Achievements, leadership and management attributes
Paul led the establishment and development of a sustainable professional practice, from scratch, in a fiercely competitive environment, to be among the top 2% of professional accountancy practices in Singapore.
Paul has made a significant contribution to the development of Morison Global, particularly in Asia Pacific. He is skilled in international environments and relationships as the whole of his professional career has been in the international arena.
Paul leads by vision combined with action to implement commitments and build sustainable relationship based on trust and performance. He is directly responsible for bringing a landmark change to the Korean Stock Exchange to permit local South Korean firms to undertake IPO of non-Korean companies on Korean Stock Exchange. Before this change only the big four were permitted to undertake IPO work for non-Korean companies to list on the Korean Stock Exchange.
Paul is also recognised as a leading professional and strong advocate of governance by the Singapore government.
Role in development of global association – Morison International (MI) and Morison Global (formerly Morison Ksi)
Paul and his firm Paul Wan & Co., established across-border association with KS Heng & Co (now Morison Heng) in Hong Kong in 1988 and Morison Stoneham (founder member of MI) in the UK in 1989. He went on to lead in the establishment of Morison Asia Pacific in 1992 with KS Heng and Stephen Chang following the founding of MI in 1990. Due to lack of resources in MI, Paul Wan & Co, together with KS Heng & Co, funded the development of the Asia Pacific region in the early years.
Together with KS Heng, Paul led in the recruitment of firms in China and the establishment of high-level brand recognition of “Morison” with the China Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
In September 2020 Paul was elected as the Chairman of Morison Global and he became the first Asian to be the Chairman of an international accounting group.
In collaboration with some members and third parties, Paul published 3 technical resources: IFRS training manual, audit manual for small and medium enterprises, audit manual for large and listed companies.
Appointments and experiences outside the professions
Paul acted as an independent director (some appointments confirmed by the Singapore Prime Minister) of multinational companies in Singapore, where some of them are listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. He was also adjunct lecturer at the National University of Singapore, senior lecturer at the Singapore Management University and Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants for almost 15 years. Overseas lecturer for the Executive MBA Programmes of the Jinan University Guangzhou, a top 10 University in China for almost 9 years.
Paul is a regular speaker and writer on the Asia Economies. Delivered lectures in many parts of the world, including Paris (organised by La Tribune and other financial press on 6 occasions), Australia, Taiwan, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Seoul, Tokyo, Mumbai, New Delhi, Dubai, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, San Jose and London.
Paul has written in many accountancy journals, magazine and newsletters including for the ACCA. Written many training manuals. First author of the financial accounting manual “Advanced Accounting Practice Manual (Singapore)” published by UK BPP Accountancy Tuition for the ACCA’s examinations in Singapore.
Professional career
Employed in KPMG offices in London and Singapore – 1982 to 1986, Paul specialised in the audit of banks, financial services and multi-national listed companies.
He established Paul Wan & Co in Singapore in 1986 with 2 colleagues; managing partner from 1986 to present time. Paul Wan & Co is now a top 15 firm out of a total of 920 CPA firms in Singapore with 6 partners and principals with about 60 staff.
70% of the firm’s clients are listed or subsidiaries of listed companies on stock exchanges in China, France, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and the US.
Paul has in-depth expertise in shipping (global shipping groups with 60 companies), media, film, post-production, oil and gas, mining and commodity industries. He has listed 18 clients on the Singapore stock exchange and taken clients to cross-border listings in South Korea, Taiwan and the US.
Paul trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) in London in 1982.
In February 2021 Paul conceptualised and structured the world’s first whisky token-coin for a group of whisky collectors. The whiskies are high-end vintage whiskies of 35 to 50 years and the token-coin is listed on a recognised exchange. The coin was oversold 20 times with investors making an average gain of 30% in one month.
In June 2022 Paul was the first foreign speaker to be invited by the StartUp Innovation Thailand Expo to be the keynote speaker at their 2022 Forum and Award Ceremony. Paul delivered his keynote address on the Global VC Vision of Metaverse