Staff at McDonald's restaurants in Hong Kong cracked 42 million eggs, prepared more than 14.5 million kilograms of French fries and grilled more than 2.7 million kilograms of beef patties for customers last year.
Thousands of invoices were generated and received in the process, 14,000 employees paid and all of these financial transactions were monitored by the 20 staff in the finance department at the head office in Quarry Bay.
This department is responsible for reporting on the profit and loss accounts for each of the 200 Hong Kong restaurants in the McDonald's chain, analysing what these reports mean for the company and ensuring that strict internal controls are adhered to, in line with company-wide guidelines.
'The finance department is the gatekeeper of the organisation,' said Darwin Li Wing-fai, vice-president for finance, people resource and governance. He said his staff were in a good position to undertake this role because most had worked their way up through the organisation and were knowledgeable about its culture and procedures.
Staff were hired at a junior level, he said, and were generally graduates who were qualified accountants before they joined the company. They usually stayed for eight years or more.
Mr Li, who was one of the speakers at the ACCA Employer Conference last month, attributed the low turnover in his department to high levels of job satisfaction.