Themin SUWARDY
Dr Themin Suwardy is an Associate Professor of Accounting (Practice) with the SMU School of Accountancy. Before his current appointment as Associate Provost (PGP Education), he was Dean of Postgraduate Professional Programmes (2016-2021), looking after SMU portfolio of Masters programme with an annual intake of over 1,400 students. Prior to joining academia, Themin was an auditor with KPMG Peat Marwick.
He has received over 20 SMU and international teaching awards, including Best MBA Core Teacher Award five times, EMBA Most Outstanding Faculty Award four times, and three SMU university-wide teaching awards. He was a recipient of the HP Mobile Technology for Teaching Award (2004), the inaugural CEEMAN's Champion Award for Management Teaching (2010) and the IBM Faculty Award (2017). He was accorded Republic of Singapore's Public Administration Medal (Bronze) in 2011 for his contribution to education.
Themin has been active member of the accounting profession through his involvement over the years in numerous professional bodies, including CPA Australia (President, Singapore Division, 2013-2014), IIA Singapore, SAC, ISCA and served as Vice-President of the International Association for Accounting Education and Research. In 2015, he was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award by CPA Australia for his significant and distinguished service to the accounting profession.
Themin serves as the Vice Chairman of SATA CommHealth and chairs its Investment and Finance Committee. He is also a Director of GMAC and chairs its Membership committee. He is a member of the Goods and Services Tax Board of Review. He has consulted and worked with KPMG Forensics Singapore, DFS Singapore, Singapore Airlines, HP, IBM Singapore, Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority of Singapore (ACRA), amongst others. He is a frequent commentator and writer for The Business Times.
Education and Professional Qualifications
PhD, Monash University, Australia
Bachelor of Business (Accountancy) (Honours), Monash University, Australia
Bachelor of Computing (Information System), Monash University, Australia
FCPA (Australia), FCA Singapore, FCMA (Australia)
Research Interests
- Accounting Education
- Corporate Governance
- Financial Reporting and Disclosure
- Fraud, Internal Controls and Audits
Teaching Interests
- Financial Accounting
Selected Recognition and Awards
EMBA Most Outstanding Faculty award, 2018
IBM Faculty Award, 2017
SMU School of Accountancy Long Service Award, 2016
CPA Australia, Lifetime Achievement Award, 2015
SMU Postgraduate Professional Education Teaching Excellence Award, 2013
Republic of Singapore’s Public Administration Medal (Bronze), 2011
Forbes’s 2010 Heroes of Philanthropy, 2010
SMU Distinguished Teach Award, 2010
CEEMAN Faculty Champion Award for Management Teaching, 2010
Selected Publications
Suwardy, T, Tomar, A. and Das, N. (2021), “Gearing up Higher Education for a More Resilient Future post COVID-19”, Internationalisation of Higher Education – Policy and Practice, 2021(2): pp. 23-35.
Suwardy, T (2020) in Sangster, A., Stoner, G. and Flood, B. “Insights into Accounting Education in a COVID-19 World”, Accounting Education, pp97-99, doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2020.1808487
Suwardy T, Harrison WT, Tietz WM, Horngren CT, Thomas CW (2019), “Financial Accounting: International Financial Reporting Standards”, 11th global edition, Pearson Education, link.
Wang JW, Kusnadi Y, Leong KS and Suwardy T (2016), “Audit Committees and Financial Reporting Quality in Singapore”, Journal of Business Ethics, 139(1): 197-214, link.
Stoner G. and Suwardy T, (2016) “Thoughts from the IAAER’s 12th World Congress of Accounting Educators and Researchers”, Accounting Education, 25(4): 287-290, link.
Seow PS, Pan G and Suwardy T, (2016), “Detecting Financial Statement Fraud using Digital Analysis: A Validation and Extension of Debreceny and Gray's (2010) Techniques”, Journal of Forensic and Investigative Accounting, 8(3): 501-514, link.
de Lange P, Jackling B and Suwardy T, (2015), “Continuing Professional Development in the Accounting Profession: Evidence from the Asia Pacific Region”, Accounting Education, 24(1): 41-56, link.
SSRN: http://ssrn.com/author=105559
SELECTED NEWSPAPER BY-LINES
Suwardy T, (2020), “CFOs play crucial role in surviving COVID-19 crisis”, The Business Times, 30 Sept, link.
Suwardy T, Ho YK and Keung, E (2019), “Deciphering financial statements in annual reports”, The Straits Times, 30 Sept, link.
Keung, E, Suwardy T and Ho YK (2019), “More than the bottom line”, The Straits Times, 7 Oct, link.
Ho YK, Suwardy T and Keung, E (2019), “Uses and Limitations of valuations, The Straits Times, 14 Oct, link.
Suwardy T (2019), “Much Ado About Audit Opinions”, The Business Times, 30 May, p. 29, link.
Suwardy T (2019), “Corporate governance: avoid the groupthink pitfall”, The Business Times, 29 March 2019, p. 19, link.
Suwardy T and Surianarayanan G (2018), “Reframing the board diversity issue: set 25 by 25 target”, The Business Times, 15 February 2018, p 23, link.
Selected Appointments and Services
Board of Directors and Vice Chair, SATA CommHealth, 2020-present
Board of Directors, Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), 2019-present
GST Review Board, Ministry of Finance, 2019-present
Fellow, SMU Academy, 2016-present
Advisory Panel, CPA Australia Financial Reporting module, 2011-present
President, CPA Australia Singapore Division, 2013-2014
