Shareowl.com is owned and run by Financial Info Analysis Pte Ltd (FIA), a Singapore incorporated company. Through its insightful articles and investor forum, the website aims to promote the discussion of investment ideas and business analysis principles. We hope to serve not only the share investor but business owners and managers as well.
Although the specific investment ideas from our Provocateur and our forumers may have the potential of making good money for you, our ultimate mission is to help you develop an indepth understanding of business and financial analysis and valuation.
From E&Y to NUS to FIA
FIA was incorporated in April 2003 by founder and managing director, Sebastian Chong who is a Fellow Certified Public Accountant (Singapore and Australia) and a former associate professor with National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School. Prior to his 23 years in academia, he was a senior audit manager with Turquands Ernst & Whinney (now Ernst & Young). He obtained his Bachelor of Accountancy (Honours) in 1971 from University of Singapore and Master of Economics (Accounting) in 1983 from University of Sydney. And please add more than 3 decades of hands-on learning from the University of HK (not Hong Kong but Hard Knocks meted out by the stock market).
Equity analysis and training experience For over thirty years, Sebastian has analyzed and invested in Asian stocks and occasionally in American and Australian equities. He has conducted training seminars for financial analysts in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia and has visited many companies. His current investment portfolio comprises Singapore shares and other equities listed on the Singapore stock exchange as well as other Asian equities listed in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand.
Courses and seminars taught
Between 1983 and 2003, at National University of Singapore Business School, Sebastian has taught many batches of BAcc, BBA, MBA, MSc (Applied Finance) and CFA candidates. His years of teaching covered Financial Statement Analysis, Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting and Auditing. He also started a course module called Creative Thinking and Problem Solving for BBA students and taught it for four years.
From 2001 to 2004, he also served as an External Examiner for the University of Wales’ Online MBA and MSc (International Finance) programmes. Financial Statement Analysis remains his favorite area of teaching and training. His provocative style and insightful critiques of real case presentations have helped course participants to internalize the skills of interpreting numbers and ratios beyond their face value.
Seminars and talks previously conducted by Sebastian Chong
Beyond Face Value (Advanced Financial Statement Analysis) – Beware of a mechanistic approach in computing and interpreting reported numbers and financial ratios. Learn how to recast (adjust) reported numbers and modify textbook ratio formulas. Pitfalls in analysis are everywhere and it is easy to miss them. The devil is in the details.
Creative Accounting – Detailed awareness for external and internal analysts. Recognizing red flags in the detailed financial statements.
Finance for Non-Financial managers – Financial and managerial accounting essentials, financial ratio and cash flow analysis, corporate finance basics. What you can learn from a comparison of your company’s financial ratios with those of your rival and benchmark firms.
How to pick tomorrow’s hot stocks from today’s cool stocks listed on the Singapore Exchange or on any other exchange
Publications
In the last few years, apart from academic works, Sebastian has published over 30 articles on equity investing and related areas in Business Times, Straits Times, and Bloomberg. He is author of two bestseller books, Value Investing in Singapore Listed Companies and Blueblack Chips and Growth Stocks. He is also editor of Current Cases in Comparative Business Analysis written by eight of his former MBA students. The book, published by Financial Info Analysis Pte Ltd and released in 2004, presents comparative financial analyses of pairs of companies in eight industries. This casebook of detailed and rigorous business analyses should be of value to investors, analysts, financial professionals, business owners and managers
Committee work
In the 1980s and 1990s, Sebastian was active in the Financial Statements Review Committee and Auditing Practices Committee of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants (Singapore). In the 1990s, he also served in two committees of the Singapore Productivity Association. He has also served as a board member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Singapore.
Since 2000, he has served in the Securities Investors Association Singapore or SIAS as a member of its Management Committee, Investor Education Committee and Corporate Governance Committee.
Contact Details Sebastian Chong
Managing Director and Provocateur
Financial Info Analysis Pte Ltd
Email: sc@shareowl.com
