DEAR STUDENTS,
Results are HERE! Its nervous time for everybody but in reality, its not a hurdle but stepping stone closer to ACCA success. Remember, finishing the race is the purpose and so don’t let temporary setbacks stop you. The keys to success are industriousness, perseverance and determination.
May you all have the BEST life, TRUE happiness and STEELY determination achieving your goals.
Best regards,
Marcus Ong
'
PS: Please read the comments below - evidences that "ordinary people" can succeed. I hope they will motivate you and encourage you NOT TO GIVE UP. Please don't - a good future that is beautiful and meaningful awaits you.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
EXAM RESULTS
Dear Candidates,
DEAR STUDENT,
1. Results are around the corner. Its mere historical news. While I hope for the BEST outcome, but we embrace hope with prudence.
2. The key to ACCA success is perseverence, determination and industriousness. I have seen many valiant candidates cried, frustrated and even 'bled' [figuratively speaking]. But they never take NO as an answer.
3. Today they all are successful Awesome Chartered (Cute) Accountants. So can you! Remember, we lecturers always have your future in mind and heart.
4. Fulfill your mission with "Balance with 1/3" :
- 1/3 time sleeping
- 1/3 time of day meals, classes, transport, brisk walking as exercise, family time (notice that there is no time for TV, cinemas, malls)
- 1/3 time of day MOST CRITICAL COMPONENT is 8 hours personal study
5. You are given the best support with BPP manuals, BPP Kits, lectures notes, progress tests and of course our encouragement and motivation in class.
6. A minority would have straight passes which means majority of 180,000 current affliates have failed along the way and still graduate eventually. So, heartened up and take whatever results that comes and take action accordingly.
Best wishes.
DEAR STUDENT,
1. Results are around the corner. Its mere historical news. While I hope for the BEST outcome, but we embrace hope with prudence.
2. The key to ACCA success is perseverence, determination and industriousness. I have seen many valiant candidates cried, frustrated and even 'bled' [figuratively speaking]. But they never take NO as an answer.
3. Today they all are successful Awesome Chartered (Cute) Accountants. So can you! Remember, we lecturers always have your future in mind and heart.
4. Fulfill your mission with "Balance with 1/3" :
- 1/3 time sleeping
- 1/3 time of day meals, classes, transport, brisk walking as exercise, family time (notice that there is no time for TV, cinemas, malls)
- 1/3 time of day MOST CRITICAL COMPONENT is 8 hours personal study
5. You are given the best support with BPP manuals, BPP Kits, lectures notes, progress tests and of course our encouragement and motivation in class.
6. A minority would have straight passes which means majority of 180,000 current affliates have failed along the way and still graduate eventually. So, heartened up and take whatever results that comes and take action accordingly.
Best wishes.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Why Malaysia will lose out (to Singapore)?
- related to Porter's research on the Competitive Advantage of Nations
-related to my letter to (Future Prime Minister, you can see cyrstal clear why Malaysia is losing its competitiveness to a tiny island? The only matter for all ACCA graduates is go where the 'cheese' is, in this case, its not hard to guess...
Excerpts interview with Senior Minister I, Lee Kuan Yew:
Singaporeans need not despair or be depressed. We will have to endure some hardship but nobody will be destitute, depending on soup kitchens or begging in the streets,” he said.
His words were largely directed at the younger generation, the ones who would be charged with taking the country forward. As daunting though current circumstances may appear, he said they could take heart from the experience of their predecessors.
He told them of the 1960s and 1970s, when there was only S$100 million (RM240 million) in reserves, the country faced separation from Malaysia and had to deal with “Konfrontasi” from Indonesia. In contrast, he said there is more than S$100 billion in the reserves now.
“Your parents' and grandparents' generations had hard lives in shanty huts with no running water or modern WC, not knowing what the future could bring. They simply concentrated on hard work and built the foundation for the Singapore of the 21st century,” he said.
“Your generation can take Singapore forward to become one of Asia's most vibrant and beautiful cities.”
He added: “The success of Singapore came from the hard work, resourcefulness and ingenuity of your forefathers and their leaders. You are the descendants of these lion-hearted pioneers.
“You have it in you to succeed. Joining you are hard-working and talented new emigrants from Asean (Where would S'pore has high talent grades of labour supply?! Of course its Malaysia, primarily. ), India and China. Together we can make the grade.” (bold and italics added.)
Excerpts interview with Senior Minister II,Goh Chok Tong
Singapore ‘a speedboat in a storm’, says Chok Tong
SINGAPORE, Feb 2 — Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong gave the answer to a question on the minds of many: Why is Singapore prone to recessions despite being economically sound? The reason lies in Singapore's small but open economy, which is heavily reliant on global trade.
