TAR UC Students Prevail in Deloitte SEA Tax Challenge 2016

The reigning team category champion of the national level of the Deloitte Tax Challenge in November 2015 from Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (‘TAR UC’) has won Champion prize again. The team made Malaysia proud by emerging as the champion at the Deloitte Southeast Asia (‘SEA’) Tax Challenge 2016 conducted in Kuala Lumpur on 25 - 26 February 2016. The students, namely, Thiban Raj Arumugam, Rupini Kangasothy, Angelina Tai Fern Jian and Cheang Weizheng of the Bachelor of Commerce (Honours), as a team, beat contenders from Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. 

The students were given training on the first day, covering areas such as presentation skills, case studies and international tax issues. On the second day, all the participating teams were given 1.5 hours to prepare and 20 minutes to deliver a presentation. 

Rupini, one of the team members, shared the difference between the competition at Southeast Asia level and the one at national level: “As there were various Asian countries competing, we did not cover the Malaysian syllabus on tax issues anymore. Instead, we covered international tax issues quite extensively.” 

Cheang Weizheng, another team member, spoke about his experience at this level of competition. “Competing with top talents from different countries was no easy task. We had to quickly understand and grasp the different business and tax environment across the countries.”

As for Angelina Tai Fern Jian, she was more than happy to give credit to her lecturers for having prepared them well. “Our lecturers gave us technical articles to read, showed us illustrative videos to learn from as the tax issues were technically heavy.”

Thiban, on the other hand, spoke about the deepening of his appreciation for the tax profession after the competition. “I have fallen in love with taxation even more. In this ever-changing business environment, I am now able to view taxation from a different perspective and this has enhanced my analytical skills and enabled me to come up with more efficient and effective measures in tax planning.”

The four students had positive reasons about how this win would help them in their career. All of them concurred that they are now better able to cope with delivery of results within a given deadline, better time management skills when under pressure, become more confident and resourceful in doing their own research on tax issues and also improve on their presentation skills. 

Datuk Dr Tan Chik Heok, President of TAR UC, was more than delighted with the win. “These students have certainly done the University College proud, not only have they won at the national level but also at the regional level. This achievement bears testimony to the quality education that the students receive at TAR UC.