100th post :D

Today, I had a quick look at Budget 2013 announced on 28/9 after returning from Sunway. Frankly speaking, I'm a bit disappointed with the budget revealed. However, there are also some positive aspect that will help our nation.

First and foremost, there is a reduction in tax rate by 1 percentage point for individual chargeable income between RM 2500- RM 50000. This would effectively result in a tax savings of RM 475 for chargeable income up to RM 50000 as illustrated below:

The increase in child relief for children in higher education from RM 4000- RM 6000 is also welcomed. However, I don't think there will be any significant impact on parents nowadays. How much can you save from extra RM 2000 relief? My hostel fee for a year is already equivalent to RM 6000!

On the other hand, the government is also keen in reducing crime rates by investing substantial amount to enhance the security of the country. It is certainly necessary in view of the increasing crime rates that threaten our lives, especially in KL areas. I do hope that the money allocated will be well spent and I can safely reach home at night after work next year.

In addition, it is a great news for those youngsters who wish to purchase new house next year. 50% exemption on stamp duty for new house below RM 40000 will be given to them. The government will also be building affordable houses in a few areas in the country. Moreover, individual with monthly income of RM 5000 or below is eligible for My First Home Scheme (although I don't know exactly how to apply for that). However, this should be carried out with caution so that it will not lead to property bubble and massive defaults in housing loans by younger generation.

On the downside, our government is still giving book vouchers to students. This time, the amount increased to RM 250. In my opinion and for the sake of our country, the government should stop doing that! No doubt that students will be happily spending the vouchers on books(really?!), CDs, DVDs, hard disk, thumb drive etc, it doesn't have any benefit at all. We are just taking back a portion of our money we paid to government (taxes) and spent it in a restricted manner. If the government is serious in reducing our government debt, it should stop giving such vouchers. Maybe it wants to help to boost Popular's sales, hmm....

Furthermore, the provision of RM 200 one-off rebate for purchasing a smart phone is absolutely ridiculous! If you can't afford to buy something, then don't do so. What is the point of giving money to youngsters to buy smart phones? Smart phone is just a luxury good, you can still survive without it. It indirectly implies that our government is encouraging youngsters to be more materialistic and spendthrift rather than nurturing them with good virtues. On the contrary, the subsidy for sugar, which is an essential good, is reduced by 20 cents. Is the government getting its priority right?  

Lastly, I'm very VERY disappointed that there were no reduction in car prices despite all the rumours I have heard this year. Taxing 300% on imported cars is really a burden for everyone in Malaysia. Lower income groups were forced to purchase low quality local cars i.e. Proton and this has resulted in Proton being complacent over the years. Now that Proton is taken over by DRB Hicom, I wonder why our government is still protecting it.

Other details of the budget can be seen in The Star's website. Thank you for reading, if you really read until the end of this post.=)

Quote of the day

Epic failure

Today, 8th of August, is a day that I'll remember because I failed one of my ACCA exam and thus unable to graduate with my fellow classmates. I prayed so hard to get a straight pass and yet I was disappointed with a failure out of my three papers.:( However, I didn't cry or can't cry out loud (I don't know why..) when I saw my results. Probably because I had seen the past year answer yesterday and somehow expected such outcome.

It is so disheartening to fail with one paper on the last semester! Lots of problems followed immediately after that. Where should I stay? Should I continue with the same lecturer? How about the exam fees? etc.. I feel bad when I see the disappointment in the eyes of my parents. My father sit beside me for hours and kept on encouraging me not to feel bad about it. I also want to thank my friends as well as my lecturer who gave me supports during this time.

Whether I like it or not, life goes on. I must pull myself together and start focusing on my studies again. I'll just have to try harder this time. Haiz... I hope all the negative emotions will begone by tomorrow...

:)

PwC Assessment

Yesterday, I went for PwC's July assessment in 1 Sentral. The number of candidates were beyond my expectations though. There were around 60 candidates and only few Sunway students were spotted. There was a brief session explaining the salaries and benefits of new employees followed by a presentation by one of the partners, Mr Patrick. He is a good presenter with fluent English and quite good looking, considering his age (55, I think..). After a short break, the assessment officially began with a 20 minutes numerical test. The questions were set by SHLDirect, thus it is better to go to SHLDirect's website to practice some  of the examples.

Next, we were given an hour to complete 4 short essay writing questions:

• Corrections of grammatical errors of an email
• A response to manager regarding a conflict with client
• Career aspiration and reason for choosing accounting as a career
• Dilemma between attending class or Treasure Hunt

To my dismay, I was unable to complete the numerical test on time and the essays written by me were so short when compared to other candidates. Hmm.. I think the possibilities for me to get a job is so low. :(

Okay, I shall stop talking about all those depressing stuffs. Immediately after the assessment, I went to Sunway Pyramid to meet up with my friends and celebrating my friend's birthday. :D It was great to hang out with them after a while. We went to Soul Out and had an expensive yet delicious meal. Play hard, pray hard... I hope there will be some good news next week.>.<

Bye, B-412

Yesterday, I finally moved out from my hostel after living there for 3 years. It was also my first attempt to drive from my hometown to Sunway. Despite having a GPS, I still lost my way and almost drove to banting instead of Sunway.=.= I'm glad that I'm not driving alone, otherwise I would be very nervous. I think I seriously need to build up my stamina as I felt so tired after driving to and fro between Muar and Sunway.

