Some things have gone so easily with me for the past few days after the board exam, immediately after the board exam I got hired without applying for the job, this takes me back to remembering how glad I must be that I luckily graduated cum laude in college. Twist of fate I think, I always rejected the thought of working in auditing firms way back in college due to the loads of horror office stories that I’ve been hearing from professors who’ve worked with auditing firms. The horror stories I knew are not that of supernatural occurrences but rather those stories of working up to 2am in the morning then returning to the office before 8am for about 3 months during the audit busy season. More than working late are the stories of deleted documents or laptop suddenly corrupting when the work is nearly done.

Again, immediately after the board exam (actually even before the board exam) I got hired and got an offer. And because I’m lazy of job hunting, I chose to accept immediately the job offered by the auditing firm. I’ve always thought of working in a private company because of the large gap in compensation, but then again, looking at the learning gap side, I’m also glad that I’ve accepted the offer.

Gladly the firm is good for me, I’ve got a good cluster, a good MC, and probably all the best seniors. All of my seniors are so kind, and gladly most of them if not from the same school as me then we are mostly Chinese. Somehow all these made me more than happy to work. And a big bonus for me is that my first real engagement is for a company located in China, that means … I can immediately go abroad!!!

Right now, I’m still in China and I’ll be back to the Philippines by December 24 late night. Although it is quite cold here, yeah real cold, specially with those strong winds that blows together with the chilly weather. I just hope that when I get back here by February it won’t be as cold as it is now. The work is quite good and I’m still trying to get used to the weather, although all the social networks that I used to have couldn’t be accessed, at least tabulas is not blocked here in China, probably it isn’t as popular as wordpress. J

I wouldn't take back my words, but I am sincerely awed by the reaction returned to me. Definitely the post (on facebook) was pointed to a person and he knows it to be him. Speaking faster than he thoughts, rather, if he CAN, I hope that he'll first think before he speaks. Simply look at the environment and see if there are any strangers who might misinterpret what he is bullshitting, it is so simple that should have already learned for the past 20 years of his existence. If he doesn't care about what others feel, definitely I also am not interested in what he feels. For the past few days I even waited that he initiated a talk, but rather I was simply ignored, but that's fine, what more can I expect? A “sorry”? Of course not from him.

Many times I have simply ignored or forgiven what he'd said, and more often I even asked pardon just to make it up not to hurt the ties. But definitely, I do not have an infinite reservoir of “sorrys” to give to make up for his mistakes. If it shall end, then let it end. It's been a week of cold war, and really I'm enjoying it, it is just too nice to end it this way. Happily the training soon ends and the chances of meeting are getting more and more distant as we are getting deployed to our respective clusters. If it is meant not to be mend, then simply leave it broken.

Four years in the making together with four months of review, all this is done just to prepare for the four days of examination for certified public accountant. Now, looking at the first sentence, it seemed that the preparation and the actual examination was filled with number four, with for the auspicious Chinese might already mean a bad thing because four in Chinese means death. But none the less, there is no where I could find death in where I am standing right now. If I would recall, I would say that the “fours” spent throughout this preparation for the examination was rejuvenating and fun. Admitting that stress is there, but definitely happiness is more than enough to compensate the tiredness.

The past few months, which started April 28, 2011, was a great time for me to learn how to properly manage my time. Joke! For those who knew me personally, they would swear that definitely I am not a person who can manage time well, anyhow, I just feel that when anything is due I can meet the date. I would just recall how I chose the review center I’m in, if not because of Dean Bobadilla, definitely I would not enroll in PRTC, I would go with my very first choice – ReSA. Definitely God has His own plan. I enrolled in PRTC bringing with me Ailenette Ngo, thanks that I didn’t make the wrong choice, otherwise there are probably two consequences that I might face. One is that I convinced Ailenette to enroll at PRTC, and another I might fail in the exam. Gladly, no fear, all is well here. We’ve got the best of reviewers, and here’s the list of my reviewers if anybody is interested in the review center:

Practical Accounting 1/Auditing Problems – Reynaldo Ocampo

Practical Accounting 2 – Mr./Mrs. Guillermo/ Norma de Leon

Management Advisory Services – Dean Apolinario Bobadilla/ Dean Hilario Tan

Theory of Accounts/Auditing Theory – Rommel Valdez

Business Law – Atty. Manuel Malvar/ Atty. Johnson Ong

Taxation – Atty. Almazor Sarip Macmod/ Vincent Sia

I owe a lot to this set of reviewers although I might not be attending all of their classes, but still I know that they have exerted their best effort, but somehow their style is not for me. But still my classmates are attending fervently thus I can assure that they are really goods. Simply compare handouts and I can say that nothing beats the preparation they give.

