Special feature Perfecting the practice
SYCIP GORRES VELAYO & Co. (SGV & Co.) founder Washington Z. SyCip was one of the foremost practitioners of accountancy in both the Philippines and Asia, and played a key role in shaping the local profession.
Mr. SyCip paved the way for Filipino accountants to become competitive at a global level when, in 1955, he inaugurated a program in SGV & Co. that allowed one employee every year to be sent to the US for a Master of Business Administration ( MBA) degree at the company’s expense.
After working out a merger with Henry Hunter Bayne & Co. ( HHB), a firm which started its accounting practice in the country in 1906, SGV & Co. saw the need for professionals with world- class capabilities as the demands of the trade became more complicated. The firm then began a manpower development program through t ra ining and scholarship “to ensure the cont inued development of its work force and to fill the gap between the academe and actual practice.”
The number of SGV & Co.sponsored scholars eventually grew as the company prospered, and as the founder himself foresaw, many of the firm’s future partners and leaders emerged from this group. The company remained committed to staff development and encouraged its people to strive for excellence at all levels.
SGV & Co.’s first scholar returned to the country in 1957 and was the one who laid down the framework for the company training program. Employees were also encouraged to pursue higher studies or take up additional courses to develop their expertise, while scholarships to local and international MBA programs were granted to deserving staff members.
A Research and Training Division was eventually established in the company to oversee the training of audit staff and their compliance to industry standards.
Then, in 1984, Mr. SyCip started the first outsourcing venture in the country.
“I brought a group to train our people, and after their training, I told them they had to find jobs within the firm,” he said in an interview with BusinessWorld. “The outsourcing industry now employs around one million people employment, which is good, and it is increasing every year by 100,000 so it’s continuous growth.”
Mr. SyCip said that Cirilo P. Noel, chairman and managing partner at SGV & Co., and his group have done more for the company since then. According to him, they now have 6,000 employees and of those, 1,000 are are working in branches abroad.
“I was so happy to see that when I retired from SGV years ago, we had the leadership of the profession. But now Vic [Mr. Noel] and his group have done what I did not dream of doing... they now have about 6,000 employees — more than double com- pared to my time,” he said. “Now, all the young kids, they would like to see the rest of the world. So the 1,000 employees have a rotation [scheme] and they work along with other racial groups. They’re very successful there.”
He said he welcomes such developments in the profession but more importantly, regarding education, he said he is glad that there are more certified public accountants (CPAs) coming from places outside the Metro.
“One of the other firms told me, ‘ Wash, it’s so difficult to get good people now.’ And I said, it’s because you are still sticking to the same old pattern. You cannot say that only Metro Manila has bright people,” he said. “This last exam, almost all the topnotchers were Cebuanos. There was one time that one of the topnotchers came from a school that I’ve never even heard of. So I asked him [Mr. Noel] how he manages to recruit majority of the top 10, and he said that from the very beginning they try to see who are finishing accountancy from universities, and then they encourage them, hold meetings for them even before they take the exam. So that part is very successful.”
In the board exam held last May, only two of the students who made it to the top 10 came from Metro Manila. One came from Davao Del Sur, and the rest were from Cebu.