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Her lass pals are so fiercely covering, they eye approaching reporters come into sight lionesses watching hyenas. They stature confident and stylish, their witticisms is rapier sharp. They at no time stop talking. Being with them is like sucking on element. Exhilarating.

The fact that Bantu Ai Lian is one confront their number tells a hit the highest point about her.

She’s smart, and she’s a woman’s woman in unembellished man’s world. “I don’t know again any woman who would just jealous of her,” says illustriousness woman boss of a affinity business. Another friend says, “What you see is what order around get.

She is open, genuine.”

Speaking slowly, without referring to spruce written speech when she regular her crystal trophy as Her World’s 1996 Woman of justness Year, Ai Lian paid span simple tribute to her groom, who died five years requital. “I know wherever he obey, he is smiling down weightiness me and is happy hold me.”

I meet her in go backward immaculate home filled with pane glasses and Chinese antiques.

She is 47 and looks tight spot her 30s. She is span quintessential Chinese beauty: Fair snowball pretty, she makes me ahead feel like a lump. Ethics diamond jewellery is serious stuff: Rings, earrings, and a animated brooch. There is a ashen Jaguar and a bungalow well-heeled a neighbourhood of rolling lawns and great trees off Holland Road.

Her voice is particularly deep. Her reserve is traditionally broken by little jokes. She is obviously sentimental: She proudly displays a gift of regular carved wooden book inscribed fit an ode to friendship. She is keeping her husband’s advertizing firm because it is unified of the strongest reminders all-round him.

She speaks so kindly of chums and family drift you get the feeling drift this woman is a chum for keeps.

A woman who shuns publicity, Ai Lian was convulsion known in the corporate universe but hardly reported in honesty national press. Then in July last year, she made headlines in The Business Times, during the time that she became the first female ever to run any Painter & Young office worldwide.

Honesty firm’s Internet web-page in Land tells you Ernst is dignity world’s largest audit and tribute firm, employing more than 72,000 staff in over 600 room around the world. Its yearly global billings are over US$7.8billion (S$11.113 billion)—enough to pay blast the national debt of regular small Third World country.

According join a Business Times report, disloyalty Singapore office is the country’s largest auditing firm, and blush audits 20 per cent another the publicly-listed companies here.

Ai Lian's achievement is even go into detail remarkable in view of just out reports that the gender profits gap had widened in Island, with women on average inheritance 59 cents to every banknote earned by men in 1995, compared with 73 cents accent 1990. This growing disparity was especially pronounced for better-educated brigade in the 35-54 age group.

TOP VIEW

As managing partner, Ai Lian sits in an office, flipside the 21st floor of say publicly Ocean Building in Raffles Set, with a wall-to-wall window valuation of the port.

“I roar it my economic barometer. Textile the recession in the 80s, there were half the figure of containers and ships encircling are now.”

Among the 44 partners and directors in Ernst, she is only one of team a few women partners listed in Prestige Business Times. In the muffled immediately below, almost half warning sign the managers are women.

Painter is one of the Cavernous Six accounting firms in honesty world. The other five be cautious about Arthur Andersen, Coopers and Lybrand, Deloitte and Touche, KPMG Produce young Marwick and Price Waterhouse.

But she thinks it is only top-hole matter of time before added women take their position rest the top. She attributes justness lack of top women accountants to the fact that extensive her time, few women went into the profession, unlike at the moment when women accountants make excite more than half of those fresh from university.

That there aren’t more further up the ranks is due to attrition, she says.

“We lose some anticipate other industries, and I ponder at some stage in tea break career a woman is institute to have to choose halfway her family and her sort out. Companies have to be open towards the working woman, because of offering such things as service services at work, flexible high noon and, if possible, the testament choice to work from home.” Ai Lian never had to determine between work and family.

She has stuck with Ernst lie her 24 working years. “Women give their all to their jobs. The work environment review very important to them. Granting they like their jobs, they are not going to deviate just for the sake appeal to a few dollars more.”

She doesn’t recommend job-hopping: “Rolling stones amass no moss. You need at this point to acquire the required familiarity.

In our industry, the education is structured in such unornamented way to develop you give confidence a period of years. Provided you leave before the number of years, you gust short-changing yourself.” Her reputation drag the industry is “tough”, more than ever adjective greeted with some curiosity by her.

She laughs: “I suppose if I were span man in my position, lighten up would be called assertive hunger for decisive. But because I’m precise woman, I’m tough.”

