Dear members,
The Institute’s new website launched this month – have you seen it? The team put in a lot of effort migrating content over, and improving the look and navigation of the website and I wanted to offer my thanks to them. The feedback so far has been positive and now they have turned their attention to developing improvements, including reviewing the Members’ Handbook and integrating the CPD event calendar with the website. I look forward to seeing these future changes. There is a short survey available for you to offer your feedback on the new site and suggest future improvements for the team to investigate.
Also available now is the Institute’s annual report – which this year is also presented in a new digital format. I urge you to go read the report to get an understanding of the Institute’s activities over the financial year.
It is also time for the Institute’s annual career survey of members and students. Make your views known about career employment prospects, new technologies and earning power. Your responses help the Institute to identify opportunities to better serve your needs.
Another regular event held this month was the Business Case Competition, featuring 12 teams of talented tertiary education students. This year, the previously separate competitions were combined and Hong Kong students competed together with Mainland China and Macau students. The presentations were well-prepared and the students delivered them very professionally. Congratulations to the winning team from The University of Hong Kong who demonstrated they were true Accountants Plus in their analysis and recommendations.
On 17 November, at the career conference for young members I got to see some of the current generation of new Accountants Plus. The event highlighted the opportunities to work with new technologies and how they should seek to develop their skills to rise to the challenges. I spoke to the young members about how in the age of Accounting Plus, new technologies are driving businesses to evolve and offered advice for young members regarding the types of skills they should look at developing including strong analytical skills, strategic thinking, creativity, and a willingness to embrace change.
“Available now, Institute’s annual report – which this year is presented in a new digital format. I urge you to go read the report to get an understanding of the Institute’s activities over the financial year.”
I represented the Institute at the World Congress of Accountants in Sydney at the beginning of the month. Held every four years, the three-day congress attracted 6,700 delegates from all over the world, with topics covered including the impact of technology on the profession, how future accountants will work, and the importance of ethics in our work. I met with many leaders in the field and shared views on the professions’ collective future. The conference provided much food for thought for setting the future direction of the Institute. You can read more about the conference in the article At the crossroads of technology and integrity.
At the annual Cross-straits, Hong Kong and Macau Accounting Profession Conference, held in the middle of the month, representatives from across Greater China came together to discuss issues relevant to the profession. A topic of interest for all was the new anti-money laundering regimes across the region and participants shared their experiences and views. At the conference, I was pleased to see so many leading voices from Hong Kong speaking on topics ranging from standard-setting for audit, the Greater Bay Area, and the use of data analysis in auditing.
Congratulations to all seven Institute teams (including Vice-President Patrick Law) who completed the Hong Kong Trailwalker 2018 this month. Being an accountant requires hard work and dedication and the teams truly demonstrated their resilience against torrential rain, blisters and fatigue. Well done to those special Accountants Plus.
It’s not long to go now until the annual dinner, one of the highlights of the year for the Institute. I hope to see some of you there, where we will be celebrating the theme “Accounting Plus” and the achievements (and other talents) of our members – plus hearing from Guest of Honour Matthew Cheung, Chief Secretary for Administration.
Eric Tong
President
