New QP Logo
  New Recognition Agreement with ACCA
  Practical Experience: View from the Ground
  Examination Matters
  Student Programmes
  Student Matters
  QP Graduate Career File
  How To Thrive When The Going Gets Tough
  News Update
  Upcoming Events
 
  The Institute has developed a new logo for the qualification programme (QP). This aims to position the QP better in the market and also to associate QP more closely with our CPA brand. The story behind the logo triangle is the starting point: QP is built on a university education (the base of the triangle), with knowledge and practice ascending to the peak (or apex) of the triangle, which is the CPA designation. These three basics are the central tenants of the Institute's QP.

 
 
 
  The Institute signed an agreement for recognition arrangements with ACCA on 22 August, setting out eight conditions for ACCA members who want to join the Institute. This new agreement and the others signed in the past few years rationalise the Institute's approach to how CPAs in Hong Kong are qualified. Click here to see the letter from the Institute's chief executive.  
 
 
  KPMG: Authorised Employer

KPMG, a Big Four accounting firm, takes on a large number of graduates each year ¡V over 1,000 in China as a whole, approximately 450 of whom are based in the Hong Kong office. According to principal Paul Neale, the majority of the firm's Hong Kong students are now registered with the QP. Click here for more details.

 
 
 
  Final Examination Result for June 2006 session

Congratulation to the 305 graduates from the June 2006 examination session! Click here for the list of graduates. The pass rate for this session is 65%. The panelists' reports are now available at the online QP Learning Support Centre.





Top Final Examination candidates in the June 2006 session

Our special congratulations go to the top three candidates of the final examination in the June 2006 session. The gold, silver and bronze prizewinners are Ms Gigi Ng Yi Wai, Mr. Stanley Yuen King Yin and Ms Vickie Fong Tsz Wai.







Gold Award Prizewinner
Ms Ng Yi Wai, Gigi, obtained her Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from Hong Kong University of Science & Technology in 2005. She is now an associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

"The final examination is an integrated examination in which you need to have a thorough grasp of everything you have studied throughout your whole QP journey. Building up your own mind map to link all the related topics in the different modules enables you to have an overall picture on what you have studied. It is useful to develop an effective index for you to search and locate the relevant topics quickly during the intensive examination. Forming study groups is another way to help your studies. Not only can you benefit by discussing issues among your group, you can also gain a great deal of peer support from your group, which definitely motivates you to overcome challenges. Be confident in the examination and the path to success is right in front of you."

Silver Award Prizewinner
Mr. Yuen King Yin, Stanley, obtained his Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2005. He is now an accountant I at PKF.

"Effective time management is essential, particularly in examinations in which you face tremendous time pressure. Personally, I would treat the open book examination as closed book examination in order to have time to go through the paper instead of finding the right materials. This means preparation has to be done in advance.

Studying with colleagues is another effective way of gaining a better understanding as well as discovering areas in which you may not realise there are problems. I also found that thorough understanding can be acquired when applying real working examples to the theory. Overall, relaxation is an important factor for being successful in the examinations."

Bronze Award Prizewinner
Ms Fong Tsz Wai, Vickie, obtained her Bachelor of Professional Accountancy from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2005. She is now an associate I at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

"The final examination tests your ability to integrate what you have learned in each of the modules. Studying the candidate learning pack thoroughly is a good start. It is worth spending some time linking the special topics across the four modules together. Make notes and references so that you have a good understanding about the inter-relationships among the topics before you enter the examination hall. Be well prepared.

The examination is also about time management - about how you can increase your score in limited time. The key is to use the 30-minute reading time efficiently and note down any related points you can think of. Then start to write straight away. Organise your answer in a way that makes it easy to read and understand. Analyse how answers were structured in past papers. With these techniques, you can ace the examination!"


Top QP Candidates in the February 2006 Session

Module A (Financial Reporting)
Top prizewinner Mr. Kong Wing Hung, Ken, obtained his Bachelor of Science in Economics from Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. He is now an accountant at KPMG.

