Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu: Authorised Employer

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT), one of the Big Four firms, is also one of the largest professional accountancy service firms in the world. In Hong Kong, the firm employs approximately 250 new graduates each year as trainee professional staff. Around 90 per cent of these graduates are now registered QP students, gaining practical experience to qualify as a CPA under the Institute's authorised employer scheme.

DTT staff partner Philip Tsai feels that practical experience works well in large and medium-sized accounting firms as it ensures consistent staff development. "This helps us monitor staff to make sure they are meeting both their training requirements while simultaneously meeting our firm's own needs," he explains. DTT has chosen to merge the Institute's training with its own staff learning and evaluation approach. "These work hand in hand," says Tsai. "As a result we've seen students working with their counsellors and getting more out of the combined system. As a firm we think this works very well". Click here for more details.

Confidentiality of Workshop Additional Questions

Candidates taking the QP workshops are reminded to keep the additional questions distributed during your workshops for individual presentations CONFIDENTIAL and limit discussion on them to your workshop group. These additional questions are used for assessment purposes. Disclosure of the questions and/or topics covered by the questions to candidates attending later classes will give them an unfair advantage.

You have an important part to play in ensuring the integrity of our QP assessment and compromising the assessments could hurt your friends' ability to learn because dealing with unseen questions is a key part of our skills development.

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 a student is found in breach of this rule.

Special Consideration for QP Workshops

A candidate may offer an explanation for non-attendance at a QP workshop so that their marks may be adjusted. Requests for special consideration (with supporting documents) must reach the director of student education & training within two weeks from the date of absence.

The Institute will consider each request and circumstances may be taken into account by the Institute's Examinations Board when finalising the candidate's marks. To ensure consistency, the Examinations Board is the only body with the power to adjust QP workshop marks.

Examination Results

Examination results for the December 2005 final professional examination and the September 2005 modules B and D session will be announced on 18 February and 8 March 2006 respectively. CPA QP candidates who have applied for a student login account may view their results online within two weeks from the official result release date. If you do not have a login account yet, visit our website for information on how to obtain one.

QP Learning Support Centre

You are encouraged to read the QP learning support centre notice board regularly. This board is used to post important announcements and updates on examination-related information.

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 notice board. These resources, together with the webcast technical update seminars on the four QP modules and the final professional examinations, are available for free.

Please click here to view these useful resources.

CLP at Discounted Price for FPE Candidates

The Institute has taken steps to provide additional student support for final professional examination (FPE) candidates. From 1 January 2006, FPE candidates (i.e. those who have passed four QP modules or have registered to sit the FPE) can buy a candidate learning pack (CLP) to use in their examination at a special discounted price of $280 per copy, a hefty discount compared to the regular price of $500 per copy for members, and $650 for the general public.

Collect your CLPs for the February 2006 Module Session

CPA QP students who have enrolled in the February 2006 module session can collect their CLPs at the Institute's services counter during office hours between 3 and 18 February 2006.

Student Services Counter

The Institute is moving in two stages to Wu Chung House in Wanchai. However, the student services counter will still be located at 4th Floor, Tower Two, Lippo Centre, 89 Queensway until further notice. Students should continue to go to this counter for all study-related matters.

Examination Assistance Course for February 2006 CPA QP Modules A & C

In response to the feedback from the student needs survey, the Student Services Committee has reviewed all examination assistance. In order to cover more aspects of the QP modules, the Institute will extend the examination assistance courses to 30 hours, with effect from February 2006. Participation is targeted at QP candidates re-sitting the module examinations in May 2006. First-time sitters should make sure they are adequately prepared in the relevant CPA QP modules technical topics before attending the courses.

Please click here for more information on the extended courses for CPA QP Modules A & C Feb 2006.

FPE Revision Course for June 2006 Session

The Institute will offer a revision course for candidates sitting the FPE in June 2006. Please click here for more information.

Examination Assistance Seminars

The Institute is organising two examination assistance seminars on auditing and financial reporting respectively on 25 and 26 March 2006. The speakers will give candidates an update on the accounting and auditing standards and lead them through a list of special topics in these two modules. Click here for application details.

Training Functions

Practical Training Statistics 2005

The Institute organised a wide and comprehensive coverage of topics for practical training in 2005. Overall statistical figures demonstrated that registered students found these programmes good, useful and helpful. Please click here for details on the training curriculum and statistical summary of the practical training held in 2005.

Contributed by Amy Chow, chairperson of Practical Training Sub-committee and director of Financial Intelligence Training

"Do you know where you're going? Do you like the things that life is showing you? ...." Life can be full of changes you want: to be more passionate, at greater harmony with yourself and others, and to be successful by giving your best. Life Skills 101 series will inspire you with some good tips on using skills applicable to your career development and personal growth.

The first topic is about accelerating your career development. A career is like a train with many different stops. But will it stop at the destination you want to? It must be going somewhere, but not necessarily where you want it to. Nowadays, many professionals start with a job, but end up in a very different career during their retirement. Where do you want to go and where are you now? Just click "Accelerating Your Career Development" for more tips on developing life skills.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) is the world's first professional body of accountants, receiving its Royal Charter in 1854. It was the first to adopt the designation "Chartered Accountant" and use of the designatory letters "CA" are still an exclusive privilege for its members.

The ICAS has over 16,000 members worldwide working in the public practice, industry, commerce, the public sector and education and works in the public interest. The objective of ICAS is to uphold the integrity and standing of the profession of chartered accountancy in the interests of society and its membership, through excellence in education and the development of accountancy and through service to members and the enforcement of professional standards.

Through the reciprocal membership agreement signed with ICAS in 2002, Institute members who qualified through our CPA QP and who trained under an authorised employer / supervisor registered with the Hong Kong Institute of CPAs may apply for the prestigious ICAS membership (other conditions apply). You can find more details about the ICAS from their website at http://www.icas.org.uk.

MPhil / PhD Programmes in Lingnan University

Lingnan University is now inviting applications for admission to their MPhil and PhD programmes 2006-2007. Please click here for application and programme details.

MBA Programmes at the Chinese University of Hong Kong

The Chinese University of Hong Kong is inviting application for its MBA programmes for 2006 intake. Please click here for application and programme details.

China Venture Capital Forum 2006

The 8th China Venture Capital Forum (CVCF 2006) (2006(第八屆)中國風險投資論壇) will be held on April 7 - 8, 2006 in Shenzhen, China. Please click here to find out more details.

Subscription to 2005 China Accounting Year Book

Subscription to 2005 China Accounting Year Book (中國會計年鑒) published by the China Financial Magazine Office under supervision of the Ministry of Finance, and you will get a thorough review of China's major accounting, finance, legal and regulatory issues in the past year. Deadline for subscription is 28 February.

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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