But review is not all about studying; about 90% of my time prior to September is spent for leisure and fun. I know for a fact just before the board exam that I am not the material to top the board exam, I knew that I would better want to enjoy time with friends rather than seriously studying handouts and books, thus I enjoyed, I knew I would pass the exam thus I relaxed. And that is what happened for me, I’ve made lots of friend, and I watched movies (more than what I have watched the entire undergraduate years).

So how did I become confident about me passing? Definitely it is because of the perfect set of professors that I’ve got in the undergraduate years. Which I would want to boast in here:

Auditing Problems/Practical Accounting1 – Prof. Patricia Empleo

Practical Accounting 2 – Prof. Christopher German

Management Advisory Services – Dean Apolinario Bobadilla

Auditing Theory – Prof. George James

Business Law – Atty. Jose Ngo

Taxation – Atty. Almanzor Sarip Macmod/ Atty. Tristan Lopez

Gladly, I passed the exam. With a score higher than what I am expecting; with a score that somehow can make me proud of myself. Definitely I knew that it isn’t hard work that put me there, it is the steering hands of God.

What is the threshold of materiality? I really don’t know. Materiality is defined in accounting standards as an information, if omitted or misstated, could influence the decision of the person using the information.  Right now while I’m preparing for the coming CPA board exam this October 2011, I am also in need of knowing materiality – whether the degree of preparation that I am giving for each of the seven board examination subjects is sufficient and appropriate.

For the past few weeks that review started (May 26, 2011) I am still not serious enough in reviewing, probably it is because that the topics currently discussed were previous topics that we just finished during our mandatory summer classes thus it would just be repetitive and confidence dictates that I know it already. But every time that I visit the library (in UST) I would see a lot of my batch mates and classmates in there studying and preparing already for the exam, and I would question myself if I am indeed going way too lax.

There are seven board exam subjects that we have to prepare for and they are:

1.       Practical Accounting 1

2.       Practical Accounting 2

3.       Theory of Accounts

4.       Auditing Theory

5.       Auditing Problems

6.       Management Advisory Services

7.       Business Law and Taxation

While I am scanning through the board exam subjects, there is one thing that I’m sure that I need to give more than 40% of my time for, and that is business law and taxation, my Achilles heel. But then when I am looking at the other courses, it seems that it is quite unfair if I would simply allocate the remaining 60% to each of the six remaining courses (10% each). I simple don’t know how to expand my time such that before the board exam comes I could say that I am fully prepared to face each of the subjects.

Looking now back at the course, I observed that I only need to focus on studying well financial accounting and I’ll be hitting three birds in one stone. Practical Accounting 1, Theory of Accounts, and Auditing Problems all rely on the mastery of accounting standards (that is the framework, International accounting standards 1 to 41, and international financial reporting standards 1 to 9) although the coverage of the standards is lengthy but somehow it pays off to master all since they all relate to one another, and gladly I’m a fast reader. Thus with this I have bundled already three subjects into 1 and there would be much more time for the rest of the board exam subjects – which is uniquely unrelated to one another as well as to the previous subjects.

Ok, back to library. Sometimes I observe that a lot of those who frequent the library are those who aren’t fan of the library during our undergraduate years. Somehow I am shocked and worried for them. I am shocked because of the load of accountancy graduates filling up the library which is incomparable to the volume of accountancy graduates in the previous years studying in the library. And I am worried because somehow they are massively changing their lifestyle and habit in a very short span of time, I have experienced a lot of times having the heat and push for the first few days, but because of the sudden change I would simply turn back to my previous habit (now that applies to my diet, simple by looking by how big I am getting, you can already assume how many times I’ve attempted to diet).

And finally, it can be observed that a lot of people are changing their behaviors. Those that are quite close to you in the past are now devoted to review material collection. Somehow, it is pitiful to see people collecting all materials available from each review centers for each of the board exam subjects and rushing themselves in finishing all the materials. Please, take a break, have a Kitkat®. Lol.

Probably the fourth year of my stay in the college is the most fruitful year that I’ve had. It is probably the year that somehow I realized what I can be, what I am capable of, and what I would most like to be. Fourth year started just about two weeks after our mandatory summer classes, and although a lot of people seemed to be not in the mood to start the academic year such early, but somehow I am spirited. I just felt like the year would be something good, and I have a belief that when studying stops for a long time, the brain goes stagnant and lazy to learn another thing.

