SMU Associate Professor of Accounting (Practice) and Deputy Dean of Postgraduate Professional Programmes Themin Suwardy was interviewed for an article about the challenges facing accountants in the age of robotics, analytics and digitalisation. He noted that accountants should be ready to pick up related knowledge such as business valuation, risk management, forensic accounting, integrated reporting and so forth, adding that soft skills such as personal, interpersonal and organisational skills are just as important. While different universities have varying approaches, for its part, SMU has already shifted its method of assessing students by building in interpersonal skills as a component.

In its accounting programmes, for instance, the final exam only accounts for half of a student's final grade. "The other 50 per cent incorporates skills that we want our graduates to develop - they have to work in teams for their group projects, write reports, present their findings, participate actively in class discussions, and be active learners," said Associate Prof Suwardy.