Department of Accountancy celebrates positive feedback of internship programme

A celebratory gathering for undergraduate students of the Department of Accountancy (AC) and participating companies was held at Academic 3 on 26th and 27th March. The event entitled AC Internship: Potential to Professional aimed to acknowledge the positive outcome of the annual AC internship programme and to thank all those who had contributed to the programme.

The event was set up to showcase interns’ work and their takeaways in the forms of videos, storybooks, and posters. Departmental internship coordinators and senior year students also shared useful advice and tips to help junior students plan their intended internship and career.

In addition, a Thanksgiving Reception cum Prize Presentation Ceremony was held on 26th March to express the department’s gratitude to the internship partners for their patronage and the guidance given to the students. It also provided an opportunity for students to seek professional advice from company representatives and meet with prospective employers.

In his opening remarks Prof Cheong-heon Yi, Associate Head of the Department of Accountancy, said “It is the internship that insightfully inspires our students to discover the real business practices beyond classroom training such that they can prepare themselves further for the challenges and success ahead.”

Prof Yi also highlighted the 5Ps core values of the programme: “Students met wonderful people at the workplace; they applied school learning into practice; they trained up their professionalism; they accelerated their learning from multiple perspectives; and they manifested their future career path. Thanks to the internship, they have found themselves a lot of Potential to be a future business Professional.”

During the reception, Mr David Yip, Senior Teaching Fellow of AC, presented the certificates to 17 interns of the year to mark their outstanding performances and devotion to their internships. Three students among them were selected as the Top 3 Best Interns based on evaluations conducted by both employers and the Department.

Top 3 Best Intern awardees:

Cindy Chau Ka-yee (Year 3, BBA in Accountancy)
Renix Luk Wai-yan (Year 2, BBA in Accountancy)
Cindy Wong Man-ching (Year 3, BBA in Accountancy)

The Top 3 Best Intern awardees shared their internship experiences:

“The internship helped me discover the business world, an eye-opener into the operations of different sectors in Hong Kong such as minmetal trading, electronic equipment sales, etc. I didn't have much practical knowledge at the beginning, but I learnt to be more professional and adapt to changing environments during the internship in an efficient way.” Cindy Chau, PricewaterhouseCoopers Hong Kong intern.

“The Award is a great motivation for me to improve myself. Thanks to my managers and seniors for assigning challenging tasks to me. I have identified some of my weaknesses and learnt that having a positive attitude towards everything is important. I have learnt a lot from this internship and this valuable experience will continue to be useful in the future.” Renix Luk, Crowe Horwath (HK) CPA Limited intern.

“The most important thing I learnt is to be proactive. I won’t be shy to proactively seek for instruction clarification from colleagues. The internship offered me fruitful insights on how a professional auditor should behave.” Cindy Wong, PricewaterhouseCoopers Hong Kong intern.

Prof Arthur Ellis, Provost of CityU, presented appreciation gifts to the company representatives for offering internship positions to the 140 AC students. A Sincere Thank You to all the supporting companies:

Local Internship Partners:

• Baker Tilly Hong Kong
  
• BDO Limited
  
• Carlsberg Hong Kong Limited
  
• Crowe Horwath (HK) CPA Limited
  
• CWCC Certified Public Accountants
  
• Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
  
• Elite Partners CPA Limited
  
• Ernest & Young Hong Kong
  
• Grant Thornton Hong Kong Limited
  
• Hospital Authority
  
• Hsin Chong Construction Group Ltd.
  
• Inland Revenue Department, HKSAR Government
  
• KPMG (China and HK SAR)
  
• MAZARS CPA Limited
  
• Patrick Wong C.P.A. Limited
  
• Pro-WIS Risk Advisory Services Limited
  
• PricewaterhouseCoopers Hong Kong
  
• RSM Nelson Wheeler
  
• Sanmina-SCI (China) Limited
  
• ShineWing (HK) CPA Limited
  
• STRIX (Hong Kong) Ltd.
  
• Swire Properties Hotel Holdings Limited
  
• Teamway & Partners Certified Public Accountants
  
• Tricor Services Limited
  
• YMCA of Hong Kong
  
• Zhonglei (HK) CPA Company Limited

Overseas Internship Partners:

• BDO LLP
  
• Foo Kon Tan LLP
  
• RSM Chio Lim I Stone Forest
  
• SBA Stone Forest Corporate Advisory (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.

Comments from internship partners:

“We were the first commercial firm participating in this internship programme. The interns are of high quality, mature, and thoughtful. This is why we continue to support the AC internship programme.” Mr C P Lui, Group Financial Controller of Hsin Chong Construction Group Ltd.

“The structure of this programme is very impressive and effective. The 5Ps concept allows students to demonstrate their talents and contribute to the team and company in an effective way.” Ms Jovy Wong, Associate Director (Talent) of Ernest & Young Hong Kong.

As the internship coordinators, Dr Raymond Wong, Assistant Professor, and Ms Yvonne Chan, Instructor I, both of the Department of Accountancy, were delighted to witness the students’ achievements and growth during and after the programme. “We are very proud of our students’ achievements and believe that each batch of interns will be even better in the years to come. We wish that the students can ‘crystalize’ all their internship experience for a better future career development. Certainly, the whole programme counts on employers’ support and their feedback so that we can maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the matching process between employers and student interns. It is encouraging to have received so much support from the Department, College, University, alumni, other stakeholders of CityU and external organizations!”

About the AC internship programme

The Department offers around 140 internship opportunities for its students each year in CPA firms, commercial entities, and government institutions in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Shanghai, for a period of one to five months in the Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters. This programme offers work opportunities in real-life business settings with an aim to further develop students’ skillsets and provide ground work for their future success. All participating students are enrolled in a credit-bearing course, AC4383 AC Professional Internship and Professional Attachment, to carry out audit, tax and other related professional services for assigned employers. Students are required to undertake pre-internship training, post-internship sharing, and to submit reflective journals. Firm visits and employer evaluation are prerequisites for company enrollment.

For details of the programme, please visit the website.
For more photos, please click here.