Menara Hap Seng is beside KFC HQ & opposite Shangri-la hotel. Nearest monorail is Bukit Nanas & Lrt is Dang Wangi.

Regarding the points above, you can refer to someone else but that also shows why you should attend the talk.

The google map :
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d...e=UTF8&t=h&z=17

Walk left after leaving LRT dang wangi. (Wisma Denmark around the corner : ACCA HQ)
Then turn right after seeing Bukit Nanas Monorail station. (Hard Rock Cafe should be around the corner)
You should see Shangri-LA hotel after passing a petrol station.
Walk straight ahead & Wisma Hap Seng is opposite the route, lobby should have Mercedes-Benz retailer.

I think should pay on the spot.

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Added on September 26, 2009, 12:19 pmMine is more like a CPD talk (so they assume participants have enough $$$).
This programme is more tailored to students need so I dont think they will milk student's money here. By all means, if its under RM 50 go for it. However try to find few friends or you will be bored to death (unless you are those that are not bored easily).

This post has been edited by Topace111: Sep 26 2009, 12:19 PM

I dont see a reason why they should not allow it.

He never did any of the past years.
I left with my group of friends a his first revision day since the content is the same from our last P3 class with him. If memory serves he will teach in reverse. He will most probably start with IT or section B area first, then proceed to section A.
PYQ should be RE instead.

For optional papers, usefulness of ANY textbook is very limited :
P4 : Examiner rarely use the textbook (implied by his statement in examiner's report).
P5 : Maybe 50 : 50.
P6 : Is there a textbook for MYS tax ? If there is, I don't even think its applicable considering we have to follow budget changes every year.
P7 : Working experience counts more on this paper.

Easy to answer :
P4 : Even if you study the whole textbook, there is even a possibility that it might not be tested at all. You really need to adapt & innovate. In finance there is something called the "branch". Everything you learn will have branches then overlap into another area.

P5 : They said that its syllabus borrows from F5 & P3 & the pass rates has been favourable these past few seatings but it started to get difficult.

P6 : Tax planning is a subject everyone will try to avoid in the past & present. I won't say its very difficult like finance but its very complicated since everything seems so similar but it is very different. What is the difference between unit trust, REIT, Investment holding, OHQ,.... all every similar but have different characteristics, many student tend to jumble up all of them. This paper had claimed many casualties in my seating.

P7 : According to a friend, you need working experience to easily tackle this paper bcos the absence of it will cause a much more difficult session.

Usefulness especially working in accounting / audit related line :
P4 : Almost any profession will touch something on finance. Ask any lecturer they will claim this is the most useful paper.
P5 : Unless you are in manufacturing industry or in managerial role (budgeting), very unlikely to utilise any knowledge gained.
P6 : If you want to do audit, tax comes hand in hand in MYS (exception in China : separation rule). Tax is very specialised so its either you have it or don't have it. If you are applying for audit firms, having tax knowledge is a bonus.
P7 : Audit is a very subjective field, since training will be given it is quite unlikely you need to study to gain entry to audit firms. So unless you have already joined one but without acca then you must take P6 & P7 since both are very relevant. You don't really learn much but you may benefit from applying work experience into exam papers (source from some who have taken P7 & passed).

Ask yourself this question, you study acca to learn or just to pass ?
Your answer may help greatly to determine your choice as it will clearly points to which one you will about to take.

Very few people takes ICAEW for those working in Big4, most go for acca. Unless you want to venture into europe in near future then acca should be enough FOR NOW. Not many Big 4's are willing to offer ICAEW since you need to take substantial study leave making you less productive & you promotion in work place are tied with the performance with your paper. Anyway its a supreme qualification, reputation is unlimited.

If you joined Big 4 without doing acca, then you must take up a professional course if you are applying for audit position.
If you take acca then you MUST take P6 & P7 (bcos it is the most relevant for audit profession)
P7 is like a bonus since those with audit experience can apply inside but for those that didn't maybe a bit clueless.
P6 is the paper that they all hate since the scope is too large so need to spend more to time to study.

P5 is the paper they all will choose but very little application in audit & fresh graduates (forecasting & budgeting are reserved for senior people)
P4 ........ try to avoid if possible, good if you want to pursue CFA later on but ........... not worth the risk. In my seating everyone who have taken it will fail if examiner does not lower the passing rate.

You basicly answer your own question, if paper is very tough but with little practical purpose why people still bother to take it right ? Always have "give & take" or "pros & cons" situation. Another thing if you want to pursue career in audit prepare to work late.

Mea culpa mea culpa,
Once you join a big 4 WITHOUT a professional qualification (Ie : a degree holder) then if you CHOOSE acca as your choice then you must take P6 & P7 if you join the ASSURANCE line. For tax & adviosry it is not mandatory but highly encouraged. If you already finished acca then apply they will not mind. Anyway big4 is not the only firms that acca holders will & can join.

