The government announced the details of its “Happy Hong Kong” campaign, which offers a range of activities and events designed to help stimulate local consumption and the economy. At a press conference on 24 April, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said that 29 April would be “Hong Kong Cinema Day 2023,” where all cinema tickets across the city will cost HK$30 each. The government will also organize a series of food markets from this month to June, as well as a carnival.

Project Everest

The codename of the plan to split EY’s global audit and consulting units, which was called off in April after resistance from affiliates in some countries. The proposal was originally brought up after regulators once again voiced concerns about conflicts of interest within the Big Four.

¥212 Million

The amount that Deloitte’s China unit was fined by China’s Ministry of Finance in March after deficiencies were found in the firm’s audit of China Huarong Asset Management. The violations included not gathering sufficient audit evidence and failing to show professional scepticism.

3.5% to 5.5%

How much Hong Kong’s economy is predicted to rebound in 2023, according to Financial Secretary Paul Chan in his Budget speech. Hong Kong suffered a contraction of 3.5 percent in 2022 as a result of the pandemic.

<50%

How accurate ChatGPT was at answering accounting assessment questions – including on topics such as audit, management accounting and tax – from 186 institutions around the world. Human students scored an average of 76.7 percent, in the study carried out by the American Accounting Association.

€500,000

The amount that EY Germany was fined by regulators in April for “breaches of duty” related to its audits of Wirecard. The firm has also been banned from taking on any new audit for public interest entities in Germany for the next two years.

“This transitional relief ensures companies can phase in their approach, initially focusing on the quality of the climate-related information they provide.”

 – Emmanuel Faber, International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) Chair. At its meeting on 4 April, the ISSB decided that it will complement its package of transitional reliefs to support companies applying the ISSB’s first two standards. The relief means companies can prioritize putting in place reporting practices and structures to provide information about climate-related risks and opportunities in the first year of reporting using the ISSB standards.

29 years

How long KMPG had been the auditor for Silicon Valley Bank when the firm gave the bank a clean audit opinion on 24 February, 14 days before the bank collapsed. Rules in the United States do not stipulate that companies should rotate their audit firm, but set out that the audit partner responsible must change at least once every five years.

20

The number of mid-sized firms that are represented by the Association of Practising Accountants in the United Kingdom, which called on the U.K.’s Big Four to share their audit expertise and technology, reported the Financial Times. Partners at some of the four cited problems including how liability would be shared and getting the agreement of their global networks.