Tuesday 30 July 2013

Workaholic



Workaholics - A person who compulsively works hard and long hours


I can spot the signs since I was in primary school (though my uni days are not as apparent). I can't stand to be away from school. Can you imagine?

Nerd alert!! LOL

But it was not because of the classes, it were the activities. 
Netball, Volleyball, English club, Doktor Muda, prefect board..

Ceritanya...
I went to bed early the other day.
Then I woke up and get ready to go to work.
Right before I wore my tudung (already prayed Subuh, mind you), my brother saw me and went laughing like crazy.

Guess what?
It was only 1am.
In the freaking morning!!
And I didn't even realize!

In a way, I kinda get it because the next morning I would have to submit some projects which have not been completed at the moment.
Hahaha
And I went to sleep thinking of it.

This also happen when I was in secondary and primary school.

Workaholics symptoms?
You tell me.
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Trip to Miri


I'm still a bit ecstatic over the trip to Miri last week.
Maklumlah, first time setting foot to the East Malaysia. 
Woot woot!!

To quote my Director, 
How come you've been to Europe but never set foot to Sabah Sarawak?

And they conveniently decided to sent me alone, a sole representative from PEMANDU because;
"You can survive on your own at Rome, Amsterdam. This place is just like backyard la. No problem"
Hahaha!!

And that's the story of how I end up there :D

Went to two Penan villages. 
12 hours ride by 4WD, mind you. 
But I love it.
The breathtaking scenery.
Fall in love :D









Delegation from CIDB, EPIC, ABM, MyKasih, Ministry of Women, Resident Office and PEMANDU.











Ciao!
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Thursday 18 July 2013

Yayasan Khazanah Annual Iftar


The annual reunion was back!! It is perhaps the most anticipated events in YK calendar. It was the fourth iftar but the first under the new management. The scholars are awesome as ever, hectic and noisy. Once a year event; whaddaya expect kan? 

All the overseas scholars will be here (well, most of em), local scholar as well and the new addition to YK family. Congrats to the new recipient of YK scholar!! The food, too [not too forget].

Every year, me and Taufeq will go crazy on the roasted lamb.
Kesukaan weyh!!

Yada, yada, yada.
Feast your eyes!
























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Monday 15 July 2013

#3 - ICAEW

Assalamualaikum wbt,



Welcome to the third installation of the series.
Gittew!
This time, I’ll be reviewing about ICAEW  - The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.


 Apparently, in Malaysia there is only one tuition provider that is Sunway TES.
The one and only!
Wonder how they will cater to the rising demand.

The most interesting part for me is always the courses.

The courses are broken down into two parts; Professional and Advanced.
There are 12 courses under Professional level. Six are grouped under Knowledge-based and the other six under Technical-based.
The Knowledge-Based courses are;
  • ·         Business and Finance
  • ·         Accounting
  • ·         Law
  • ·         Assurance
  • ·         Principles of Taxation
  • ·         Management Information

These 6 courses are assessed through computer based exams, lasting for 1.5 hours.

The other six courses under Technical-Based are
  • ·         Financial Management
  • ·         Business Strategy
  • ·         Audit and Assurance
  • ·         Financial Accounting
  • ·         Financial Reporting
  • ·         Taxation

These on the other hand lasted for 2.5 hours and in the form of written exam.
The passing marks for all 12 Professional papers is 55%.

The second part of the exam is the Advanced Level.
There are three papers under this group.
  • ·         Business Reporting (3.5 hours exam)
  • ·         Business Changes (3.5 hours exam)
  • ·         Case Study (4 hours exam)

At this level, the passing marks is 50%.
Candidates are only allowed to seat for the exam for four (4) times.
Unlike ACCA yang memberi anda kebebasan mutlak untuk retake hingga lulus. 
And there is no particular order for the courses. 
Ambek la rasa mana yang nak dulu. Tadehal. 

