Skills And Learning Statement:Provided by :- Muhammad Hatif Sajjad Dar
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1. What did I learn from the meetings with your project mentor, including the presentation that I gave to your project mentor? Planning for meetings and presentation
Planning is important because it helps you to work smarter rather than harder. It keeps you future-oriented and motivates you to achiev e results you want. (John W. English, 2006) My first step towards execution of my Research and Analysis Project (RAP) was to understand the requirements, for which I thoroughly read guidelines from ACCA web site. After that I requested Mr. Abdul Raffay (ACA) to spare some of his worthy time for my mentoring. I requested him to give me half an hour for each of the three meetings to be held at the mutually agreed place and time. I planned before every meeting and especially before the presentation as it enabled me to utilize the time effectively. The schedules of the three meetings were as follows: First meeting at July 5, 2008
Before first meeting I spend a lot of time in short listing topics of my choice and finally selected the “The business and financial performance of an organization over three years period”. period”. I was a bit confused in selection of the industry, company and the sources for gathering of accurate information. After thorough discussion with my mentor, I was able to decide that I was going to analyze the business and financial performance of Lucky Cement Limited (LCL) because it is most reputed cement manufacturing company in the cement industry. In first meeting with my mentor I was also able to identify the objective and research questions of my project. Second meeting at August 2, 2008
At this stage I had finished the assembling of information, sorted and categorized the data in order to prepare my interim draft report. This helped me in formulating the agenda for discussion at this meeting. I also listed down all important questions that I wanted to ask from my mentor. His sharp-eye pointed out my weakness and mistakes for which he recommended improvements. Many questions which pinched me during preparation of project were briefly answered by my mentor after that I was able to complete my final draft report for next meeting.
Third meeting at September 8, 2008
I created power point presentation slides, outlined the project, graphs and rehearsed the presentation to ensure the clear and succinct delivery of the subject matter while adhering to the 30 minute time limit. The presentation was given at mentor‟s office where I confidently commenced it by topic and company selection than moving towards giving objectives and research questions; I mentioned information gathering methods and problems I faced during this. I also mentioned accounting and business techniques used for analysis and their limitations following financial and non financial analysis with conclusion and recommendations. At the end of the presentation there was a questioning and answering section, I tried to answer answer all questions at best of my knowledge but my mentor‟s professional approach gave me tough time in answering some questions which I never realized during preparation of project. I covered a good content overall and my mentor completely understood what I was trying to convey. The five key areas which are necessary to focus during presentation are: Purpose Research Psychology Body language Audience (Bovee Thill Schatzman, Business Communication and Skills Today)
Prior to this presentation I handed out a summary of my talk to my mentor so that he could familiarize himself with the contents and key issues of the presentation. At first I was a bit nervous when starting the presentation but I was able to calm my self as the presentation went on. Long presentations can be boring and lead to losing of the of the audience interest, so I had a very brief presentation which covered all key topics. In meetings, it is very common for the parties to deliberate on digressions and in essence miss out vital time on non-consequential thoughts so my key emphasis was to adhere to main theme of the subject matter. Therefore I was able to finish on time and had plenty of time to invite questions from my mentor. I maintained a frequent eye contact with my mentor and also added body language such as natural hand and arm movements, which helped reinforce my message and emphasize a point. Overall, I was quite positive and self-assured by the delivery of my presentation to my mentor and arrived at the conclusion that planning prior to the presentation is a key factor to achieve the desired objectives.
2. How well do you think that you have answered your research questions? A research question is one that yields hard facts to help solve a problem, produce new research, add to theory, or improve transportation services. Research deals with facts, that is, with observable phenomena in the real world. (http://cbdd.wsu.edu) Washington State university. (http://cbdd.wsu.edu/edev/NetTOM_ToT/Resources/Other/TOM614/page21.htm) When I download the B.sc. guidelines for preparing the project at first many things were not clear in my mind but with the help of my mentor I decided to make the research and analysis project on financial and non financial position of a well reputed company. After selecting the topic and company, I identified relevant research questions for accurate analysis of the LCL and for the proper achievement of my objectives. To arrive at the answers of these questions I gathered and analyzed relevant data and in doing so, calculated almost all ratios of profitability, investor‟s analysis, liquidity, and efficiency ratios to judge the operating efficiency of the LCL. I read different newspapers and magazines to see the competitive environment in which LCL operates to judge the opportunities and threats of cement sector. My meetings with the company management prove to be very helpful in determing the strengths and weakness which I couldn‟t get from any other sources like internet or the annual accounts. I also provided assurance to the company management to keep this valuable information confidential. I used Microsoft Office tools, which added me in the completion of my report and also in giving the presentation to my mentor in the last meeting. I did some initial work before starting my report to attain skill level in these tools especially Microsoft Excel and Power Point, which was adequate for the project. These all analysis and exercises were instrumental in my effort towards finding the answers and in the finalization of my report. How have you demonstrated your interpersonal and communication skills during the project work ?
