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05-05-2015 10:35 AM
Jones
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
I have been looking around for an expanded job scope in the another industry. My concern is staying in the non-profit organization might put me at a bad spot and hindering me from
Moving across other industries. However, the search is long and never ending. Most of the interviews were largely unsuccessful, though I thought I might do well because I made it to the last stage of the selection process. Well, I am experienced to know that it's largely a hit and miss. At the same time, I have been asking to do more at my current job. Taking more large scale inter-department projects. Constantly, I have been thinking how can I sell myself with what accomplishments in the projects I have done. The road is long and winding.
Unfortunately that is the way it is. The situation is further compounded by your lack of experience in the private sector as well as your age. Be patient and move slowly, fact of life is many aspire to greater things but few accomplish them in the end.

I think you are at least better off than a lot of your financial peers of the same age in the FI/Banking back officeside. Many I know are still clinging on to their jobs despite the low pay and horrendous hours simply because they still dream of making it into the investment / private banking front office.
04-05-2015 07:07 PM
Unregistered
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jones View Post
I don't advise taking MBA either because:

1) Those that are useful are too expensive and you will probably not learn much due to lack of relevant exposure
2) Those that are affordable are of questionable value

You have to take it slow. As it is, there is no way you can expect mega MNCs to hire you straight to a strategic role as your current experience is too transactional and you lack the credentials working in complex organizations.

Essentially you have only 2 choices:

1) Stay in current hospital and find avenues to take on projects that are outside your comfort SOP zones. Invest time in engaging senior managers. Take a look at the reports you are generating for people, ask yourslef other than those standard brain dead stuff, is there any additional information, insights you can add to assist the decision maker? How much do you know about the hospital operations, its financial dynamics and future business plans?

Even if they don't lead to promotion per se in the hospital, it will help you greatly later in interviews and your understanding of business matters of the day will help you secure a better role in a bigger company next time.

2) Look outside. Critical thing is not to set too high unrealistic expectations. Go for either medium sized local companies and jobs that are a slight expansion to what you are doing now. Slowly move between companies that offer slightly bigger job scope or are bigger and more multinational in size.

Important thing is to see the whole thing as a journey step by step over the years rather than an unrealistic goal like "I'm gonna be a Microsoft Regional Financial Manager making 300k in 5 years". Setting unrealistic goals only cause you to get depress as you never seem to be getting anywhere close.
I have been looking around for an expanded job scope in the another industry. My concern is staying in the non-profit organization might put me at a bad spot and hindering me from
Moving across other industries. However, the search is long and never ending. Most of the interviews were largely unsuccessful, though I thought I might do well because I made it to the last stage of the selection process. Well, I am experienced to know that it's largely a hit and miss. At the same time, I have been asking to do more at my current job. Taking more large scale inter-department projects. Constantly, I have been thinking how can I sell myself with what accomplishments in the projects I have done. The road is long and winding.
04-05-2015 03:48 PM
Jones
Quote:
Originally Posted by yowie89 View Post
That is insightful. Getting to the strategic formulation of corporate finance is tough. I am looking forward to that too. It seems that Mega MNC prefers candidates with Big Four experience (not in audit) but in Corporate Advisory. This is what i observed through data sources like linkedin and etc. So i would like to hear how to get valuable experience in corporate finance in order to progress. Right now, it seems that my job scope is rather not so transactional nor big picture kind. Whatever you have describe seems like a MBA upgrade which i do not want to spend big $$$ on this unless i can gain sponsorship from the company.
I don't advise taking MBA either because:

1) Those that are useful are too expensive and you will probably not learn much due to lack of relevant exposure
2) Those that are affordable are of questionable value

You have to take it slow. As it is, there is no way you can expect mega MNCs to hire you straight to a strategic role as your current experience is too transactional and you lack the credentials working in complex organizations.

Essentially you have only 2 choices:

1) Stay in current hospital and find avenues to take on projects that are outside your comfort SOP zones. Invest time in engaging senior managers. Take a look at the reports you are generating for people, ask yourslef other than those standard brain dead stuff, is there any additional information, insights you can add to assist the decision maker? How much do you know about the hospital operations, its financial dynamics and future business plans?

Even if they don't lead to promotion per se in the hospital, it will help you greatly later in interviews and your understanding of business matters of the day will help you secure a better role in a bigger company next time.

2) Look outside. Critical thing is not to set too high unrealistic expectations. Go for either medium sized local companies and jobs that are a slight expansion to what you are doing now. Slowly move between companies that offer slightly bigger job scope or are bigger and more multinational in size.

Important thing is to see the whole thing as a journey step by step over the years rather than an unrealistic goal like "I'm gonna be a Microsoft Regional Financial Manager making 300k in 5 years". Setting unrealistic goals only cause you to get depress as you never seem to be getting anywhere close.
04-05-2015 03:27 PM
yowie89
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jones View Post
The problem with your career isn't about Big 4 (they are so easy to get in nowadays it ain't worth much) or supposed audit/accounting experience or rudimentary things like Excel skills. Most low level finance jobs be it accounting, reporting, auditing etc. are being replaced or offshored by foreigners.

