Grant Thornton: Authorised Employer

In the first of a new series, Prospective CPA talks to the staff partner of an Authorised Employer, Grant Thornton, and one of the firm's QP students to find out how the practical experience element of QP is working for them.

Staff partner Jonathan Leong thinks that the structure of the training works well to ensure a balance between different skills. "When clients see someone is a graduate of the Institute's CPA QP, they understand that the person has achieved a certain minimum competency in the areas that CPAs are expected to have expertise in. This gives them confidence in the professional qualification." Click here for more details.

CPA QP Results for May 2005 Session

	Workshop		Module Examination		Overall Pass Rates*
Module	No. of Candidates	Pass Rate	No. of Candidates	Pass Rate
A (Financial Reporting)	1090	98%	1257	61%	64%
C (Auditing & Information Management)	1045	99%	1377	53%	58%

Top CPA Candidates May 2005

Module A (Financial Reporting)
Ms. Lau Tin Mei obtained her Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting in Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2005. She is now an Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Study tips:
Making good use of the QP workshops is surely a way to success. While helping us monitor our study progress, the workshops also provide us with opportunities to raise questions and to learn more about the difficult concepts. In fact, the workshop facilitators are all nice and helpful. I have learned a lot from them!

Module C (Auditing and Information Management)
Ms. Mang Nga Wun obtained her Bachelor of Business Administration in Professional Accountancy in the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2005. She is now an Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Study tips:

To better prepare for the workshops, it is important to study the materials required and to finish all the workshop questions beforehand. Be open and active in the workshops and you will perform well.

Time management is very important for the open-book exam. To better use the materials that you bring into the examination venue, it is very important to prepare your own index for the CLP and past papers so that you can locate the relevant topics quickly. I hope my advice can help and best wishes for your exam!

Confidentiality of Workshop Additional Questions

Candidates taking the QP workshops are reminded to keep the additional questions distributed during your workshops for individual presentation CONFIDENTIAL and limit discussion to your workshop group. These additional questions are used for assessment purpose and if candidates disclose the questions and/or topics covered by the questions to candidates attending later classes, it will create an unfair advantage.

You have an important part to play to ensure the integrity of our QP assessment system. Do not compromise this. You will compromise the learning process of your friends, as dealing with unseen questions is a key part of the skills development process. The Institute's Examinations Board has made it a rule, with immediate effect, that it will be considered a serious breach of the examination rules to copy down workshop additional questions or smuggle them out of your workshop in any form without the Institute's prior consent. The Examinations Board may disqualify a candidate from the whole module (i.e. both workshop and module examination components) if he/she is found in breach of this rule.

Useful Technical Articles

To strengthen students' technical knowledge, some useful technical articles, together with the hyperlinks to the Big 4 firms' online technical resources, have been posted on the QP learning support centre. Please click here to view these articles.

According to the Practice Management Benchmark Survey for Small and Medium Sized CPA firms conducted by the Institute, the average increase in annual salary between new recruits (HK$97,000) and professional staff with 1-2 years experience (HK$125,000) was approximately 29 percent. Annual salaries increased by 28 percent and 36 percent as a scale adjustment with each two year increment in experience. The benchmark survey compares small and medium sized CPA firms' performance management on key financial measures, human resources management, external relations and service development and information technology application.

Please click here to see more details.

Online Examination Assistance Seminars The final professional examination assistance seminars and case analysis training were held in November 2005. Webcast videos for these seminars are now available at the QP learning support centre free of charge.

BBQ on 17 December

The Institute's Student Services Committee invites registered students and workshop facilitators to a barbecue at the Hong Kong Riding Skills Academy on 17 December. Please don't miss this opportunity to network with members of the Institute, workshop facilitators and your peers. Click here for application details.

Members of the Student Services Committee

	Technical articles		CPA Source		A Plus
	CPD programmes		e-learning programmes		New books
	HKAAT New		TechWatch

	Student Education & Training Department Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants 4/F, Tower Two, Lippo Centre, 89 Queensway, Hong Kong . Tel: 2287 7236 / 2287 7099
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Copyright © 2005 Hong Kong Institute of CPAs. All rights reserved.