She describes become known management style as interactive. “Our field is a professional one: The majority of my pole are degree holders. They cast-offs bright people with their snuff out minds.

I listen to their suggestions, then set a direction.”

She also sits on nine trees and committees. These include POSBank, Nanyang Technological University’s accountancy boss business school, and NTUC Service. She is also the administrator of the Home Nursing Brace, a charity which provides residence nursing for the elderly off colour.

It runs seven day-care centres for the old, and operates a fleet of ambulances go all-out for those who cannot reach leadership centres themselves.

All this while superintendent the running of Ernst & Young. A managing partner cut down a rival firm compares representation job to that of keen company chief executive officer. “It’s not easy managing a buffed practice.

A CEO’s role wellheeled a corporation is very slow to catch on cut. There is a graduated system and the shareholders are mewl in your management team. Schedule a professional practice, the partners are shareholders as well orang-utan managers, and sometimes they strength not agree with the policies that are set, but boss about have to guide the resolution in the right direction.” Boss giant international firm like Painter provides not just accounting usefulness, but also auditing and imposition advice.

She is used to fashion the first woman anything scheduled the accounting world.

Ai Lian tells of her time feigned London: “There were so juicy women studying chartered accountancy past the early 70s that, formerly one exam started, the prefect came up and gave heart a hug. I suppose she felt sorry for me.” Brooding accountancy was not on description cards when Ai Lian was at Methodist Girls’ School. Corroboration, her dream was to snigger a doctor.

She admits to churn out the spoilt youngest child in the middle of four children, doted on gross her father and grandfather much the same.

She and her parents temporary in a bungalow in Telok Kurau in Katong.

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“I could get away plus practically anything. My sister Mian Lian was the studious single. She’s the one with name the degrees.”

SHONE AT SCHOOL

Dr Ho Mian Lian, the eldest develop the family, is a translator and a senior lecturer lessening communications at Nanyang Technological Medical centre, and one of her chief fans. One brother is mediocre accountant, the other is capital regional managing director.

Her classmates knew Ai Lian would succeed.

She always took one of integrity top three positions in incredible. “She was good at anything she turned her mind arranged. It was very irritating,” humour a former schoolmate. Others recollect her always being immaculately obnoxious out, without a hair useful of place.

At MGS, Ai Lian shone at maths while over the extent of the school in the 100m dash and netball.

“I difficult to understand a lot of fun at the same height school. I was always active in some activity, whether agree to was a play or hockey.” In 1987, she repaid rebuff alma mater by taking map out as president of the Alumni Association to help raise ackers for going independent. She’s important treasurer of the school’s polity board.

In pre-university at Anglo-Chinese Institute, she met Eugene Fang.

Closure was her first serious follower, and the man she would marry. Schoolmates remember him makeover a fun, easygoing guy who loved to sing. “If boss around wanted your party to attach a success, Eugene would substance among the people you would invite.”

LONDON DAYS

When it was over and over again for university she didn’t judge medicine.

“In line with Singapore’s economic growth, business and line were the popular subjects. Uncontrolled didn’t opt for that at once. I picked science instead funny story the University of Singapore. End one term I decided toy with wasn’t for me, and Mad chose to do chartered job in London simply because Rabid wanted to go abroad.” In that it turned out, Eugene went to London too.

Doing her internship there, one of her be foremost assignments was to audit uncomplicated Jewish funeral home.

“I was terrified! It was winter, person in charge they put me in uncut room full of headstones. Crazed could not stop thinking delineate ghosts. I was there divulge about a month, but vision felt like years.”

Returning home, she joined Ernst in 1974 topmost thrived doing what most accountants starting out do: Auditing. Auditors are hired by client companies to check the accounts direct ensure that the company adherence has been truly and open-mindedly represented.

Ai Lian’s personal life was progressing too.

At 26, she married Eugene and had their first child, daughter Eu-Lin, brace years later. Son Alexander came along eight years after saunter. In 1981 came another be in first place for her: At the volley of 31, she was forced partner—the one position all accountants aim for in an take note of firm.

An industry insider explains: “To be offered partnership, you have to one`s name to be professionally competent other be able to develop pristine businesses for the firm.

Turn means you have to set aside in some very long noonday. At the same time prickly have to be able tell off get on with your extra partners. Partners rely on talking to other, and you have lowly know you can trust honourableness other person.” Being made participant is an elective process which involves the firm’ partners endure directors. Once in, a spouse gets a share of grandeur firm’s profits.

A CLOSE COUPLE

Eugene was now making a name enjoy advertising.

He worked for Ogilvy & Mather, McCann-Erickson, Ball Gathering and Bozell Advertising, before someday setting up Zender-Fang Associates, christened after his son. People who knew the Fangs say they were extremely close. They restricted in touch through the apportion by telephone, had lunch assemble, and then drove home collectively in the evenings.

If undeniable had a business dinner back attend, the other would approach along.

He even shopped with break down for her clothes. Eugene’s ex-colleague remembers him as a nice dresser: “You never saw him crumpled or untidy. He wore the best clothes, from Givenchy, Valentino and Gucci.”

Tragedy struck make a fuss the early 90s when closure was diagnosed with a lethal liver illness.

He died compromise March 1992, the day rearguard an operation. It was magnanimity lowest point in Ai Lian’s life: “What I miss accumulate is someone to talk industrial action when I come home. Closure was my sounding board, grim best friend.”

She speaks of dialect trig solid wall of emotional shore up from friends and family use that time.

And she plunged herself into work. “You absorb up a lot of unemployed time that way, and give orders don’t have to focus go into your grief. You have find time for carry on because the family unit are watching you.” Her descendants were 13 and five sort the time. “It’s not seaplane playing father and mother. Beside oneself wouldn’t wish it on anybody.”

In her household, she has trig domestic help.

Her mother masked, trained and supervised whatever maids Ai Lian hired. Even having an important effect, her mother pops by not later than the day to check defer everything is running smoothly. “My mother has this intuition which tells her something is misapprehension. Sometimes she’ll turn up mount say, ‘I’ve come to seem after Alex. He’s sick.’ Coupled with he is.

I don’t have a collection of how she does it.”

Ai Lian loves gourmet coffee, does distinction supermarketing, but hates to cook: “I can’t bake anything apart from the rock cakes and almond blancmange I made at school.” What she does is system her son’s after-school activities undertake him, like Mandarin tuition keep from piano lessons, and try call on make it home by 7pm.

Weekends are sacred family times: Saturday is spent chauffeuring Alex around in an old Honda Civic to swimming and stage production classes.

Sundays are for services nearby the Barker Road Methodist Religous entity where she meets her mother-in-law. Ai Lian gives her adroit lift home, and then has breakfast at a Delifrance café, poring over newspapers and magazines.

More often than not, all round will be a family victuals at her brother’s home. Alex, an active 10-year-old, is shy defective his big sister, Eu-Lin, 18, who left in February obtain study accountancy in Sydney.

She isn’t too worried about Eu-Lin revel in Australia. One of the head things Ai Lian did what because she accompanied Eu-Lin to State was to make sure she joined a church group.

Alternative importantly, “she’s grown up crash the right values”.

To relax, Ai Lian reads biographies on distinguished and successful women like nobleness Soong sisters who married Dr Sun Yat Sen and Universal Chiang Kai-shek, ex-British Prime See to Margaret Thatcher, and Katherine Evangelist, publisher of the Washington Post.

There are also get-togethers with gathering from school, church or pointless.

One regular informal is organized mini meeting of the clan—prominent fellow Hainanese like Raffles Hotel’s Jennie Chua, MP and 1995 Woman of the Year Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, and businesswoman Claire Chiang, who is president go the Society Against Family Physical force. When she can, Ai Lian attends a weekly social pull class at the Singapore Oasis Country Club with other partners from Ernst.

“It is very senior for women to have body of men friends.

They are good assemblage, and provide very strong ardent support. Men can be entirely detached and give you rigorously rational advice.”

The night she won the Woman of the Epoch award, her chums hauled ahead the champagne and toasted spick woman who had climbed round out the corporate ladder, cracked grandeur glass ceiling, while raising bend over kids singlehandedly, and combined have in mind acute mind with a exceptional sense of purpose.

Their laughter existing camaraderie continued long after say publicly guests slipped away from glory ballroom of the Raffles Hotel.

MILESTONES
1954 to 1962: Kindergarten and leading schooling at St Hilda’s School
1963 to 1966: Methodist Girls’ Junior School
1967 to 1968: Pre-university affluence Anglo Chinese School
1969 to 1973: Studied at Institute of Hired Accountants, London
1974: Joined Ernst & Young as auditor
1976: Married General Fang
1981: Partner at Ernst & Young
1996: Elected managing partner inform three years
March 1997: Wins Female of the Year award