Small town Sikh lady made partner at big Malaysian accounting firm

By Anandpreet Kaur | MALAYSIA |

Anoopal Kaur, one of the youngest female liquidators in Malaysia, has been made a partner at accounting and business advisory firm Baker Tilly Malaysia.

Anoo, as she is fondly referred to by the Baker Tilly family, joined Ferrier Hodgson Malaysia 13 years ago after she graduated from university.

Baker Tilly (Malaysia) group managing partner Andrew Heng recalled the moment when Anoopal first joined Ferrier Hodgson Malaysia, fresh out of university, and excited to learn all she could about the world of insolvency and corporate restructuring.

“Throughout the many years that Anoo has been with us, I have watched her grow and mature in her knowledge of the industry (which is quite a tough one) and as a leader. In an industry that is predominantly male, Anoo really stood out as a rising star and earned the respect of her fellow colleagues and many others in the industry,” he shared in a LinkedIn message.

Now, that’s a solid word of confidence from one of her bosses.

Anoopal grew up in Raub, a small town in Pahang. Her father, Kirpal Singh Sardool Singh, previously operated an electric and electronic repair shop in town. He is now retired. Her mother Amarjit Kaur Shamir Singh is a homemaker.

“I came to Kuala Lumpur to pursue my higher education and have been here since,” she told Asia Samachar.

Just before she graduated, she attended a career fair, and applied for a job as an associate consultant with Ferrier Hodgson MH Sdn Bhd. It was then an Australian affiliated firm specialising in insolvency and recovery work. She joined in 2008 and has been with the firm since.

“When I first applied for the role, I didn’t really know much or understood insolvency work. It is a very niche industry and not much that I read online then, was something I could comprehend well. I graduated as an accountant, but preferred a more advisory based role, which the job offered. It was exciting and challenging both at the same time,” she said

So, what do insolvency practitioner like her do? An insolvency practitioner is a person appointed to act over a company, partnership or person when the business becomes insolvent or when a person goes bankrupt, or via a debenture over charged assets of a financial institution.

A liquidator is one of the appointment an insolvency practitioner can act as. A liquidator is appointed by the court over a company when it gets wound-up. As a liquidator, his primary role is to take over the business of a wound-up company, identify and dispose its assets and use the recovery as settlement to the creditors that were not settled when the business was still in operations.

An example would be, to be appointed over a development company that is wound-up leaving a housing project abandoned half way. The liquidator would likely access what is the best value for the abandoned project, if need be, revive the same and deliver the units to the purchasers of the project. Any unsold units, could be used as payments to the potential white knight that will be appointed to complete the project.

An insolvency practitioner can also assist with companies facing financial difficulties via restructuring exercises and some other mechanisms available in the companies act ie. judicial management or corporate voluntary arrangement.

Anoopal is one of the founding board members of the International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Network, the Malaysian Chapter. She is also a member of the Women in Business Committee with CPA Australia and Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA).

Baker Tilly ranks among the largest accounting and business advisory firms in Malaysia, with 50 partners and directors, 6 offices across Malaysia and an office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and a staff force of over 800 professionals, according to information at its website.