An interesting scene when I stopped at petrol station:

A British man reversed his car while a local Malay guy trying to move forward. The British man shouted:"I want to reversed!" and the Malay guy responded by showing his middle finger. Emm, you know, the "bird" sign.o0o I wonder whether there was any miscommunication or our Malaysian education system is a total failure. Shouldn't we show some manners to foreigners since we are representing our country? Or maybe that chap didn't understand what the British guy was talking about. Hmm...

Anyway, it marks an end to my college life and new challenges are awaiting ahead. Now I don't know how to go to 1 Sentral for my pre-interview assessment and whether I'll be able to secure the job. Haiz... Life is full of uncertainties. I shall stay positive and move on~ ^^

End..?

After few weeks of revision and hard work, my examination finally comes to an end. But, is it really THE END of ACCA examination? Well, I sincerely hope so. I really don't feel like resitting any paper in few months time.

What's next then? Currently, I'm still unemployed although I sent my job application around the end of April! Arghh, that's really frustrating. Initially, I applied for advisory position but I application was somehow being ignored by the audit firm. I followed up by an email and later received a call from the HR department advising me to join audit and assurance as a start. Hence, there goes my chance of starting my career as a consultant. Haiz...

I hope I wouldn't be doing any audit related career for the rest of my life. It is certainly one of the worst job in Malaysia! You have to be prepared to work until 2am in the morning and wake up early in the morning to work in order to avoid any traffic jam. It sucks, really... 

In the meanwhile, I shall enjoy my holiday to the fullest before being bound by any employment contract. I thought of going to gym to build up my stamina but I guess that wouldn't be necessary as my result will be out in early August. What muscles can I get in one month's time huh? Hmm.. I don't expect to have big muscles like Chris Hemsworth.

But if I have some muscles like Justin Hartley then that would be perfect. Haha... But I think it's hard for me to be as strong as them since I'm only 49kg.=.=

p/s: Quite disappointed that Justin Hartley is not starring as Green Arrow in CW's new series Arrow. Hmm..

Threats to SunwayTES ACCA graduates?

I thought today would be a usual class but I didn't expect it to end with a depressing speech from Mr.Teo. In his speech, he highlighted a few potential threats to our future employment in the big four audit firms in Malaysia. The threats highlighted were as follows:

1. Placement of CFAB/ ICAEW interns in the big four audit firm

Apparently, most CFAB students in Sunway managed to secure an internship in audit firms during their studies and subsequently obtain a conditional employment letter upon the completion of their internships. This means that around 200 vacancies in such audit firms already been reserved in advance for those ICAEW students prior to their graduation and less vacancy will be available to ACCA students who wish to join audit firms after their graduation.

2. Collaboration of SunwayTES and University Malaya

In the upcoming 14th of May, SunwayTES, ACCA and UM will be signing a Memorandum of Agreement in such a way that UM accounting students can do their degree and ACCA concurrently. In short, they will have a university degree together with ACCA qualifications in 4 years' time. Hence, other ACCA students in Malaysia, especially private college students like me would be at a disadvantage since the graduates from UM would have their MIA membership immediately upon graduation. The big four audit firms will tend to favor such group of students in the foreseeable future. 

Ironically, Mr.Teo actually agreed to such arrangement and voluntarily sending SunwayTES lecturers to teach those UM students! Frankly speaking, any sane man would not agree to such arrangement that will jeopardize the future of his own students including me!!

3. Collaboration of SunwayTES and USM

Yes, you are not reading wrongly. Another dumb collaboration. Currently, SunwayTES actually collaborates with USM in offering ICAEW qualifications to USM students. Again, SunwayTES will be sending its lecturers to USM to teach those students. This will create an over supply of accounting graduates in Malaysia and the competition among graduates to enter those audit firms will be intensified.

4. TalentCorp Malaysia

In my opinion, this will be the biggest challenge for all Malaysian ACCA students. Recently, TalentCorp held an event in London with the aim of bringing in Malaysian graduates in foreign universities. There were around 2000 students who attended the event. If all of them decided to return to Malaysia to seek employment, local ACCA students will certainly be in a disadvantaged position. Of course, foreign degrees from University of London, Manchester, Nortingham etc are certainly better than my current qualifications.=(

However, disregarding the fourth threat, the other three threats seemed ridiculous to me. Those problems were in fact created by Mr.Teo himself and yet he was telling us to study hard to remain competitive. Obviously he was talking nonsense as all the three threats will not occur if he don't do anything in the first place! Worst still, he then forced those weaker students to defer their current papers in order to maintain the platinum status of SunwayTES. 

It was so frustrating to see such thing actually happens in college. The main purpose of a higher learning institution is supposed to nurture future generations with appropriate skills and imparting knowledge to students. It is certainly not to deny the liberty of a student to sit for exam. All the above spoilt my mood of the day and forced me to blog out all my frustrations. Oh, i think this is my first post in 2012 by the way. Ahh, maybe I should just enter a commercial firm to work rather than stressing myself to compete in an audit firm...