Now, let me share with you the step by step guide to get the most coveted title of ‘ACA’.

First, get yourself registered with ICAEW.
The registration fee is £165 and the same amount prevailed for the annual membership fee.

Secondly, apply for the exemption.
You can check on their website but I took the liberty to check for Uniten and UiTM’s Accounting students. For Uniten, we will be exempted from 7 papers; Business Strategy, Financial Management, Accounting, Assurance (only if you take Internal Audit), Law, Management Information and Principle of Taxation.

For UiTM, it is a total of 8 papers. All of the above plus Business and Finance.

While we are on the topic, Imma tell ya the passing rate. Bagi motivasi sikit jiwa.
For the Technical-based courses, it ranges from 69% (Financial Reporting) to 90% (Taxation).
Knowledge-based courses on the other hand; 83% (Law) to 95% (Business and Finance).
Note that these passing rate is for the first time attempt.

The Case Study can only be taken at the final year of the training. 

The third step is the Technical Work Experience (TWE). 
The requirement is for 450 days. You can be working in any of these areas; accounting, auditing, taxation,  financial management, insolvency or IT.

Fourthly is the Initial Professional Development (IPD).
This is conducted via seminars, experts sessions dll.
It is to covers
  • Ethics and professionalism
  • Personal effectiveness
  • Technical and functional expertise
  • Business awareness
  • Professional judgement
The fifth step is to carry out the Structured Training in Ethics (STE)
It is an online training and assessment session involving case studies, self test questions, essays. All 3 stages should be completed.

And lastly, the time has come to officially apply for ICAEW membership.

Usually, the case in Malaysia is that the students sitting for ICAEW are sponsored by the Authorized Training Employees (ATE). Some of the ATEs are;
  • The Big 4
  • Petronas
  • Maybank
  • CIMB
  • BDO
  • Boustead
  • Hong Leong Bank
What happen is that beside the employment contract, the students will have to sign a training contract with the ATEs. This will let you earn and learn at the same time  Which explains why the classes are held during weekends (at Sunway).

However, there is a special collaboration between Sunway TES and BDO for the High Flyers Scheme. 
The requirements are;
Passed A-Level or STPM with flying colors or
2nd class upper GPA from UK uni in either accounting or non accounting degree or
2nd class upper GPA from local uni that is accredited by ICAEW (Accounting only) and
passed the interview and English assessment by BDO.

In this scheme, the students are to study full time for ICAEW, went for structured internship with BDO for up to 8 months and complete the training at BDO as permanent staff.

You may ask..
Why ICAEW.
Well.

They provide information services through intensive library and regular publications.
Technical guide (Regulation news and best practices guide)
Free advice and support.
Member group and networking.
Career support and leadership development.
Meeting and working facility.
Globally recognized, jumping stone to better career prospects.

Ciao!
Hope this helps!!


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Thursday 11 July 2013

PEMANDU Internship

It's my third day here in PEMANDU. Super duper awesome! Received my two projects and done some ad hoc tasks. Work started to pile. Meetings, site visits. Excited!! Will share the details soon. 

So I got some questions through FB, Twitter and Whatsapp about this internship program.

PEMANDU stands for Performance Management and Delivery Unit which is a department under Prime Minister's Office. The main role is to monitor and facilitate the implementations of ETP (Economy Transformation Program) and GTP (Government Transformation Program).

To apply for the internship program, click here.



PEMANDU is looking for young, talented & passionate leaders! The internship experience will run from 2 to 4 months, depending on an intern's schedule and performance. Please note that we will give preference to university students in their penultimate year of study.

There are a few steps to those who are interested to apply.

