Financial adviser calls for accountants to lead the way to K-economy
KUALA LUMPUR: Feedback from accountants is imperative for the successful implementation of the New Economic Model (NEM) and for Malaysia to transform into a knowledge economy (K-economy), said China Banking Regulatory Commission chief adviser Datuk Seri Panglima Andrew Sheng.
“Accountants play a major role in the development of the K-economy from data classification, verification, data analysis as well as business risk investment,” he told reporters yesterday at the 51st Anniversary commemorative lecture and luncheon of the Malaysian Insitutue of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA).
MICPA’s anniversary theme this year was “NEM and the Role of Accountants.”
Sheng said Malaysian accountants must continually upgrade themselves and lead the nation in the process to transform the economy.
He said accountants in the services sector play a significant role in the development of the knowledge economy and could trasform the human resources landscape.
He reckoned that the old economic model of relying on “cheap clerks” and smart partners were over, as the structure did not provide encouragement and incentives to middle managers.
“We are exporting our talent abroad due to higher overseas pay,” he noted, adding the country should instead invest in clusters of accounting talent to do high value outsourcing accounting work in Malaysia.
Sheng said there was a need to do more research in value-added accounting services, such as database management and the conversion of accounting data into business data.
“The conversion of raw accounting data into business and user-friendly language is a major business (opportunity),” he said, citing eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) as an example.
XBRL is the language used for electronic communication of information between businesses and other users of financial information for the purpose of business reporting.
“We need to develop Malaysia as a centre of excellence in accounting and information upgrading,” he said.
Sheng said servicing the financial cetres of Hong Kong and Singapore in data conversion/outsourcing alone was sufficiently viable, what more capturing new businesses in the Middle East, China and India.
To capitalise on this business opportunity, Malaysia needs to develop and promote strong research and development in accounting, he said.
By DANNY YAP, danny@thestar.com.my
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Cyberattack lifted Google password system code, says report
'Chinese' hack nabbed single-sign-on source
When alleged Chinese hackers infiltrated Google's internal systems in December, they lifted source code for a password system that controls access to almost all of the company's web services, according to a report citing a person with direct knowledge of Google's investigation into the matter.
The New York Times reports that the December attack nabbed code for the system that controls single-sign-on for millions of users across myriad Google services, including Gmail and the company's online business applications. Originally codenamed Gaia - a nod to the Greek godess of the earth - it is now known simply as Single Sign-On.
According to The Times, the attack began when an instant message was sent to a Google employee in China who was running Microsoft's Messenger client. When the employee clicked on a weblink in the IM, attackers gained access to the employee's PC, and from there, they tapped machines used by "a critical group of software developers" at the company's Mountain View headquarters. Eventually, they also gained access to a software repository where source code for the Gaia system was stored.
Code was moved to machines housed by the Texas-based webhost Rackspace, The Times says, before it was transferred to some other, unknown destination.
At some point, according to The Times, the attackers gained access to an internal Google directory called Moma, which houses info on the "work activities" of company employees. This may have been used to locate specific individuals inside the company. The attackers "seemed to have precise intelligence" about the names of the Gaia software developers.
However, The Times says, the attackers "do not appear" to have lifted the passwords of individual Gmail users.
On January 12, Google told the world that Chinese hackers had stolen unspecified intellectual property from the company's internal system, and it said evidence indicated that "a primary motive" of the attacks was to gain access to the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. In light of the attack - and what it described as other, routine attacks on the Gmail accounts of such activists - Google said it had resolved to stop censoring search results in the country.
A little more than two months later, after talks with Chinese government, Google shut down its Chinese search engine, Google.cn, and redirected visitors to its Hong Kong-based engine, Google.com.hk, where it now provides uncensored search results in simplified Chinese.
According to The Times, Google continues to use the Gaia system, and the paper questions whether the attackers may use the course code to locate security weaknesses n the system itself. ®
By Cade Metz in San Francisco
Source: http://newscri.be/link/1077234
When alleged Chinese hackers infiltrated Google's internal systems in December, they lifted source code for a password system that controls access to almost all of the company's web services, according to a report citing a person with direct knowledge of Google's investigation into the matter.
The New York Times reports that the December attack nabbed code for the system that controls single-sign-on for millions of users across myriad Google services, including Gmail and the company's online business applications. Originally codenamed Gaia - a nod to the Greek godess of the earth - it is now known simply as Single Sign-On.
According to The Times, the attack began when an instant message was sent to a Google employee in China who was running Microsoft's Messenger client. When the employee clicked on a weblink in the IM, attackers gained access to the employee's PC, and from there, they tapped machines used by "a critical group of software developers" at the company's Mountain View headquarters. Eventually, they also gained access to a software repository where source code for the Gaia system was stored.
