The Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants is formulating guidelines for dealing with virtual assets.

Newly appointed president of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Lo Cheuk Kin, said that the Institute is currently developing guidelines to inform the accounting profession and business sector on how to handle virtual assets in accounting. He revealed that the Institute has issued the first part of guidelines on handling virtual assets, focusing on virtual currencies and stablecoins. The yet-to-be-released second part will be related to the auditing requirements for stablecoins by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, with discussions currently ongoing between the Institute and the HKMA. It is expected that these guidelines will be published within 6 months. Lo Cheuk Kin noted that the third part of the virtual asset accounting guidelines aims to be released by the end of the year at the earliest. He also mentioned that the Institute will continue to communicate with regulatory authorities and the industry on this matter, and will only release the guidelines once a consensus is reached. In addition, the Institute's Qualification Program (QP) exams have been progressively computerized since June last year, with plans to fully implement computerization of the QP exams by the end of 2027. To meet the increasing demand for hybrid and professional talents in the market, the Institute launched the HKICPA Certificate in Accountancy and Business (CAB) in June last year. The course is based on the QP framework and covers professional accounting, business management, and soft skills development. Furthermore, the Institute will release a revised version of the Hong Kong Financial Reporting Standard S2 in the first quarter of this year to reflect corresponding changes in the disclosure requirements for greenhouse gas emissions under International Financial Reporting Standard S2.