I've been reading: Extracts from the Hong Kong Budget 2016-2017

Over the last few days, I came across a post on Linked In which was submitted by EY which dealt with extracts from  the Hong Kong Budget for 2016-2017. http://www.ey.com/CN/en/Services/Tax/Country-Tax-Advisory/EY-hong-kong-2015-16-budget-insights  Now I am not too familiar with the activities of the Far East, partly due to language barriers (MPGM), lack of knowledge of many areas of operation of those countries, having given up my search of companies listed on the Tokyo (Japanese) Stock Exchange some time ago. My recent areas of learning as an adult were based on interaction with persons who worked for a Chinese company (who provided a bit of insight into their reporting such as the difference in time zones in which they operated as compared to us and to their parent company or from someone who worked with a company where travel to different parts of the world allowed for losing days or gaining days depending on  the location to which they were travelling.  However on researching some of my questions, here is what I learnt:

1. The Hong Kong Fiscal year starts April 1 and ends on March 31, thus their  financial year may precede that of many western countries. This may impact either favourably or negatively on their future and that of other countries as their year starts when other countries are either in the middle of, or  are coming to the end of their financial year, hence the value of reserves, foreign exchange rates and so forth may need to include this type of information when discussing or reviewing them so as to allow for the  information to be relevant or reliable. See the following links for a comparison on the fiscal years of countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_year
2. According to the opening statement in Forbes' article "Dealing With The China Slowdown: Five Takeaways From The Hong Kong Budget"  Hong Kong is heading into election year and this may have impacted upon the budget which was presented. See the following link for more information on this: http://www.forbes.com/sites/alreyes/2016/02/24/monkey-year-gifts-five-takeaways-from-the-hong-kong-budget/#74a3957c1921. While I am still undecided on that opinion, I especially like Point # 4 on Demographic preparedness. This point  appears to deal with the need to have a different type of health care for a population where there is a large number of older persons who are living longer as compared to a population where there is a growth in births, which can create a demand for pediatrics and other types of support. See the extract on that concept! " 4 Demographic preparedness: Like China, Hong Kong must also deal with ageing demographics, though unlike the mainland, Hong Kong is a wealthy society that can cope with its growing ranks of elderly and spend the money needed to care for senior citizens. Medical and health expenditure in the 2016-17 fiscal year will account for 16.5% of total expenditure, more than 90% the share more than a decade ago. The government has set aside HK$200 billion ($25.7 billion) for a 10-year hospital development program. Hong Kong must be doing something right in the healthcare sector: Life expectancy for men (81 years) and women (87 years) is among the longest in the world. Since 2014, in response to its demographic challenges, the Hong Kong government has been moving forward to develop a comprehensive Population Policy. But the work done so far has been described by one legislator as “thin”."
3.  According to South China Morning Post, there may be a need to find ways to improve the tax system. "Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah admitted on Sunday that the government had to think of ways to improve the tax system as he acknowledged that Hong Kong’s current tax base was rather “narrow”.
   Writing on his online blog, Tsang disclosed that only 40 per cent of the working population in the city paid salaries tax, with 60 per cent of the revenue coming from just 5 per cent of taxpayers." See the following link:  http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1918429/   For information on the  tax profile of Hong Kong as of Nov, 2013  see the Country Tax profile from KPMG, which covers an array of topics, one of which is on the countries with whom Hong Kong has "Income Tax Treaties for the Avoidance of Double Taxation". See the following link for additional information.  http://www.kpmg.com/global/en/services/tax/regional-tax-centers/asia-pacific-tax-centre/documents/countryprofiles/hongkong.pdf

In conclusion, one thing which can put some of  the above points in perspective going forward, is that KPMG creates a weekly tax update which provides insight on the  possible tax changes of several countries which occurred over a week. This will provide updates over the next year which will allow us to track comparability of financial sysytems, growth in the various countries and changes which may help us all.  So perhaps writing to the various tax providers for opinions on the various transactions which one may enter into, in a country whiich may be foreign to you and I, may be a good start  for all of us!! See the following link for access to one of the providers: https://home.kpmg.com/xx/en/home/insights/2016/02/tnf-kpmg-week-in-tax-22-26-february-2016.html. P.S. I have included the link to another tax provider at the start of the post. © Jennifer Bailey jennifernbailey24d@gmail.com

Learning and Developing

In my early career, some of the companies  for which we  did work, utilised as part of their system of documentation a combination of Software, printed reports and manually prepared registers. This was the start of a love affair for me as  I started learning all about the types of errors which can be made in accounting (when I was in school) such as:

Errors Which do not Affect the Trial Balance

Accounting errors that do not affect the trial balance fall into one of six categories as follows:

1. Error of Principle in Accounting
2. Errors of Omission in Accounting
3. Error of Commission
4. Compensating Error
5. Error of Original Entry
6. Complete Reversal of Entries

(See the link for more information on this concept if you are interested. http://www.double-entry-bookkeeping.com/bookkeeping-basics/accounting-errors/.)

Going forward in  time I learnt about using spreadsheets to capture information, to use them as a replacement for the 7 column page or the 14 column page  to which I had been accustomed using in work to capture information on tests. These sheets were specially designed to create conformity of work papers in one industry  which was located in many countries which had a common bond in thinking and knowledge.  There was to be conformity of design to promote comprehension of concepts, collaboration as to best practice and  growth and development of persons. This was the essence on which the spreadsheets were built. Yes, there was knowledge which was specialized, however due to learning and a supportive background which was in place,  there was the potential  to work with clients whose area of operation allowed those companies to  operate either vertically or horizontally to support other companies'  operating activity.

Then one day my learning and use of spreadsheets expanded as I was exposed to the use of spreadsheets to capture another type of information, which could be used to create multiple reports on data,  without creating a single graph, or bar chart. Yes, Excel has that capability also. Since then, most of the knowledge which I have gained over the years on data, the storage of data, has fed into the possible uses of spreadsheets and what can be gained from their use. While my knowledge is limited in lots of ways as there are many areas of learning which I have not pursued, such as programming which can provide knowledge of running queries on data; or learning to design the style of screens or how to source information within a programme to generate  reports, I can bypass those steps in  the design of software and capture the information well enough to allow for comparative purposes which suits me right about now!

© Jennifer Bailey jennifernbailey24d@gmail.com