NAI and KPMG Sign Co-op Contract in Beijing

A contract is signed between China's National Accounting Institute and KPMG Canada LLP

A ceremony was held today at the offices of KPMG Huazhen in the China World Tower to celebrate the signing of a contract between China's National Accounting Institute and KPMG Canada LLP. Individuals attending the ceremony included representatives from the National Accounting Institute, the Ministry of Finance, the CNCCCITC, Tsinghua University and KPMG.

KPMG has been engaged by China's National Accounting Institute to provide consulting services for the planning and design of curriculum, programs and courses relating to the training of accountants and other finance managers and professionals.

This assignment is part of the China Accounting Reform and Development Project. One of the objectives of the assignment is to support the continuing professional education of China's accountants and finance professionals, to familiarize them, on a large scale, with new accounting, auditing and business administration principles and practices adopted in market economies.

The National Accounting Institute is a residential continuing education facility in Beijing. It was established by the Ministry of Finance to contribute to the continuing education of China's professional accountants. The facility will accommodate 1,500 persons at one time and will have a throughput of approximately 25,000 persons per year. It will offer a wide selection of courses covering a wide range of topics in areas such as accounting, auditing, taxation, information technology, finance, and business and management principles.

Curriculum and training experts from KPMG Canada will work closely with professors from Tsinghua University to assist the National Accounting Institute in developing an overall curriculum and specific programs, to advise it on actual course design and development and to assist in determining faculty requirements and evaluation standards.

The KPMG team will be assisted by experts from the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and by professors from four major Canadian universities. The leaders of the KPMG team are Ms. Sylvia Smith, a needs assessment and training expert for KPMG Canada and former Director of Accounting Standards at the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and Professor Tom Beechy, Associate Dean of York University's Schulich School of Business.

In his opening remarks, Jim Cosh, Managing Partner of KPMG's China practice stated that PMG is honoured to have been given the opportunity to participate in this very important project. Professor Chen Xiaoyue, Vice-President of the National Accounting Institute and Vice-Dean of the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University added that he and his colleagues are looking forward to working with Ms. Smith and Professor Beechy. The establishment of a training facility to contribute to the continuous education and training of China's accountants and finance professionals is fundamental to the Government's goal of moving towards a market-based economy."