INTHEBLACK February 2022 - Magazine - Page 46
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// C A R E E R PAT H
STORY CHRIS SHEEDY
A GOOD SPORT:
COLLABORATION
BRINGS SUCCESS
Past success in the elite sporting arena has taught Charles Ellis CPA
powerful lessons about business success. Teamwork, collaboration
and a deep understanding of each other’s responsibilities and
challenges are the name of the game.
A
s a teacher, Charles Ellis CPA’s father
had a good understanding of what
represented a negative influence on a
young teenager and what might offer a more
constructive experience. Which is why, when
13-year-old Ellis was identified as a promising
squash player and offered a scholarship to the
Hong Kong Sports Institute, his parents
encouraged the move – even though it meant
he would have to live on-site at the institute
during the week, away from his family.
In addition to accommodation, the Institute
provided Ellis, now partner risk advisory at
Deloitte China’s Hong Kong office, with
specialist dietitian advice and food, and
subsidised his school fees.
Having started out on the La Salle College
courts with a racket lent to him by one of
the school’s squash coaches – “I was using
a tennis racket originally, but the coach was
concerned I was going to smash the pane of
glass at the back of the court,” Ellis laughs
– he ended up ranked number two in Hong
Kong, with a world ranking of 179. Aged 18,
he represented Hong Kong at various
international tournaments, including the
World Juniors Championship.
46 ITB February 2022
FORAY INTO FINANCE
Originally intending to seek a career in
sports science, Ellis took his CPA brother
Leslie’s advice to instead move into the
world of business. This led him to study
accounting and finance at the University
of New South Wales.
When he returned to Hong Kong in 1996,
he joined Leslie at Deloitte China and has
remained with the company ever since.
Ellis considered becoming a tax specialist
like his brother, who is now CFO of a mining
company in Canada. However, the siblings agreed
that one tax expert in the family was enough.
“If the family needed any tax advice, that
was already covered,” Ellis smiles. “We talked
about my going into audit, because it offered
more travel opportunities and experiences
with different types of industries.”
When he was involved in elite sport, Ellis
says, he realised that you must engage many
people from different backgrounds to
engineer success. This is what he experienced
as an auditor, a coming together of people from
varied backgrounds to achieve a goal.
It is also what he has experienced within
Deloitte as his new role developed.
“For many years, the firm has offered its
people opportunities to work across the
Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong, which
enables me to expand my horizons across
different industries. With the rise of
technology and innovation in the new
economy, it is particularly important to
upskill ourselves for future professional
growth,” Ellis says.
As one of the world’s major accounting
firms worked to develop broader capabilities,
so did Ellis. While he was clearly good with
numbers, it was all of the detail surrounding
those numbers – strategy, governance,
operations – that truly engaged him.
“In 2001 at Deloitte, we set up a function
that deals with risk management,” he says.
“I enjoyed figuring out how businesses
manage various challenges.
“If you have something that happens in your
backyard, how does that affect your delivery?