1. Fill the online application form with your details.
2. Answer the short essay questions (less than 150 words each)
  • Why do you want to work in PEMANDU?
  • Have you had any work experiences? If so, please describe them.
  • Please describe any extracurricular experiences you had, particularly those that exhibit leadership qualities.
3. Prepare a cover letter according to their requirements 
4. Provide them with an updated CV
5. Essay question (800-1,000 words) on one of these topics
  • What or who will be the biggest obstacle to a government transformation program?
  • How the private sector of a country can or should be involved in government transformation.
  • How can you as a young person, be involved in changing the country for the better?
  • If you were given the opportunity, what would you have done differently to the current government/economic transformation program?
6. Choose the NKRA/NKEA (dalam erti kata lain department) that you are interested in. Only 3 please.


And these are the NKRA's
  • Reducing crime
  • Fighting corruption
  • Improving Student Outcomes
  • Improving Rural Basic Infrastructure
  • Improving Urban Public Transport
  • Raising Living Standards of Low Income Household.
Itu sahaja. Selepas submit, sila tunggu respons mereka dan berdoa untuk sesi temuduga pula. :D

My interview was done via telephone since I was still in Germany during that point of time. Twas quite a lengthy interview.

The minimum duration is 2 months and the maximum is 4. Hence, it is very suitable for students looking for summer internships. At the moment, PEMANDU has 6 interns and I am the only Malay, the only girl. The best working environment you could ask for. The intern behind my cubicle is from UCL. *envy*

Basically, each NKRA/NKEA will have one intern. But in my case, I am placed under TWO departments. 
My first choices were education, corruption and public transport. 
Ce teka where I am being place.
None of the above jawapannya. Hahahaha

I am at Low Income Household [LIH] (NKRA) and Healthcare (NKEA).
I got to be in both NKRA and NKEA.. Yayyyyy!!!

Little that I know being in LIH would open the opportunity for me to travel.
 *suke, suke, suke*

Will update more, soon!

Adios!

Oh! Did I mention that they pay handsomely, too? :D
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Wednesday 10 July 2013

Kematangan


My first post, back in KL yaww!!

KL baby always at heart
My journey back was ... tiring! The flight was delayed for more than 1 hour. 
Heaving the bags; another story. 
The checked in bags were 34kg and 10kg respectively. 
Plus the hand luggage of 9 kilos (It should be within 7kg) LOL
Imagine dragging the bags all the way from Mainz to Frankfurt via public transport.
Then I had to re-arrange the stuffs and chuck away some to follow the maximum weight per bag (32kg).
THAT is the most tiring part. 
Hahaha..

Arrived on Saturday at 0800.
Tak jetlagged, Alhamdulillah.
Cuma sleepy like hell because I was on a movie marathon while on the plane :D

So fast forward a few days, I had started my internship at PEMANDU.
Yayyy!!
And no, it is not the 6 months university internship [that will be in October].
I'm being placed under two units.
TWO!
Awesome!
Two projects to be delivered by the end of the tenure.
They even call it project EVA - Evaluation, Validation and Announcement. .
Hahaha
My team is a nice bunch of people.
Here, evidence.

How cute is this?
And to end my first day of internship, I had dinner with Aditier. 

Aditier? Aditier? Hahahaha
Thank you Aditiya for coming :D
See you again this Friday!

On another note.
I vowed to start fresh, leaving Germany.
And a big part of starting fresh is to be matured.


So I set up a unit trust account. 
The time has come!
Continuous monthly savings.
That's the plan!!

And, and ...
I also started re-paying my PTPTN loan.
Thankfully, beban tak terasa sangat sebab my loan was terminated right after I got the scholarship.
Only for 3 semesters. Alhamdulillah. 
Interest accumulated pun not so bad, putting into account the loan was made way back in 2007 during my diploma.
Fingers crossed for my ujrah application.

Setting aside some money every month for family trip, the 'MEGA' trip next year and for my plan with Ika.
So many things..
Blessed!

Rasa matang kan? 
Bila hidup mula berkira-kira, budgeting, savings.

Happy!!

And.
Selamat Menjalani Bulan Ramadan.

Target - Finished reading 'tafsir' in a month.
Pray for me!
:D
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