Mmmmmm – munch munch!! Should keep me busy for a few days, maybe a week!

Anyway, I haven’t posted in a while because I have just been so busy! I’ve been working with my Mum a lot to get her website up and running. Not a bad exchange for free food and accommodation! It works to be still living with my parents sometimes!! I have also just started the F3 revision course, so I am working hard at making sure I understand the whole syllabus and can apply my new knowledge to exam questions. My F3 exam is booked for the 22nd October, then I can focus just on F4 which I will be taking on 7th December.

In the meantime I have a few other projects on the go and several more projects planned for the beginning of next year. Busy, busy! Although actually, I have realised that since starting this accountancy malarkey, I have found a new level of focus that I never thought possible! I have achieved more in the last few months than I have in the whole year previously.

Anyway, time for some more R&R – I was up at 7 this morning and sat at my computer writing emails and doing some admin. Then we went to the beach and I was snorkelling for quite a while – good fun!! Now we are about to cook some dinner and then curl up with a good film.

Tomorrow I have a lecture from 2 till 7, and I get my access card for the office – yay!! Excited! Will feel like I am actually a part of PwC, rather than a bit of an intruder!

Then it is Independence day on Tuesday! My guess is that it will be a little like Liberation Day in Guernsey and Jersey! We’ll see!!

I remember when I was studying for my GCSEs, I was chatting with a 6th former and I looked at the work she was doing, it could have been Chemistry or Maths as it was one of the subjects that I studied.  I remember being completely freaked out by what I was seeing; I thought that I would never be able to study that – it’s far too hard!  Anyway, I didn’t have much of a choice with the subjects I studied as at the time I wanted to be a Vet, so I chose my A-Level subjects accordingly.  So I continued my studies and worked through the AS year, then went into the U6th and studied the A-Level work, and took the exams.  I’m not saying Maths or Chemistry A-Level was easy – far from it.  But looking back, I now realise that nothing was beyond me – I needn’t have been scared of that work when I was 16.

This next story is a little closer to today.  When I decided that I wanted to train to become an accountant, I very nearly backed out when I realised how scared I was of the possibility of working with one of the Big4 accountancy firms.  It was what I wanted, but the thought of it frightened me.  I don’t know what it was that was so scary, maybe the fear of failure, or the fear that I wasn’t good enough to work in a Big4 firm even if I was offered a job, or maybe I was scared of commitment.  I think the most likely, or at least the most influencing, was that I was scared of such a huge change in who I am.  I was applying to join the Royal Navy before deciding on accountancy – there’s a huuuuge difference!  A life of military uniform and adventurous training vs putting on business clothes in the morning and going into an office.  Now I realise that it isn’t such a huge change in who I am – this part of me was always there – wanting get get dressed up smartly and help people with their business problems.

I suppose the underlying message in all of this is that whatever decision it is that you have to make, whatever it is that you want to do, just start taking the steps towards it.  Nothing will happen in such a big jump that you can’t cope with what is happening.  You aren’t going to wake up tomorrow at your destination and have to adapt to your new situation.  You will wake up tomorrow having taken one small step towards your aim and you will have time to adjust before taking the next step.

Getting that new job will have a series of slightly scary things along the way, but they will happen one at a time, not all at once.  So go on, take that first step toward the the thing you always wanted and don’t be afraid of it – it is one little step!

It’s not a long post today, but I think I’ve got the message across.  What do you fear at the moment – is there anyway we can help?

I was one of the few eager ones and was there from shortly before the first seminar started (about 10 am) until late in the afternoon (about 5.30).  I went to every seminar while I was there and talked to the people on almost every stand, gave my pre-printed CVs out to several companies and chatted to some of the partners of the firms that were there to give a presentation.  Basically I worked hard to make sure I got the most out of that day!

Shortly before I left I bumped into one of the ladies that had interviewed me 12 days previously.  We stood there and talked for a minute and she said that she was going to phone me, but since she had me there; they had decided to offer me a place!  I have to admit, I don’t think I came across as very excited – it didn’t really soak in until 5 minutes later when I was standing in the refreshments room having a drink.  I suddenly realised that I had been offered a job at PricewaterhouseCoopers – one of the Big4 firms!

