School News

Knowledge X Family X Freedom

Since her undergraduate years, Dr. Qiu is already hooked up with knowledge production. Although she was majored in economics and finance, her mother’s professional background as an auditor had encouraged her to research on accounting. In addition, as the private sector does not guarantee liberty to its workers, the freedom that academics enjoy in research is another factor encouraging Dr. Qiu to become a scholar after graduation.  

Researcher 101

For students aspired to become a researcher, Dr. Qiu recommends them to attend more seminars and workshops. It is the best way for students to familiarize themselves with research topics that the academia focuses on. Dr. Qiu believes that talking to young professors is also conducive as they could provide students with the most updated information on the cultures of different research institutions and the merits of different post-graduate programmes.

While graduating with first-hon is stressful and hard, it pales in comparison with postgraduate research. As research work is a chronic battle, having adequate rest is very important to the physical and psychological health of researchers. Dr. Qiu herself would visit museums and listen to concerts when she need a mental time-out.

Finding someone to talk to also helps a lot. The academic path can be lonely as outsiders are unable to comprehend what you are going through and your difficulties or setback along the research journey. Therefore it is very important for PhD students to open up with one another in order to stay energetic. 

Accounting is beyond book-keeping

Producing financial statements is only part of an accountant’s job. The true worth of an accountant lies in his ability to interpret business data and to advise clients on making financial decisions capable of meeting the challenges today and making preparations for the future. Since AI have taken up the tedious data-entry work, accounting interns would have more time honing their skills in business analytics. By mastering the knowledge of accounting, one can open up multiple career paths. Other than being accountants and trust managers in investment banks, possessing knowledge in accounting would also give novice entrepreneurs a head start in managing their business.

Accounting knowledge could also enables us to make good decisions in life. While rudimentary knowledge such as book-keeping could nurture us to spend responsibly, advance knowledge such as evaluating investment return could enable us to purchase goods capable of generating perpetual gains.

Dr. Qiu further guides us to explore accounting by introducing us her research interests in corporate governance. Little known to laymen that maintaining corporate governance is also a duty for accountants. It is often overlooked by the public that auditors and tax officers bear great social responsibilities to ensure that firms are adhering to business ethics. As an accounting scholar, Dr. Qiu is interested to study how the shift in power balance will impact the incentives of the top management, and in the long run, how will it impact the companies’ capability in generating value to the society. Dr. Qiu observes that it has become a global trend in recent years that shareholders are increasingly influential in business operations. As the voting cost decreases, shareholders are more actively engaged in Say-on-Pay. Moreover, institutional investors are also playing an increasngly significant role in the shaping of top executives' remuneration plans. For example, shareholders in Disney had voted down the board’s decision in doubling the CEO’s bonus during the merger and acquisition deal with 21st Century Fox.

Way forward

As HKU is a prestigious institution well known for its resourceful network, Dr. Qiu hopes that she could leverage its prestige to participate on more consultancy projects. Dr. Qiu is particularly interested in researching the corporate governance of pharmaceutical firms and tech firms. As the CEO in these companies usually possesses technical expertise beyond that of the board and the shareholders, Dr. Qiu is intrigued to study their power dynamics. By getting inside the black box to observe their power dynamics, Dr. Qiu is aspired to contribute more empirical data to the academia.

Other than research, Dr. Qiu hopes that she could, as a young scholar, encourage more discussions in class and would make it easier for students to share with her the difficulties they are facing.