitting the funds into Singapore;
• The tax payer would need to track and demonstrate in certain
instances that the income was earned or accrued prior to
21 January 2009. This could create additional administrative
difficulties for the taxpayer.
• It is possible that interest, royalties etc could attract a
withholding tax when being remitted into Singapore. Since
the income would be exempt in Singapore, it would not be
possible to claim any tax credits.
Rather than adopting a temporary liberalization, the
Government should consider adoption of a full territorial
basis of taxation as in Hong Kong which would then make
Article contributed by:
Michelle Seat
Senior Manager
Tax Advisory Services
DID: 68289182
michelleseat@bdo.com.sg

Age of Contractual
Capacity
With the gazette of the Civil Law (Amendment) Act 2008,
the age of contractual capacity in Singapore has been
lowered from 21 years to 18 years with effect from 1 March
2009. This means that a contract if entered into by a minor
who has attained the age of 18 years shall now have effect
as if he were of full age.
Following the amendment, the minimum age for a person
to act as a director of a company or a manager of a limited
liability partnership has also been lowered from 21 years to
18 years. In view of this, a minor of 18 years old and above
may register a business and may also form companies or
limited liability partnerships.
However, the amendment shall not have any effect on
the minor as if he were of full age under the following
circumstances:-
1. entering into any contract for the sale, purchase,
mortgage, assignment or settlement of any land, other
than a contract for a lease of land not exceeding 3
years;
2. entering into any contract for a lease of land for more
than 3 years;
3. entering into any contract whereby the minor’s beneficial
interest under a trust is sold or otherwise transferred
to another person, or pledged as a collateral for any
purpose;
4. entering into any contract for the settlement of any legal
proceedings or action in respect of which the minor is,
pursuant to any written law, considered to be a person
under disability on account of his age;
5. entering into any contract for the settlement of any claim
from which any such legal proceedings or action may
arise whereby the minor is, pursuant to any written law,
considered to be a person under disability on account
of his age;
6. enabling a trustee to pay money or deliver property to
a minor who has attained the age of 18 years otherwise
than in accordance with the terms of the trust; or
7. entering into any contract to extinguish or vary the
terms of a trust.
Article contributed by:
Sin Chee Mei
Senior Manager,
Corporate Alliance Pte Ltd
DID: 68289136
cheemei@corporatealliance.com.sg
IRAS Voluntary Disclosure
Program (VDP)
IRAS has come up with the Voluntary Disclosure Program
(VDP) to encourage taxpayers to voluntarily rectify errors in
their tax computations and returns which were made without
willful intent to evade tax.
The VDP is applicable to both income tax (including
withholding tax) and Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Qualifying Conditions
There are certain conditions that have to be made in order
for IRAS to consider an application under the VDP:
i) A voluntary disclose is to be timely, accurate, complete
and self-initiated by the taxpayer i.e. made before queries
made by IRAS, made before commencement of audit or
investigation or if the case is already under query, audit
or investigation, must not be under the immediate scope
of the query, audit or investigation;
ii) Taxpayers must demonstrate full co-operation with IRAS
to correct mistakes made;
iii) There must be willingness on the taxpayers’ part to make
arrangements with IRAS to pay additional taxes raised
and / or penalties imposed, if any;
Reduced Penalty
IRAS will be willing to waive or reduce penalties for cases
which meet the qualifying conditions as follows:
i) Waiver of penalty for voluntary disclosures within grace
period of 1 year from the statutory filing date; and
ii) 5% per annum for voluntary disclosures after grace
period.
However, please note that the waiver or reduction of penalties
are only available once to taxpayers as they are expected
to put in good and sufficient controls to prevent recurrence
or similar errors or omissions. The penalties in those cases
could go up to 200% of the tax undercharged for income tax
and GST issues and 20% of the tax unpaid for withholding
tax issues.