Somehow fourth year went so smooth, with a few minor problems in doing the thesis as well as some difficult exams, and it seemed a breeze that I managed to finish a lot of things while doing also a lot of things. Fourth year is probably the year that I gave most of my time teaching various students. And fourth year is also the time that I became closer to a lot more of people – classmates, professors, and stall owners (bwahaha).

When I reviewed the number of hours I spent with books and review materials during my whole college, I would rank fourth year of my college as just next to my first year in the little amount I’m spending with books, my most intensive study year is probably third year then second year. But when I would come to think of it, I must really give a lot of thanks to my students in financial accounting. Somehow I have to study a little bit of the concepts from my summary notes which I made during the mandatory summer classes as well as from the Wiley’s IFRS 2010 which I bought also during the mandatory summer days from Amazon.

Each meeting that I’m teaching them I am quite excited about how my lecture will flow and how I am going to answer each of their questions, but somehow I am happy that my teaching paid off. I believed that somehow they have learned and remembered all those acting and gossips that we’re sharing, I don’t care if they remembered the accounting lessons, wahaha. Still, I am happy for them, some of them reached their dream of being in the dean’s list, and I am more than proud to say that at least one of them made it to section A1 (star section of accountancy in UST).

Another thing that made my fourth year definitely easy is St. Jude, I made it a point the every Thursday I’ll go to St. Jude National Shrine in Mendiola to attend the mass as well as to pray the Novena (of course I am not praying for grades but for healing) somehow St. Jude granted me both. And I can remember that each time there is an exam, I would prepare just a day or two before and I don’t mind up to where I could finish. All I care is that before the exam in the morning, I would finish reading my daily 10 chapters in the bible and then prepare to go to school and not worry anymore that I am unable to finish solving all the reviewers at hand. And gladly, I passed all the exams.

The last semester of my fourth year is on the mandatory summer class for fourth years and I have already given up the desire of reaching latin honors (because I need a grade of 1.25 on all four courses that I am to take in the summer class just to reach 1.75 general weighted average). Thus during the summer class, I would not waste too much time studying and I have the following strategy for each course (it is not advisable to follow my strategyJ): for advanced accounting I’ll just listen and answer the handouts in the class and I would no longer answer any reviewers, for auditing problem and auditing theory I just believed that these two courses are my strong points and I don’t need to study them thus I allot only the lunch break before the exam (the exam on auditing problem and theory starts at 1 pm) to prepare for it, for management accounting I have a strong feeling that I can do it with just a few review because management accounting is more on analysis rather than strict standards thus I just solve random problems and recall some concepts then that’s it. Now the fourth subject is where the bulk of my time is put – business law and taxation – I would admit that this is my waterloo, and I allotted all of my review time on this course, gladly I passed all.

Somehow with the way that I am preparing for the summer classes, I just felt that I am really going farther away from getting the honor of being a cum laude. But who knows? Somehow, the cut-off for cum laude is not the same that is in my mind, I reached it and I made it. Surely God is great.

And now I am already reviewing, gladly there are no pressures around me and all that I know is that I need to reach a bare minimum. There are 4 months to go before the board exam for CPA, and now I’m sure that I would take advantage of the time, somehow I need to prove that the trust that people have put into me can be gratified. And of course, for my review I would thank Dean Bobadilla (Ooops! Why is the word Bobadilla not highlighted by MS Word as wrong spelling??? J).  

Probably it was our professor in accounting that flared my passion for accounting. I never would have thought that somehow I would reach a point of compromise with accounting, and it just suddenly happened. It all started with a very poor basic accounting that I’ve got from my professor. I started intermediate accounting without a firm ground on the concepts of accounting and thus I have to relearn all past topics to have a better grasps of the higher accounting. Somehow I managed to finish relearning in a very short span of time and got a good grip on the journal entries. Probably the reason for my quite high scores in auditing problems (final grade of 1.50, no bluff J) is the time that I’ve spent to master the journal entries and developing my own shortcuts after getting a firm visualization of what is happening in the behind the scenes (journal entries).

Second year of my college life seems to be the turning point, the time that I’ve started to get up the book and started to read, the time that I’m finally committed to become a certified public accountant in time. But still at that time, all I knew is that my major is accounting and I don’t care for those minor subjects, and honestly I hate studying business management books filled with American business best practices which are seemingly inapplicable in the Philippines, but anyway, it is better to read American texts rather than native authored filled with copy-pasted paragraphs from various American books.

