News!

"As economies develop, the demand for accountants will always continue."

Singapore is facing a shortage of accountants as demand for accounting skills around the region rises on the back of rapid economic growth.

Our local accounting professionals have a strong reputation for being competent and reliable, and are highly sought after in many other markets. They are popular in many countries due to their familiarity with international accounting standards and their language fluency.

Hence, the accounting industry does not only need to work on attracting talent but it must also be smart about RETAINING these skilled people.

Talent management is not just about recruitment, but also about retention.

And retaining people involves issues such as 'career prospects, personal development opportunities and work-life balance'.

What the Big 4s have done.

1) The Big Four accounting firms have lifted the starting pay of new graduates from $2,000 less than a year ago to $2,400.

2) Rather than aspiring to become a partner, young recruits are also leaving to join banks or to be chief financial officers. That has prompted the idea that promising accountants might be kept in the fold by making them a partner earlier.

In view of the Gen Y professionals who are looking for work-life balance and may not be prepared to stay for that duration, the Big4 are now reviewing this model to see if they are able to shorten the time period needed to make partner.

A word for our peers

STRIVE ON!

hehe.

Together, we run!

" 2 months ago, we were still strangers. Now we are like brothers and sisters. "

- Zachary Foo, Assurance, PwC

With each other, you will never walk alone.

Cheers!

Second to none. =)

Happy friday!

A typical day at office again!

Ruyun and zach.

and we also took some grp photos.

The serious look.

The A1s look. haha!

And then we were serious at work.

After a hard day's work in the office, it was followed by a mass lunch at Amoy! we went off slightly earlier and managed to get 3 big tables! yippie!

Clockwise (from left): xiaoyun, xiao xue, pinxiu, ruyun, zach, weilin!


Clockwise (from left) : eileen, connie and darrell!


Lastly, my table without me. haha.


clockwise (from left) : Zhihui, Yiqiang, Sunny and Singying!

A visit to the temple

sometime ago, 3 v handsome guys went for a heritage tour at a temple nearby. they found it so enriching that they decided to share their experience with us.

haha.

Our IFRS Module 1 Training

Thanks techno cat, im sure all of us have a very thorough understanding of the credit crunch in US now.

anyway, back to updates for second-to-nun

We had L&E again!

It was indeed a very enriching session with our friendly and competent instructors at the IFRS Module 1 class we attended early last week.




This was how it started. the news snippets by our run.



thanks darrell for snapping these photos!

vivian and adelene

with zachary

and lastly, sunny, with his proud invention.

"Audit brings you to places, Tokyo, Japan, Shanghai, JURONG, New York, TUAS, Hong Kong."

hahaha

Please don't take away our pie!

Will the most significant development on Wall Street in decades, turn out to be a looming disaster for the audit industry? Nasdaq today has launched a private stock market for the super-wealthy investors called the portal market. In this new market, private firm can raise money by selling stocks to an elite group of shareholders without making public their financial statements or submit to federal regulation, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate accountability law. Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and Citigroup are also setting up rival private stock markets of their own.

It definitely sounds like good news to Corporate America as there are now more avenues of raising funds without having to pay big audit and compliance fees. Be sure that there will be an increasing trend for big public companies to move away from the rigorous requirements of the public market to that of the “no strings attached” private ones.

What do these entail?

Audit Partners’s big fat package will be SQUEEZED as either (1) the public market lobbies for lower level of regulations to retain its competitiveness or (2) a big movement of public companies to the private exchange. Help! Someone please start lobbying for more regulations on the private markets because audit and compliance are positive externalities which will safeguard the investors’ welfare and most importantly our audit partners’ pockets.

Techno Bunny

News again! - Try pressuring China harder..

The limelight is not on China these days..
All the la~la~ on the US sub-prime mortgage market and the choking credit crunch that results, the dragon is indeed not directly involved in the all the hype and action..

But the bitter trade and currency disputes between US and China just never end. And China is indeed attempting to make her presence felt once again.

With the mounting pressures on China to revalue their yuan northwards for the sake of a fairer, happier trading environment, China is flexing its political and economical muscles. But it is not the first time anyway.

It all started with a mysterious China central bank official making remarks, hinting that China may toy with the thought of dumping the US$ should US push them too far with all the sanctions and weapons of protectionism.

Sitting on 1.33 trillion worth of USD denominated assets, China does have weights to throw around and the weights can very well crush the already weakened US$. Ouch~

But.. Will China really change her official policy and launch a trade retaliation?

Well, Bush thinks China would be “foolhardy” if they were to execute this thought they were toying with. China later calmed the public that they will support the greenback as it is a vital component of its reserves despite having plans to invest its reserves in other ways to earn higher yields.

Both the super powers can indeed play pressure-threaten-retaliate stunts in this trade war, but both parties are well aware that their intricate relationship not only went all the way back into history, witnessing milestones like Mao and Nixon shaking hands, but also plays an important role in shaping the world’s economic landscape. The stakes are simply too high for both powers to lose their cool and turn the table. A tricky issue like this is best solved in cordial way. *peace*

So.. Let’s focus our attention to the US sub prime mortgage ONCE AGAIN. Sentiments in the coming months will indeed be a cautious one and the real impact of the sub prime mortgage crisis is just becoming to unfold. Let the exuberance begin..

News posted on behalf of Techno Cat

The Credit Crunch Part 2….

It has been 3 weeks since the US markets have suffered at the hands of the ailing US sub prime market and it never look like it is going to recover any time soon. This week is brand by many as the make or break week…. Will the US economy sink into a recession, global markets starting experiencing the terrifying bear kill bull scenario, let us all bow our heads and start praying!

