Just found this video, thought it was really interesting, so I decided to share it! After all, you should always keep learning, and I consider it my job to share interesting, random knowledge! Enjoy!!

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1 – First Important Lesson – Cleaning Lady.

During my second month of college, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions until I read the last one:

“What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?”

Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50′s, but how would I know her name?

I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade.

“Absolutely, ” said the professor.. “In your careers, you will meet many people..  All are significant.. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say “hello..”

I’ve never forgotten that lesson.. I also learned her name was Dorothy.

2. – Second Important Lesson – Pickup in the Rain

One night, at 11:30 p.m., an older African American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rain storm. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride. Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car.

A young white man stopped to help her, generally unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960′s. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put her into a taxicab.

She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his address and thanked him. Seven days went by and a knock came on the man’s door. To his surprise, a giant console colour TV was delivered to his home. A special note was attached.

It read:

“Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes, but also my spirits.  Then you came along. Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband’s’ bedside just before he passed away… God Bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others.”

Sincerely,

Mrs. Nat King Cole.

3 – Third Important Lesson – Always remember those who serve. 

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him.

“How much is an ice cream sundae?” he asked.  “Fifty cents,” replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied the coins in it.

“Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?” he inquired.

By now more people were waiting for a table and the waitress was growing impatient..

“Thirty-five cents,” she brusquely replied.

The little boy again counted his coins.

“I’ll have the plain ice cream,” he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on he table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left..  When the waitress came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the table.  There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five pennies..

You see,  he couldn’t  have the sundae, because he had to have enough left to leave her a tip.

4 – Fourth Important Lesson. – The obstacle in Our Path. 

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway.  Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock.  Some of the King’s’ wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by  and simply walked around it..  Many loudly blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables..  Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road.  After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King indicating that the gold was for the  person who removed the boulder from the roadway.  The peasant learned what many of us never understand!

Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition.

5 – Fifth Important Lesson – Giving When it Counts… 

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare & serious disease.  Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness.  The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister.

I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, “Yes I’ll do it if it will save her.”  As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing the colour returning to her cheek. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded.

He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, “Will I start to die right away”.

Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his sister all of his blood in order to save her.

Now you have choices.

1. Ignore this post

2. Share it with others

I hope that you will choose No. 2 and remember.

Most importantly…. “Work like you don’t need the money, love like you’ve never been hurt, and dance like you do when nobody’s watching.”

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A revision sheet…well, 4 sheets…on subject named above! Enjoy

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Double entry explanation, summary and examples:

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Accounting concepts summary list for F3:

Accounting Concepts and Qualitative Characteristics

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Random post to write after over 40 days of not writing one! My Dad just came home yesterday after being away for two weeks. He brought me this:

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!!

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I had a bit of a revelation the other day that I wanted to share with you.  It is to do with fear, the fear that seems to prevent us humans from doing things.

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?

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A few videos that will help motivate when you need a boost!

I’ve heard Nick’s story several times before, but for some reason, while watching this video of him speaking, tears started to form – so I thought this would be a good one to share with you. Even if you’ve heard of Nick before – watch it again:

and one more:

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You may remember me blogging about having an interview here in Malta on June 11 2010, I’m not sure if I blogged about it, but I facebooked it and said that it was a very good interview.  Well, a week and a half ago I was at BPP Malta Open Day, where several accountancy firms and recruitment companies came along to chat to students, and some presented seminars as well.

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!!

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