The Next Step
We see this positive move by IRAS as a move towards the
right direction in being more taxpayer friendly although this
appears to be a precursor towards a more active tax audit
and investigation program. We expect more taxpayers to
embark on due diligence reviews on their financial accounting
records to look at the following areas which are usually prone
to review by the tax authorities:
i) transfer pricing;
ii) corporate tax compliance;
iii) withholding tax compliance; and
iv) GST compliance.

BDO Raffles annual firm wide meeting
24 December 2008
CPA Games 2008
BDO Raffles News & Events
BDO staff in high spirits at the firm wide meeting and staying positive for 2009
On December 24th 2008, over 200 management & staff of
BDO Raffles gathered at the Lee Kong Chian Auditorium
inside Singapore Management University for a firm wide
briefing. The agenda of this annual event, in addition to
articulating management’s key strategies for 2009, was to
communicate and obtain feedback for the firm to navigate
the challenging year ahead.
Additionally, the event incorporated a presentation by
Executive Coach, Steven Koh, who shared some tips on
how everyone can play a key role in contributing to the
continuing growth of our firm despite the ongoing economic
uncertainties.
In meeting the challenges ahead, a dialogue session
was held to provide greater transparency and enhance
communications during these uncertain times. Suggestions
on maximising resources and reducing costs were discussed
to ride out the recession.
At the same time, we took this opportunity to announce the
promotion of 38 employees firm wide in recognition of their
dedication and contribution to the firm. The session ended
with a buffet lunch and Christmas presents were given out
as part of the lucky draw item.
Lunar New Year Open House
6 February 2009
Staff at BDO were once again invited to Mr and Mrs Chia’s
Open House this Lunar New Year. As always, there was a
wide spread of food, from the delicious Satay to a Full Buffet
Dinner. A few rounds of BINGO were played and to top it
off, Hong Bao’s were given out by both Mr and Mrs Chia to
those who were still eligible!
Snapshots from the evening.
BINGO!!

3P Organisational Performance
Seminar Series
BDO Raffles Advisory has teamed up with Bang PR and HRnet
Performance Consulting to put together a series of seminars
titled “How to Boost your Performance in Turbulent Times”.
They crafted an essential toolkit to help firms focus on Profit,
People and Product to drive productivity improvements,
increase sales, cash flow and profit.
The first of the series was organized for the Association
of Aerospace Industries in Singapore (AAIS) and their
members. It was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, at Terminal
3 on the 27th of February. We had a comfortable turnout
with close to 40 AAIS members and staff attending.
The second session was held at OCBC for OCBC and ASME
members on the 12th of March and just a day after, we had
a session held at the German Centre for their members.
The seminar series received positive reviews and a detailed
workshop is expected to roll out sometime in the middle of
the year.
If you are interested or have any enquiries on the
Organisational Performance Workshop, you can contact
Eugene at eugenetse@bdo.com.sg
Budget Seminar
11 February 2009
CPA Games 2008
BDO Raffles News & Events
BDO Raffles conducted the 2009 Budget Seminar recently
at the Marriott Hotel in Singapore. Aptly titled “Navigating
the Financial Crisis”, this seminar gave the participants a
practical and thorough understanding of the key budget
changes in 2009 and its impact on the current economy,
corporations and their businesses.
Close to 60 participants attended the seminar, comprising
of BDO clients and the general public. Rohan Solapurkar,
our Head of Tax was the key speaker. We also had the honor
to have our guest speaker Dr Tan Kee Wee, an economist
to present his views on the investment outlook.
Participants also learned ways to take advantage of any
new tax planning opportunities presented by these new
tax initiatives. In addition to sharing the major highlights
of Budget 2009, this seminar also covered the recent
significant tax developments in Singapore.
2009 Budget Commentary
We are also pleased to share with you the 2009 Budget
Commentary.
Click on the link below to view:
Budget Commentary
http://www.bdo.com.sg/Publication/internal/Budget%20Co
mmentary%202009.pdf
BDO introduces Transformation
Advisory Services
As the economy continues to slow down for 2009, the business
climate will become even more challenging. BDO Raffles
brings to you strategies to overcome the current economic
challenges. BDO Transformation Advisory aims to radically
enhance your company’s performance to achieve outstanding
results by offering integrated and holistic solutions tailored
to your needs. By integrating our core strengths in Corporate
Finance, Management Consulting, Restructuring and Risk
Management, BDO Transformation Advisory is your single
point of contact for practical business advice.
