I really have to thank Ben for being sure a great lecturer! His method really works for me. I really can understand those that I once did not. I also thank those who prayed for me especially for better understanding of the subjects. God is good! I'm thankful!
F2 and F3 revision classes really boost my confidence in these two papers. At least I know that chances of me passing these two papers are much higher. I want to do exceptionally well for these two papers - Management Accounting and Financial Accounting. I hope that this boost of confidence will allow me to relocate the passion for accounting (do I actually have a passion for accounts?). I still love numbers!
I was talking an old friend from secondary school. He choose dream and passion over money and practicality! I probably will never have the guts to choose my dream over money! Haha. I salute him yet on the other hand I can only shake my head. I just don't understand 'cos I will not be able to survive if I'd choose dream over $$$. This world is practical! Dreams are somehow only meant to stay in dreamland. That's my opinion!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Pre-Exams thoughts
I seriously think that I can't pass all four papers! One week ago, I'm actually prepared to fail all four papers. I was really demoralised! I didn't know what I really wanted to do. Dream versus reality. It was a difficult choice to make. I did not want to spend a huge amount of time doing something I don't like and end up with nothing - studying really extremely hard but fail and decide to do something else in the end. It was a painful or rather, a difficult decision to make.
I am thankful to some who had given me enough advice on Saturday. It was really enough to help me settle down with a decision though not the best one. After that several incidents made me want to switch. Deep down, I have already made a commitment to not give up half way!
I don't mind studying accounting, but I do not want to be an accountant. I'm very sure of that. So why ACCA?!
This brings about the entire saga that I'm going through right now. This feeling....... Can anyone understand? And the difficulty of ACCA makes it even worse!
Exams are round the corner. Say, another 20 days to the first paper. Honestly speaking, up till now, I have not even get started. Revision classes started and they are pretty useful and helpful to me. F2 and F3 by Ben is really good. I like his style! F5 has always been stressful and extremely demanding due to James' style. He's really committed and his desire for our success is so powerful! This might be the trigger point to my saga. As usual, F5 revision - quite stressful, but thankfully, he started revision in a slightly different way. It's still okay to take. However, I do not pin high hope on the rest of the sessions. I fear that I may snap! Soon, in another few hours, will be F4 revision. 9:30am to 5:30pm. Who can take this? But it's not yet the worse! How to absorb even if I stay through the entire session. Brain cells will definitely be wiped out! Brain declares death! Haha...... >_<
I really look forward to 9th Dec 2008! End of exams! I hope I can just skip the entire first 2 weeks of December! Haha.. I wish.... Wish granted???? Fat hope!
Some comfort for myself. I'm going to Bangkok on 18th Dec 2008! Long waited trip! Haha.. Finally can see my friend there! We last saw each other last December during my Korea Winter trip. One year. How time flies! I've booked the air tickets and will be going with another good friend of mine - Tracy! Cool bunch of people to go for holidays with. Hee hee.. I really look forward. And can't wait!! My mind is filled with Bangkok and friends, but not exams! Hahaha....
Should I be stress because I'm not yet stressed? Hmmm.... Or am I doing things unknowingly to escape stress like reading storybooks, shopping, gaming, watching shows, chit chatting, blogging, and anything else except mugging? Tracy said I'm escaping. Hee hee.... Maybe.... God knows...
For now, I have a bit of confidence to pass at least 2 out of the four papers. A bit. Just a little bit. Weigh my words.
~ stress-free
I am thankful to some who had given me enough advice on Saturday. It was really enough to help me settle down with a decision though not the best one. After that several incidents made me want to switch. Deep down, I have already made a commitment to not give up half way!
I don't mind studying accounting, but I do not want to be an accountant. I'm very sure of that. So why ACCA?!
This brings about the entire saga that I'm going through right now. This feeling....... Can anyone understand? And the difficulty of ACCA makes it even worse!