"Both conceptual issues and application of financial reporting standards are assessed in the module. It is important to have an interest in and curiosity about the subject. In addition to studying the candidate learning pack, there are many means to build in one's accounting knowledge such as reading trade magazines and relevant technical updates. Discussions with colleagues and other accounting professionals are also helpful to improve one's understanding."


Module C (Auditing and Information Management)
Top prizewinner Ms Cheng Yuet Chi, Grace obtained her Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting from McGill University in 2005. She is now an accountant at KPMG.

"Preparing for a professional examination is a not easy especially when you are shouldering work and other commitments. Being able to plan your study and follow up the priorities you have set can help you to organise and use your time efficiently. My study plan was to skim through candidate learning pack sections once to obtain a general idea and revisit important concepts by making notes/references to keep me focused when facing a huge amount of material. Try to make use of the 'topics and learning outcomes' table on the first page of each section as a revision tool as this always pinpoints the objectives and key materials in that section."



Examination Regulations

Candidates should read the examination regulations carefully. These can be found in the candidate handbook and the instructions to candidates, which are sent together with the examination attendance docket. The following are some of the examination regulations:
  • Use appropriate script booklet
    Candidates are required to use the appropriate script booklet to answer each section of the examination paper, i.e. case answers on the case script booklet. Failure to do so may render your examination scripts unmarked. Ć Ć Ć
  • ƒÜ
  • Write the question numbers clearly
  • ƒÜ
  • Do not tear the script booklet
  • ƒÜ
  • Do not use pencil

Examination Attendance Dockets - Module B & D (May 2006 session)

Important Dates Procedures
The week commencing
11 September 2006
Candidates will each receive an examination attendance docket from the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority. Candidates should contact the Institute on 2287 7046 for all enquiries regarding the dockets.
Monday, 18 September 2006
(Registration time:
9:00 am - 12:00 noon)
Duplicate Copy
Candidates who have not received their dockets should contact the Institute to obtain a duplicate copy before the cut-off dates.
Saturday, 23 September 2006 Examinations take place:
Module B 9:30 am - 12:30 pm
Module D 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm



Confidentiality of Workshop Additional Questions

Candidates taking the QP workshops are reminded to keep the additional questions distributed during your workshops 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 other workshop groups 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 adversely affect your friends' ability to learn because working through the unseen additional questions is a key part of our skills development.

The Institute's Examinations Board has made it a rule 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) or impose serious penalty actions if a student is found in breach of this rule.


QP Learning Support Centre

Are you well prepared for your examinations? You are encouraged to read the online QP learning support centre notice board regularly. This board is used to post important announcements and updates on examination-related information.

To strengthen your technical knowledge, many useful technical articles, together with the hyperlinks to the Big Four firms' and other online technical resources, have been posted on the notice board. These resources, together with the webcast examination assistance seminars on the four QP modules and the final examination, are available for free. Click here to view these useful resources.


New Release of Question & Answer (Q&A) Booklets

New QP Q&A booklets for modules A and C (February 2006 session) and the final examination (June 2006 session) are now available for sale at the Institute's reception desk. The booklets cost HK$45 each. Students can enjoy free online access to these Q&A booklets at the QP Learning Support Centre or read them at the Institute's library.
 
 
 
  Final Examination Assistance Seminars

The Institute is organising four final examination assistance seminars on 21, 22 and 28 October 2006. Speakers will lead candidates through a list of special topics designated for the final examination (Dec 2006 session) and will use past examination past papers as illustrations to help candidates brush up their case analysis skills. Click here for more details.


Revision Courses

The Institute will offer revision courses for candidates sitting the module A & C examinations and the final examination in December 2006. Click here for more information.




Students' Social Activity

QPNet, an informal social and networking opportunity for students to meet and exchange views with the Institute's members and their peers, was held at the Institute on 6 September 2006. Top QP candidates shared their experience on examination preparation while members offered tips about career progression and practical experience requirements. Over refreshments, students also took the opportunity to chat with the Institute's president, Mr. Paul Chan. Overall, a cheerful and instructive evening was attended by some 120 participants.
 
