Today, accountants are taking charge of their careers at an earlier stage. Jemelyn Yadao talks to bright Institute members under the age of 35

Transcription

1 Rising stars Today, accountants are taking charge of their careers at an earlier stage. Jemelyn Yadao talks to bright Institute members under the age of 35 PHOTO: SAMANTHA SIN Just knock on the door and the more you consult, the more confident you are with your decision and the closer you will be to your colleagues. YOUNG 20 December 2012

2 Roy Leung Partner, audit and assurance GUNS December

3 Rising stars t 34, Roy Leung is one of the younger partners at KPMG in Hong Kong. Rather than keeping a low profile and deferring to senior colleagues, he finds himself often knocking on their doors. Leung says such an open door culture has enabled him to learn a lot in his relatively short time at the firm. We don t really have barriers, he says. Just knock on the door and the more you consult, the more confident you are with your decision and the closer you will be to your colleagues. A member of the Hong Kong Institute of CPAs, Leung s career is illustrative of the sometimes rapid ascent that young accountants can make. With hard work, accounting firms offer young CPAs some of the most promising career paths of any in Hong Kong. Large accounting firms are always top of the list of the world s best employers, according to different global surveys. People in the U.K. are more focused during office hours... But, I don't think the workload in Asia is much more than in the U.K. Leung joined KPMG straight after graduating from the London School of Economics in A decade later he was promoted to partner, specializing in providing audit and assurance services to clients that are listed or preparing for an initial public offering. He has since been involved in IPO projects for companies overseas including in South Africa and Russia. I think it s really good not just to work with them through the phone or , but to be in their offices, get to know their culture and learn what their best practices are and then bring those things to Hong Kong, he adds. Long hours are unavoidable for those in the profession and generally in Hong Kong. However, while it is hard work, Leung says those busy periods and peak seasons are important. You get the first deep learning curve out of it, so after completing every engagement you always feel that you have developed yourself to a certain extent, he says. With auditors usually working in teams, Leung finds himself constantly working with people of a similar age group. To him, this makes ploughing through work after regular office hours much more tolerable. You can work in a less challenging workplace, but you won t get as much as I got over the past 12 years. Embrace change The career advancement of bright young CPAs has led to many to work abroad. Benny Tong, 31, is one, currently working at Price- Benny Tong Manager, audit PHOTO: CARL JASON PIDLAOAN 22 December 2012

4 A PLUS PHOTO: ALAN CHEUNG AND SUNNY YU Joyce Lee Director, audit I don t see any major issues with becoming a female director... It s all about enthusiasm and professionalism [qualities] that are most valued by people in the field. waterhousecoopers in London as an audit manager. Tong describes his office 1 Embankment Place, one of seven PwC locations in the British capital as really globalized and international. There s not just people from Britain. It s quite a good thing that you can meet people who you wouldn t usually meet in Hong Kong, he says. Tong, who was promoted to audit senior manager before being seconded to the United Kingdom a year ago, can t help but compare work-life balance in London with Hong Kong. You can see the difference... The people in the U.K. are more focused during office hours, he says. They try to get all the things done in a short time so that they can leave work earlier, but in Hong Kong people tend to work long hours. But, I don t think the workload in Asia is much more than in the U.K. Having worked in the same office in Hong Kong for eight years, assisting clients mainly in Greater China, one of Tong s biggest difficulties came when he first moved to London in November I didn t have much experience working with westerners or foreigners. Although the work is the same, I needed to get used to a brand new client base and working with brand new people, he recalls. With the subject of accountants and long working hours constantly recurring, Tong brings the topic to a more positive light. For young professionals, this is a very good investment for your future, because you are doing two or three times more than [what] all your peers or other people are doing. Tong s relative youth doesn t mean he can keep pace without trying hard. All the accounting standards, all the auditing standards are always changing, so you really need to keep yourself up to date, do some reading, training, and go to workshops, he says. Learn from the best Joyce Lee is attracted to fresh challenges. This is one of the reasons why joining the profession appealed to her in the first place. She admits, however, that work pressure and long hours are just some of the not-sonew hurdles she encounters continuously as audit director at Grant Thornton. One of the main challenges involves getting and understanding new clients, their organizations and their practices, says Lee, an Institute member in her early 30s, who joined the firm in 2007 and previously worked for other large CPA firms. December

