- He is half a Malaccan (His mother is a Malacca Portuguese).

-  He worked briefly in Virgin Atlantic as an auditor, subsequently the Financial Controller of Richard Branson’s Virgin Records. He is a Fellow Member of ACCA.

- At the age of 28, he became the youngest Managing Director of Warner Music (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd.

- In 2011, he started the Air Asia with RM1 to purchase a highly indebted (RM40 million worth of debts) malaysian government-linked airline.

Everyone thought he was crazy and expected him to fail…. But, 

He was recently named one of the 100 most creative business people in 2011 by New York-based business megazine Fast Company (June 2011 Edition). In addition, the online version of the megazine also named Tony as one of the 10 most creative in Twitter.

In 2010, he was named Forbes Asia Businessman of the Year 2010.

In 2009, he was named the Airline CEO of the Year 2009 by Jane’s Transport Finance Megazine in London.

and many more awards… 

Factors that make him so special are:
1. His Air Asia Slogan “Now Everyone Can Fly”
2. He mission of serving the underserved
3. His personal belief to ”Dream the Impossible, Believe the Unbelievable, and Never take No for an Answer”
4. He believe to provide opportunities for talent to flourish, for meritocracy to reign and for people to realise their dreams.
5. He is determined to bring afforadbility in our other aspect of our life (such as Tune Hotel, Tune Talk and Tune Money, Tune Studio, Tune Tones & Epsom College of Malaysia)

I found all these great leader criteria in him:

1. He is visionary and a great business designer

2. Bold, brave and courages

3. Creative & innovative

4. Fast & decisive

5. Open and willing to empower his people

6. Smart in using technology to in operation, marketing and customer services

7. A busy man who knows how to build and have fun

For small and medium size companies, the founder is normally the key personnel that is planning, running and managing the overall company’s activities. Very often, after surviving and succeed for two or three decade, the owner is normally at the silver hair stage where he will wish his son(s) or daughter(s) to carry on the business, provided they are the right persons and are willing and keen to run the business.

It is at this stage that the the business will face several succession issues and risks such as :

1. failure to design an adequate succesion plan;

2. absent or lack of readiness of the right person to succeed;

3. the possible family conflict and choice of successor;

4. risks of losing high value employees to competitors;

5. risk of management conflict (bewteeen Head of Department) due to inadequate role design;

6. Loss of important and regular customers;

7. Lack of communication and shift of culture;

8. Changes in corporate image, brand profile and value. 

There are now 270 outlets with 3,500 employees worldwide operating in eight countires. The annual revenue is over RM400 million.

Datuk started the business with his three nephews 14 years ago with a start up capital of RM150,000. In year 2000, there were 15 Secret Recipe in Klang Valley and one in Singapore. That year, the company also started it’s franchise business. Datuk said that the toughest challenge in creating a franchise was to come up with a system for consistent product quality in all the cafes.

The start up cost of a franchise in Malaysia is around RM400,000 to RM500,000.The company has a team of franchise managers who checks outlets regularly for product quality and conduct staff training. Thier jobs are solely to help the franschise outlets. In the next two years, the company aims to grow its network from 190 outlets to 250 outlets in Malaysia.

On entrpreneurship:
- Sim said not everyone can be an entrepreneur, he learnt many things the hard way, working hard is not the solution, one must work smart, have good time management, and have integrity. Whatever you said, you will do. you must honour it. Financial planning is crucial as well as passion for the business.
- Problems and challenges are part and parcel of being an entrepreneur. Learning from mistakes and solving problems is part of doing business.

Datuk said that the basic principles of entrpreneur can be applied to all business.

2) Types of evidence
• Documentary evidence
• Physical evidence
• Third-party representations
• Computations
• Client representations
• Accounting records
• Analytical Review

3) Reliability of evidence
• High, Medium, Low

4) Audit Procedures
• Physical examination
• Observation
• Confirmation
• Tracing
• Vouching
• Inspection
• Reconciliation
• Re-performance
• Analytical procedures
• Inquiry
• Comparison

5) Competency of evidence
• Factual
• Relevant
• Reliable
• Quantified
• Time

6) Documentation of evidence
• Current file (RACM, TOC, Supporting, Correspondences, Reports, AFD)
• Permanent file

1) Planning
• Conduct interview
• Obtain SOPs & read them
• Create f/chart or narrative on the processes – understanding of official and unofficial documents
• Assess the risks within the processes
• Identify the existing controls 
• Assess and determine the effectiveness of controls and the residual risks
• Design the audit programs to test the controls

2) Performing
• Execute the test of controls
• Document the results and evidences
3) Communicating
• Report summary audit findings
• Make recommendations for improvements
• Prepare Audit Finding and Discussion form - AFD (include the risks and possible risks)
• In AFD, request auditee to assess and rate the risk and probability as well as giving action plans and target compeltion date.
4) Monitoring
• Follow up AFD
• Document results of AFD
5) Quality Assurance
• Conduct self review on audit files (both hard and soft copy)
• Conduct Supervisor reviews (both hard and soft copy)
• Complete the quality checklist

• An happy place to work admire by the people in the organisation.
• Make up of highly committed team players which inspire the whole organisation.
• A pool of talented staff with special skill sets.
• A resource centre for advisory, consulting and process improvement.
• A key player that energise organisation’s governance, ethics and good conduct.
• A force for systematic and efficient work culture and best practices.
• An internal control and risk expert.
• The advocate of ERM.
• The department that helps produce future leaders.
• Where the BOD says, “Their existence reduce, deter and prevent fraud”.
• The BOD says, “They told us the opportunity we have missed and what we should avoid”.
• The BOD says, “They make a difference to this organisation, make use relevant and remain competitive”.
• A place that people like to join and hate to leave.

