Striving for progress, Giving back to society

He is the Founder and Managing Director of the Gary Cheng Group, which consists of a Certified Public Accountants (CPA) firm, a securities firm, a trading business, real estate development, and a hotel and service apartment business.

In fact, Dr Cheng is one of the few corporate governance scholar-CPA practitioners in Hong Kong. Having practised in the field for more than 28 years, Dr Cheng is accredited as a Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants, a chartered tax advisor and a qualified insolvency specialist.

Dr Cheng believes that long-term planning and problem-solving capabilities are two vital criteria for success as a professional. “Crunching numbers is a small part of accountancy. A competent CPA should be able to provide solutions to clients’ problems,” Dr Cheng advises.

One of the primary reasons Dr Cheng repays society is related to his childhood. He received a great deal of help when he arrived in Hong Kong aged 11 from his hometown in Fujian. In return, he strives to introduce systemic changes that will help to improve life for everyone in Hong Kong.

Examples of this mission include joining the Social Welfare Advisory Committee of the Labour and Welfare Bureau and participating in the Chinese Entrepreneurial Organisation, which features a monthly round-table on policy issues with community and government leaders.

Additionally, he serves as Charter President of the Lions Club of Huaxia Hong Kong and as a token of his gratitude, Dr Cheng sits on the Council of his alma mater, Buddhist Sin Tak College, where he helps to set up scholarships for promising students.

Dr Cheng, who was conferred an Honorary Fellow of CityUHK this year, says CityUHK has boosted his career in many ways. He learned a huge amount of new knowledge and acquired a vast array of skills through his Doctor of Business Administration, from which he graduated in 2011, and as an alumnus, he possesses an instant network of thousands of like-minded people in business and industry, not just in Hong Kong, but in mainland China and throughout the world.

Since graduating in 2011, Dr Cheng has been actively involved in CityUHK affairs. He is the former Chairman of the Eminence Society and currently serves as a member of the Court and is the Honorary Vice-President of the CityUHK Foundation.

His interest in entrepreneurship is evident, too. When CityUHK’s flagship innovation and entrepreneurship programme, HK Tech 300, was launched more than a year ago, Dr Cheng volunteered to be a panellist for the angel and seed funding selection interviews, offering taxation and accounting advice and mentoring to successful applicants.

As an esteemed CityUHK supporter and innovation advocator, Dr Cheng donated to foster student development and helps to provide essential resources for research projects and the University’s strategic initiatives.

He is also very much a family man and is enormously proud of the support he gets from his wife, Judith, mother to their four children. In fact, when the Student Career Centre was renamed in appreciation of the support that Dr Cheng and his family had rendered to CityUHK over the years, it was named the Judith and Gary Cheng Student Career Centre in 2021.

With gratitude in his heart, Dr Cheng works conscientiously to create a better environment for Hong Kong. “Persistence and diligence permit a person to scale greater heights,” he concludes.

Dr Gary Cheng Faat-ting

• Founder and Managing Director, Gary Cheng Group
• Honorary Fellow, CityUHK
• Member, CityUHK Court
• Honorary Vice-President, CityUHK Foundation
• Member, CityUHK HK Tech 300 Mentorship Scheme
• Member, CityUHK Industrial and Business Leaders Circle
• Chairman, CityUHK Eminence Society (2017–2019)
• Member, Social Welfare Advisory Committee, Labour and Welfare Bureau, HKSAR Government

This article is extracted from CityUHK Today.