This study compared the perceptions of school principals with those of novice teachers regarding beginning teacher competencies. Participants were elementary school principals from Hong Kong and recent graduates from the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Surveys of the two groups indicated that, in general, school principals were satisfied with the graduates' performance. Beginning teachers' self-perceived performance generally matched school principals' perceptions of their performance. Both groups perceived that the novices performed well in the following eight areas: use of classroom language (Cantonese), reading in Chinese, caring for students, ability to build rapport with students, teamwork, sense of responsibility and commitment, ability to build rapport with colleagues, and professional ethics. However, the results also found several areas where the graduates performed below par, though these areas were perceived to be very important by principals (classroom management, student assessment, helping students with emotional and/or behavioral problems, and encouraging students' independent learning and helping them to develop problem solving skills). (Contains 13 references.) (SM)