A nice bit of bean counting logic
Any economy has its highly productive industries that support the mediocre and downright parasitic. Hong Kong has a fiercely internationally traded goods sector allowing its flabby and unfit to survive in comfort.
Professional workers have prospered with Hong Kong but have made fewer sacrifices in the name of modernisation than other sectors.
Eighty per cent plus of the economy is routed in 'services' that must change.
In Britain the process of re-engineering and white collar shake-out has made professional associations acutely aware of this dynamic. Among them is the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
In a recent soul-searching document it addressed the question of 'too many accountants'. Assuming an increase in numbers equal to the rate of economic growth, its reckons on Britain having 20,000 more bean counters by 2005.
The document concludes that competition from MBA graduates and other multi-disciplinary skills will result in a surplus of accountants. In the fine tradition of euphemistic professional doublespeak, enter the idea of 'demand adjustments'.
To quote the institute: 'The least painful type of adjustment is for the demand for chartered accountants to rise to meet the supply.' As the Hong Kong Government considers proposals to widen accountants' operating franchise, a plan to increase their workload makes revealing reading.