The Signs….

Top French Investment Bank BNP Paribas announced the freezing of a couple of hedge funds causing severe panic in the market. Many financial institutions will follow suit soon.

Ben Bernake and friends have announced that the US interest rates will stay at 5.25% and trying very hard to persuade the investors the fundamentals are strong and the market will self correct.

The US, European and Asians central bank have officially pledged to pump in funds to tackle the credit crunch. The US and European big boys have subsequently pump in money into the economy.

Why should we care?

Singapore is highly dependent on the US economy. A huge part of our exports are consumed by the Americans, a huge of Singapore’s direct investments also comes from them… the US is like our sugar mummy.

The movement of Singapore Interbank Rates… Almost every single bank is being hit by their exposure to the US sub prime market. Under pressure from the market to be more conservative, banks have increased their provisions significantly, become more stringent in offering credits and holding back huge money SS to counter the redemption of loans. Be sure to see a hike in the SIR.

If the US sub prime market can crash, we should be wary of the Global Real Estate market too. In fact a lot of the global real estates are in the over-valued region and it seems that there is only one way which is down. If the real estates prices are going to fall any time soon, there might be a re-enactment of the sub prime market scenario. Watch out for the Spain real estate, best bet to crash next!

Techno Bunny

Second-to-nun Tea Session on National Day's Eve!

because it was national day's eve.

because alot of people were in office either on secondment, L&E, OA or AT.

and because of the powerful invention called MSN and SAMETIME,

we jio those people that we can catch in the office down for some afetrnoon tea at 4pm!

there were more than 15 of us. (though some were late, like dorothy and chris) beautiful!

the pantry was quite popular the particular afternoon cos the whole pantry was filled with people other than us! a gd way to end the day (almost!) with some laughters, catching up and some photo takings! =)

zach, the rubber face, xiao xue and james, with the handsome look (but failed terribly here! haha)

ok james again with the legendary handsome look! looks better! haha

small vivien and dorothy!

the guys.

the guys with lixia.

and lastly, more picts of the people in our run!

cheers! and hope everyone had a great holiday on national day!

Have you looked at the issues from a number of angles?*

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YES WE HAVE!

PwC Inter-Department Futsal Competition 2007

On the 4th of Aug, we went to Fico Sports Hub to play Futsal. We had 8 guys in the team and 5 supporters! In our first match, it was a draw (0-0). We could have won if there was more organization and teamwork. We won the next two matches (1-0) and (2-0). The last 2 group matches were crucial if we were to quality. We lost (0-2) to the "Red" team. They were very organised and it is more likely than not that they reach the finals. Despite the defeat, our team was not to be disheartened. We continued to play with optimism and drew (2-2) with an equally competitive "White" team. Zhiyong displayed exceptional skill and all of us were impressed! We managed to be ranked 4th (2W-2-D-1L) in our group and proceed to the quater-finals. In the quarters, we played against the "Black" team. They had a couple of Caucasian players and I felt as if I was playing an EPL side. We played our best. However, we lost (0-3). I am sure that with more trainings and organization in out team, there would be more chemistry and I am sure our team will go far in future competitions.

BangHui bringing the ball up-front as James looks on with 100% concentration.

Adelene is the Director with the cool CineMax Chair.

V for "V-I-C-T-O-R-Y"!

"Circle of Trust. Are you in it?"

Group Photos

Ben And Darrell

ShuNing came to say Hi! :D

XO Fish Slice BeeHoon - Yummy!

We all had a good meal at some Zi-Char place near Holland V. :)

More photos may be viewed at
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2088978692

News from the techno cat!

Interest Rates Hike

All eyes are on where the US interest rates will head as Ben Bernanke and his FOMC team meets tomorrow. The stakes are high that the Fed will keep interest rates unchanged despite the fact there are optimists in the market which believe that Ben and friends will decide to cut interest rates as early as Sept 18 to bring some needed optimism to a market that is as volatile as a YOYO.

Reasons supporting a cut in I/R are many:
- Fears that the crashing housing markets and a rising interest rates are signals that a recession is looming.
- The continue worsening to the sub prime mortgage market
- Slowing of US job growth and declining consumer spending
- Downgrading of credit ratings of Bear Stearns


Reasons supporting a stay in I/R:
- Rising oil prices that are causing inflationary risks
- The green back at a all time historic low

Second2none Gut feel: A stay in US interest rates at 5.25%.


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C-D-O the new “IN” Kopi Tiam Talk

For those who haven’t been able to catch a snippet of the CDO Galla, it is real time to update yourself before the uncle selling kopi starts laughing at you.

in which many sub prime mortgages are packaged ( in other words, mortgages similar to your Hougang, Ang Mo Kio, Geylang Condos and housingCDOs are securities , but in the States la, who care about Singapore?!)

Why we care?
Our dear friends engaged in FSIP job might be concerned over the extra work they have to do since the funds or banks they are auditing might have exposure to the CDOs. The prices for CDOs have tumbled because of the rising default in the US sub prime market.

What extra work?
Your managers might be racking their brain inspecting whether their banks or funds are making the necessary mark to market losses adjustment in the near term. Who kena? We la… so it is better to know a bit to prevent being tekan without knowing y?!

Our friends at various funds jobs … Take Care!

As for the rest of those who are starting interim bank audits soon, you will be with them soon. Ha!

Source: The Business Times

--> news update, brought to u by urs sincerely, TECHNO CAT.