Mentorship in motion: Cultivating talent and creating value

A valuable piece of advice from a trusted mentor can change one’s career.

For Kuat Wen Li, her pivot from financial audit to the world of technology assurance was made possible by a leader at KPMG Malaysia who saw her potential and gave her encouragement. This set her on a career path that accelerated her growth and stands as a testament to the power of mentorship that she now actively cultivates at KPMG in Singapore.

Today, Wen Li has established herself as a dedicated mentor beyond her role as a manager, with her journey from mentee to mentor showcasing the firm's culture of support and stature as a training ground for future leaders. She embodies KPMG’s commitment towards nurturing talent by actively guiding her team members to embrace innovation and acquire cross-functional skills in their own leadership journeys.

A leap of faith

Wen Li joined KPMG’s Malaysia office in 2014 as an Associate in External Audit after graduating with an accounting degree.

“What attracted me to KPMG back then, like most accounting graduates, was the chance to join a professional services firm,” she says. “Joining the organisation was an opportunity to learn from the best in the industry.”

Wen Li spent three years in financial audit before moving into IT audit in KPMG Malaysia. There she developed an affinity for the field of technology assurance, which allowed her to combine her accounting and financial reporting background with her budding interest in technology.

Keen to expand her skills and experience beyond Malaysia, Wen Li then set her sights on a role with KPMG in Singapore’s sought-after Technology Assurance division. It proved to be the right move.

Today, she leads a team as an Associate Director of IT Audit in KPMG's Singapore office, assessing technology risks and the internal controls in place to mitigate their impact on financial reporting for clients.

Learning and leading

Wen Li’s journey has been shaped by her mentors, who each provided crucial guidance and support during times of self-doubt. Several of these associations grew from working together on engagements, and it taught Wen Li an important lesson about mentorship – to always be present.

Now a mentor herself, Wen Li applies this enduring principle – guiding not only her three official mentees but her entire team and other young professionals she encounters.

"I believe our role is not just about focusing on our own career, but also about helping our team members meet their aspirations and uncover their potential," she says, a philosophy that aligns with KPMG’s culture of nurturing and supporting its people’s professional growth.

Wen Li adopts a hands-on mentoring style which includes regular catch-ups with her team members and speaking with other senior managers they may have crossed paths with to better understand her mentees' strengths and weaknesses. This ensures she can offer targeted feedback and direct her mentees to specific KPMG training programmes and workshops.

A shining example of her effectiveness as a mentor is Samuel Dalby, a promising young Audit professional who is following in Wen Li’s footsteps by rising fast in Technology Assurance at KPMG in Singapore after starting his career in IT Audit.

"I began by actively listening to Samuel, having conversations to understand his challenges, his career goals, and creating a safe space to encourage him to ask questions while sharing my experiences in navigating technical and professional challenges," Wen Li says.

At the same time, she acknowledges the contributions of these relationships to her growth.

"Mentoring is a two-way exchange,” she says. “When I began my journey as a mentor, it wasn't always straightforward – but this process has been doubly worthwhile because over time I've also learned from my mentees, from their feedback, on how to be a better manager and mentor."

Working better together

Wen Li credits her success to KPMG’s structured mentorship initiatives – including the buddy programme for new staff and training workshops on coaching – as well as the firm’s culture of support.

“I have been fortunate to receive support from my partners, peers and team members, and to be given the opportunity to work on diverse engagements across industries, which have helped me to continually sharpen my skills," she says.

Additionally, says Wen Li, KPMG’s ‘Together for Better’ philosophy has been key to her professional growth as well as for instilling the spirit of mentorship in her. Because, she says, it is this corporate value that helped create an environment of immense support for her when she transitioned to IT Audit and again when she moved to the Singapore office.

“We always work closely together, helping each other out, not only within our departments but across different functions," she explains. "Our clients also see that we are working as one firm to serve them better.”

High impact, greater value

Looking ahead, Wen Li envisions taking on more senior roles involving high-impact, complex engagements where she can deliver greater value to clients.

And, true to her nature as an action-oriented person, she is proactively working to unlock further growth in her career with a focus on continuous learning, which includes reading in her spare time to stay ahead of fast-moving tech trends.

She is also eager to participate in leadership workshops, an aspiration supported by KPMG’s “Be in Front” talent development programme. This initiative is geared towards nurturing innovative, tech-savvy and versatile leaders who can anticipate and adapt to constantly changing trends in order to offer greater value to internal and external stakeholders.