STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

A Master’s student of accounting at Xiamen University, the best higher-learning institution in China’s strategically important Province of Fujian, across the Straits from Taiwan, I would like to pursue Ph. D. studies in your distinguished program so that I can be assured a teaching career in my motherland.

My education so far is characterized by indisputable excellence. During the four years of my undergraduate studies, my GPA was consistently the highest in my class of 135 students. As you can see from the transcripts of my academic record, I received straight A’s for all the courses except for first-year Physical Education. My graduation was rated “Outstanding”, the highest rating possible. An in-depth analysis of the ethical standards of Chinese auditors, the paper was later published in a quality professional journal as a seminal study of a rarely studied topic in China. As the unquestionably best student in my year, I was accepted into graduate studies by the university without the normally mandatory entrance examinations.

In recognition of my academic performance and other strengths, I was decorated with many honors and accolades during my undergraduate studies. I was elected the monitor of the class and the Vice President of the university’s Student Union, making me the most important female student leader on campus. Among the financial awards I won was the Jiageng Scholarship, the university’s most prestigious award named after its founder Chen Jiageng, one of the best known patriotic Chinese in the first half of this century. The Jiageng /scholarship is offered to only ten students each year, and the offer is usually presented to the recipients by the university’s president in person in a grand ceremony, as it was in 1996, when I got it.

In my undergraduate studies, I had broad academic interests, although I majored in accounting. I regularly read academic journals, both Chinese and international, to keep me abreast of the latest developments in accounting and other related fields. I devoted considerable time to learning such subjects as law and economics. My extensive knowledge provided me solid grounding as I narrowed down my research interest to professional ethics of accountants. In a country that has only an inchoate legal regime governing professional practice. Enforcing high ethical standards is both difficult and critical. But studies have been scant and haphazard so far. I am glad that I have made quite some contribution to the country’s discourse in this area.

My undergraduate studies were greatly enriched with a most rewarding internship program. As a CPA assistant working for the Accounting Firm affiliated to the university, I took part in the auditing of several major corporations. In the process, I learned not only to put my book knowledge in practice but also acquired first-hand knowledge of how Chinese accountants, operating under inadequate laws and regulations, handled difficult issues. Such knowledge has constituted an important part of the basis for my research on the ethical questions of Chinese accountants and auditors.

In my graduate studies, I have broadened my intellectual horizon and refined my accounting expertise. The courses I took related to both theories and methodologies of accounting and auditing. But the more significant part of my learning is to be found perhaps not in the courses but in the research projects that I have taken part in together with my professors. I have, for example, helped my professors in compiling and editing a major textbook for the continuing education program of the ALL-China Association of Certified Accountants. The book, Cases of Auditing, has just been published and is expected to substantiate the curriculum of the continuing education program.

In my Ph. D. studies, I wish to focus my studies and research on auditing, particularly in relation to audit risk, auditor’s decision-making, ethics of auditing. I am also interested in accounting theories. I heard of Penn State University while I was still an undergraduate student, and I know that its accounting program is marked by selectivity and excellence. I hope that, by studying in your program, I will be able to build on my academic record so far for a promising career as a teacher in China a few years down the road.