5 Rising stars From my experience, working over-time means when we deliver more than we expected, the extra effort we contribute is less than the harvest we can enjoy afterwards. There has been debate about under-representation of women in the higher echelons of the profession. Lee says she does not see notable obstacles to progress. I don t see any major issues with becoming a female director. Many senior accountants are female and they are high performers in the industry. It s all about enthusiasm and professionalism [qualities] that are most valued by people in the field. As well as challenging work situations, younger members such as Lee cite the ears and minds of more experienced accountants in their firms to be core factors leading to the development of their skills. Partners in our firm are all very open to listening and sharing their experiences, she says. The most valuable asset I have learned from them is the way to communicate and handle different clients. It is always important to listen to our clients so that we will be able to provide services that best suit them. Prepare to fly Speaking to university students at a career forum, Francis Nip, 33, was asked whether striking a work-life balance in CPA firms was tough. His answer was this: For the first 20 years of your life, you live happily, study happily with your family and friends. The next 20 years, you have to work. So at the age of 40, you will have balance in your life, laughs Nip. Another Institute member, Nip was recently promoted to senior manager of assurance and business advisory at Mazars. From my experience, working over-time means when we deliver more than we expected, the extra effort we contribute is less than the harvest we can enjoy afterwards, he says. Nip s efforts have even taken him to war zones. Last year, he flew to Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, and went again in July to visit coal mines located in remote terrain to inspect operations there. Tajikistan is a Francis Nip Senior manager, assurance and business advisory PHOTO: SAMANTHA SIN 24 December 2012

6 Alpha Tsang Senior manager, assurance and financial PHOTO: SAMANTHA SIN beautiful country, he says. The country has been fractured by violent civil and ethnic conflict since the 1990s. Hostilities were renewed as recently as July. [It] is still rebuilding, Nip says. We have seen United Nations soldiers in the hotel we stayed at, and mercenaries stationed at the mine sites. Nip hails the range of diverse assignments he has been given at Mazars as the reason he improved his skills. I m lucky, I have many opportunities to explore, he says. We are not specialized so I m never assigned to a single large assignment or a specific industry or a specific region s clients, he adds. I work with different clients from different locations and in different sizes. Take one for the team After graduating, Alpha Tsang wanted a career that would propel him to become the man who could do mostly everything. I believed we needed to be all-round individuals and that includes having com- Every one of us is working towards the same goal. That feeling helps a lot. munication, problem solving and analytic skills, just to be able to handle things in different situations, he says. Now 33, Tsang is an Institute member and senior manager for assurance and financial services at Ernst & Young Hong Kong. That s why I chose to join the accounting profession, and in particular a firm like E&Y, which offers opportunities and a culture that cares about growth and its people. Like many other successful younger members, Tsang has managed to move up the ranks by sticking with one firm. During his 10 years at E&Y, he has assisted a number of hedge fund and private equity fund clients. Tsang, who was appointed manager in 2007 and senior manager two years later, has also worked in New York as part of the firm s global exchange programme. Like his peers, Tsang firmly sees the long working hours as a sort of an investment. To be a successful professional, whether you are an accountant, lawyer or doctor, you need to invest time in order to make the most out of your experience. While many CPAs appreciate the need to sacrifice personal time to get the work done, their loved ones might not. Tsang s success is partly due to his support group both at home and at the office. There are a few things important throughout my career: one is understanding from my family. The second is the support I get from being in such a large firm and the support from my supervisors. Finally, Tsang also values the cooperation of his teammates. Every one of us is working towards the same goal. That feeling helps a lot. December