On September 21, 2025, the "Launching Ceremony of the Professional Doctorate Program in Accounting of University of International Business and Economics （UIBE） and Seminar on Talent Cultivation" hosted by the UIBE Business School was successfully held. Focusing on the core needs of cultivating high-level accounting talents, the event aimed to break down the barriers between cutting-edge academic research and industrial practical application, deeply integrate policy orientation, academic exploration, corporate practice and high-end talent cultivation, and in-depth discuss the paths and models for the construction of the professional doctorate program in accounting.

 

Attendees included Zhao Zhongxiu, President of UIBE; Ma Guisheng, Deputy Party Secretary and Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of UIBE; Chen Deqiu, Member of the Party Standing Committee and Vice President of UIBE; Lu Zhengfei, Deputy Director of the National Accounting Professional Degree Education Steering Committee and Professor of Guanghua School of Management, Peking University; Liu Liyun, Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Audit Research Institute of the National Audit Office; Mao Dongping, President of the China Internal Audit Association; Ye Kangtao, President of Beijing National Accounting Institute; Liu Guoqiang, Executive Deputy Secretary-General of the Accounting Society of China; Li Yan, Vice Dean of the Graduate School of UIBE; members of the leadership team of the International Business School of UIBE; representatives of on-campus and off-campus supervisors for the professional doctorate program in accounting of UIBE; and the first batch of 17 new students of the program.

 

The opening ceremony was chaired by Chen Deqiu, Member of the Party Standing Committee and Vice President of UIBE. Zhao Zhongxiu, President of UIBE, and Lu Zhengfei, Deputy Director of the National Accounting Professional Degree Graduate Education Steering Committee and Professor of Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, delivered speeches successively. On behalf of UIBE, President Zhao Zhongxiu first extended a warm welcome and sincere thanks to the guests from all sectors attending the event. He pointed out that UIBE has always kept pace with the country's opening-up and economic construction process, achieved fruitful results in talent cultivation, scientific research, social services and other fields, enjoyed a good reputation, and delivered a large number of compound financial and economic talents who are proficient in professional knowledge and familiar with international rules to the country. Currently, the global governance system is facing reform and improvement. The complex international environment, rapid technological innovation, especially the disruptive impact of big data and artificial intelligence on the accounting industry, have put forward unprecedented new requirements for the cultivation of national high-level accounting talents. Against this backdrop, the official launch of UIBE's professional doctorate program in accounting is both timely and of profound significance. It is not only a key measure to improve the high-level talent cultivation system of the accounting discipline, but also an active commitment to serving national strategic needs and responding to the call of the industry and the times. President Zhao Zhongxiu expressed the expectation that the program would become a cradle for cultivating "high-end, sophisticated, and in-demand" talents, a platform for collaborative innovation of "industry, academia, research and application", and a highland for contributing Chinese accounting wisdom.

 

In his speech, Lu Zhengfei, Deputy Director of the National Accounting Professional Degree Graduate Education Steering Committee and Professor of Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, noted that UIBE has always based its accounting discipline construction on the national opening-up strategic needs, focusing on both the cultivation of international perspective and grounding in China's economic practices, forming distinctive disciplinary features. He hoped that UIBE's professional doctorate program in accounting would adhere to the "demand-oriented" principle, focusing on national strategies and industry pain points; innovate the "cultivation model" to build a "UIBE model" for professional doctorate education in accounting; and adhere to the "original aspiration of educating people" to cultivate moral and competent leaders for the accounting industry.

 

When chairing the launching ceremony of UIBE's professional doctorate program in accounting, Chen Deqiu, Member of the Party Standing Committee and Vice President of UIBE, pointed out that accounting is an important support for economic decision-making, and financial and accounting supervision is an important guarantee for realizing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. In the era of national high-quality development and the accelerated formation of new quality productive forces, cultivating high-end accounting talents with profound theoretical literacy, excellent practical ability and international perspective is a lofty mission entrusted by the times.

 

At the launching ceremony, university leaders and off-campus guests jointly launched UIBE's professional doctorate program in accounting, marking the start of a new chapter in the cultivation of high-level accounting talents at UIBE.

 

Xing Xiaoqiang, Dean of the UIBE Business School, presided over the introduction of the professional doctorate program in accounting and the appointment ceremony of off-campus supervisors. Dean Xing Xiaoqiang stated that the International Business School would fully develop the professional doctorate program in accounting based on the concepts of "international leadership, digital and intelligent driving, integration of industry, education and research, and service support".

 

Zhu Jigao, Vice Dean of the UIBE Business School, introduced the construction of UIBE's professional doctorate program in accounting. In September 2024, UIBE was approved as one of the first batch of institutions with the qualification to offer professional doctorate programs in accounting in China. Aiming to cultivate international, research-oriented, application-oriented and compound high-end accounting talents, the program combines national strategies and the needs of the talent-strong country initiative, and based on the university's advantages, sets three cultivation directions: "Accounting Information Disclosure and Corporate Value Analysis", "ESG and Audit Supervision", and "Capital Market and Corporate Financial Management Decisions". It adopts a cultivation model of "on-campus supervisor group + off-campus supervisor".

