On 5th November, “Success at the Beginning of Career” Forum, which was jointly organized by Accounting Committee of Council of the Promotion of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Cooperation and Union of Associations of Professional Accountants of Macau; co-organized by Faculty of Business of City University of Macau, has been successfully conducted at Cultural Center and Ho Yin Convention Center respectively. Government officials, experts and scholars of the relevant field and in addition, students from tertiary institutions of Macau were invited to attend the forum sharing the essence on the topics of Macau accounting education, the trend of accounting professional human resources, accounting professional ethics and challenges.

Mr. Chui Sai Cheong, President of the Union of Associations of Professional Accountants of Macau presented souvenir to Professor Kong Fanqing, Vice Rector of City University of Macau, for co-organizing the said forum.  Souvenirs were also presented by Mr. Chui to all guest speakers of the forum.  Vice Rector Kong and Professor Sean Li, Registrar of City University of Macau representing the University to attend the said forum. The forum consisted of four sessions, thus focusing on the theme of the “Success at the Beginning of Career” as well as on the aspects of accounting education, corporate finance and human resources management and the relevant fields.

An opening speech was delivered by Ms. Iong Weng Ian, Chairman of Accounting Committee of Council for the Promotion of Guangdong-Hong Kong- Macau Cooperation.  She remarked that the forum served to provide a platform to enable interaction with students in the aspects of experience sharing and career coaching to generate further understanding of the development of the community to better devised their career development. In addition, Ms. Long would like to take this opportunity to promote accounting education to students as well as to intricate career development and prospects of accounting profession in Macau.

The forum was greatly supported by both tertiary institutions and the public. There were approximately 1,200 participants from the University of Macau, Macao Polytechnic Institute, Institute for Tourism Studies, Macao University of Science and Technology, University of Saint Joseph and City University of Macau.  Students shown keen interest in various topics and interaction with the guest speakers was encouraging. Students stated that the forum enriched their knowledge in terms of Macau economic development as well as the prospects of accounting profession, to provide them a good reference for job searching and career development.

The theme session of the forum was hosted by Ms. Lok Tan Cheng, Union of Associations of Professional Accountants of Macau. Speakers for the theme session were Dr. Chui Sai Peng, member of Legislative Assembly, Ms. Maria Lee, Vice Chairman of Union of Associations of Professional Accountants of Macau, Mr. Chuck, Chung Yin, President of Big Four Development Group, and Mr. Lau Wai Meng, Deputy Director of Macao Economic Services. Issues of youth employment, job application and career development of youth in Macau were raised and discussed.

The session of Accounting Education was chaired by Dr. Chan Hio Wan, Vice President of Union of Associations of Professional Accountants of Macau. Invited guest speakers were Professor Choi Kok Kun, Director of School of Business of Macao Polytechnic Institute, Professor Lin Zhijun, Dean of School of Business of Macao University of Science and Technology, Professor Prof. Yuen Chun Yip, Head of Department of Accounting and Information Management of Faculty of Business Administration of University of Macau, Professor Eva Khong, Executive Associate Dean of Faculty of Business of City University of Macau, and Ms. Fung Kin Yee, Associate Director of Galaxy Entertainment Group.  Concern on accounting education development and challenges in Macau were discussed.

The session of Corporate Financing was conducted by in Professor José Alves, Dean of the Faculty of Administration and Leadership of University of Saint Joseph, Mr. Ieung Chi Kuong, Banking Business Director of Macao Branch and General Manager of Hoi Tou Sub-branch of Bank of China, and Mr. Bernard Li, Senior Manager of PWC discussing various aspects of accounting and financial in terms of development and challenges.

The fourth session of Human Resource Management was conducted by Professor Oscar Chan, Director of Facility Management of Macau Institute of Management, Ms. Chan Ka Ian, Senior Manager of Melco Crown Entertainment and Mr. Fan Man Chong, Manager of Shun Tak Group discussing issues on human resources development in terms of opportunities and challenges in Macau in the near future.

This forum successful established a platform for integration between accounting experts and academic scholars as well as providing a channel for students to get more exposure of the relevant accounting profession. The outcome of the forum sounds promising to further promote accounting education, develop talents for the Macau community to obtain sustainable development.