“Our total trade is 3.5 times our gross domestic product, one of the highest in the world,” Goh said yesterday at a Chinese New Year lunch in his Marine Parade constituency.
So the fall is faster and steeper when the global economy collapses, which explains why Singapore was the first in the region to slip into recession last year. It is also the reason for Singapore's bleak outlook this year, with the economy set to contract between 2 per cent and 5 per cent, while some other regional countries are forecasting growth, he added.
Likening Singapore to a small speedboat in an open sea, he said: “When the sky is clear and the sea is calm, we can easily outrun the larger ships and tankers.
“But when the winds rise and the waves are high, we have to slow down or seek shelter in the nearest harbour.”
While docked in the harbour, it is critical to have the right attitude. “We must not idle and wait for the storm to pass,” he noted.
“Instead, we should use the time wisely to maintain our vessel, upgrade our engines, go for training, keep ourselves fit, and conduct drills to prepare for the next race.”
This is what the Resilience Package in the S$20.5 billion (RM49 billion) Budget seeks to do — by saving jobs, building new infrastructure and investing in education (italics added), he said.
In dealing with the downturn, Goh described Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and his officials as a team of doctors that has prescribed the right medication — Budget measures — for the ailing economy.
They were also fortunate to have the collective experience of older ministers to draw on, many of whom have steered Singapore through previous recessions, including Goh.
Delving into history, he sought to show how the Government successfully dealt with previous economic fallouts.
In 1964, Singapore's trade fell sharply owing to political turbulence in the region and the failure to form a common market with Malaysia.
The solution: Leapfrog the region and make the world Singapore's market in an export-led industrialisation strategy, which brought strong economic growth for the next 20 years.
But the economy ran into trouble in 1985 when exports became too costly, owing to a deliberate high-wage policy to move Singapore up the value chain(italics added), so that workers can earn more.
The solution: Wages were slashed, so were taxes and fees — and growth resumed.
After a decade of strong growth came a succession of economic crises, starting with the Asian financial crisis in 1997, followed by the dot.com bust, the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, and SARS in 2003.
The solution: Singapore reformed the economy by opening up the financial sector(italics added), and diversifying the manufacturing base to more value-added productions(italics added), .
As in the past, Singapore can survive this recession, Goh said. “If we work together and support each other, we will emerge from this stronger than before.”
For now, the Government is also looking at the United States. “In six to nine months' time, we will know whether President Obama can turn the US economy around. When the US economy recovers, we will bounce right back... And we will bounce back to a very different Singapore.” — The Straits Times
-related to my letter to (Future Prime Minister, you can see cyrstal clear why Malaysia is losing its competitiveness to a tiny island? The only matter for all ACCA graduates is go where the 'cheese' is, in this case, its not hard to guess...
Excerpts interview with Senior Minister I, Lee Kuan Yew:
Singaporeans need not despair or be depressed. We will have to endure some hardship but nobody will be destitute, depending on soup kitchens or begging in the streets,” he said.
His words were largely directed at the younger generation, the ones who would be charged with taking the country forward. As daunting though current circumstances may appear, he said they could take heart from the experience of their predecessors.
He told them of the 1960s and 1970s, when there was only S$100 million (RM240 million) in reserves, the country faced separation from Malaysia and had to deal with “Konfrontasi” from Indonesia. In contrast, he said there is more than S$100 billion in the reserves now.
“Your parents' and grandparents' generations had hard lives in shanty huts with no running water or modern WC, not knowing what the future could bring. They simply concentrated on hard work and built the foundation for the Singapore of the 21st century,” he said.
“Your generation can take Singapore forward to become one of Asia's most vibrant and beautiful cities.”
He added: “The success of Singapore came from the hard work, resourcefulness and ingenuity of your forefathers and their leaders. You are the descendants of these lion-hearted pioneers.
“You have it in you to succeed. Joining you are hard-working and talented new emigrants from Asean (Where would S'pore has high talent grades of labour supply?! Of course its Malaysia, primarily. ), India and China. Together we can make the grade.” (bold and italics added.)
Excerpts interview with Senior Minister II,Goh Chok Tong
Singapore ‘a speedboat in a storm’, says Chok Tong
SINGAPORE, Feb 2 — Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong gave the answer to a question on the minds of many: Why is Singapore prone to recessions despite being economically sound? The reason lies in Singapore's small but open economy, which is heavily reliant on global trade.
“Our total trade is 3.5 times our gross domestic product, one of the highest in the world,” Goh said yesterday at a Chinese New Year lunch in his Marine Parade constituency.
So the fall is faster and steeper when the global economy collapses, which explains why Singapore was the first in the region to slip into recession last year. It is also the reason for Singapore's bleak outlook this year, with the economy set to contract between 2 per cent and 5 per cent, while some other regional countries are forecasting growth, he added.
