Article and photos contributed by Sharul Safwan, Officer, Professional Indemnity Insurance and Risk Management Department, Bar Council
The Billing and Collections Workshop for Terengganu was organised by the Bar Council Professional Indemnity Insurance (“PII”) and Risk Management Department under direction of the PII Committee on 5 Feb 2015 at Motel Desa, Bukit Apil, Kuala Terengganu. The half–day workshop attracted 90 participants from Terengganu. The workshop touched on the Goods and Services Tax (“GST”) as requested by the Terengganu Bar. This is the fourth Billing and Collections workshop to be held after it was first introduced in 2014. The workshop carries two Continuing Professional Development (“CPD”) points and registration of participants started at 2:00 pm.
The workshop consisted of two sessions. The first one–and–half–hour session, “Filing for Better Billing”, was presented by Ezri Abd Wahab, and followed by a one–hour session on “Understanding Your Costs” by Pushpa Ratnam.
Ezri Abd Wahab highlighted on the need to have proper filing, management of time, maintenance of finances to keep the firm running and the importance of a letter of engagement. Pushpa Ratnam highlighted legislation that governs the area of a valid fee arrangement and suggested a proper fee agreement with clients. She also discussed the Goods and Services Tax Act 2014 (“Act”).
At the end of her session, Pushpa Ratnam clarified a few questions related to the Act that were raised by the participants. The participants were satisfied with her detailed examples and explanation.
In between the sessions, the participants were given a 15–minute break with refreshments served at the Desa Restaurant. After both topics were completed, the floor was opened for a question–and–answer session. Thereafter, a token of appreciation was given to the speakers by a representative from the Terengganu Bar.
Based on the feedback forms received, a majority of the participants were legal practitioners and they agreed that the workshop met their expectations of enhancing their knowledge and improving the management of firms. The workshop ended at 5:40 pm.
If you would like to know more about risk management workshops or want to attend a Billing and Collections workshop, please contact the PII and Risk Management Department by telephone at 03–2032 4511 or by email at
pirm@malaysianbar.org.my.