Awarded by: HKICPA
HKUST undergraduates have achieved the best results ever in the Qualification Programme (QP) Case Analysis Competition organized by the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA). The team bagged the tiles of the “Championship” and “Best Written Report”, and one of its members was named the “Best Presenter”.
The QP Case Analysis Competition is organized by HKICPA annually to develop students’ business skills and cultivate their professional judgment by testing their ability to analyze and evaluate a specific business situation. In its 13th year, the competition invited undergraduates in Hong Kong to form team of three or four members and submit a financial analysis summary of a given case. Of the 30 shortlisted teams, nine were selected based on their full case analysis report to give an oral presentation in the final round.
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This year the champion team was formed by four HKUST undergraduates Lincoln Chan, Nicole Li, Coco Tong and Andy Wong (Best Presenter), all of whom are third-year students majoring in accounting. The team joined another 300 participating teams in the first round and made their initial submissions, in which they were required to put forward steps to attract potential investors for a fictitious listed health & beauty company.
The HKUST team impressed the judges by their all-inclusive and practical report as well as their innovative ideas. They suggested for example to develop a mobile phone service booking app to enhance consumer experience and introduce franchising to tap into the mainland market. Supported by convincing financial figures and market analysis, the team presented a highly feasible solution to the audience and addressed questions raised by the adjudication panel in the finale on 29 November.
“We started to prepare for the competition in September, but knew nothing about the beauty industry that traditionally targets at female customers,” said team leader Lincoln. “We talked to practitioners to learn about the challenges the industry faces and find ways to enhance competitiveness.”
The HKUST team is grateful for this learning experience. They attribute their success to the established friendship, dedicated teamwork, core competence of each member as well as the practical advice from their coach.
Kelvin Mak, coach of the champion team and Lecturer in Accounting at HKUST said, "I am proud of the outstanding performance demonstrated by our students. The encouraging results reflect not only the academic excellence of our students, but their ability to put knowledge to use in a business environment very similar to real life, and after all convince the adjudication panel formed by seasoned accountants, consulting and industry experts with their robust facts and figures confidently presented.”
On top of the $10,000 cash prize, the HKUST champion team has received valuable comments from the adjudication panel and will be awarded with internship placements.
Caption: The HKUST champion team (from left): Nicole Li, Coco Tong, Lincoln Chan and Andy Wong.