You will need to find platinum employers like Big4 or large MNCs like Shell & Petronas.
Its bcos they still offer training to you via 2 ways : class room training (or self learning) and on the job training.
ACCA requires 40 CPD hours if you are working but the trainings provided will definitely exceed those hours.
If not you have to attend those expensive acca courses offered by the body (normally from RM 500 to 1500)

However PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE finish all your studies b4 you work, I have some colleagues that takes ICAEW while working (the stress on their face is all evident to see), some degree holders still need to take professional like acca or ICAEW will suffer later.

Why you want to work so quickly ? I have been "sent" to 3 different states already in less than one month. You will never guess where I am posting from , yeah just completed work only on the hotel room. Need to sleep now.

a) Pay sucks
b) Prospect : Got ups & downs
c) Got good teams so far.
d) Depends on client (I got booked for one engagement until mid next year, crazy one)
e) Workload : Since I got acca (and brag too early about straight passer, manager got higher expectation so send me hundreds of Km north of MYS for exposure), all my colleagues laughed at me.
f) You really need to teach me on this, I don't know what,how & when to do it.

I think acca performance is not that very important since only Big4 or accounting firms are the only place that understands how acca works. Commercial or MNC's HR staff will normally clueless about acca. They rarely check on marks unless you are a prize winner so basicly thats a non-issue with many people. Straight passer is quite rare as well so they don't really expect anyone with that. However if you are straight passer or prize winner then interview process will be quite smooth.

Normally most of the new hires are degree holders (around 70 to 80%) comprises equal balance of foreign Uk or Aust grads and local public Us.
Degree holders are more all-rounder so they are prized for this quality compared to acca holders who are superior technically but lack other qualities. Some of the colleagues I known also failed b4 so nothing much to worry about.

However you really need to be good in english which is why many / some cannot get into Big4 even if they did brilliantly in exams. You must speak & understand well (to converse with client) and write as well (reports). My interviewer told me that they rejected a lot of people that cannot speak decent english.

I may be flamed for these but I have heard from colleagues that Big4 didn't put much emphasise on marks but they really put a lot of importance on one particular paper which is P2 Reporting. Not sure how strict but they are really peculliar about it. Its because we are dealing with a lot of standards especially FRS and audit ISA. Papers like P1 or P3 they don't care that much. But if you can provide good reasons then they may tolerate. It depends whether you are hired for a specific team or engagement in audit or for general batch. If you are hired for a particular large client then good luck since the head of that project will personally interview you. If general then normally HR manager rather than a specific manager / director.

Strictly all of this are PURELY MY opinion.

If I am not mistaken all Big4 will ask for your result transcript. They will ask you to fill their online application and normally marks, no of attempts and date of attempt will be asked. All Big4 will conduct tests & assessments except EY. PwC interview is the most stringent (non audit and tax position will be even worse).

I have attend both PwC and Ey interview and get offer (details can be find in jobs & career section). KPMG and Del is too far from my house so I never applied to them. Actually if you get the interview your past records are basicly irrelevant as long as you can entertain the interviewer. I dont think they want to hear your excuse but how you overcome it. Normally they like to ask "What is your weakness and what have you done to overcome it ?".

Interview exp for me is that I never prepared or memorize and just be myself during the interview. Do not overemphasize on your achievements and let them do the checking (humility is extremely important). All companies likes to hear how you can contribute rather than how they can accomodate you. Displaying good attitude is quite important.

My firm is located at Menara Milenium (you can do the search ).

Put it like this, a finance people without any accounting background or experience may lose out in long run.
Its bcos without accounting knowledge, analysis of financial datas will be quite difficult to digest. That is why CFA level 1 and level 2 is mostly accounting rather than finance. CFA is the supreme qualification for finance holders and most banks required their top employees to pursue one like Big 4 requiring their staffs to pursue ACCA / ICAEW. If you are not currently in Bank then pursuing CFA before joining one doesn't actually makes any sense since very few people join finance straightaway. That is why there is no such thing as Bachelor in Finance in any university, you may have accounting & finance or finance management but never finance, the content is too much for any graduates.

ACCA is not the supreme paper like ICAEW or CFA but in terms of versatility it is undeniable. If you are an acca holder you will get maximum exemption pursuing other papers like CIMA & ICAEW (can get another qualification in 1 year). Another thing is that ACCA is recognised worldwide compared to CPA which is generally not recognised in Europe.

There is no such thing as choice when comes to learning, you may also learn both (after completing either one of course). My advice is :
1) If you wish to enter Investment Bank or commercial banks then CFA is a must but only after you join, apart from that many company will not recognize CFA not bcos its not good but they do not even know what it stands for. Investment Bank is the only place I know that can gives you 2 year bonus if you are very damn good.

2) If you wish to increase your promotional or CV then taking acca will be quite useful. Accounting knowledge + law is very powerful combination since it covers a substantial area of the core of the organization.

Another thing, I think you also ask in the wrong place since most that post here are students so you will get more constructive feedback on jobs & career section.

