MEMBER PROFILE
Hsiu Jung (Amy) Wu, CPA, CGA
Founder, HJ Wu & Company Inc. .
Sole-practitioner public accounting firms
aren’t often compared to small, family farms,
but the women and men who run them have
much in common: an independent spirit,
the ability to plan for coming seasons, a
massive appetite for long hours, and the
ability to weather storms caused by external
forces.
Hsiu Jung Wu, CPA, CGA, who goes by
Amy, knows the inner workings of both
worlds.
“I may not look it, but I’m a farmer’s daughter,” says the founder and executive director
of HJ Wu & Company Inc., Chartered Professional Accountant in Vancouver.
The fourth of five children, Amy grew up on
her father’s rice and vegetable farm outside
Pingtung, a mid-size city in Taiwan.
At 16, while studying accounting at a commercial school, Amy decided she wanted to
make business her life’s work. After holding
a series of low-level jobs, she realized she
needed more education to advance. That
meant leaving home at 25 to take on postsecondary education in the US.
Homesickness wasn’t an issue during those
first years alone earning her bachelor of
science (majoring in finance) at Southern
Illinois University, nor when she studied for
54 CPABC in Focus • Nov/Dec 2015
her MBA at Temple University in Philadelphia.
And she didn’t find studying and living in
English to be a major barrier—she was already
near-fluent in English (as well as fluent
in Taiwanese, Mandarin, and Hakka). No—
according to Amy, the toughest aspect of
culture shock she faced was “the temptation
of junk food!”
After earning her degrees and a US CPA
(North Dakota) designation, Amy returned
to Taiwan. Twelve years and several highprofile finance positions later, fate intervened
and inspired a new plan.
“I was visiting Vancouver on vacation and
immediately fell in love with the city,” she
recounts. “So I decided to apply to the skilled
immigrant program for a permanent residence.”
When Amy subsequently returned here in
February 2007, she gave herself a year to find
work. “If I could not, I would go home.” She
found contract accounting work within two
months, and landed a permanent position
with Vancouver Community College shortly
thereafter. A promotion from accounts
payable to budget officer soon followed.
“I really enjoyed my time at VCC,” she says.
“I learned so much.”
Her enjoyment of that time might also be
Profile by David Ferman
Photo by Kent Kallberg Studios
attributable to the fact that she met Lawrence
Ng, now her husband, while at VCC. Today,
Lawrence also happens to be her technology
officer, marketer, webmaster, and “personal
porter” to boot.
It was also while at VCC that Amy entered
the CGA program. She smiles at the memory
of her taxation classes. “I really loved those
courses because you learned a lot, especially
in terms of tax planning, which I still find
rewarding and enjoyable today.”
Amy completed the CGA program in 2010
and opened her own practice that same year.
Now five years i