During the meetings I and my mentor were both sender and receiver simultaneously. As both of us had the understanding of technical knowledge of accountancy so it did not create any problem. Proper structuring and phrasing of my questions ensured that my mentor extracted the intended meaning from my questions. Sometimes, I used to rephrase
the answers intentionally which was asked by my mentor to ensure that I also extracted the intended meaning. Garbage in, garbage out, is a popular truth, often said in relation to computer system: if I put wr ong ong information in, I‟ll get the wrong information out. The same principle applies to communication in general: If I ask the wrong question. I‟ll probably get the wrong answer, or at least not quite what I am hoping for. (www.mindtools.com) (http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_88.htm).. (http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_88.htm)
Questions should be such that they could solve the problems for which the question is being asked, to the maximum possible extent. Questions were the major part of all the three meetings with the Mentor. This procedure of questioning was very helpful for me in carrying out the Project because I got all my queries answered. The meetings included basically all types of questions both direct and indirect, and I prepared them as the Research and Analysis Report progressed. I used different questioning techniques like giving written data to the Mentor relating to the questions that I wanted to ask. This gave him some idea about what the questions related to and thus, helped him in answering the questions more easily and in a better manner. I used to make a short questionnaire in which I jot down the questions which I founded important. This questionnaire was then handed over to the Mentor so that he could answer them. Some questions I asked orally, as it saves time and the chances of discussions are greater. In my meetings with my Mentor, communication and the interaction between us was generally successful, though there were certain problems encountered, but I learned from my mistakes and would not repeat them again. In the first meeting, I was a bit off the track by asking too many questions on an area on which I did not have complete command and my mentor advised me to do some practice at home before discussing the specific issue. In general there were no serious instances of complete misunderstanding on either side. Problems in transmission are due to the usage of inappropriate channel, contradictory verbal and non-verbal messages, noise and distortion. during discussion, we both actively sought to minimize any such problems, dealing with small queries via email or telephone, leaving extended discussion for the meetings and reducing the distorting effect of noise, e.g., by putting the sign of “don‟t disturb” outside the door, turning mobile phones off and closing all the window to avoid traffic noise. On my part, I actively listened to my mentor during meetings and read out a summary at the end of the meetings to ensure that I had grasped all the significant points of o f my project.
How has undertaking the RAP helped you in your accountancy studies and/or current employment role ?
After completing the RAP my confidence in financial and non financial analysis was boosted due to comprehensive analysis on a single company by applying different models. I already had prior knowledge of these models during my ACCA study but had not applied it practically. I completed my RAP in Ms Office by using Ms Word, power point and Excel. This helped in my increasing my typing speed and would also be very beneficial in my future career, for working in computer environment when I start my job in multinational organization. For the completion of my RAP I need some accurate information from the company management which I couldn‟t get from different sources like financial statements or on the internet internet that‟s why I arranged meetings with the company„s company„s employees. These meeting helped me to boost my communication skills by interacting with different caliber personals. The three meetings with my mentor also proved very ver y helpful for clarifications of my questions. After these three meetings I was able to achieve my desired objectives and now can communicate with any professional person regarding the financial and non financial matter of the company. By applying the detailed financial ratios and non financial models now I am able to apply these finding in my relevant ACCA papers like P2, P5 and P3. As I want to do CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) after completing my ACCA this RAP would definitely be helpful in achieving my goals. After the detailed search of company, country‟s economy and industry I was able to get the clear picture of macroeconomic environment of the country and how the financial situation of a company affects its market price. Porter‟s Porter‟s five forces model helped me to know the state of competition in the cement industry and now I can easily assess the sources of competition in any sector. Calculation of different ratios represented the true financial position of the company and by knowing their reasons of fluctuations helped me to predict the future of the company and potential risks faced by it. SWOT analysis also boosted my knowledge by knowing the internal capabilities and external environment of the cement industry. All these findings contributed to broaden my accountancy knowledge.
Note:- This is just a simple DEMO that how you should prepare your SLS. Do not copy paste it as you have to send the soft copy too!