MAP

1) Motivation

     This refers to the driving force that will drive you all the way no matter what obstacles you would face. Is that    money? love? power? Fame? Once you determined, nothing and nobody can stop you. My only advice is money isn’t everything.

2) Action

     a) Plan for it : There goes the saying “If you do not plan, you plan to fail”. Once your goals are determined, you got to draw out the master plan and figure out the 5W and 1H (What? Where? When? Why? Who? How?).  

     b) Just do it : Plans are only good intention if there is no physical actions. Do not fall into the trap of perfectionism, nothing is perfect, just do it, learn it, experience it, adjust it and …… succeed. 

3) Passion

      This is like the engine oil that will smooth out the whole journey towards you dream. It is kind of the emotional attachement to your goals, your plans, and your actions. The strong enthusiasm and feelings on everything, including the people and events happening along the way. In a nutshell, if you like singing, it is like singing along, making a wealthy living & lifestyle and achieve your dream to be a singer.

Our goals are different. I have got my MAP, have you? See you at the top!

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P/S

For my dear internal auditors, I hope you can figure out whether you are having the right MAP:

1) Motivation – What can motivate you? Have you found the right tools, mentor, materials, methods that can keep and even boost your momentum towards yout goals? You don’t have to be a Chief Internal Auditor (CIA) or Chief Risk Officer (CIO) in order to get the CIA or CIO’s pay? Money isn’t everything you need.

2) Actions – Do you have a plan towards achieving your goals? What are the action plans that you need to take? Have you jump start the plans?

3) Passion – Are you passionate about Governance, Risks, Internal Control (GRC)?

If the MAP is right for you, Let’s do it!

I like to share the simple ways i look into #Governance in a business entity, check this list:

1) Know the company mission and objectives, and culture. Is it SMART!

2) Look at organisation chart – Know its people, thier roles and responsibilites, the relationship between them, and the way the company departmentalised. Any key function is missing in action (MIA)?;

3) Ask for a copy of the authority limit to understand the issue of power separation and segregation of duties;

4) Examine the background, qualifications and suitability of its people;

5) Go down to the field to interview the people and assess the environment and its key processes.

6) Examine the policies, procedures, guidelines, work instructions or SOPs.

7) Examine the process where things are prepared, checked and approved

Find out the way the employees communicate up, down, across the company.

9) Look at the R&D plan, training and development plan budget and forecast of each units.

10) Look at the way the information system is managed (what processes are manual and what are computerised).

And last but not least, look at the way the react to your present and the Q&A above.

• As the Head of Internal Audit, I wish to assist my company to achieve its financial goals by Identifying and present missed opportunities which can contribute to the business development of the company.
• To play the role as a motivator and educator who can influence the people in the company to stay objective, positive, ethical, and happy at all time.

2)      For my career (work specifically)

• To be a HOD  who can build internal audit or advisory team with strengths (staff leaders) in the following disciplines:

              i) Fraud detection and prevention;

              ii) Process Improvement;

              iii) Organisation & Methods;

              iv) IT Audit.

• To improve the professional and technical knowledge in terms of the four identified area above.
• To upgrade the internal audit methods so as to add value to the key departments of the company.
• To improve the follow up skills of the internal audit team (internal auditors who can make things move and smooth) to lead changes and improvement to the company.
• To actively co-drive the SOP project, to guide and assist the staff-in-charge to formalize the SOPs of the organization.
• To continue to increase the serious members of the audit network group (ANG) to at least ten (15) who are willing to share knowledge relevant to risk management, internal audit and control and governance practices.
• To connect to friends or anyone working in big (good) companies in order to obtain knowledge for benchmarking and best business practices.
• To obtain the status of CMIIA by 31^st December 2011.
• To realign and position my career path along the way in the year so as to be able to play more strategic roles for the company.

3)      For personal

• To reduce weight from 73kg to 65kg (8kg) by 31^st December 2011 and to stay a healthy lifestyle.
• To re-arrange and decorate No. 123 to build a cozy, sweet and happy family.
• To sign up for a guitar class and to play and sing like a professional in 31^st December 2010.
• To blog on issues relating to audit, risks, control, and governance on a bio-weekly basis (at least thirty (30) posts for whole year in 2011).
• To tweet on motivational and audit related issues on weekly basis (at least once a week)
• To achieve my personal financial goals for 2011.