A CPA Australia survey found that most Hong Kong businesses are now using AI tools to boost productivity, but this trend is also altering accounting and finance employment patterns, and raising data privacy and management concerns. 

Across the Asia-Pacific region, 89% of professionals surveyed said their organisations had used AI in the past year, compared with 69% in the previous survey cycle.  

In Hong Kong, 88% of respondents reported using AI solutions such as ChatGPT and Copilot at work. Of these, 65% said they mainly relied on third-party tools for specific tasks or on an occasional basis. 

The growing use of AI is influencing recruitment practices.  

Although 42% of Hong Kong participants noted no observable change or said it was too early to tell, 17% reported that their organisations had cut back on hiring junior staff for accounting and finance positions as a result of deploying AI technologies. 

More respondents from Hong Kong than any other market highlighted data protection and privacy as key concerns, with 26% mentioning these issues. On the other hand, 72% of those surveyed said their organisations had taken steps to implement cybersecurity measures over the past year.  

The report indicated that cybersecurity practices in Hong Kong are generally well established. 

Other emerging trends discussed in the survey include the use of Managed Security Operations Centres (MSOC), where third-party providers handle real-time monitoring for cyber threats, as well as specific security measures designed to safeguard AI systems from misuse or breaches.  

The importance of regular staff training on data protection was also stressed. 

Winson Woo, a a member of CPA Australia’s Greater Bay Area Committee, stated that regulatory measures such as the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance and the Protection of Critical Infrastructure (Computer System) Ordinance could contribute to ensuring ethical standards while supporting technological development in Hong Kong. 

The survey gathered feedback from 1,117 accounting and finance professionals throughout Asia-Pacific markets such as Australia and mainland China. Of these, 154 responses came from Hong Kong. 

CPA Australia Greater China councillor and Web3 & Emerging Technology Committee chair Paul Sin said: “Most respondents said that they used third-party AI tools, implying that the awareness of AI in Hong Kong is high. Yet, many companies are still at the Proof-of-Concept stage, which means they just use AI tools to improve productivity like handling repetitive tasks and automate process.  

“In fact, the government and professional organisations can do more education to unleash the true value of AI, for example, to reinvent business models or transform workflows by using more advanced solutions like predictive analytics and agentic AI, eventually scale up to production-grade implementation to align with their strategic goals.”