I was so excited that I had to keep myself from jumping about!  I went to one more seminar after that, but I had to go home and share my good news.  I phoned my Dad to come pick me up and he asked, jokingly, whether I had got several job offers yet, and I replied, “well, I’ve got one”!  My dad answered something (I can’t remember what he said), and my Mum picked up on what was being said, so she was jumping about all happy too!!

Anyway, I got the paperwork through by email on Friday, so I got all the detail about what I’m letting myself in for!  Basically I will be a full time student for 2 years, attending lessons at the PwC offices throughout the week, with 2 exam periods per year.  In between exam periods I will do work shadowing in tax, audit, advisory and company administration services.  I get a student grant to help cover expenses while I study, but it isn’t very much, so I’ve worked out that I could get a part time job for 10 to 15 hours per week while still leaving plenty of time for study.

As long as I pass all my exams (which I will – I’m not worried about that!), then I’m guaranteed a full time job at the end of it.  Once all my exams are finished I have three years of practical experience to sign off before I become a fully qualified Accountant.

So in a nutshell – I am very happy because I have secured a job at one of the best Accountancy firms in the world!  As people keep telling me – it isn’t easy to get a spot with the Big4 – I’ve heard loads of stories about people who have tried and tried and not got in.  I’ve heard of others who can’t get into the smaller firms either.  So I’m very pleased with myself!!  And to those of you who are reading this and still trying to get in somewhere – keep trying – you’ll get there eventually!

One final note before I get on with the multitude of things that I need to get done in the next month before I start;  I do not intend blogging at all about work.  I have stated here that I got a job with PwC, but I don’t want this blog to be about my job – it is about using my knowledge (gained from many different sources) and personal experiences to help others.  I will NOT be blogging about office life, or any procedures or ANYTHING from work.  Too many people have lost their jobs over that sort of thing, and I certainly don’t want to join THAT club!!

So now I’ve set my ridiculously high bar of achievement, I better get back to work!!

No, I’ll sit and chat for a minute!

I did F1 by using the Distance Learning Online Basics course through BPP.  I found it wasn’t very helpful and I could have bought the basic materials for a lot less than I paid and the only benefit that I got for buying the distance learning course was the email access to a tutor incase I needed it…I didn’t!!  I found F1 quite boring and theoretical – It was basically learning the theories and who came up with them to answer the exam questions.  I did find some of the material interesting, but overall I just found it quite dry.  Basically we cover business structure, macro-economics, IT and control systems, and management.  I understand that you gotta learn this stuff, but maybe interspersing this material with more practical stuff would have made it a little easier to study!!

For F2, I decided to just buy the materials that came to around €110, I wish I could have spent a bit longer doing more questions before the exam as F2 is a more maths based module than F1.  F2 is about Management Accounting, so there is a lot of costing and budgeting and variances involved – which I found very interesting – using my previous jobs as a way of putting what I was learning into a context I could “see”, although I couldn’t do that for everything as a lot of the work was centred around production, i.e. factories!  Was a very interesting module and I enjoyed studying it…except for the stress I put my self under not knowing if I was going to get through material in time for the exam!

F3 is Financial Accounting, so where Management Accounting is more about decision-making, Financial Accounting is more about making the “official accounts” that will be looked at by shareholders and the tax-man etc.  I wanted to try studying this module as a classroom course (I missed out on the other two because the courses here in Malta had already started).  However, I think BPP only run each course twice a year, so I would have to wait until August and take the exam in December.  So I had another look on BPP UK and they run an Online Classroom, running the F1,F2 and F3 courses every 4-6 weeks.  Basically it runs in the same way that a normal classroom course does, except you log on and watch the lectures online.  So I’ll probably sign up for that one and see how it goes – I think the next one starts on Wednesday, so need to get on and sign up for that!

Only other thing of note is that I have an interview at one of the Big4 on Friday morning, so I’ll be spending this week preparing myself for that!  3rd interview for accountancy trainee, so lets hope it is 3rd time lucky!!  I know it isn’t easy getting a job in the Big4, but I’m going to keep trying, because that is what I want!

