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Dear Members,

How time flies. It is incredible that my term of 2 years is almost up and I shall be transferring the baton of Chairmanship to my successor, Jim Carulas, soon. I must say that the period has been a challenging and interesting one and definitely will be treasured in my heart and in my mind for the rest of my life.

I have visited all the regions and in the process have learnt much about each regional’s needs, their strength and their weaknesses. I learned much from all of you whilst sharing with you the ideals, the strategies that your Board has put in place and to assure you that we do take our membership very seriously. Due to our decision to adopt the Association mode of operation to safeguard our members, these last two years were spent largely in putting things in place to ensure that the Association is protected as much as we can in terms of vicarious liabilities issue.

My last regional visit was to Mallorca where the European region hosted their meeting. The venue was superb and the warmth of the region’s members was eminent. Their strength lies in their cooperation, willingness to share knowledge and a desire to want to do business or exchange businesses and to seek bigger and better opportunities. Our final session was the most interesting as we have to define our own characteristic and determine what type of animal we most relate to. As in the WAA region’s meeting, the first timers there were enthusiastic and claimed they will surely attend further such meetings. The sessions were interesting and engaged the participants to be hands-on and we had to struggle between a great, beautiful alluring beach and put on our thinking caps to banter on serious issues required by the speakers. I must put in writing to thank the region’s efforts and making me and my husband so at home. Many thanks.

Of course, we missed Nick Blake as he was noticeably absent. But I believe he was thinking of us in Mallorca. Nick has been unwell and was advised by his doctors not to travel for a period of time, so he held the fort in London whilst Marlijn and Penny attended the meeting to ensure that everything went like clockwork. Well done girls.

After the Mallorcan meeting, I flew over to London to see Nick. It was wonderful to see him well, and greeted me so happily. The only difference is that I see a slimmer version of him. We spent almost a full day going through AGN matters, the accounts, the Congress that is coming up in Chicago and many other issues concerning the regions and the expansion of AGN plus also individual firms that need special attention . It was a very fruitful meeting. Marlijn and Penny were of course hard at work and indeed it was great seeing them in the office in London. Nick may be absent in person but he is very much at the office all the time to keep the organization informed of all activities and events. But you bet you will be seeing him soon.

The assurance fraternity is getting more and more challenging and every region’s focus is very much on updating on IFRS and tax issues relating to global expansion. As such, we cannot survive on our own as our clients are also seeking further a field to expand their businesses. We must try to share knowledge to ensure that wherever our clients go we can introduce them to our associates throughout the world who will be equally equipped to give them the best advice and able to assist your clients worldwide. In order to be comfortable to do that, the members must make every effort and take every opportunity to attend meetings specially arranged for their benefit, be it the World Congress or the Regional meetings.

On that note, I sincerely hope to see you all in Chicago.

Esther Tan
AGN International – Chair
GEP Associates – Partner
25 Jalan PJU 1/42A
Dataran Prima, 47301
Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Tel: (+60 3) 780 333 90 (O)
Fax: (+60 3) 780 335 02
esther@gep.com.my

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