Exams are round the corner. Say, another 20 days to the first paper. Honestly speaking, up till now, I have not even get started. Revision classes started and they are pretty useful and helpful to me. F2 and F3 by Ben is really good. I like his style! F5 has always been stressful and extremely demanding due to James' style. He's really committed and his desire for our success is so powerful! This might be the trigger point to my saga. As usual, F5 revision - quite stressful, but thankfully, he started revision in a slightly different way. It's still okay to take. However, I do not pin high hope on the rest of the sessions. I fear that I may snap! Soon, in another few hours, will be F4 revision. 9:30am to 5:30pm. Who can take this? But it's not yet the worse! How to absorb even if I stay through the entire session. Brain cells will definitely be wiped out! Brain declares death! Haha...... >_<
I really look forward to 9th Dec 2008! End of exams! I hope I can just skip the entire first 2 weeks of December! Haha.. I wish.... Wish granted???? Fat hope!
Some comfort for myself. I'm going to Bangkok on 18th Dec 2008! Long waited trip! Haha.. Finally can see my friend there! We last saw each other last December during my Korea Winter trip. One year. How time flies! I've booked the air tickets and will be going with another good friend of mine - Tracy! Cool bunch of people to go for holidays with. Hee hee.. I really look forward. And can't wait!! My mind is filled with Bangkok and friends, but not exams! Hahaha....
Should I be stress because I'm not yet stressed? Hmmm.... Or am I doing things unknowingly to escape stress like reading storybooks, shopping, gaming, watching shows, chit chatting, blogging, and anything else except mugging? Tracy said I'm escaping. Hee hee.... Maybe.... God knows...
For now, I have a bit of confidence to pass at least 2 out of the four papers. A bit. Just a little bit. Weigh my words.
~ stress-free
Monday, September 1, 2008
Fear Factor
Here's my exam timetable. It's comfirmed! =) =( =) =(
2 Dec 08 F4 Corporate and Business Law 3pm-6pm (3-hour paper)
3 Dec 08 F3 Financial Accounting 3pm-5pm (2-hour paper)
5 Dec 08 F2 Management Accounting 3pm-5pm (2-hour paper)
8 Dec 08 F5 Performance Management 3pm-6pm (3-hour paper)
Please pray for discipline to revise even way before hand (which like starting from now). And since I'm back working, I really have to be focus enough especially on weekends to study and revise! If not I really don't think I can pass my December exams. All my four examiners are "inhuman" as told by my lecturers and especially F5, it's known as "the Killer paper" which only 28% passes WORLDWIDE! And pray for 'easier' exam questions this time round. Haha... If anyone would like to study with me during weekends, PLEASE do so and I'll really appreciate it very much..... Heehee... I want to get over and done with my 4 papers all at one go! It will be a great encouragement to me if I can do so. =)
2 Dec 08 F4 Corporate and Business Law 3pm-6pm (3-hour paper)
3 Dec 08 F3 Financial Accounting 3pm-5pm (2-hour paper)
5 Dec 08 F2 Management Accounting 3pm-5pm (2-hour paper)
8 Dec 08 F5 Performance Management 3pm-6pm (3-hour paper)
Please pray for discipline to revise even way before hand (which like starting from now). And since I'm back working, I really have to be focus enough especially on weekends to study and revise! If not I really don't think I can pass my December exams. All my four examiners are "inhuman" as told by my lecturers and especially F5, it's known as "the Killer paper" which only 28% passes WORLDWIDE! And pray for 'easier' exam questions this time round. Haha... If anyone would like to study with me during weekends, PLEASE do so and I'll really appreciate it very much..... Heehee... I want to get over and done with my 4 papers all at one go! It will be a great encouragement to me if I can do so. =)
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Going back to work and updates of school life
I'm going back to TCS next Monday (mainly to help them tide through this extremely busy aka shorthanded period).... I really hope that I can be of good help to them and ease their load since they are really busy. But on the other hand, I would want to be discipline enough to work hard on my studies since I am not very strong in them now. ACCA is really tough to pass with good grades. Hopefully this time round, I can learn more things related to my studies while working. =)
I have been quite "up-to-date" with regards to F5 Performance Management, adding all lectures, going for tutorials, doing homework (though I don't really know what I was writing about) and revising every lecture after lessons. I hope I'm on the right track. I'm not so worried about my other modules like Financial Accounting, Management Accounting and Corporate and Business Law. The most worrying one is Performance Management. It's quite scary! I was doing my tutorial homework last night (it actually eased my headache that I was having since morning) and I thought to myself, I'd better buck up and practise more questions. For that 30 marks, 3 parts question, I used about 3 hours to finish writing about 6-7 pages with some diagrams. 3 hours!!! I only have 3 hours in my exam in December to complete 4 questions! Argh!!! =( Even with the guidance notes that my lecturer gave, I can't really expand much especially in the last part of the question which carries the highest weightage of 12 marks. I had my notes and everything with me. Though I managed to write more than 5 pages (which was required by lecturer), most of them were merely copied from the notes. I felt really bad, not knowing how to write and expand on the answers with my own knowledge. This probably is a sign that I really don't know my stuff well enough!