 

At the off-campus supervisor appointment session, university leaders awarded letters of appointment to 6 representatives of off-campus supervisors, and expressed sincere thanks to all on-campus and off-campus supervisors who have devoted efforts to the construction of the accounting discipline and talent cultivation.

 

Wu Weijun, Vice Chairman of Deloitte China, delivered a speech as the representative of off-campus supervisors for the professional doctorate program in accounting. Combining his own experience, he proposed that the cultivation of doctoral students should focus on the goals of "learning for knowledge, learning for practice, learning for social interaction, and learning for being a person". On behalf of the off-campus supervisors, he promised to contribute to the growth of students, play the role of a "stepping stone" for them, and wished them academic success.

 

Chen Shiyong, Member of the Party Standing Committee and Chief Accountant of CCCC Investment Co., Ltd., spoke as the representative of the first batch of students of the professional doctorate program in accounting. He shared his academic journey from obtaining a master's degree in accounting at Peking University to pursuing a professional doctorate in accounting at UIBE. Combining CCCC Group's practice in participating in the "Belt and Road" initiative, he put forward three points to encourage his fellow students: always maintain a thirst for knowledge and courageously climb the academic peak; establish a problem-oriented approach and dare to conduct cross-disciplinary exploration; deepen exchanges and learning, and expand international perspective.

 

The seminar on talent cultivation for the professional doctorate program in accounting was chaired by Liu Guoqiang, Executive Deputy Secretary-General of the Accounting Society of China. Liu Liyun, Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Audit Research Institute of the National Audit Office; Mao Dongping, President of the China Internal Audit Association; Ye Kangtao, President of Beijing National Accounting Institute; and Zhang Xinmin, Professor of the Business School, delivered keynote speeches successively.

 

Liu Liyun put forward suggestions on the cultivation of professional doctorate students in accounting, including selecting real practical issues as research topics, strengthening the application of investigation and research methods, improving writing skills, optimizing training programs and strengthening professional ethics education.

 

With the theme "Practices and Insights on the Construction of Internal Audit Talent Teams in the New Era", Mao Dongping introduced relevant practical experience in internal audit talent cultivation, emphasizing that audit talents need to improve their political quality, consolidate professional capabilities, shape professional spirit and adhere to the bottom line of discipline.

 

In his speech "China's Independent Knowledge System and the Cultivation of High-End Accounting Talents", Ye Kangtao discussed the positioning of professional doctorate in accounting cultivation, and pointed out that talent cultivation under China's independent accounting knowledge system should focus on in-depth integration of business and finance, digitalization and intelligence, and financial and accounting practices based on Chinese culture.

 

With the theme "Accounting Education Under the Impact of AI", Zhang Xinmin, Professor of the International Business School, pointed out the shortcomings of traditional accounting education, proposed that the AI era requires focusing on innovative capabilities, and emphasized that accounting education reform needs to integrate social resources and focus on professional skills that cannot be replaced by AI, pointing out the direction for the cultivation of innovative capabilities of accounting talents in the AI era.

 

In the roundtable forum session, Qian Aimin, Professor of the International Business School, served as the host, and discussed with the participants on the topic of "University-Enterprise Cooperation Empowering High-Level Talent Cultivation".

 

Hu Yonghua, Secretary of the Party Committee of Dahua Certified Public Accountants, based on practices in the audit field, pointed out that in the current complex capital market environment, students need to consolidate their theoretical foundation and improve their practical abilities simultaneously to possess the core qualities required to solve complex audit problems.

 

Li Lianqing, Member of the Party Standing Committee of China Railway Signal & Communication Group Co., Ltd. and China Railway Signal & Communication Corporation Limited, and Chief Accountant, focused his speech on the core capabilities of talents and the role of off-campus supervisors. He believed that outstanding talents need to have insight, driving force and innovation ability, and off-campus supervisors can play an important guiding role in talent cultivation - not only clarifying the learning direction for students, but also helping to transform learning achievements into practical applications.

 

Sun Cui, Member of the Party Standing Committee of China Railway Engineering Group Limited and China Railway Group Limited, and Chief Accountant, combined with his long-term work experience in the construction industry, pointed out that high-level talents need to have core capabilities such as interdisciplinary integration and strategic integration of business and finance.

 

The successful holding of this event has built a platform for industry-academia-research-application collaboration for the cultivation of high-end accounting talents, and promoted ideological exchanges and knowledge sharing among government departments, academia, enterprises and other parties on the professional doctorate program in accounting. This event will contribute to the construction of UIBE's professional doctorate program in accounting, enabling it to better serve the country's high-quality economic development and high-level opening-up.