Transformation Advisory at BDO provides the answer to what
and how to change. This concept takes operations, strategy,
business model and financial & performancemonitoring into
consideration for the sake of improvement.
If you have any queries on this new service, you can contact:
Tan Soon Liang
Director & Head of Transformation Advisory
soonliang@bdo.com.sg
Tel: +65 6828 9169
HP: +65 9749 4206
Eugene Tse
Manager, Transformation Advisory
eugenetse@bdo.com.sg
Tel: +65 6828 9186
HP: +65 9489 2619

Upcoming events
Corporate Recovery Strategies - Using
Judicial Management & Scheme of
Arrangement
CPA Games 2008
BDO Raffles News & Events
BDO Raffles and Colin Ng & Partners LLP are organising
their first joint seminar on the 14th of April. The speakers
for the seminar are Anthony Soh from Colin Ng & Partners
LLP and Leow Quek Shiong from BDO Raffles. This event is
FREE and registrations close 8 April 2009.
Date & Time:
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
3.30 pm - 5.30 pm
Venue: Penthouse, Colin Ng & Partners LLP
36 Carpenter Street
Singapore 059915
To register, email jacquelynchan@bdo.com.sg or call
68289151 for enquiries.
BDO International News
BDO China doubles in size
BDO International is pleased to announce that Shu Lun
Pan Management Co Ltd (SLP ManCo), one of China’s
largest independent accounting networks, has joined BDO
International. SLP ManCo has major offices in Beijing,
Nanjing, Shanghai, Fuzhou and Guangzhou and a number
of regional offices around the country. This integration
program between SLP ManCo and BDO’s existing Chinese
member firms will make BDO among the five largest
accounting networks in China.
BDO Hong Kong Merger with Shu Lun
Pan Horwath Hong Kong Limited
BDO McCabe Lo Limited, the BDO member firm in Hong
Kong, announces that it has successfully concluded an
agreement to merge the firm, Shu Lun Pan Horwath Hong
Kong Limited into the existing firm with effect from 1 May
2009. The merged firm will change its name to BDO Hong
Kong Limited, also with effect from 1 May 2009.
New BDO Member Firm in India
Founded in 1951 with the advent of Haribhakti & Company
a firm of Chartered Accountants, the Haribhakti Group
expanded to cover a wide array of services through its
consulting arm - Haribhakti Consulting Private Limited. In
2008, Haribhakti Group entered into an affiliation with the
global consulting giant, BDO International. Today, BDO
Haribhakti offers a wide array of 90 services to clients
across the country and different sectors.
For more information about our services, contact the following divisions:
Audit & Assurance
Peter Leong peterleong@bdo.com.sg DID: 68289120
Business Restructuring Services
Leow Quek Shiong quekshiong@bdo.com.sg DID: 68289170
Business Transaction Services
Ross Limjoco rosslimjoco@bdo.com.sg DID: 68289125
Corporate Finance
Tan Soon Liang soonliang@bdo.com.sg DID: 68289169
Management Consulting
Tah Wee Han weehan@bdo.com.sg DID: 68289184
Risk Advisory Services
Christopher Go christophergo@bdo.com.sg DID: 68289187
Tax Advisory
Rohan Solapurkar rohan@bdo.com.sg DID: 68289171
Corporate Alliance Pte Ltd
Corporate Secretarial
Lim Swe Jian swejian@corporatealliance.com.sg DID: 68289139
Outsourcing Accounting
Lim Siew Ming siewming@corporatealliance.com.sg DID: 68289109
BDO Raffles
19 Keppel Road
#02-01 Jit Poh Building
Singapore 089058
Tel: 65 6828 9118
Fax: 65 6828 9111
Email: info@bdo.com.sg
www.bdo.com.sg