SINGAPORE - The Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced on Friday that Mr Ow Fook Chuen has been appointed Singapore's Accountant General from March 23 with the retirement of Ms Chua Geok Wah from the post.
Mr Ow is currently the senior director (Special Projects) at Accountant-General Department (AGD).
Ms Chua, who took on the post on April 1, 2000, will retire on March 22, after an illustrious 40-year career with the Singapore Civil Service, MOF said.
Under her leadership, the AGD has evolved and transformed from a traditional government accounting department to a strategic finance partner for the public sector, it said.
"A tireless champion of IT, Ms Chua has led major efforts to automate and innovate the government financial and accounting processes to eliminate inefficiencies and increase productivity," said MOF. "She also pioneered the central pooling of public sector cash floats to improve liquidity management and spearheaded the prescribing of accounting standards for the Statutory Boards."
Ms Chua also played a significant role in strengthening corporate governance within the public sector by setting up the Value-For-Money Review Office in 2007. The office helps MOF evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of spending on government programmes.
She also worked with agencies to tighten financial controls to deter potential fraud.
Ms Chua was awarded the National Day Awards Public Administration Gold Medal in 2006 for her contribution in public resource management.
Mr Ow, 43, joined the Civil Service in 1996 and was appointed to his current position in Jan 2 this year.
Prior to this, he held various key government appointments including director (Industry) at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, director (Governance & Investment) and director (Accounting Standards Council) at MOF, and deputy chief executive (Operations & Policy) at the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority. He was also appointed to the Singapore Accounting Standards Council between 2009 and 2011.
Mr Ow holds a Bachelor Degree in Accountancy (2nd Class Upper Honours) from the Nanyang Technological University and a Master's Degree in Business Administration from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