Hmm... Back to the topic on 'Going back to work'.... I'm actually excited! Haha... Having stopped work for about 2 months plus, I feel excited going back! Hee hee... I've been very free these 2 months. Free to the extend that I sleep so much that I no longer want to sleep. These 2 months gave me the same kind of feeling that I had when I was at home the last time doing nothing - I can't remember when that was. I actually feel rather useless! Haha... Maybe I'm still the kind whereby I prefer to be busy like crazy than have absolutely nothing to do! Weird erh?! No sense of achievement I guess.. Wahaha! But soon probably you will hear me complaining again! Haiz.... Why are people so fickle minded?! LOL!!!
I think it's an issue between have and don't have! When you don't have it, you want it! But when you get what you want, you longer treasure it! That's human nature ba!
Hmmm..... School life.... Recently... Cool... But you know, it's not that kind of normal school life where most of the time is spent in campus... So it's a little different from what uni students actually experience. For my case, it's slightly different. I don't have to start in school for long hours, at most 4-5 hours.... Merely for lectures and tutorials! And not all papers have tutorials. I can choose which to go for. Haha... Probably the normal uni students will envy this point while I yearn to study in a local university! This is a dream that hasn't been fufilled so far and maybe it will never be?! Who knows..... God does! =) I made some new classmates while trying hard to survive in F5 class. And this is a class that knowing people is very important! Haha.. Why?! Simply 'cos if you can't be in class early, you need them to 'chop' seat for you! [JOKING] It's actually because sometimes the lecturer can be too fast or too 'chim'! Hee hee... (know my struggle now?) But honestly speaking, for F5, lecture starts at 6:45pm on Thursday! But by 6:20 more than half of the classroom is filled! If you want to get a good seat where you can see both the lecturer and the screen clearly, you really have to be there by 6:00pm latest! Haha... That's what I observed!
The rest of the lectures..... F2-F4.... I shall not comment! Nothing positive..... There's one particular one that is really disappointing.... =D
Time for bed!! Need to tune back my sleeping pattern before I start work again on Monday....
I have been quite "up-to-date" with regards to F5 Performance Management, adding all lectures, going for tutorials, doing homework (though I don't really know what I was writing about) and revising every lecture after lessons. I hope I'm on the right track. I'm not so worried about my other modules like Financial Accounting, Management Accounting and Corporate and Business Law. The most worrying one is Performance Management. It's quite scary! I was doing my tutorial homework last night (it actually eased my headache that I was having since morning) and I thought to myself, I'd better buck up and practise more questions. For that 30 marks, 3 parts question, I used about 3 hours to finish writing about 6-7 pages with some diagrams. 3 hours!!! I only have 3 hours in my exam in December to complete 4 questions! Argh!!! =( Even with the guidance notes that my lecturer gave, I can't really expand much especially in the last part of the question which carries the highest weightage of 12 marks. I had my notes and everything with me. Though I managed to write more than 5 pages (which was required by lecturer), most of them were merely copied from the notes. I felt really bad, not knowing how to write and expand on the answers with my own knowledge. This probably is a sign that I really don't know my stuff well enough!
Hmm... Back to the topic on 'Going back to work'.... I'm actually excited! Haha... Having stopped work for about 2 months plus, I feel excited going back! Hee hee... I've been very free these 2 months. Free to the extend that I sleep so much that I no longer want to sleep. These 2 months gave me the same kind of feeling that I had when I was at home the last time doing nothing - I can't remember when that was. I actually feel rather useless! Haha... Maybe I'm still the kind whereby I prefer to be busy like crazy than have absolutely nothing to do! Weird erh?! No sense of achievement I guess.. Wahaha! But soon probably you will hear me complaining again! Haiz.... Why are people so fickle minded?! LOL!!!