Likening Singapore to a small speedboat in an open sea, he said: “When the sky is clear and the sea is calm, we can easily outrun the larger ships and tankers.
“But when the winds rise and the waves are high, we have to slow down or seek shelter in the nearest harbour.”
While docked in the harbour, it is critical to have the right attitude. “We must not idle and wait for the storm to pass,” he noted.
“Instead, we should use the time wisely to maintain our vessel, upgrade our engines, go for training, keep ourselves fit, and conduct drills to prepare for the next race.”
This is what the Resilience Package in the S$20.5 billion (RM49 billion) Budget seeks to do — by saving jobs, building new infrastructure and investing in education (italics added), he said.
In dealing with the downturn, Goh described Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and his officials as a team of doctors that has prescribed the right medication — Budget measures — for the ailing economy.
They were also fortunate to have the collective experience of older ministers to draw on, many of whom have steered Singapore through previous recessions, including Goh.
Delving into history, he sought to show how the Government successfully dealt with previous economic fallouts.
In 1964, Singapore's trade fell sharply owing to political turbulence in the region and the failure to form a common market with Malaysia.
The solution: Leapfrog the region and make the world Singapore's market in an export-led industrialisation strategy, which brought strong economic growth for the next 20 years.
But the economy ran into trouble in 1985 when exports became too costly, owing to a deliberate high-wage policy to move Singapore up the value chain(italics added), so that workers can earn more.
The solution: Wages were slashed, so were taxes and fees — and growth resumed.
After a decade of strong growth came a succession of economic crises, starting with the Asian financial crisis in 1997, followed by the dot.com bust, the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, and SARS in 2003.
The solution: Singapore reformed the economy by opening up the financial sector(italics added), and diversifying the manufacturing base to more value-added productions(italics added), .
As in the past, Singapore can survive this recession, Goh said. “If we work together and support each other, we will emerge from this stronger than before.”
For now, the Government is also looking at the United States. “In six to nine months' time, we will know whether President Obama can turn the US economy around. When the US economy recovers, we will bounce right back... And we will bounce back to a very different Singapore.” — The Straits Times
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
My Letter to the Prime Minister
ECONOMIC RECOVERY PLAN
(Applicable to ACCA Professional Level :P5 & P3 )
Dear Prime Minister,
I have read the progress of Malaysia with keen interests. After much research, I humbly propose the following as route to economic and very relatedly political recovery:
1. Asian economies are too export dependent for its economic growth. WIth USA & UK recessions, Taiwan had 43% fall in export in Dec 2008, Singapore -38%, China -18%, Korea over -50%, Malaysia also not spared with contraction of over -15%.
2. After a decade of overspending, US&UK consumers will need to rebuild savings mean that demand remain subdued. Asian economies cannot treat this as a cyclical recession anymore but a real permanent fall in demand.
3. Govt commendably have had stimulus package. The 'multiplier' effect on traditonal sector like construction is broad as it affects over 160 industries. Still, this is insufficient as consumers with low confidence likely to hold on spending.
4. Encourage consumers spending as economic recovery and growth by liberalising services sector by:
a)reduce subsidies on manufacturing, petrol, food ceiling prices as it tends to have over-investment in it at expense of services
b)liberalise banks sector to foreign competition as it will encourage lending and innovative financial products.E.g. Break oligopolies hold on Credit card lending at 18% interest pa that subdue spending.
c)homes and automobiles account for 65% of take home income. Open up automobile industry encourage more local contents by doing away with local tax duties. Govt pays lip service to this but needs to benchmark car affordability of 1 car equivalent to 9 month average income ie. 5000/month (combined family income)X 9 = 45,000. Pls note this price is current selling prices ex-duty based in Labuan,Langkawi. Toyota through Perodua has a strangle hold market share of more than 50%. Protected industry drives out other genuine investment. UMW todate ‘only’ spent RM4billion on car assembly plant for a total market demand of excess TIV 0.5million worth RM1.5 billion ringgit per year.
d) if essential goods, car and home, account for have a drop from 65% to 50% of total take home pay, this puts RM750 per month additional disposable income. Extrapolate that to average a million household equals to RM0.75 billion spending income per month. Note this is without government stimulus yet but the savings for government through subsidies removal.
e) consumers savings among highest in the world of average 32% of disposable income. Young savers plan for retirement due to poor social net like pension fund, health care, costly education. Invest and improve services sector ‘aggressively’. Set up independent committees to monitor progress, KPI, benchmark. Consumers will be less anxious of future if assured of proper health and retirement plans by government, improving confidence and spending.
f) hire and train doctors, professionals, head hunt overseas professors/researchers to improve health and education ‘soft’ –skill quality. Import doctors from India, professors from Singapore, France, Harvard Medical of USA. Offer KPI as controlling parenting style whilst giving autonomy to researched based universities. Resist temptation to construct more buildings. Competitive advantage is Human Resource talents, not cement blocks.
