Accounting & Finance « Showcase Student Stories

Early Bird Gets the Worm

Spring 2007, Academic exchange to Nottingham Business School, UK

Summer 2007, 5-week WIE training in Bank of China, Nanjing

Summer 2007, 6-week WIE training in Ernst & Young Tax Services Limited, Hong Kong

Present, Management Trainee in a Japan-based bank

TSANG Wing-fung Kurt || August 2008 Graduated with BBA (Hons) Accounting and Finance

Kurt, a graduate in Accounting and Finance, is presently a management trainee at a Japanese Bank. With clear objectives, Kurt started to plan his career when he first entered university, fully utilizing every resource and opportunity offered to him throughout his three-year university life. “What professors teach us in class is theory. The most important thing is applying what you have learnt in real life,” Kurt says.

Trying hard to gain something extra besides textbook learning, Kurt joined the Debate Club and various student societies in his first year at university. His involvement in different societies and competitions enhanced his analytical mind and public speaking skills.

“University life is short. Therefore, I planned to maximise my learning and organise my university life in a strategic way. Through participation in different co-curricular activities, I enhanced my different generic competencies, which was reflected in my resume and helped differentiate myself from others,” Kurt recalls.

Returning from a study exchange in the UK in 2007, he interned at Bank of China in Nanjing for a month through SAO’s “Preferred Graduate” Development Programme. He regards the summer internship experience in China as a cornerstone of his career. “Although I also got summer job experience in Hong Kong, the experience in China really helped me pursue my first job,” says Kurt, who later in the same summer received another internship offer from leading accounting firm, Ernst & Young.

“Although I majored in Accounting and Finance, I realised my career choice need not be only limited to accounting and auditing because of my banking experience in Nanjing. I understood more clearly about the operation of the bank and I found I was interested in developing my career in the field,” says Kurt, who began job hunting early in the beginning of his last year at university.

Attitude is the key

Many students might be reluctant to head to China for their internships because of the perception that the Mainland workplace has a completely different culture. After his placement in the Mainland, Kurt thinks the experience was a great exposure to the bank industry for him. “Hong Kong students are in general quite protected. Going north can widen their horizons and they will come back with a different mindset.”

The attitude of his superior during the Nanjing internship also inspired the Hong Kong student. “What they were most concerned about was customer services. Through observing their daily routine, I learnt that attitude was very important. It affects how you view your job and position yourself,” Kurt says.

Kurt says his present employer places great emphasis on staff’s attitude and the company spends lots of resources on nurturing and training staff. “They believe a person’s skills and knowledge can be developed through a series of on-the-job training. However, attitude cannot be taught,” he says.

Rating: 3.9/5 (10 votes cast)

Leading Professionals

WONG Ting-yi Winnie || BBA (Hons) Accountancy || Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
LAI Jin-kei Ricky || BBA (Hons) Accounting & Finance || PricewaterhouseCoopers
CHEUNG Pan-lok Edmond || BBA (Hons) Financial Services || KPMG
HO Nga-ting Magdalene || BBA (Hons) Accountancy || Ernst & Young
LAU Shuk-ping Pauline || BBA(Hons) Accountancy || PricewaterhouseCoopers

As a leading international financial centre, Hong Kong maintains financial stability under strict monetary regulations. To facilitate such an environment, accountants are one of the most significant professions. Over the past year, a handful of PolyU students were granted internship opportunities from the Big Four accounting firms, gaining a glimpse into the respected profession and industry.

Wong Ting-yi Winnie joined Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu as an intern in the auditing section. Starting with a week of training courses, the internship then divided the interns into different working teams. Winnie was assigned to take on some entry level auditing work with the use of Deloitte’s software.

“That was simple to my colleagues, but challenging for me,” says Winnie. “My colleagues, however, were all very approachable and welcomed any inquiries on audit-related matters. Every one of them was my mentor.”