In the longer term, I want to get an MBA from either Harvard Business School or London Business School.  Harvard is a 2 year residential course, and London runs intensive sessions once a month alternating between London and New York for 20 months.  Depending on where I am and what option is available to me at the time, I will decide then, but there are advantages and disadvantages to both, so I will go with what is the best option at the time!

With the Big4, there is also a good opportunity for secondment to an office in another country.  I’d quite like to go and live and work in the US for a couple of years, but I’ll see what is available when the time is right!  I don’t have to think about that just yet, it will take me three years to qualify, so after that…

Anyway, now I do need to get back to work – I need to tweak my CV to get a temporary job to last me the summer.  If I get this job on Friday I wont start till September so I need some money to go diving and to feed my slight iTunes addiction!!

I’ve been looking for online resources to help me with my studies.  While I am sitting at home working by myself, it would be nice to have an online community to turn to for help, at least until I get a job and I can ask people at work!  I haven’t found very many places that are very useful, but I did find one place that has loads of free content – www.opentuition.com; there are video lectures, audio lectures and accompanying course notes.  There are forums, polls and tips to help with exams.  All you need to do is go and sign up for an account – which is of course, free!

I have bought the materials from BPP and am working with them – I did buy the online course for F1, but it didn’t give me anything more than the basic study materials – for quite a bit more money!  However, what I don’t get by doing that is the course notes.  Saying that, I’m not entirely sure that they are doing is legal as these course notes have BPP written in the lower corner – surely BPP would offer free downloads from their website if that was allowed!  Anyway – I say no more, I’m sure if there is a copyright problem with that website, they will be closed down or fined or something!

After my exams I will do the research and put together a student accountant resource page – will help me further down the line too…

Anyway, I had probably get back to work at the end of Chapter 6 and I have to finish Chapter 9 if I want to go to the cinema tomorrow afternoon (my weekly treat if I do the work I planned on Monday!)

Virgin Galactic are offering the chance to do just that – at a cost of $200,000.  But I think that is a price well worth paying for a life goal.  Now all I need to do is earn the money!

Money in itself does not motivate me, nor do material things – I have several things on my list that I want to get, for example the Apple iPad (if the Americans ever let us Brits get our mitts on one!), a new computer (haven’t decided between the Macbook Pro 13 or an iMac 27 – depends what my need is I spose…) and a nice (hybrid or environmentally friendly ) car, but that that is not for the material things themselves, it is for what they allow me to do (okay, plus they are pretty!!).

Two things that motivate me are the opportunity to go into space, which I will have to work hard for – most people don’t have $200 grand lying about and the other is the ability to help people.  When I am successful with whatever I do, whether that means becoming a successful accountant and becoming a partner at a firm, a finance director in industry or running my own businesses, I will be able to not only fulfil my own life goals, I will be able to help other people with theirs.

I’m not sure what exactly I will do that helps people, I have a few ideas of what I could do, but how it works out will depend on how and when I am in a position to do so.  Until then I will do what I can where I can!

So, talking of motivation I better get on!  Lots to do!!

Anyway, at the end of last year she entered a competition run by Queensland Tourism and Big Earth Productions (the guys who made Long Way Down and Long Way Round with Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman).  The applicants all had to create a travel documentary and the top 5 people got to go a workshop at the Big Earth Office to learn about production from Russ Malkin.  Shiryn was one of those 5!  The overall winner was the one who puts together a proposal for an adventure documentary different from what they entered the competition with and has shown that they have taken on board what they learnt at the workshop with Russ.  My Sis won the competition!

She has won a trip to Queensland, Australia for her and one other.  Originally, I had hoped she would take me, but this is such an amazing opportunity for her, really she needed to take someone that will help her make the best documentary she can as that will really help with getting her career off the ground.  She has already shown herself ready, willing and very able to tackle the competitive industry by the way she has done her degree.  She has always been very pro-active and has taken her work very seriously, although it has been hard for her to work with other students as invariably they let her down by not showing the same amount of commitment.

Anyway, have a look at her website, she goes through her competition win in much more detail and other parts of her life.

Shiryn, remember that you are an amazing person, and I’ll be here to help you in any way I can!