I think it's an issue between have and don't have! When you don't have it, you want it! But when you get what you want, you longer treasure it! That's human nature ba!
Hmmm..... School life.... Recently... Cool... But you know, it's not that kind of normal school life where most of the time is spent in campus... So it's a little different from what uni students actually experience. For my case, it's slightly different. I don't have to start in school for long hours, at most 4-5 hours.... Merely for lectures and tutorials! And not all papers have tutorials. I can choose which to go for. Haha... Probably the normal uni students will envy this point while I yearn to study in a local university! This is a dream that hasn't been fufilled so far and maybe it will never be?! Who knows..... God does! =) I made some new classmates while trying hard to survive in F5 class. And this is a class that knowing people is very important! Haha.. Why?! Simply 'cos if you can't be in class early, you need them to 'chop' seat for you! [JOKING] It's actually because sometimes the lecturer can be too fast or too 'chim'! Hee hee... (know my struggle now?) But honestly speaking, for F5, lecture starts at 6:45pm on Thursday! But by 6:20 more than half of the classroom is filled! If you want to get a good seat where you can see both the lecturer and the screen clearly, you really have to be there by 6:00pm latest! Haha... That's what I observed!
The rest of the lectures..... F2-F4.... I shall not comment! Nothing positive..... There's one particular one that is really disappointing.... =D
Time for bed!! Need to tune back my sleeping pattern before I start work again on Monday....
Friday, August 1, 2008
Sleepless night
Just few hours after my last post. I can't sleep after the slaughtering session with F5 questions... Even F4 can't go into my head. Feeling so sleepy now..... But can't sleep.... It's already almost 9 hours since I stopped F5... Number and budget war going on still... I wish for Brain Peace! =)
After I stopped working, this is the first time I cannot go into dreamland.. F5 is really scary..... When I'm working, at least I can sleep 2-3 hours. But now.. I probably did not even fall asleep for an hour. Sad yeah!
Have F2 class later in the evening... Let's hope it's exciting enough to keep me awake throughout! Haha... I doubt so!!! Most likely I'll grab the notes, sit in till break time and head home. I just need the notes actually.....
Planning to read my F4 then F3 and lastly F2..... This will be my weekend this week... Hopefully I can be focus and concentrate.... No DVDs... No TV Programmes... Just music and notes... >_< Hmm... I'm actually considering between the Paper-based and Computer-based exams for F2 and F3. However.... I think that Paper-based is safer although it takes longer to get my results. Haiz.... Paper-based... If I have not enough time to finish (hope not), I have 1/4 chance to get the question correct even if I play the 'guessing' game. CBE... 2 marks open-ended questions (unknown number of questions)... Either I know it and get 2 marks or I don't get any if I have no time. Haiz.......
The paper-based exams are as follow:
After I stopped working, this is the first time I cannot go into dreamland.. F5 is really scary..... When I'm working, at least I can sleep 2-3 hours. But now.. I probably did not even fall asleep for an hour. Sad yeah!
Have F2 class later in the evening... Let's hope it's exciting enough to keep me awake throughout! Haha... I doubt so!!! Most likely I'll grab the notes, sit in till break time and head home. I just need the notes actually.....
Planning to read my F4 then F3 and lastly F2..... This will be my weekend this week... Hopefully I can be focus and concentrate.... No DVDs... No TV Programmes... Just music and notes... >_< Hmm... I'm actually considering between the Paper-based and Computer-based exams for F2 and F3. However.... I think that Paper-based is safer although it takes longer to get my results. Haiz.... Paper-based... If I have not enough time to finish (hope not), I have 1/4 chance to get the question correct even if I play the 'guessing' game. CBE... 2 marks open-ended questions (unknown number of questions)... Either I know it and get 2 marks or I don't get any if I have no time. Haiz.......
