Page 167 - Memoir

MESSAGE FROM OUR TEAMS
Words from Mr Tam King Tong

When this memoir is published, I am glad to have served the firm for
more than thirty years on its 60th anniversary. From an innocent young
man to the firm's managing practising director today, there are indeed
many memorable episodes.

When I first joined the firm, most customers were still using manual
ledgers, working papers were all written with pen, and piles of ledger
books had to be unscrewed before they could be photocopied. There
was also a big machine for viewing films ordered from the Companies
Registry. The writing desks were all made of steel and the manual typewriters which had all
been replaced. During those thirty years, I work in the same location. However the name of the
building had been changed several times. The building had also undergone a major renovation,
from the original design of green exterior wall with hexagonal windows to the current design of
glass curtain wall. I still remember the time during renovation when the original outer wall of
the building was demolished and the new glass wall had not yet been built, there was just a
bamboo shed besides my seat. I still have some lingering fears when I think about this.

Many Mainland China visits and exhibitions were interesting and promising. The one which
impressed me the most was in September 2002, when I was invited by a law firm in Hangzhou
to present a talk for a local company. On the return journey, I flew back to Shenzhen and
unfortunately there was a big traffic jam caused by a yellow bus accident in the border area.
When I returned home, I learned that my wife was already in the hospital waiting to give birth
and I just returned in time to welcome my daughter’s birth in the early morning of the other
day.

Most accountants have faced many difficulties and challenges in the past thirty years for those
changes and updates in accounting, auditing and taxation. From the fourteen Accounting
Standards to the world-shaking changes in the Accounting Standards in 2005 and the major
reform of the Hong Kong Companies Ordinance in 2014. In addition, in 2018, the Certified Public
Accountants were required to follow the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist
Financing Ordinance for accepting and ongoing monitoring their clients and also in 2021 the
Legislative Council had passed the bill that the Certified Public Accountants (Practising) will be
governed by the Accounting and Financial Reporting Council. For taxation, the Foreign Account
Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) and the introduction and
update of tax regulations and ordinances gave extreme burden on the practitioners.

I had participated in many relay races in the past. I have been the athlete running the final leg
most of the time when I was young. In recent years, I have changed other running position. The
same will also be applied to my situation in the firm which I am gradually stepping into the
handover.

Sixty years in the Chinese calendar symboliseded the end of one cycle and the beginning of
another. Moving towards to a new cycle, I wish the firm will be more prosperous and continues
to shine in the accounting industry.

Tam King Tong, FCPA (Practising)
Managing Practising Director

邱在光合伙會計師行有限公司六十週年 C K Yau & Partners CPA Limited 60th Anniversary 163