 
 
  Collect your Packs for the September 2006 Module Session

QP students who have enrolled in the September 2006 session can collect their candidate learning pack(s) at the Institute's service counter at 27/F of Wu Chung House during office hours from 8 to 27 September 2006. Collect your study materials now to get off to a quick start!





Application for Continuing Education Fund

The QP is a reimbursable course under the Government's continuing education fund. If you wish to claim reimbursement for the costs of modules A & C to be taken in the September 2006 session, you should submit your application before 11 September 2006. Click here for more details.

Improving communications with QP candidates

The Institute wishes to encourage more candidates' feedback through a formal process so as to enhance our quality assurance for QP. With effect from September 2006 Session, one representative will be nominated for each QP workshop group. Regular meetings will be held with these representatives who will serve as the bridge in fostering better links between their fellow candidates and the Institute. We hope that this will enhance communication between the Institute and the QP candidates. So sign up as a Workshop Group Representatives when the new module session starts.

Relocation of the Institute library
The Institute library will be relocated to the Institute office over the weekend on 16 September 2006. There will be no disruption in library service and the library will open for normal business from 18 September 2006 onward at 27/F Wu Chung House.
 
 
 
   
Name: Mandy Cheng
Job Title: Accountant
Company: Crown Worldwide Holding Limited
 
Click here to see Mandy's career profile:
- career and study history
- job involvement
- career achievement
- career progression
 
 
 
  Flexibility, positive mental strategies, a sense of purpose and social support can help you to cope with difficulties in your personal or professional life. Sooner or later everyone can expect to experience a few difficulties - death or illness in the family, or having to face up to redundancy or the kind of shake-up that generally follows any merger or acquisition. Joan Gurvis and Michael Wakefield give you some ideas of how to tackle these hardships. Click here for the full article.

This article is reprinted with permission from the Center for Creative Leadership.
 
 
 
  Reading Materials for the 2006 PRC CPA Uniform Examination

Limited copies of the reading materials (in Chinese) for the 2006 PRC CPA Uniform Examination are now available for sale at the Institute's reception desk. Click here for the order form. QP graduates are exempted from two papers : Financial Cost Management (°]°È¦¨¥»ºÞ²z) and Auditing (¼f­p) of this examination.


Subscription to PRC Tax Bulletin

The PRC Tax Bulletin is a Chinese weekly publication containing the latest PRC tax rules, regulations and notices promulgated by the Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation in the Mainland. You may now subscribe to the PRC Tax Bulletin for the period from October 2006 to September 2007 from here.

 
 
 
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Dates     Events
September
1 Sept P - Workshop on practical profits tax computation
6 Sept S - QPNet Gathering
9, 16, 23, 30 Sept O - Workshops on PRC taxation
11 Sept Q - Commencement of Modules A & C
Q - CEF application for Modules A & C — submission deadline
12 Sept Q - Hong Kong Institute of CPAs Annual Award and Graduation Ceremony
23 Sept Q - Module B & D examinations

October
11, 18, 25 Oct P - Training workshop on auditing planning and completion
13-15 Oct Q   Module A & C — 1st workshops
21 Oct E - Examination assistance seminar for Module C
  P - Seminar on HKAS 32 & 39 HKFRS 7— Financial assets and liabilities: recognition and measurements
21 Oct - 13 Dec E - Examination assistance course for module C
22 Oct E - Examination assistance seminar for Module A & D
24 Oct - 12 Dec P - Examination assistance course for module A
28 Oct E - Examination assistance seminar for Module B
  P - Seminar on HKAS 32 & 39 HKFRS 7 — Financial instruments: complex and presentation issues
29 Oct - 3 Dec E - Final exam revision course

November
3-5 Nov Q - Module A & C — 2nd workshops
11, 18 Nov P - Workshop on analysing financial statements
17-19 Nov Q - Module A & C — 3rd workshops

December
8-10 Dec Q - Modules A & C — 4th workshops
21 Dec Q - Final examination
27 Dec Q - Modules A & C examinations

Click for enrolment Now!
E : Examination assistance functions
Q : QP event
P : Practical training functions
S : Student social activities
O : Other events

 
 
 
 
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