If there is someone I’m very thankful to during my second year that must be Mrs. Shirley Ireneo. Somehow she taught us well in intermediate accounting, and inspired us more to prepare ourselves for the board exam even if there are still two more years to go.

After learning my grade for the whole second year, I’m quite happy that somehow I managed for the first time to be in the dean’s list. But then I’m prouder to say that I even managed to finish one novel a week and all I’m doing is just study for a while and enjoy the rest of my time online. This I could say is something that I could be proud of, that despite my poor memory (specially in names) I still managed to have a retentive memory on the proper analysis of the various accounting treatments. But then I know that life for me does not mean sitting back on a chair and reading technical materials, but rather I’m more inclined to enjoy my life the way I like and put the books on the secondary priority. Thus, I would never have dreamt of me graduating with honors, because I myself have already accepted my unworthiness. But who knows?

There are a lot of twists in life. In my third year of study, it was the first time that I’ve met law and there are three more law courses to go plus tax courses. Somehow I just don’t know how to manage to memorize those hell of a lot of rules regarding various cases, all I believe is that when there is a case the only remedy is to call the attorney and ask him to defend. But then it seems like a joke that we would be having four business law courses with a professor so scary that the first time I saw her enter the class I was so shocked and thought that it was just a dream, but no, this is real. Thanks to our law professor, that I’ve got a single 3.00 in my whole academic life, so near to failure yet luckily included in those who’ve passed.

Third year was another low grade year of my life, thus to dream getting to graduate with honors seem to flee so far away that I must risk a lot if I would like to catch that. At all means, third year of college seems to be the most painful year of my life, with a very near to failure grade plus the emotional pain that I’m suffering during that time (refer to older entry). Anyway, it was also the year that I slowly became a Christian. Win some, lose some. That’s just how it went for the two years of my college.

The first time I’ve entered college I have no idea of what I need to do to finish it, all I have in mind is that I’ll be out on time and all I’ve got to do is just to finish each course requirements then that’s it, I don’t care if I’ll get the lowest 3.00 or be happy with a high of 1.00, all in my mind is that I never dreamt of myself finishing a business course. While studying has never been a hobby of mine, I’m glad that throughout my high school life, I’ve graduated 5^th honors without me doing burning any midnight oil and I’ve never opened any textbook and just daydreamed across each day. Probably the most time that I’ve studied is when I get to memorize the bunch of Chinese poems required for our Mandarin class, other than that no way!

When I think back, math has never been my first love. I could still recall that during my elementary days, I’ve got real difficult time to pass my arithmetic courses and all that I could do just not to repeat the course or even just to pass with a rough 75% is to give the teacher a 100 pesos for each points going through 75. And of course I wouldn’t disclose who those teachers are. I just don’t know how when I entered high school it seemed that mathematics starts to love me back, and it seems just so easy to pass and even to perfect examinations. Somehow, I might have realized that I am a late bloomer. Gladly during my college days, I have also smoothly crossed each math course except for one – college algebra. Why??? College algebra is such an easy course, but then I have never thought that 20% of the grade is made of the seatwork that must be kept until the final grade recording, thus I finished with a low grade of 1.75. Anyway, it is the highest grade that I have in first year of college.

While as a freshman in college, there are a lot of things to trouble about, such as physical education as well as other minor subjects that are projecting themselves as major courses. Somehow I have breezed through all the minor subjects with a passing grade of 3.00 while some others with a slightly higher score, like 2.75 and 2.50. These grades are not something that I can be proud of, of course these ugly scores are better kept within the closet, but then I can happily accept these grades because I really haven’t studied for these courses and all in my mind is that I’ll be shifting course after a year and I’ll be going to China to study my dream course. But of course, dreams are still dreams, and after I dream I must wake up and face the reality. Somehow the low grades have alerted me, but not so much, because I still don’t have a direction on finishing BS Accountancy.

First year might not be said as the happy days, because I still carry the sours from the previous friendship failures in high school. Thus I might say that I’ve got the view in life of not trusting anyone and simply mind my own business, because you are you and I am I. But then is that really effective, it is not. Because I still easily trust and form strong bonds with people who are within my vibes. While I do not trust so much, but still there were some friends that entered the scene and honestly I have still trusted and believed that another tragedy is far away.