The internship enhanced her commercial awareness and improved her confidence. “I am proud to be a PolyU student. Our University equips us with knowledge, and more importantly, gives us with the ability to put theory into practice to sharpen our competitive edge,” Winnie says. “It also develops our attitude which is especially crucial in work, and hence, I was able to enjoy my internship life.”

Winnie’s classmate Ho Nga-ting Magdalene interned in the Audit and Assurance Business Services section of Ernst & Young. After a five-day training programme on auditing procedures, all the interns worked in groups on different tasks, activities and exercises.

Assigned to an engagement team, Magdalene assisted her colleagues in preparing the audit schedule of a private limited company. Since the company had nearly 50 subsidiaries and the work was under a tight schedule, Magdalene had to process hundreds of accounts every day.

Though the tasks were tough, she learnt how work was done practically in the real world. “I truly experienced the life of an auditor. Nevertheless, the communication with the client was the most difficult challenge I had encountered,” she says. “With guidance from my colleagues, finally I was able to communicate well with my client and get the information I needed.”

Future talent in the making

EY01 Financial Services student, Cheung Pan-lok Edmond, obtained the chance to acquire accounting knowledge from the China Tax Services Department of KPMG. Before the internship commenced, Edmond had attended a workshop on China’s tax framework at university to prepare himself for the placement.

In the accounting firm, he conducted a research about taxation in China. He also helped analyse tax issues raised by clients, found relevant tax laws to support advice to clients, produced summary reports on the updates of the tax laws, and translate reports from Chinese to English. With his fundamental knowledge of taxation, he managed to pick up all his assigned tasks quickly.

“In KPMG, I experienced how challenging the tax services field was. I learnt what skills were required to excel in the field and what improvements I should make. All this will help shape me into a professional tax consultant,” he says.

Another student, Lau Shuk-ping Pauline, thinks her internship at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was an invaluable experience in her life. “People say working in the Big Four accounting firms, even if it’s just an internship place, is a milestone leading to a successful career. I can’t agree more with this statement,” she says. “Not only is it a company of great renown, but its philosophy will also be beneficial to my whole life.”

Pauline was responsible to summarize board minutes, obtain client’s schedules, review the IFRS and HKFRS notes and update their control lists, consolidate daily issue logs for partners’ review and perform some ad-hoc tasks.

Governed by tight schedules, she was trained to be as a cautious yet efficient person. Through getting in touch with clients, she applied the business communication skills learnt from the workshops in PolyU and her accountancy knowledge was sharpened. “I can say, on-the-job training is a good chance to practice the knowledge you acquire from books,” Pauline explains. PwC_Pauline01

Being awarded a PwC Scholarship, Accounting and Finance student Lai Jin-kei Ricky interned in the Tax Department of PwC, preparing corporate tax returns and tax computations.

“Thanks to the PwC Scholarship programme, I had the chance to work for both Auditing and Tax departments. Both departments require different knowledge and their working natures are completely different,” he says. “I was worried and afraid that I would not be capable to handle the task well. However, thanks to the taxation course in PolyU, I found that the assigned task s were not that difficult to handle and I completed them satisfactorily.”

When working for the Audit Department, Ricky also had the chance to liaise with the client’s accountant or even the chief financial officer of the company. The experience was challenging and rewarding. His mentor guided him and demonstrated some questioning skills which helped improve his interpersonal skills. “I am sure this experience will benefit me in the future,”he says.

Rating: 4.1/5 (8 votes cast)

Welcome to the Afro-American World

WOO Chung-hing, YU Ngai, BBA (Hons) in Accountancy || MAK Ka-leung, BBA (Hons) in Marketing || Windows Over Harlem, USA

Ignorance generates misunderstanding. This is how the prejudices against different ethnic groups and cultures are produced. Harlem, a major African-American residential center in New York City, is notoriously a hub of crime and poverty in the U.S. Like many people, Woo Chung-hing, Yu Ngai and Mak Ka-leung were were a little concerned when they knew they would spend two months in the area. Thanks to an internship at a beverage and catering services company, Windows Over Harlem, the PolyU students built a totally new perception of the Harlem culture. During their internships, they had firsthand encounters with African-Americans which changed their impressions.