'
Conclusion
Malaysia economy enjoyed diversified income of manufacturing and agriculture sectors that account for more than 70% of GDP. This will not work now as both dependent on exports earnings. Domestic demand is the key. Rapid services liberalisation is the key for recovery and economic growth for next 3 years.
Best wishes,
Marcus Ong (CA, MSc)
ACCA lecturer now in INTI College of Subang Branch
Useful Links:
Prime Minister YAB Datuk Seri Najib, 2009, Personal Blog, http://www.1malaysia.com.my/, Visited on 3rd February.
(Applicable to ACCA Professional Level :P5 & P3 )
Dear Prime Minister,
I have read the progress of Malaysia with keen interests. After much research, I humbly propose the following as route to economic and very relatedly political recovery:
1. Asian economies are too export dependent for its economic growth. WIth USA & UK recessions, Taiwan had 43% fall in export in Dec 2008, Singapore -38%, China -18%, Korea over -50%, Malaysia also not spared with contraction of over -15%.
2. After a decade of overspending, US&UK consumers will need to rebuild savings mean that demand remain subdued. Asian economies cannot treat this as a cyclical recession anymore but a real permanent fall in demand.
3. Govt commendably have had stimulus package. The 'multiplier' effect on traditonal sector like construction is broad as it affects over 160 industries. Still, this is insufficient as consumers with low confidence likely to hold on spending.
4. Encourage consumers spending as economic recovery and growth by liberalising services sector by:
a)reduce subsidies on manufacturing, petrol, food ceiling prices as it tends to have over-investment in it at expense of services
b)liberalise banks sector to foreign competition as it will encourage lending and innovative financial products.E.g. Break oligopolies hold on Credit card lending at 18% interest pa that subdue spending.
c)homes and automobiles account for 65% of take home income. Open up automobile industry encourage more local contents by doing away with local tax duties. Govt pays lip service to this but needs to benchmark car affordability of 1 car equivalent to 9 month average income ie. 5000/month (combined family income)X 9 = 45,000. Pls note this price is current selling prices ex-duty based in Labuan,Langkawi. Toyota through Perodua has a strangle hold market share of more than 50%. Protected industry drives out other genuine investment. UMW todate ‘only’ spent RM4billion on car assembly plant for a total market demand of excess TIV 0.5million worth RM1.5 billion ringgit per year.
d) if essential goods, car and home, account for have a drop from 65% to 50% of total take home pay, this puts RM750 per month additional disposable income. Extrapolate that to average a million household equals to RM0.75 billion spending income per month. Note this is without government stimulus yet but the savings for government through subsidies removal.
e) consumers savings among highest in the world of average 32% of disposable income. Young savers plan for retirement due to poor social net like pension fund, health care, costly education. Invest and improve services sector ‘aggressively’. Set up independent committees to monitor progress, KPI, benchmark. Consumers will be less anxious of future if assured of proper health and retirement plans by government, improving confidence and spending.
f) hire and train doctors, professionals, head hunt overseas professors/researchers to improve health and education ‘soft’ –skill quality. Import doctors from India, professors from Singapore, France, Harvard Medical of USA. Offer KPI as controlling parenting style whilst giving autonomy to researched based universities. Resist temptation to construct more buildings. Competitive advantage is Human Resource talents, not cement blocks.
'
Conclusion
Malaysia economy enjoyed diversified income of manufacturing and agriculture sectors that account for more than 70% of GDP. This will not work now as both dependent on exports earnings. Domestic demand is the key. Rapid services liberalisation is the key for recovery and economic growth for next 3 years.
Best wishes,
Marcus Ong (CA, MSc)
ACCA lecturer now in INTI College of Subang Branch
Useful Links:
Prime Minister YAB Datuk Seri Najib, 2009, Personal Blog, http://www.1malaysia.com.my/, Visited on 3rd February.
URGENT: SBL Exam Guidance for Dec 2018 Exams
EVERY SUCCESS IN YOUR DECEMBER 2018 EXAMS Change is the only constant. Kasturi Core lecturing team has now moved to 2 new locations. ...
-
-relevant to CAT : T5 & ACCA : F1, P3, P5 (please note that the article should be read in conjunction with my lecture class on Chandler... -
DEAR STUDENTS, Results are HERE! Its nervous time for everybody but in reality, its not a hurdle but stepping stone closer to ACCA success. ...
-
- related to F8 and P7 this article is purely for educational purposes in relation to classes I conduct. All sources of information are der...