Anyway, first year life is happy, there are a lot of brand new things that happened for me, specially that I am freer than before since I am commuting home and I’m no longer fetched immediately upon dismissal from school. Starting school is fun, a time to make friends, a time to enjoy lax life, because the succeeding years in college started my hell.

Probably, it is now the best time for me to write a review of what college life is, and also the right time to think again of the four years that I’ve stayed in the college. The troubles, the hardship, as well as the rigors and challenges met within the path to end – which is graduation – seems surreal when I am to think about it seriously now after I have passed the rigorous mandatory summer classes which covered most of the accounting lessons for the past four years. It is fun and it is satisfying to see myself going to walk the carpeted floors of PICC this coming May 31 for the graduation rites. To be marching seems nothing, but the hurdles and obstacles crossed are the source of fulfillment, seeing myself being one of the hundreds surviving the rigorous program out of the thousands who have started.

 There are a lot of ways to start the college life. You can start being lax and work harder later when needed, you can also start being industrious and end up industrious, but for me I am more of the former. I started college without any plans ahead of me, all that I know is that studying is something boring and good for nerds only and I am not one among those, and until now, I still hold on to that idea. But then we ought to at least finish something in order to maintain a bare minimum standard of knowledge for ourselves, thus all I have done was just to complete the requirements and nothing more.

This leads me to think again of the wrong that I have committed way back 2007. Everything was set for me to go to Beijing, China to study Chinese medicine, but a twist of faith occurred and from being in a medical school, I was thrown into a business school which I have never imagined myself getting into during my high school days. I was shocked and I feel bored. I never knew what it was like to enter classes four hours each day listening to professors without business experience blabbering business education (most of the undergraduate business professors don’t manage a business, and if they do, probably it is just a sari-sari store), it just seems annoying when a person without even experiencing how it is to do business teaches you helluva lot of business theories, sometimes I just feel like racing my hands and asking them how they’ve applied the theory in their life.

College life started to wake me up later in my first year when I started to see my grades entering very close to failure zone, and that was first year of my college that I have evaded opening any textbook just like the way I’m getting over high school. But still my mind was still relaxing by the end of first year and I ended with a very low weighted average grade, but of course I’m still happy that I’ve enjoyed most of the days of my first year. Second year was the real start of studying for me, I tried to start appreciating accounting lessons and slowly I was able to catch up and alerted myself that there is no way back other than to go ahead and face the challenge. I am already in the program for more than a year and I am not willing anymore to go back and start from scratch on another course, yet I am happy of where I am right now.

College is probably where we meet a lot of friends, friends in the same profession, and friends that might share with us same ideals. Probably it is in college that I have perfected being close but not so bonded. It might be said to be a self-defense mechanism against emotional pain and suffering. Maybe it is in college that you’ll learn how to utilize another without yourself being a utility, being a friend without too much collateral, being nice without strings attached. College is filled with learning, about life and about the profession.

Officially, I am now a graduate. After four academic years including two mandatory summer classes, finally the undergraduate days are done and now I would be preparing for the next hurdle of my life. I might not have achieved one of my dreams before I finish college - to graduate with honors - but still I'm happy to say that at least in my four years of stay in the college, I've left a legacy.

Throughout my stay, I've been able to touch hearts, encourage others to do better, and of course I was also able to share my knowledge with others who need help. I wouldn't say that I am regretting the wrong that I've done way back in first year, garnering an ultimately low weighted average, in reality in more than happy to say that I was able to sleep each day a minimum of six hours and a maximum of twelve hours during each day with one exception, a two hours sleep for the examination on accounting for leases.

This time that I graduate college, I know how much the University of Santo Tomas - Alfredo M. Velayo College of Accountancy had helped in developing me as a person as well as a professional. The faculty and staffs of the college have really helped mold me, without them life wouldn't be fun and there wouldn't be enough excitement. But I would also not forget the students (classmates and friends and my students) for the time they shared with me, as well as for the various activities that have altogether contributed to the well-bonded friendships.

I would like to name drop a few professors and staffs that have deeply influenced me:
1. Patricia Empleo
2. Christopher German
3. Apolinario Bobadilla
4. Atty. Almanzor Sarip Macmod
5. Norma de Leon
6. Atty. Jose Ngo
7. Atty. Elizabeth Inoturan
8. Nancy Macapagal
9. Apol Tang
10. Norman Corado
11. Ate Cherry
12. Other professors

And of course, I would never forget my St. Jude-mates:
1. Jojo Clemente
2. FV Makalintal
3. Amriya Recinto
4. Beauty Bones
5. Rayman Gomez