Chung-hing says, “All my co-workers are nice and helpful African Americans. They always shared with us their culture and were very curious about the Chinese culture.” Interestingly, he discovered that many African-Americans presumed all Chinese could do kung-fu and he was often asked to perform martial arts.

Activities enhance mutual understanding

To promote the interactions between the two distinctive cultures, the three Hong Kong students came up with the idea of organising a cross-cultural luncheon. The innovative idea was highly appreciated and supported by their supervisor at Windows Over Harlem.

“It was a totally new experience to us. We planned the rundown and guests list, and contacted different parties. Although we encountered numerous obstacles during the preparation stage, thanks to the support and advice from my colleagues, the seemingly complicated project gradually got on the right track,” says Ngai.

The big day finally arrived. African hop-hop music played. It successfully attracted over hundred of Harlem citizens and many were surprised to know that the luncheon was actually organised by three Hong Kong students. Ka-leung says, “It showed the friendliness and openness of the people there. Some voluntarily performed in the event, others brought along celebrities and politicians who made our event even more successful and attracted media coverage.”

The experience and adventure in Harlem changed the way Chung-hing, Ngai and Ka-leung think and see the world, getting them ready to take on challenges and differences in the real world.

Rating: 4.4/5 (9 votes cast)

From Russia with Love

QI Xiao-yan Angel || BBA (Hons) Accounting and Finance || Uninvest Construction Company, Russia

Moscow, Russia Driven by her admiration for Russia’s exotic architecture and its mysterious culture, Qi Xiao-yan Angel participated in a newly launched two-way exchange programme to Russia. The one-month internship at the Uninvest Construction Company in Moscow was an experience of a lifetime to her.

Once Angel landed in Moscow, she realised the language barrier would be one of the biggest challenges and obstacles in her day-to-day life in the Russian city. “Very few Russians can converse in English. Of course, I could not speak any Russian, let alone read it,” she says.

To better fit in, Angel enrolled in a Russian language course at the Moscow International Higher Business School (MIRBIS). “Russian is a difficult language to pick up. I attended three lessons hoping to learn some elementary Russian for daily conversation,” says Angel. “Their accent was really difficult to master but it was so interesting to learn a new language.”

Multi-national work culture

In the office, English was the most popular communication tool as the staff were from different countries. “There were Korean and Russian in the office, hence, our daily conservation was mainly in English,” Angel recalls. “The Russian colleagues were always helpful and willing to teach us Russian in the office. They even treated us to dinner and took us to some scenic spots. They were really hospitable.”

Taking the complicated Russian underground system, with over 170 stations, was like traveling through a maze, bringing Angel an arduous yet thrilling experience beyond her imagination. “I had long heard of the systematic railway system in Russia. The underground there is like a palace — glamorous, luxurious and spacious,” she recalls.

“The biggest challenge was to choose the correc Imworking t route and recognise the right station name to alight through carefully listening to the broadcast during the ride. Fortunately, I’d learned the Russian alphabets in MIRBIS, so after several times, I was able to change between lines and find the right way to my destination in this maze-like Palace.”

Russia, the largest country in Eurasia, is considered as mysterious and conservative because of its historical background and unique location. “Before going there, I just knew that Russia was a country full of cultural and historic treasures. In fact, Moscow was much more cosmopolitan and modern than I expected. You can easily find branded shops and luxury goods in the high street. People in Moscow have a high standard of living which is close to the European,” Angel says.

Angel is thankful for the opportunity to the opportunity to join PGDP for changing her in many ways. “I used to be easily swayed by others’ opinions. But now, I have learnt to stick to my own thoughts while comparing others’ ideas objectively,” she says. Angel will will exchange to England in the new academic year. “I’ve become more open and flexible too. I now can face challenges independently.”

Rating: 4.9/5 (8 votes cast)