Hong Kong accounting firms plan hiring spree and embrace AI to attract talent

Hong Kong-based accounting firms program to proceed expanding their workforce successful 2026, hoping to pull recently minted accountants, adjacent arsenic the manufacture steps up the adoption of artificial intelligence, according to manufacture players.

"We bash not judge AI is simply a replacement for humans, and we person not seen immoderate simplification successful hiring successful the past nor bash we program to [reduce hiring] successful future," said Andrew Wong, spouse of audit prime and nonrecreational signifier astatine KPMG China. "We spot AI and our radical arsenic complementary to each other."

He added that AI improved prime and ratio and acted arsenic a catalyst for endowment attraction and retention.

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Wong said AI was helping KPMG China's accountants instrumentality connected caller and antithetic occupation roles, which was "exactly what young radical are looking for".

In an epoch of large data, KPMG's acquisition showed that AI was fantabulous successful parsing trends and detecting anomalies from immense information sets, portion it besides helped analyse a scope of analyzable issues, helium said.

AI is acting arsenic a catalyst for endowment attraction and retention, according to KPMG. Photo: Jonathan Wong alt=AI is acting arsenic a catalyst for endowment attraction and retention, according to KPMG. Photo: Jonathan Wong>

Other large accounting firms person besides unveiled hiring plans and begun deploying AI without replacing quality staff.

Deloitte China said successful October that it planned to prosecute astir 1,000 radical successful Hong Kong and put HK$500 cardinal (US$64 million) implicit the adjacent 4 years to grow its capabilities successful fintech, superior markets operations and AI.

"Many young professionals are funny successful careers successful indebtedness restructuring and liquidation, but they expect employers to supply AI tools to heighten their efficiency," said Derek Lai Kar-yan, a elder spouse and person of Asia-Pacific turnaround and restructuring astatine EY. "That is wherefore we request to put successful AI to pull young endowment to articulation our team."

Lai said helium was readying to grow his squad from 80 to 130 successful 2026 and expected request for indebtedness restructuring and liquidations to leap owed to a anemic economy. This was due to the fact that companies were much unfastened towards preventive restructuring to accommodate to uncertainties specified arsenic geopolitical tensions and tariffs, helium added.

"Restructurings and liquidations impact a ample measurement of documents and transaction records," Lai said. "With AI summarising the documents and transcribing minutes of meetings, it saves unit a batch of clip and helps amended efficiency."