It's not so much that the likes of UTAR can complete with SMU/NTU/NUS.

It's simply that accounting, as an academic subject, does not require a lot of brainpower. Neither does accounting as a professional field (accounting meaning all the related jobs including audit etc)

There are only so many ways you can deliver B.Acc course content, or screw up the delivery of a B.Acc course content.

Nobody really goes to Oxford, Harvard, MIT or Stanford to study Acc. I mean yes, you could do that, but you could also go to some 3rd rate Aussie uni like UTS Australia for your B.Acc education and you'll still end up in the same place as them, i.e. Big 4 audit.

So now you guys understand why UTAR or Ateneo de Naga University grads are your colleagues, doing the same job as you.