Last time, I signed ACCA PER like pasar malam.

Employee resign.
Last week in office.
PER form appears on my table.

“Boss, can sign today?”

I hold the pen… and suddenly I realise something.

I cannot remember the details anymore.

Not because I don’t care.
But because after 1-2 years,
memory becomes “vague” only:

“Handled some audits.”
“Helped with tax.”
“Good attitude.”

But PER is not headline.
PER is evidence on real work, real skills, real growth.

So two years ago, I changed one thing.

I told my HR Manager:
Every ACCA candidate must submit yearly appraisal + PER progress to me, every year.

Simple.

No more signing based on mood.
No more signing based on “I think so”.
No more last-minute rescue mission.

Today, that system paid off.

I signed off Pei Jun’s PER and congratulated her.
She has two papers left, and
She told me she wants to finish them before the 2027 syllabus change.

She forgot to tick “Leadership and Management” in PER.

She thought leadership is only for “manager” with title”.

So I asked her, “You manage a portfolio, right?”

She said yes.

I said, “That is management.”

Because management is not a room.
It’s planning jobs, allocating time, chasing clients, and making decisions when documents are missing but deadlines are not.

Then I asked, “You train interns and juniors, right?”

She said yes.

I said, “That is leadership.”

Leadership is sometimes just sitting beside an intern and saying,
“Ok, I show you how to do it properly.”

This is why I don’t sign PER only when people resign.

It’s unfair to the employer.
Unfair to the employee.
And unfair to the standard we claim to support.

When PER is reviewed yearly, the firm becomes clearer, the staff becomes more confident, and progress becomes real not agak-agak.

PS : Authored by Mr Koh Teck Peng, the group principal, in his personal LinkedIn.