By Sustainability, Digital Economy and Reporting Team
The Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) recently hosted the first-ever Digital Technology Adoption Awards (DTAA), celebrating outstanding achievements in digital transformation within the accountancy profession. Launched in 2023, the DTAA represents a significant step forward in the Institute’s ongoing efforts to promote digital transformation. This initiative builds upon the foundation set by the MIA Digital Technology Blueprint, unveiled in 2018, further strengthening the Institute’s commitment to fostering innovation and digital adoption.
This time around, the DTAA Winners in Action features Chia, Ka & Partners PLT, celebrating their achievement as the recipient of the ‘Excellence Award’ for practice management in the Public Practice category, specifically for firms with 10 to 49 employees. Take a look at the interview article below with Jeremy Chia and Edward Ka, Co-founders and partners of Chia, Ka & Partners PLT (CKP) to gain deeper insights into their digital technology adoption success.
Why did you adopt technology?
Prior to our digital transformation, our firm faced significant challenges in practice management and workflow coordination. The main pain points were:
- Multiple versions of documents and schedules were floating around in emails
- Difficulty in tracking project status and deadlines across different teams
- Inconsistent communication channels between team members and clients
- Time-consuming manual updates of project timelines and resource allocation
- Lack of real-time visibility into team capacity and workload
- Challenges in coordinating remote work and maintaining productivity
- Risk of miscommunication leading to missed deadlines or duplicated work
The absence of a centralised system meant team members were often working with outdated information, leading to inefficiencies and potential risks in client service delivery.
What technologies have you adopted?
We implemented a comprehensive cloud-based collaboration and project management platform that serves as our single source of truth. The solution includes:
- A centralised workflow management system
- Real-time collaboration capabilities
- Automated notification and reminder systems
- Resource allocation and capacity planning tools
- Customisable dashboards for different stakeholder needs
- Integration capabilities with other essential business tools
This integrated approach ensures that all team members have access to the same up-to-date information, significantly improving our practice management efficiency.
How was your digital technology implementation journey?
As co-founders and partners of CKP, we approached this implementation with a clear focus on achieving quick wins while ensuring sustainable long-term adoption. Our journey encompassed several critical milestones:
The key to our successful implementation was focusing on people first, then processes, and finally technology. This human-centric approach helped us achieve buy-in across all levels of the organisation and established sustainable digital practices.
What is the impact of your technology adoption?
The implementation has delivered significant measurable benefits as follows:
Quantitative Improvements:
- 40% reduction in time spent on status updates and reporting
- 60% decrease in email communication for project updates
- 30% improvement in productivity in 2020 and 2021, 50% improvement in 2022
- 70% and 80% on-time closure rate for monthly accounts in 2021 and 2022
Qualitative Improvements:
- Enhanced transparency across all levels of the organisation
- Improved team collaboration and engagement
- Better work-life balance following from more efficient processes
- Increased client satisfaction resulting from more responsive service
- Stronger risk management through better oversight
- More strategic resource allocation
What is your future digital technology plan?
Building on our successful practice management transformation, we are now exploring several new initiatives aimed at further improving our operations. These include enhanced client portal integration to facilitate seamless communication, advanced analytics for more accurate resource forecasting, and the implementation of automated quality control checkpoints. Additionally, we are looking into AI-powered workflow optimisation, as well as enhanced reporting capabilities that will provide deeper business insights.
Do you have any tips to share with the readers?
Based on our experience, here are our key recommendations:
Why did you participate in the DTAA?
We participated in DTAA to showcase how strategic implementation of digital tools can transform practice firms. The application process helped us reflect on our journey and quantify the benefits that we have achieved.
Our keylearnings from the DTAA process are:
- The importance of measuring and documenting transformation outcomes
- Value of a structured approach to digital adoption
- Benefits of sharing experiences with the professional community
What is your advice to aspiring participants of the DTAA in the future?
We advise future participants to:
- Begin documenting your digital transformation journey early
- Focus on demonstrating tangible business impact
- Share both successes and challenges honestly
- Use the DTAA application process as a learning opportunity
- Consider how your experience can benefit others in the industry
The DTAA recognition validates our approach to digital transformation and motivates us to continue innovating in practice management. It is not just about technology adoption – it is about creating a more efficient, collaborative, and future-ready organisation.
For more information about the DTAA and the complete list of winners, click the links below:
