JOHOR BAHRU (Sin Chew Daily) — The Johor Bahru stop of the 2014 Sin Chew Business Awards national roadshow was held at Berjaya Waterfront Hotel, attracting countless of local businesses from the southern region.

Four speakers were invited to speak to the participants, including Grant Thornton Malaysia senior executive director Seah Siew Yun, partner Desmond Tan, a representative from CIMB Bank and Sin Chew Business Awards working committee chairman Lenny Cheah, who is also the sales & marketing manager of MCIL Multimedia Sdn Bhd.

The second Sin Chew Business Awards is organized jointly by Sin Chew Daily and MCIL Multimedia Sdn Bhd, both under Sin Chew Media Corporation. CIMB Bank is the exclusive sponsor of this event.

Among the supporting partners are the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Hua Zong), the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM), Small Medium Industry Association of Malaysia (SMIAM), Malaysian Retailer-Chains Association (MRCA), Persatuan Usahawan Maju Malaysia (PUMM), Branding Association of Malaysia, the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance (MICG), Junior Chamber International (JCI) Malaysia and JCI Kuala Lumpur Mandarin (JCIKLM).

Regional supporting partners are Johor Bahru Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Johor Bahru Chinese Association, SME Association of South Johor, JCI Johor Bahru and Boss Club.

Grant Thornton Malaysia is the auditor of this event. The other event partners include Fine Paper Takeo Sdn Bhd, Skynet and Setia City Convention Centre.

Closing date for the registration and nomination is June 15.

Grant Thornton's Seah Siew Yun talked about the GST issue. She reminded the participants that they had to ready themselves before the implementation of GST.

"The GST will be introduced from April 1 next year. We must not think it is very far from us. With less than one year to go, we must prepare ourselves now so that we won't be caught unprepared when it finally comes."

She also urged the business owners not to depend solely on accountants, as they also needed to have some level of understanding of this issue in order to better plan their cash flows.

"A company must at least have one person who is well familiar with the GST as well as the relevant software so that you won't make mistakes in input tax and output tax.

Lenny Cheah, meanwhile, talked about the philosophies behind the Sin Chew Business Awards, how to participate and details of the contest. Members iof the public were also encouraged to make recommendations on some of the long established local businesses.