I don't think if you missed one class that will be detrimental. If have clashes just go to the class which you think is more productive or the subject you are more concerned of. Normally people rarely skips papers like F8 audit or P2 reporting. That same applies to optional papers. Anyway its a common knowledge that centres in KL are exploiting us bcos they charge low fees compared to college like taylor or sunway. Its like going to airasia, if you pay cheap airline fees than don't go there and complain about the service provided, then they will utter go MAS.

Don't worry everyone is also suffering in silence, but its a good experience since you will dread to go back again making your motivation to pass the paper even greater. I have use the stairs quite often in KSA (11 floors dude) rather than wait for the lift. Toilet must wait after 5 or 10 minutes. Seats are always booked with a tissue paper or some crap stationery.

I have been crapping this for few weeks quite some time ago and nobody cares since the fees is cheap. Its like going to petaling street for hawker food, don't complain for cleanliness or service when you are paying RM 4 for a bowl of curry noodles, they will say go hotel la for that (taste quite good though so no complains).

Good luck for exam .
Those that give tips have nothing to lose but as a student that relies on such tips, well depends on your luck lo.

Just to share with you what I have experienced & to share with all others as well.
If you are very committed to finish acca in the shortest time possible maybe due to :
- eagerness to start work early (to impress relatives or friends perhaps)
- unable or unwilling to fork out money for reputable degree.
- to support family.
then by all means start with CAT then progress all the way with acca, should be completed within 3 years +/- possible failures.

If you are laidback, easy going or casual going person then starting off with degree will be a good choice unless you cared about joining the workforce a bit later. it also applies to people that is not entirely sure where their career lies or their future route will be.

ACCA is something like an open paper which almost "anyone" can take it from the most brilliant to the not so brilliant one. Hence the passing rate is hugely misrepresented which is around 30 to 40% especially the last few papers

Taking acca is quite risky compared to degree since the entry requirement is quite lax compared to CPA or ACA making many believe that they actually can finish it which is quite subjective in my opinion. A person with part qualification or cannot finish all papers in acca is like a jigsaw puzzle missing some pieces. Nobody will buy it no matter how good the rest is (maybe some will).

Perseverance is quite important too, you may end uf failing only 1 paper but you need to finish it no matter what (let say you really hate that paper), I seen quite a lot of people retaking the same paper over & over like F8 & P2 and most optional papers. I have seen how a failure in single paper can wipe out that person's entire enthusiasm and confidence, this happens to a lot to those whom are unprepared or a bit overconfident.

Just one thing about the difficulty of acca papers theory :
- if everyone fared badly then passing mark criteria will be lowered (less stringent) = just ask anyone taking P4 last sitting, the WHOLE world complained so bad the examiner is in deep #$@%. So no choice a lot of people have to pass to reach the 30% passing range. So imagine if he maintain the standard ?

- if nothing is being mentioned at all then its in even more dangerous position since examiner can simply roam around checking paper based on his standards and you won't want that. Try ask how many people passed P6 last round, the passing rate has been misrepresented.

Just don't be overconfident or overworried, thats all. Never take anything for granted

Based on my experience, memory and understanding F7 format will be the same with :
Qs 1 : Consol
Qs 2 : Published a/c
Qs 3 : Cashflow or ratio
Qs 4 & Qs 5 : Standard questions.

I will go with the flow if its F7 but for other papers you can skip all you like but there is a reason behind this
For consol its super important especially in the future for P2 takers so if you struggle with Qs1, P2 ...... Consol quite easy if you know how to do the adjustments based on the notes (1,2,3,4.....). Published a/c is all about time management so if you take a long time to do it, then ....... For Cashflow or ratio is quite straightforward and a lot of basic marks to pick up (cash flow = format marks, ratio = formulae marks). I will leave standards (IAS) questions for last as it was almost 100% theory with no applicational skills so just "copy & paste". My mission is to collect all the easy & formality marks as much as I can, after that I will deal with the difficult part on the last hour.

F7 is not difficult but you really need to manage your time well as you prepare a lot of things inside 3 hours.

Your docket will be taken away after you taken your LAST EXAM PAPER. So keep it until that time, cos they need to sign and pass it to acca board (proving existence that you have taken your exam).

Self study requires a lot of discipline since there is no monitoring or any kind which is also the beauty of acca I really treasured (coz I am quite lazy).
So under such environment only those that takes self iniative to study will prevail well. Prize winners..... I will say it will be extremely useful if you want to enter large companies or command any extra salary which fresh grads find it hard to do.

Lecturer is there to guide only as there is no law or any rules inside acca that requires you to have a lecturer. So they will redirect your focus on key topics or important area. Acca cannot test 100% of the entire area of syllabus so they will do sampling. However I truly believe what I learned is far more important than marks, the knowledge I gained in my reporting paper is very important to my scope of work.

A lecturer once told me, "the more you memorize the more you don't know".

Huh daniel ho gone to taylor already ? Knew he will join his old pal Chow over there.
For optional classes most of it will be evening classes so its quite normal, if its morning class it will be even more difficult right ?
I think you can negotiate with your boss like getting off 1 hour earlier and work 1 hour later for the day tomorrow for example.
He is a finance speciallist (only teach finance compared to other lecturers).