Code was moved to machines housed by the Texas-based webhost Rackspace, The Times says, before it was transferred to some other, unknown destination.
At some point, according to The Times, the attackers gained access to an internal Google directory called Moma, which houses info on the "work activities" of company employees. This may have been used to locate specific individuals inside the company. The attackers "seemed to have precise intelligence" about the names of the Gaia software developers.
However, The Times says, the attackers "do not appear" to have lifted the passwords of individual Gmail users.
On January 12, Google told the world that Chinese hackers had stolen unspecified intellectual property from the company's internal system, and it said evidence indicated that "a primary motive" of the attacks was to gain access to the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. In light of the attack - and what it described as other, routine attacks on the Gmail accounts of such activists - Google said it had resolved to stop censoring search results in the country.
A little more than two months later, after talks with Chinese government, Google shut down its Chinese search engine, Google.cn, and redirected visitors to its Hong Kong-based engine, Google.com.hk, where it now provides uncensored search results in simplified Chinese.
According to The Times, Google continues to use the Gaia system, and the paper questions whether the attackers may use the course code to locate security weaknesses n the system itself. ®
By Cade Metz in San Francisco
Source: http://newscri.be/link/1077234
The Yin And Yang Of China's Housing Bubble
For some, housing is out of reach; for others there's a windfall.
Wu Junkai
HONG KONG -- Five years ago Wu Junkai had just graduated from college and moved to Beijing. When the lease came up on the flat he shared with a roommate, he was the only one who wanted to stay. "I thought why not buy the flat once and for all," Wu said.
Even better: the apartment's value has skyrocketed amidst the real estate bubble in China.
"I paid 6,300 yuan ($923) per square meter at that time," said Wu of his 136 square-meter apartment near Beijing's East Fourth Ring. "Now it costs almost 22,000 yuan ($3,223)--I couldn't imagine it has soared so much."
But not everyone is so lucky. Ning Haixin graduated last year, when Chinese housing prices were shooting up. Though Ning works at a high-tech company and earns a handsome salary in the country's capital, he said he doesn't see buying a home in Beijing for the next five years.
Beijing's housing price is going crazy, and people are always talking about housing bubbles," said Ning. "Most of my friends are living in rented flats. I want to wait and see if this property boom will go bust."
Zhang Xin, CEO of Soho China and one of China's richest billionaires, warned a real estate bubble in a recent Forbes interview. (See: "China's Developer Lament") Zhang said developers are rushing to build and sell more property to speculators even though there is no apparent need for more buildings, and the bubble keeps growing.
Beijing along with 69 other large and medium-sized cities in mainland China have witnessed a sizzling property market--property prices climbed 11.7% in March to a 5-year high. Real estate investment in the first quarter rose 35.1% to 65.94 million yuan ($9.66 million), according to latest government data.
Beijing is trying to cool home prices without bursting the bubble. The State Council raised the minimum down-payment required to 50% from 40% for second home buyers and to 30% for first home buyers for apartments larger than 90 square meters. The country's cabinet is also mulling an individual housing consumption tax.
When Wu bought his apartment five years ago, his down-payment was just 20% of the price--far less than Ning would have to put down if he were to buy. And today, it takes 40 years for a middle-income family with an annual income of 100,000 to 150,000 yuan ($14,649 to $21,974) to pay off the loan on a 100 square-meter flat in Beijing, according to Wen Hongwei, project director at the Beijing branch of Guangdong Pearl River Investment.
Wen remains optimistic about the mainland property market. "There may be bubbles in the short term, but after this round of government adjustment, the market will resume a healthy growing momentum in the second half of this year," said Wen.
Sun Hung Kai Properties ( SUHJY.PK - news - people ), Hong Kong's biggest real estate developer by market value, saw its net profit soar 19.7 times to HK$14.3 billion ($1.84 billion) in the second half of last year. The company predicts the mainland China property market will rise in the long run given the central government's strong economic stimulus package and reluctance to raise interest rates, according to its latest financial report. Sun Hung Kai owns of 88.3 million square feet of land in mainland China. Its shares dropped 0.6% as of Tuesday noon.
"Though Beijing is taking action to cool the country's boiling property market, its aim is to keep the market in good stable shape rather than rein in its development as the property market contributes to 10-20% of the country's GDP," said Wen. "March has already seen the country's first trade deficit in the past 6 years. The central government certainly doesn't want to halt another wagon that drives its economic growth."
Jennifer Po-ying Cheung, 04.20.10, 03:45 AM EDT
Source: http://newscri.be/link/1077237
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