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UUM ONLINE: Bachelor of Accounting student, Ms Chia Jing Ying made a pleasant surprise when she emerged as one of the winners of the EY Young Tax Professional of the Year (YTPY) Malaysia 2020  competition held virtually recently.

Ms Chia Jing Ying won the third place after beating other opponents in the programme organised by Ernst & Young Tax Consultants Sdn. Bhd. (EY) in collaboration with the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (IRBM).

According to her, for the first time, this year the competition was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, nevertheless she still felt nervous competing in the prestigious competition.

According to her, she never did place any high hopes. To her being listed in the Top 10 was good enough however she was ecstatic when her name was announced as the second runner-up. The victory came as an unexpected surprise because all the participants were very competitive and smart.

"In this competition, participants are asked to solve a case study presented in the form of PowerPoint presentations and our video presentations were evaluated in terms of critical thinking, analytical strength, creativity and commercial awareness.

"As a result of the presentation, 10 finalists were shortlisted and then we were given a scenario with a task to be resolved and presented before a panel of judges," she said.

Chia Jing Ying described YTPY as an ideal platform to promote the taxation profession, thus developing the talents of young people by affording them with knowledge, skills and experience to prepare for the future.

According to her, such a competition really challenged the minds of participants to think beyond theoretical knowledge and they had to answer the questions well in dealing with real business problems.

She also said that participants had to be creative and think critically to produce answers that will bring about positive results and potentially help businesses grow and improve as people go about living their lives in the new normal.

The success of the student from the Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz School of Accountancy (TISSA) entitled her to grab a MYR3,000 cash prize and the opportunity to undergo a paid practicum session at Ernst & Young Tax Consultants Sdn. Bhd., Kuala Lumpur.

First runner-up was Charis Chan Wei Yenn of Elite International College and Ashley Lim Siew Fern of Tunku Abdul Rahman University College emerged champion of the competition.

The champion will represent Malaysia at the international competition and will compete against winners from around the world for the 'EY Young Tax Professional of the Year' title which is expected to take place later this year.