1. Go to Jersey and see if I can get a job there
2. Stay in Malta and try to get a job there
3. Start doing the exams on my own and re-apply to Guernsey firms again for 2011 entry

Now the down sides of each of my 3 options:

1. If I’m honest, I’ not sure if I want to live in Jersey – I’m 6 years away from local status in Guernsey, in Jersey I’m back to square 1. Plus Guernsey is SSOOOOOO much nicer than Jersey.
2. Staying in Malta means I’ll have to live at home with my parents for longer, which, don’t get me wrong, I love them to bits, but I’m fed up with it – I wanted to leave home and make my own life – I don’t feel I can do that in Malta. Although 1 positive is the great diving!!
3. I can’t afford to move back to Gsy until I have a full time, well-paying job. So I would have to stay in Malta while I do my studying and get a part time job to carry myself through to next year. And I’ll be nearly 25 before I start at a firm, and with the 3 year requirement for ACCA membership, I wouldn’t qualify until I’m nearly 28.

I think I know why no-one wants to give me a job – they think that because I have tried so many things over the last few years, and shown commitment to none of them, that I probably won’t show commitment to this and that I’ll either want to drop out in 6 months time, or they will have to kick me out. They so don’t know how wrong they are. Unfortunately, all this rejection is helping me to loose what self-confidence I do have. I’m having the same thoughts I used to get when I felt like I have nowhere to go and nothing to do – run away and join the Army – I don’t even care about commissioning right now – just get in the Army so I can start to build some sort of life. In the Army, I’ll be paid, I’ll make friends and I’ll have somewhere to live. From there I can move on to where I want. Right now I feel like I have no foothold on anything that will get me anywhere.

Of course, I could always go back to uni – I have been offered a place at Plymouth to study Ocean Exploration. It’s an interesting subject, and it would keep me distracted for 3 years, but where will it get me at the end? Get a nice big student debt so that I can come out at 27 and still be unemployable. Plus I’m not so sure I want to go back into the student life of baked beans and pasta (not together obviously!).

So where does that leave me? Right back at the beginning!

– I DON’T want to go back to uni (however interesting the subject matter is!)
– I DON’T want to join the Army…or the Navy or the RAF!

Accountancy definitely gives me everything I want and need from life:

1. I get a career that I can either keep in practice or take into any industry in any country in the world.
2. Although it is a desk job, the area of accountancy I’m interested in would take me to clients offices and I would learn about loads of different types of business – which is an interest of mine.
3. It is well paid – that means I can do the adventurous stuff that I love in my spare time; I can go scuba diving, rock climbing and kayaking; I can learn how to sail a yacht and fly a helicopter.

I guess of my 3 options, in order of preference it would go – 2,3,1.

I would rather stay in Malta over going to Jersey or waiting a year and re-applying in Guernsey. I might find it hard living with my parents, but if I’m out most of the day every day, then I’ll only be sometimes eating and sleeping there. Plus it would help them as they are both away a lot (the doglets need looking after – 1 needs medication every 12 hours…). And the weather is good and the diving is amazing! And I could use the opportunity to learn Italian – with the proximity to Italy, I’d be stupid not to take the opportunity!

If I went back to the Channel Islands, I would rather Guernsey over Jersey any day, even if I had to wait another year…

So, I guess there are a lot of positives for staying in Malta and I wouldn’t have to stay with my parents for long – once I’m earning, I’ll be able to move out into my own place. I just need some time to save up some money, so I have some saved for deposit and emergencies.

Feeling much more positive about my decisions now, so will stop boring you and get back to preparing to apply to the Malta firms! Thank you for being an ear!!

Still haven’t heard from any of the firms I have contacted, I’m gonna start phoning I think – see what’s going on! I have to go back to Malta next week because both my parents are away and someone needs to give Goldie (one of my poodles!) her medication. Then I’m hoping from sometime in April I will be able to be back in Guernsey and working!

Will write some profiles and outlines of the Big4 this afternoon – helps me prepare for interviews and I can share what I learn on this blog! Maybe some one who isn’t a spam bot will read this blog and learn something!! Anyway, can’t spend all my time blogging – time to get on with some real work!