PwC’s online training resources being integrated into VTC programmes to widen students’ career prospects
VTC Accountancy students scoop awards in open competitions

In support of the government’s efforts to promote collaboration between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao by establishing professional services bodies that can boost accounting and auditing services development in the region, the Vocational Training Council (VTC) and PwC Hong Kong have joined hands to offer access to PwC’s online learning platform to students of the Higher Diploma in Professional Accountancy at Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE), a member institution of VTC.

This is the first time PwC’s training resources, covering the tax systems of Mainland China and Hong Kong, have been made available to students. It will enrich their practical learning experiences, widen their future career pathways, and help nurture accountancy talent for the region.

The high professional knowledge and creativity already acquired by IVE accountancy students was demonstrated recently when they swept the awards in a business case competition organised by the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA).

The robust recent development of accounting services and the growth of the Greater Bay Area has prompted rising demand for talent with knowledge of both Mainland and Hong Kong accounting systems. By collaborating to open up the PwC online learning platform, which was originally developed for exclusive use of the professional sector, VTC and PwC will enhance the competitiveness of IVE’s accountancy students. The training materials cover Corporate Income Tax and Individual Income Tax in both Mainland China and Hong Kong, providing real-life case studies that can familiarise students with the tax principles of the two areas and their application.

An appreciation ceremony was held by VTC and PwC on 21 February 2023 to commemorate this meaningful collaboration. Alaina SHUM, Deputy Executive Director of VTC, acknowledged PwC’s help in supplementing the VTC curriculum with professional online training materials about the tax systems of Hong Kong and the Mainland, saying these valuable resources would not only enrich students’ learning experience, but also enable them to better understand the regulations and mechanisms through real-life cases. Students could take a more in-depth look at the frequent economic interactions between Hong Kong and Mainland China, she added, and thus better grasp career opportunities after graduation.

Also participating in the ceremony were Rebecca WONG, PwC China Tax and Business Advisory Partner, and Fay REN, Senior Manager of PwC China Tax & Business Advisory. They encouraged students to get prepared for the future opportunities offered by the industry by strengthening their competitiveness with practical knowledge and skills.

Besides adopting PwC's online training resources, VTC offers various learning opportunities with the emphasis on practice in real-life contexts. Equipped with this practical experience, VTC students have outperformed their peers in recent inter-collegiate competitions. Students of IVE's Higher Diploma in Professional Accountancy swept the Champions, Runners-up and Best Written Proposal awards in the Sub-degree Group of the HKICPA Business Case Competition 2022. Another group of accounting students reached the final 12 of the ACCA Business Competition 2022-23, the only entrants to do so from the post-secondary institute sector. They were awarded a Certificate of Merit, all other recipients of which were undergraduate students.

The HKICPA Business Case Competition 2022 attracted the participation of 1,700 students from 70 institutes in Hong Kong. Student of IVE’s Higher Diploma in Professional Accountancy YIU Po-chu and her three teammates were crowned champions and also took the Best Written Proposal award. Her team were required to prepare a proposal to improve the business performance of a pharmaceutical company. After identifying a number of problems, they made strategic recommendations to address them, such as establishing a digital platform for customer relationship management and setting up an aid fund to enhance the company’s business performance and corporate social responsibility initiatives. YIU attributed the good performance of her team to applying auditing and financial accounting knowledge learnt from IVE to their proposal, and to incorporating an element of drama into their presentation for a creative twist.

Another student from the programme, NG Sai-cheong and his team, were First Runners-up in the competition. He said he appreciated how the competition modelled the job requirements of a real-life workplace, commenting also that the practical training on digital economy subjects offered by IVE, such as cloud accounting, fitted well into the growing development trend in this field, accelerated by the global pandemic. Thanks to the training received from IVE, NG said, his team were able to make specific recommendations in their business proposal. Second Runners-up LEE Tin-yan reflected that she was able to apply what she had learnt from her IVE classes when approaching the case study, noting that Accounting was a global language and thus Hong Kong accountants would be in great future demand from businesses across the Greater Bay Area.

Established in 1982, the Vocational Training Council (VTC) is the largest vocational and professional education and training provider in Hong Kong. The mission of VTC is to provide a valued choice to school leavers and working people to acquire the values, knowledge and skills for lifelong learning and enhanced employability, and also to provide support to industries for their manpower development. VTC has 13 member institutions, namely the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi), the Institute of Professional Education And Knowledge (PEAK), the School for Higher and Professional Education (SHAPE), the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE), the Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI), the Hotel and Tourism Institute (HTI),  the Chinese Culinary Institute (CCI), the International Culinary Institute (ICI), the Maritime Services Training Institute (MSTI), Youth College, Pro-Act by VTC, the Integrated Vocational Development Centre (IVDC) and the Shine Skills Centre.

Website: www.vtc.edu.hk

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