The Faculty held its graduation ceremony from 16 to 18 November for this year’s 1,907 graduates. This year’s cohort comprised 729 undergraduates, 1,142 taught postgraduates, and 36 research students. Graduates received their Bachelor’s degrees, Postgraduate diplomas, Master’s degrees, MPhil degrees, and Doctoral degrees at eight graduation sessions over the three days of the ceremony.

At the ceremony

The Center for Economic Sustainability and Entrepreneurial Finance (CESEF) of the School of Accounting and Finance, and Sing Tao News Corporation Limited (Sing Tao) jointly organised the Outstanding ESG Enterprises Recognition Scheme 2023 to promote and enhance public awareness of ESG in different sectors of society and to encourage its application in daily life.

CESEF offers professional advice to applicants to help them improve their ESG performance, promote industry-wide development of green finance, and foster an environment that attracts investment. A panel of judges, including representatives from CESEF and Sing Tao, scrutinises applications carefully to ensure that all awardees achieve exemplary ESG-related governance and performance indicators.

The Outstanding ESG Enterprises Recognition Ceremony and Sustainable Development Forum held on November 13 awarded over 30 prizes, including the “Prestigious ESG Accomplishment of the Year”, “Outstanding ESG Environmental/Social/Corporate Governance Performance Awards”, and “ESG Commendation Awards”. It recognised 21 companies in sectors such as real estate, banking and finance, public affairs, and property management for their implementation of ESG. At the forum, industry leaders shared their insights on the topic “Living with Earth - How Enterprises Implement ESG to Practice Innovative Sustainability”.

At the ceremony

Prof. Jie (Jay) Cao, Professor of Finance at the School of Accounting and Finance, joined the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative’s Academic Working Group as a founding member at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s 8th World Investment Forum 2023. The forum, which was held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, ran from 16 to 20 October 2023. The Academic Working Group was created to foster dialogue and collaboration between stock exchanges and the academic community.

(From left) Rajna Gibson Brandon, Jie Cao, Mohammed Omran, Vanina Farber, Dawid Bastiat-Jarosz, Caroline Flammer, Tiffany Grabski, Loyd Kurtz, Jingdong Hua

Prof. Nancy Su, Head of the School of Accounting and Finance, was invited by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and seven chambers of commerce to attend a symposium on “Unleashing the Impetus for Greater Prosperity of Hong Kong” on 2 August. Witnessed by the Chief Executive and department secretaries, Prof. Su and Mr Kai Chen, Chairman of EY China, signed an agreement on a development project that will leverage their respective strengths to advance Hong Kong’s sustainable economy and green finance.

At the symposium signing ceremony

Prof. Jack Poon, Professor of Practice (Fintech, Entrepreneurial Finance) of the School of Accounting and Finance, has been appointed by the Government as a member of the “Task Force on Promoting Web3 Development ”. Chaired by Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan, the Task Force aims to advise on the sustainable and responsible development of Web3 in Hong Kong. The appointment, which took effect on 1 July 2023, will run for two years.

BBA in Accountancy students Ngai Yee Ting and Zhai Danjie, BBA in Accounting and Finance student Wan Ka Yan, and BBA in Management student Lun Kocki Thomas won the first runner-up prize at the “CGMA Global Business Challenge 2023” . The CGMA Global Business Challenge 2023 is an international business competition held by the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA) and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) to nurture young business leaders. It provides students with an opportunity to gain practical experience and fulfil their leadership potential.

(From left) Zhai Danjie, Lun Kocki Thomas, Dr William Wong, Ngai Yee Ting, Wan Ka Yan

In late November 2023, the Portulans Institute, in collaboration with the Saïd Business School at Oxford University, published the 2023 edition of the Network Readiness Index. This initiative, which began with the World Economic Forum in 2002, evaluates 134 economies on a myriad of factors regarding their ability to leverage the benefits of a networked digital economy. This year, the U.S. secured first place for the second consecutive year, while European nations made up seven of the top 10, and 16 of the top 25 ranked countries. Singapore and the Republic of Korea were the only Asian economies ranked in the top 10 – two of only five from the Asia Pacific region in the top 25. Singapore ranked second globally for the second year running. Meanwhile, China continued its forward path, securing a spot in the top 20 this year (ranking 20th) due to its formidable technological prowess.

Prof. Chi Nien Chung Associate Dean (Research and Postgraduate Studies) Chair Professor of Strategic and Organization Management

Hong Kong ranked 25th, behind China, Estonia, and Iceland. Many people might assume this is because Hong Kong lags in its hardware development and its number of leading innovators. To our surprise, Hong Kong actually ranked 3rd in terms of technology, one of the four pillars the index uses to rank different countries. For instance, in internet accessibility, bandwidth and mobile app development, Hong Kong ranked in the top 3, ahead of Singapore. The other three pillars are people, governance, and impact.

Hong Kong's position in the index was mainly hindered by its performance in governance and social impact, rather than technology. These aspects, crucial to the digital economy, have historically been neglected and omitted from both discussion and policy development. For example, Hong Kong ranked 133rd in legal safeguards for privacy, and 44th in bridging the digital payment socioeconomic divide. The territory also scored poorly in how digitisation enhances quality of life. It ranked 83rd in happiness and 115th in freedom of life choices, whereas Singapore ranked significantly higher in these categories – 28th and 34th, respectively. This suggests that while network technology and digitalisation have contributed to happiness and freedom in Singapore, they have not had the same positive impact in Hong Kong.

The reasons for this divergent development are complex and deserve more analysis. What is clear, however, is that Hong Kong needs to pay more attention and allocate more resources to the governance and institutions of the digital economy when it considers moving forward in this area. The recent efforts of some Western countries to better regulate artificial intelligence are a step in the right direction. Investing in skills and upgrading digital capabilities for low-income citizens and small businesses should also be a priority.

Hong Kong's ranking in this year's Network Readiness Index offers an opportunity to examine the strengths and weaknesses of our approach to digital transformation and technological progress. We should focus not only on developing technology to keep up with others, but also on considering how digital technology affects our institutional development and societal well-being.