Baker Tilly Singapore appoints Joshua Ong as new managing partner

Assurance, Capital Markets & IPO practice leader Joshua Ong has succeeded Sim Guan Seng as the Managing Partner of Baker Tilly in Singapore.

The Singapore member of accountancy and consulting network Baker Tilly has appointed Joshua Ong as its new managing partner. Previously head of the firm’s Assurance and Capital Markets & IPO practices (the latter which he will continue to oversee), Ong took over his new role at the beginning of the month from Sim Guan Seng, who after nine years at the helm will continue to serve as Asia-Pacific Chairman and a Board Member of Baker Tilly International.

“I am pleased to have Joshua succeed me,” Sim Guan Seng said. “I had worked closely with Joshua for a long time and he has proven to be a capable people leader as well as possessing a commercially-astute approach to growing the business. Our respective roles in Baker Tilly in Singapore and on the Asia-Pacific as well as the network level will enable us to focus on managing growth, people development and service capabilities effectively.”

Having previously led public accounting practice Sim Guan Seng & Co. for twelve years before merging it with Baker Tilly Singapore in 2004, Sim Guan Seng hands over the reins after leading the firm through what it described as a “period of transformative growth and positive change.” In his role as Asia Pacific chairman, he will continue to guide what is the region’s eighth largest accounting network, and the firm’s fastest growth market, covering members in 23 countries.

“Under Guan Seng’s leadership, the firm had experienced tremendous growth over the years,” commented Ong, who has also been credited as instrumental in driving the firm’s capabilities. “On behalf of the firm, I thank Guan Seng for his dedication and leadership for bringing the firm to where we are today. With that, I am honoured to accept this appointment to continue to build on what we had achieved and to take the firm to the next level together with my colleagues.”

While carrying on in his role as Capital Markets & IPO services head, Ong will hand over Assurance leadership duties to fellow Baker Tilly partner Susan Foong, who specialises in audit and review engagements for businesses ranging from SGX-listed and private companies to not-for-profit organisations. In addition, Foong heads up the Assurance Technical, Learning and Development team and supports the firm’s Management Committee in quality assurance.

Meanwhile, the firm’s alumni network chair and assurance partner Khor Boon Hong has also taken on the role of Human Capital Partner, “to drive continual investments in people development.” One of around 15 partners at the firm (including recent addition Nicodemus Tan), Khor Boon Hong has been with Baker Tilly since 2009, before which he spent more than a dozen years between Ernst & Young, PwC, Arthur Andersen, and most recently Deloitte.

The managing partner succession in Singapore follows that of Baker Tilly’s Hong Kong branch at the end of last year, when Andrew Ross stepped aside after more than ten years and company veteran Cynthia Lo took over the role. In other regional Baker Tilly news, the network has announced that its South Korean member has now completed a merger with Woori Accounting Corporation first initiated in May, taking its overall headcount to around 300 professional staff.