Head of review committee an experienced accountantAS A seasoned accountant, Mr Bobby Chin was a number cruncher who was able to figure out the complexities of corporate balance sheets better than most people.迷你倉But it is his flair for getting on with people that will stand him in good stead as chairman of the review committee looking into the revamp of MediShield, the national medical insurance scheme, with the aim of covering every Singaporean for life.He was appointed last month to head the high-level team to look at what people want from MediShield and how it should be changed to provide people with affordable yet comprehensive coverage.Mr Chin retired from professional life eight years ago at the age of 54 - after 13 years at the helm of international accounting firm KPMG Singapore as its managing director. When he was appointed to that position at the age of 41, he was then the youngest managing director of an accounting firm in the country.To reach the apex of his career, he had to be meticulously assessed by all the partners of the firm. The qualities they were looking for include the ability to grow the firm, build up its client base, and safeguard its reputation.It was not a surprise then that Mr Chin was given the mantle as he had been with the company all his professional life, first when it was still Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co, and later, after the merger with KMG to form KPMG.Does his accounting background prepare him well to head the review into the national medical insurance scheme?Mr Chin thinks so, adding that he has done a lot of reading since his appointment to better understand Singapore's health-care system. He said: "It's like auditing. First you have to understand the business."An auditor, he said, does not just study the ledger. He spent as much time, if not more, getting to know the workers in the company he is auditing, from storekeepers to managers, who can tell him more about how the business should be run, than the books can.Auditors, Mr Chin said, also provide "observations" on control, process and profit margins自存倉 "We need to know about the business in order to audit."In his course of work, he sometimes uncovered irregularities in business processes, which he said was not surprising as "no system of control is foolproof."Mr Chin recalls his days at the firm with great fondness. "I'm a very grateful and loyal person," he said, citing a Chinese adage that a person should never forget the source of the water he drinks from.As a young auditor in the late 1970s, he was sent to his firm's office in Manchester, where he spent four years learning the ropes.It was a steep learning curve and he returned to Singapore a lot less "suaku" (a country bumpkin in Hokkien dialect).In a city well known for its football teams, he gained a passion for the game and was an ardent supporter of Manchester United. Even now, he makes a point to catch games involving the Red Devils in the wee hours of the morning here.But it was hockey and volleyball, not football, that he played in his younger days. These days, he prefers to tee up at a golf course.Despite his retirement, he is keeping himself busy. Besides being a member of the Council of Presidential Advisers, he also sits on the boards of several companies, including Sembcorp Industries and SingTel.Mr Chin was also in the news recently as chair of the committee of inquiry looking into the fire at SingTel's Bukit Panjang Exchange in October, which caused widespread disruption in broadband, cable broadcast and other services nationwide.The intensely private man revealed that he was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Growing up in a staff quarters behind a cinema where his father worked as a cashier, he understands the concerns of the less well-off.In spite of the prominent positions that he has held, Mr Chin is humble and easygoing by nature - a useful trait with the many feedback sessions the MediShield Life review committee has set up.Recalling his three decades of experience in the accounting field, he said: "Managing relationships was one of the biggest takeaways from the job."salma@sph.com.sg.facebook.com/ST.Salma迷你倉
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