Dear members,
Accountants Plus was the theme of my month, celebrating three key skills – motivation, dedication and preparation. These skills help us to be successful in our professional – as well as personal – lives.
Early in the month I attended the graduation celebration for the 2018 class of the Financial Controllership Programme (FCP). The programme is perfected for motivated aspiring and new financial controllers, and it was exciting to hear from the graduates about how it had helped them become Accountants Plus, ready for their roles leading their business’ finance teams.
In this age of Accounting Plus, we must be motivated and ensure that our skills are continuously improved and sharpened, and the FCP can help accountants in business achieve this. The FCP’s experienced course directors and facilitators share their knowledge and experiences with programme participants, training them in the skills needed to be a successful financial controller in the age of Accounting Plus. The 2019 class FCP begins next month – hurry and you can enrol in the full programme by 5 June.
Welcoming new members to our Institute is a great privilege for the Council. This month the Institute held its annual New Members Cocktail which welcomed some of the over 1,600 dedicated new members who joined the Institute during the past year. I spoke to the new members of the opportunities ahead of them as new Accountants Plus, the importance of continuing to learn – their personal dedication to their careers – and how the Institute can help them in their goals. Speaking to the attendees, the energy and enthusiasm on display in our profession’s newest members was inspiring. They demonstrate how the profession will continue to achieve success in the future and I wish them all the best of luck.
“I spoke to the new members of the opportunities ahead of them as new Accountants Plus, the importance of continuing to learn – their personal dedication to their careers – and how the Institute can help them in their goals.”
Promoting the profession to society is an important task for the leadership of the Institute. This month I took part in a media lunch alongside Vice-President Nelson Lam and Acting Registrar Jonathan Ng with many Hong Kong-based media. The media asked about the preparations of the new Qualification Programme, which will be introduced this year, and how the new topics such as use of new technologies and training in the soft skills accountants need will prepare future generations of Accountants Plus. I spoke about developments in Hong Kong, such as how the Greater Bay Area represents new opportunities for our profession, and the Institute would explore how it could help our members to prepare for them. I also highlighted the importance of work-life balance and how the Institute helps organize members’ social and sports events.
I celebrated the success of some sporty Accountants Plus who both achieve a good work-life balance and who had achieved success in the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2019. We spent the evening celebrating their outstanding results. I would like to single out the success of Pan Po Shing in particular for setting a new Institute record for the men’s full marathon of 2:48:22 – a record for future “Accountants Plus Marathoners” to target. We also achieved success in the Corporate Challenge, winning the 10 km, half and full marathon categories, and I look forward to attending the prize ceremony for these awards in June.
All our runners displayed motivation, dedication and preparation to achieve their results. Three key skills needed for success in our personal – as well as professional – lives.
Patrick Law
President
