How to Choose a Certified Public Accountant in Hong Kong (and What Your Company Must File Each Year).

Why the choice of CPA matters for a Hong Kong company

Choosing a certified public accountant in Hong Kong is less optional than it sounds. The Companies Registry states that audit of financial statements is required for all companies, including small companies that prepare simplified accounts, with dormant companies the only exception. And only a certified public accountant holding a practising certificate, or a registered firm of them, can sign that audit.

So every active company ends up hiring at least one CPA firm, whether it needs much else or not. In practice the same firm often carries the whole yearly calendar: the books, the audit or audit coordination, the profits tax return, and sometimes the company secretary role. That makes the choice worth getting right once, rather than re-deciding it every spring when the tax return lands.

This guide covers what the titles actually mean, what your company files each year and when, how to check a firm on the official register, and how fees are usually built.

What a certified public accountant in Hong Kong can and cannot do

Three labels get used loosely in Hong Kong, and only one of them lets someone sign your audit.

Accountant describes the work, not a qualification. Anyone can keep books or prepare accounts, and plenty of capable bookkeepers are not CPAs.

Certified public accountant (CPA) is a professional title. The Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA) is the statutory body for training and developing CPAs and the standard setter for local accounting, and its members are entitled to the description "certified public accountant" and the designation CPA.

CPA (practising) is the licence that matters at audit time. A CPA who intends to perform statutory audits needs a practising certificate from the Accounting and Financial Reporting Council (AFRC), and only a CPA (practising), a CPA firm, or a corporate practice registered with the AFRC can act as auditor of a company under the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622).

The AFRC part is recent, and it is where many firm websites are out of date. Hong Kong's new regulatory regime for the accounting profession has operated since 1 October 2022. Under it, the AFRC issues practising certificates, registers practice units, and handles inspection, investigation, and discipline, while also overseeing the HKICPA. A page telling you to check that your auditor is "registered with the HKICPA" is describing the system before 2022.

What every Hong Kong company files each year

Most of the yearly work sits with two agencies, the Companies Registry (CR) and the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), and neither one publishes the whole calendar in one place. A private company limited by shares typically deals with the following.

The audit and the profits tax return. For corporations, the IRD says audited financial statements should be submitted with the return in all cases except a short list, with dormant companies among the exceptions. The IRD issues profits tax returns in bulk on the first working day of April, and a newly registered business generally receives its first return some 18 months after incorporation or commencement of business. Several firm websites say the first return is due 18 months after incorporation; the IRD's wording is that it is issued around then.

Once issued, returns are generally due within one month. Where a tax representative is appointed, the deadlines follow the IRD's Block Extension Letter instead, which is one practical reason companies appoint an accounting firm as their tax representative. Small companies should also note a recent change: a business with gross income of HK$2 million or less may no longer file its profits tax return without supporting documents such as financial statements and a tax computation.

The employer's return. Employers' returns for the year ended 31 March 2026 were issued on 1 April 2026 and have to be filed within one month, together with an IR56B form for each employee.

The annual return. A local private company delivers its annual return within 42 days after the anniversary of its incorporation, and the Registrar has no power to extend that deadline. Late delivery is a criminal offence for the company and every responsible officer, and the registration fee jumps from HK$105 to between HK$870 and HK$3,480.

Business Registration. A Business Registration Certificate runs for one year by default. A business can select a three-year certificate by written notice at least one month before the current one expires.

The company secretary. A private company must have a company secretary, and the sole director cannot also be the secretary. An individual secretary must ordinarily reside in Hong Kong, and a corporate secretary needs a registered or principal office in Hong Kong. Many foreign-owned companies meet this by appointing a firm, often the same one that does the accounts.

How to check a CPA firm on the AFRC register

The AFRC runs the public registers, and it has written plainly about why checking matters. Its page on bogus accountants explains that audited accounts can only be signed by a CPA (practising), and that an unqualified person providing audit services commits a criminal offence. It also flags a quieter problem: a small number of practising CPAs signing large numbers of audited accounts without due regard to audit quality, often through intermediaries.

Checking takes a few minutes:

1. Ask who will sign. Get the name of the CPA (practising) who will sign your auditor's report and their practising certificate number (PC Number). The AFRC tells companies to verify both before engaging anyone.
2. Search the individual. Look the PC Number up in the AFRC's register of certified public accountants (practising).
3. Search the firm. If the engagement is with a firm or company, check it in the AFRC register of CPA firms and corporate practices.
4. Read the engagement letter. The name on the letter should match the registered firm, not a separate agency or intermediary.

If something does not add up, the AFRC says to report a suspected unqualified auditor to the Police, and it also takes complaints directly.

How CPA firms in Hong Kong usually charge

There is no official or standard price list for accounting or audit work in Hong Kong, and figures quoted online vary enormously because the work does. What you can compare is how the quote is built.

Two points save money more reliably than negotiating. First, clean monthly bookkeeping shortens the audit, while a year of unreconciled receipts makes it longer and more expensive. Second, compare quotes on identical scope: a low headline figure that excludes the tax return or the secretarial filings is not the cheaper option.

An audit quote that looks far below every other quote deserves a question. The AFRC's warning about practising CPAs signing large volumes of accounts through intermediaries is exactly the scenario where price is the selling point.

Bookkeeping and audit from one firm

Some firms offer both the bookkeeping and the audit, and others keep them apart and coordinate with an external auditor. An auditor's job is to examine financial statements someone else prepared, so the working arrangement between the two matters.

If one firm offers both, ask how it keeps the audit work separate from the preparation work, and who on its team does each. If a firm prepares your books and coordinates the audit through an outside practice, ask for that practice's name so you can check it on the AFRC register too.

Questions to ask before you engage a CPA firm

• Who is the CPA (practising) signing the audit, and what is their PC Number?
• Which of the yearly items in the table above does your fee cover, and which are extra?
• Will you act as our tax representative with the IRD, and how do the block extension deadlines then apply to us?
• Who does the work day to day, and who reviews it?
• What do you need from us each month, and in what format?
• Do you work in English, Chinese, or both, for correspondence and for the financial statements?
• Have you worked with companies of our size and industry, and with foreign parent companies if we have one?

For a broader picture of what these firms handle, from bookkeeping to company secretarial work, see our overview of accounting firms in Hong Kong.

When a CPA firm is not enough on its own

A CPA firm covers the recurring cycle well. Some situations need a specialist alongside it.

Hong Kong taxes profits arising in or derived from Hong Kong, so a company claiming that some of its profits are sourced abroad, or one facing an IRD enquiry or objection, often brings in tax advisors in Hong Kong as well. Share transfers, shareholder disputes, restructuring, and closing a company raise company law questions that sit with corporate and business lawyers rather than accountants.

This guide is general information, not accounting, tax, or legal advice. Filing requirements, deadlines, and fees change; for a specific company, speak with a qualified accountant, auditor, or lawyer.