Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not represent the views and opinions of the National University of Singapore or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates.
Mak Yuen Teen is a professor who holds First Class Honours, Masters and PhD degrees in accounting and finance. He has held Asia-Pacific and Singapore heads of research positions at major consulting firms .
Professor Mak was a member of the Corporate Governance Committee which released Singapore’s first Code of Corporate Governance for listed companies, the Council on Corporate Disclosure and Governance (CCDG) which prescribed accounting standards and revised the Code in 2005, and the Corporate Governance Council which released the fourth version of the Code in 2018. He is currently a member of the Corporate Governance Advisory Committee set up the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He was a member of the Charity Council in Singapore from its establishment in October 2006 until his retirement in 2013. During his term, he chaired the subcommittees which developed and revised the code of governance for charities. He was also a member of the advisory panel set up by the Ministry of National Development for the development of a code of governance for town councils in Singapore.
Professor Mak was a member of the audit advisory committee of the United Nations Population Fund based in New York from its establishment in October 2006 and retired in 2013. He then served as a member of the audit advisory committee of UN Women until October 2018. He was also an honorary advisor for BoardAgender, an organisation under the Singapore Council of Women Organisations in Singapore set up to promote gender diversity on boards and senior management, during its establishment phase. He has chaired a large healthcare charity and has served on boards and committees of other not-for-profit organisations.
He is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Hawkamah Institute of Governance in Dubai and a member of the Advisory Council of the Vietnam Independent Directors Association.
Professor Mak teaches corporate governance at NUS and conducts training for regulators, directors and other professsionals in corporate governance. He has consulted for local and international companies, regulators, and international intergovernmental organisations. He speaks regularly in conferences in Singapore and in the region, and is a regular commentator on corporate governance issues in the local and regional media.
Professor Mak developed the Governance and Transparency Index (GTI) covering all listed companies in Singapore, which was published by the Business Times, sponsored by CPA Australia. He was the Singapore expert in the development of the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard and Ranking project, an initiative of the ASEAN regulators to raise corporate governance standards amongst large ASEAN companies, and was involved in the ranking exercises for the first two years.
In 2017, he also launched the Governance Index for Trusts (GIFT) which he co-developed, which is the only index published in Singapore which is designed specifically for REITs and business trusts. He was chair of the Singapore Corporate Governance Awards from 2003 to 2009 and chaired the Investor Relations Award under the Singapore Corporate Awards from its inception until 2014.
His report on improving the implementation of corporate governance practices in Singapore, commissioned by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Singapore Exchange, was published in June 2007 and several of his recommendations have been implemented.
His book “From Conformance to Performance: Best Corporate Governance Practices for Asian companies” was published by McGraw-Hill in 2005. In 2012, he published a primer on governance for social enterprises commissioned by the Social Enterprise Association in 2012, and a guide for nominating committees of listed companies. Since 2012, he has edited an annual collection of Asian and international corporate governance case studies published and sponsored by CPA Australia. Selected cases and volumes have been translated to Chinese and Vietnamese.
He led a research project on board diversity in Asia Pacific, commissioned by Korn/Ferry International. He was the consultant for a project commissioned by the Diversity Task Force (established by the Ministry of Social and Family Development in Singapore) which led to a number of recommendations on improving gender diversity on boards of Singapore listed companies, which are now being implemented by the Diversity Action Committee.
He has also published papers on corporate governance and accounting in academic journals such as the Journal of Corporate Finance and Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, as well as practice-oriented journals.
In 2014, the received the Corporate Governance Excellence Award from the Securities Investors Association (Singapore) for his contributions to improving corporate governance in Singapore.
In 2015, he received the Recognition Award from the Minority Shareholders Watchdog Group as part of their Malaysian Corporate Governance Index-ASEAN CG Scorecard Awards for his contributions to raising corporate governance standards in the region. That same year, he was recognised by the Singapore Institute of Directors and a CG pioneer.
