Demand for accountants set to grow with bay area

The demand for accounting professionals on the mainland has been steadily rising over the past few years and is only expected to increase further with the development of the Greater Bay Area, according to industry experts.

The ACCA, an international accounting body, said its membership numbers on the mainland had grown by 20 per cent to 29,000 in the five years to March 2022, representing 12 per cent of its global total of 241,000.

There are a further 169,000 prospective members in the country in the form of those studying to qualify as accountants.

“We have seen the demand for accountants rising across China to meet business growth goals, especially post-Covid, following the hiring backlog created by the pandemic,” Helen Brand, chief executive of ACCA, told the Post during a recent visit to Hong Kong.

She expected the ACCA’s overall membership to hit the 250,000 mark this year as more accountants qualified on the mainland.

“We are very optimistic for the next few years,” she said, adding businesses had galvanised after the pandemic, creating demand for professional accountants.

The increased demand is not only in traditional financial reporting and auditing, but also for specialists in environmental, social and governance (ESG) to help companies comply with auditing and investment requirements.

The ACCA’s association with Hong Kong goes back to 1950 when it set up a local chapter in the city. One of its best-known members is Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po. The group also has offices in the Greater Bay Area cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

It is one of the 38 accounting bodies that formed an alliance in Hong Kong on May 20 to arrange more exchange activities between members. Some of the other members of the alliance include the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA), CPA Australia and the accounting bodies from the United States, Britain and cities in the bay area.

The bay area, which comprises Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong province, had an economy comparable in size to Italy’s, Chan said recently. The region’s combined gross domestic product was close to US$2 trillion in 2022, up by 25 per cent from US$1.65 trillion in 2019.

Brand agreed the zone would be a growth engine for the national economy and hence would see strong demand for accountants.

The ACCA in 2019 set up a regional advisory board for its members to share their experience with government officials on how to further develop the bay area into a world-class mega-city cluster.

The number of accountants on the mainland increased during the pandemic because it had better control over the outbreak than other markets, said Edmund Wong Chun-sek, who represents the accountancy constituency in the Legislative Council.

The membership of the HKICPA had remained flat in recent years at around 47,000, as some members had migrated to other countries, said Wong, an accountant and member of the institute.

“However, the number of accountants in Hong Kong is expected to grow further in coming years as a result of the resumption of normal business activities after the Covid restrictions were removed in the first quarter,” he said.