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To become an accounting professional in Hong Kong, candidates can go through the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and  take 14 examination papers.
The new ACCA qualification includes  paper examinations, an online professional ethics module to be completed prior to becoming an ACCA member, and work experience.
Hong Kong candidates with a local degree in accountancy can be exempted from up to nine papers, and a degree in business or finance related subjects also qualifies for exemptions.
Graduates from non-accounting related subject areas may need to take all 14 papers, but this does not appear to deter  them from applying.
'There are more and more non-accounting graduates joining the profession,' said Allan Lee Ka-fai, co-chairman of the student affairs sub-committee at ACCA Hong Kong.
Form Five and Form Seven graduates are also able to take a direct route into professional accountancy by taking the Certified Accounting Technician (CAT) qualification to build a solid foundation, and then moving up to the ACCA examinations.
ACCA is an international accountancy organisation with a 104-year history and is the fastest-growing accountancy body in the world. Interested individuals could start studying and taking ACCA examinations early during their college years.
Once they begin their careers, trainee accountants will have to study towards their ACCA examinations on a part-time basis. For those with full exemptions this might take as little as one year, while others who need to sit for all 14 papers, it  takes  three to four years. Different organisations take different approaches to dealing with the cost of the professional examinations.
'Some companies will completely subsidise the cost of the examinations, while others might offer bonuses as an incentive to encourage employees to work hard for the qualification,' Mr Lee said. 'However, some trainees may have to fund the cost themselves.'
In addition to working towards their professional qualifications, new students will have to undergo various forms of training.
'After starting their career in the accounting and finance profession, accounting professionals need to continually update their knowledge and all-round skills,' Mr Lee said.
'Apart from staying abreast of changes in law, taxation, auditing, financial reporting, they need to learn new technical, people and management skills.
'To what extent this training focuses on technical or soft-skills will depend on the types of work and the types of companies. With some organisations, the training might be in-house or outside.'
Continuing professional development is an essential aspect of this profession. Nowadays many accountancy firms perform internal surveys to assess which areas of training are deemed  desirable.
From this year's ACCA & Michael Page International Accounting & Finance Market survey,  employers  thought highly of management reporting, and considered professional ethics and sustainability matters as important technical skills that they would like their employees to be trained in.
Popular areas of training include professional ethics, financial analysis, management reporting, risk management, international financial reporting standards, corporate governance and fraud.
'Technical and IT skills, soft skills and topics related to mainland China are particularly popular,' Mr Lee said.



Continuous learning is key