The paper-based exams are as follow:
2 December F4 Corporate and Business Law
3 December F3 Financial Accounting (MCQ)
5 December F2 Management Accounting (MCQ)
8 Decemebr F5 Performance Management
This schedule should not be a problem yeah?! Otherwise, I think the CBEs for F2 and F3 will be in the second week of December and I might not get the seat.. Nobody knows....
Whatever it is...... By the grace of Jesus!
F5 Performance Management aka The Killer
It's starting to kill me! Woah! Budget..... I spent 3 hours or more to redo the two questions that were discussed during lecture (I did not manage to finish copying the answers and had some blanks here and there). That's why I wanted to do the questions again. 3 hours...... Exam how??!! D.I.E. Confirm pronounce dead!
Finally got a taste of the killer paper after 3 weeks...... And there's more to come...
Okok... Back to the topic... Budgeting... It's a very important topic! Need to master it by hook or by crook! Sales budget is alright. Production budget... Hmmm... Depends... The other budgets.... I have completely no idea how to do them! I prefer the master budgets.... P&L, Balance Sheet and Cash budget... How nice if all the figures are given and I only have to do up the Master Budgets.... Haha... Dream on Sherry!
Tried the homework question... I know (a)(i) & maybe (ii) ONLY!! And I'm not sure if it's correct. So dead...... Sobsob....
Let's get this into the head:
Production = Sales + Closing stock of finished goods - Opening stock
Purchases = Usage + Closing stock of raw materials - Opening stock
My brain is having a numbers war now.... 1234567890.... 0987654321.... 1234567890.... Enough of F5 for today....
Let's go for a break.... F4 sounds better yeah!
~ tata
Finally got a taste of the killer paper after 3 weeks...... And there's more to come...
Okok... Back to the topic... Budgeting... It's a very important topic! Need to master it by hook or by crook! Sales budget is alright. Production budget... Hmmm... Depends... The other budgets.... I have completely no idea how to do them! I prefer the master budgets.... P&L, Balance Sheet and Cash budget... How nice if all the figures are given and I only have to do up the Master Budgets.... Haha... Dream on Sherry!
Tried the homework question... I know (a)(i) & maybe (ii) ONLY!! And I'm not sure if it's correct. So dead...... Sobsob....
Let's get this into the head:
Production = Sales + Closing stock of finished goods - Opening stock
Purchases = Usage + Closing stock of raw materials - Opening stock
My brain is having a numbers war now.... 1234567890.... 0987654321.... 1234567890.... Enough of F5 for today....
Let's go for a break.... F4 sounds better yeah!
~ tata
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
F5 Homework
Sob sob! Homework is so difficult! I understand the lecture but I don't know how to do the question...... What am I going to do?! The question knows me but it is absolutely a stranger to me! Question marks flying all over my head now....... ????????
This question has four parts. I have done two of them. The other two...... Hmmm.... Foreign language.... Why are the questions in ACCA so long!!! Even before I can start doing it, I feel like sleeping already...... Read and read and read.... -_- zzz
Here's the two parts that I've done:
(a) Explain briefly what Optimized Production Technology and Theory of Constraints involve, what they aim to achieve and the circumstances in which they might be relevant.
Both OPT and TOC involves the approach to continuous improvement. Their main objective is to meet customers’ satisfaction effectively, efficiently and economically.
OPT concentrates more on maximizing its production level and at the same time respond only to the demand of its customers – having as little buffer stocks as possible at any time. OPT is concerned for quality and continual improvements of its products. Total Quality Management and the Just-In-Time System are tools to optimize the production process – ideally zero defects. For example Samsung Electronics is very concern about the quality of their products which impacts heavily on its reputation and brand. Therefore there is a need for them to manufacture only to satisfy customer orders and reduce overall quality cost over time through prevention and detection.
TOC seeks to identify a company's bottlenecks and exploit them so that throughput is maximized and inventories and operating costs are minimized. Its main objective is to increase return and reduce cost. TOC has a short-term focus – throughput margin analysis based on materials and material related costs. Its major use is for the optimization of the production flow and for short-term product mix. An example will be a firm that has three machines, whereby one of them is old and unreliable. And this machine’s output turnout to be the lowest amongst the three machines. This machine will be the bottleneck or constraint of the firm. Therefore TOC will be used to strengthen this weakest link and either change this machine or send it for repair and maintenance, hence increasing its output. This process will continue as to achieve the maximum throughput contribution with the lowest related costs.
(b) Outline the three key measures used in the theory of constraints and describe the four step approach that can be taken in the management of bottleneck resources.
The three key measures used in the Theory of Constraints are namely throughput, inventory and operating expense.
Throughput is defined as the rate at which the system generates money through sales, not through production. Goods are not considered an asset until sold. Inventory is defined as the money invested in goods that the firm intends to sell or material that the firm intends to convert into sellable items. The concept of value-added and overhead are not considered. Operating expense includes all the money the firm spends converting inventory into throughput.
The objective of the firm therefore is to increase throughput and decrease inventory and operating expense in such a way to increase profit. Anything that prevents this objective to be accomplished is a constraint.
There are four steps that the management can take to ensure that the constraint is strengthened.
· Identify the constraint
· Identify the throughput which the constraint is able to withstand
· Strengthen the constraint
· Keep reassuring which link is the constraint
Tough paper I would say! F5 = SCARY = TERRIFYING = FREAKING
Ok.. You've seen my answers.. As you can see.. It's bad yea! For (a), I don't know if I am answering the question and for (b), I don't know how to explain the four step approach - only know what are the four steps.
3Ps to tackle F5! Way to go!! ~~~
This question has four parts. I have done two of them. The other two...... Hmmm.... Foreign language.... Why are the questions in ACCA so long!!! Even before I can start doing it, I feel like sleeping already...... Read and read and read.... -_- zzz
Here's the two parts that I've done:
(a) Explain briefly what Optimized Production Technology and Theory of Constraints involve, what they aim to achieve and the circumstances in which they might be relevant.
Both OPT and TOC involves the approach to continuous improvement. Their main objective is to meet customers’ satisfaction effectively, efficiently and economically.
OPT concentrates more on maximizing its production level and at the same time respond only to the demand of its customers – having as little buffer stocks as possible at any time. OPT is concerned for quality and continual improvements of its products. Total Quality Management and the Just-In-Time System are tools to optimize the production process – ideally zero defects. For example Samsung Electronics is very concern about the quality of their products which impacts heavily on its reputation and brand. Therefore there is a need for them to manufacture only to satisfy customer orders and reduce overall quality cost over time through prevention and detection.
TOC seeks to identify a company's bottlenecks and exploit them so that throughput is maximized and inventories and operating costs are minimized. Its main objective is to increase return and reduce cost. TOC has a short-term focus – throughput margin analysis based on materials and material related costs. Its major use is for the optimization of the production flow and for short-term product mix. An example will be a firm that has three machines, whereby one of them is old and unreliable. And this machine’s output turnout to be the lowest amongst the three machines. This machine will be the bottleneck or constraint of the firm. Therefore TOC will be used to strengthen this weakest link and either change this machine or send it for repair and maintenance, hence increasing its output. This process will continue as to achieve the maximum throughput contribution with the lowest related costs.
(b) Outline the three key measures used in the theory of constraints and describe the four step approach that can be taken in the management of bottleneck resources.
The three key measures used in the Theory of Constraints are namely throughput, inventory and operating expense.
Throughput is defined as the rate at which the system generates money through sales, not through production. Goods are not considered an asset until sold. Inventory is defined as the money invested in goods that the firm intends to sell or material that the firm intends to convert into sellable items. The concept of value-added and overhead are not considered. Operating expense includes all the money the firm spends converting inventory into throughput.
The objective of the firm therefore is to increase throughput and decrease inventory and operating expense in such a way to increase profit. Anything that prevents this objective to be accomplished is a constraint.
There are four steps that the management can take to ensure that the constraint is strengthened.
· Identify the constraint
· Identify the throughput which the constraint is able to withstand
· Strengthen the constraint
· Keep reassuring which link is the constraint
Tough paper I would say! F5 = SCARY = TERRIFYING = FREAKING
Ok.. You've seen my answers.. As you can see.. It's bad yea! For (a), I don't know if I am answering the question and for (b), I don't know how to explain the four step approach - only know what are the four steps.
3Ps to tackle F5! Way to go!! ~~~
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