For most corporate Finance people who have reached a career stalemate, most of the time it's the inability to move on to a corporate/strategic business partnering advisory level. For e.g. at the age of 36 to apply for a senior professional job, you will either need some specialization like cross-border tax, transfer pricing analytics, specific regulatory compliance, captial structure optimization, financial risk management framework setup or ability to understand the business and engage senior level stakeholders on financial matters.

For e.g., if the GM of a particular hospital comes to you for guidance on business scenario planning, wants to make a major capex and wants some support to build a business case for Board approval, are you able to partner the GM and engage them as an equal?

Most corporate finance people I know get stuck with doing standard SOP financial report generating and transactional process stuff that they cannot move on to the next level. First few years in your job people tend to be more forgiving, but if you've worked in corporate finance departments for >10 years especially in mega MNCs, employers do expect more than just basic data crunching and report template running.

You need to see it more big picture like a personal development towards understanding your business dynamics, senior level engagement and leadership skills rather than specific narrow actions like joining whatever big4 jobs there are or learning excel automation skills.
That is insightful. Getting to the strategic formulation of corporate finance is tough. I am looking forward to that too. It seems that Mega MNC prefers candidates with Big Four experience (not in audit) but in Corporate Advisory. This is what i observed through data sources like linkedin and etc. So i would like to hear how to get valuable experience in corporate finance in order to progress. Right now, it seems that my job scope is rather not so transactional nor big picture kind. Whatever you have describe seems like a MBA upgrade which i do not want to spend big $$$ on this unless i can gain sponsorship from the company.
04-05-2015 03:21 PM
Unregistered
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jones View Post
The problem with your career isn't about Big 4 (they are so easy to get in nowadays it ain't worth much) or supposed audit/accounting experience or rudimentary things like Excel skills. Most low level finance jobs be it accounting, reporting, auditing etc. are being replaced or offshored by foreigners.

For most corporate Finance people who have reached a career stalemate, most of the time it's the inability to move on to a corporate/strategic business partnering advisory level. For e.g. at the age of 36 to apply for a senior professional job, you will either need some specialization like cross-border tax, transfer pricing analytics, specific regulatory compliance, captial structure optimization, financial risk management framework setup or ability to understand the business and engage senior level stakeholders on financial matters.

For e.g., if the GM of a particular hospital comes to you for guidance on business scenario planning, wants to make a major capex and wants some support to build a business case for Board approval, are you able to partner the GM and engage them as an equal?

Most corporate finance people I know get stuck with doing standard SOP financial report generating and transactional process stuff that they cannot move on to the next level. First few years in your job people tend to be more forgiving, but if you've worked in corporate finance departments for >10 years especially in mega MNCs, employers do expect more than just basic data crunching and report template running.

You need to see it more big picture like a personal development towards understanding your business dynamics, senior level engagement and leadership skills rather than specific narrow actions like joining whatever big4 jobs there are or learning excel automation skills.
Oh ya... its easy to get into BIG 4 and corporate leadership always have exciting roles for me to take up challenge in order to promote me to CEO.

I am fcuk up fcuk up fcuk up and that is why I am in shitt. Most corporate finance department keep doing same things day in day out because everyone are fcuk up. This adviser is clever.

Mea Culpa.

Can people stop talking with their asss.

Regards
Pukimak
04-05-2015 03:10 PM
Jones
Quote:
Originally Posted by yowie89 View Post
Currently, I am an accountant in finance department in a hospital. The job scopes are mostly focused around cost control, budgeting, clinical service costing. I will be completing my CPA (Aus) by 2015 end. Currently, i am looking forward to upgrade myself further in terms of skill sets. So hopefully, i can seek some advice who could be in the same position as me. Well, my main aim is to move to a more profit-driven industry (any) to pursue a FP and A role.

From my observations, Lacking experience in Audit and Financial Accounting background seems to limit my career progression and put me at disadvantage. Is that even true at all ?

Is there any skills which i could pick up that makes my application more appealing at all ? Like Learning VBA for Automation in excel spreadsheets ? M Sad Case though. Any advice would be welcomed. Many thanks
The problem with your career isn't about Big 4 (they are so easy to get in nowadays it ain't worth much) or supposed audit/accounting experience or rudimentary things like Excel skills. Most low level finance jobs be it accounting, reporting, auditing etc. are being replaced or offshored by foreigners.

For most corporate Finance people who have reached a career stalemate, most of the time it's the inability to move on to a corporate/strategic business partnering advisory level. For e.g. at the age of 36 to apply for a senior professional job, you will either need some specialization like cross-border tax, transfer pricing analytics, specific regulatory compliance, captial structure optimization, financial risk management framework setup or ability to understand the business and engage senior level stakeholders on financial matters.

For e.g., if the GM of a particular hospital comes to you for guidance on business scenario planning, wants to make a major capex and wants some support to build a business case for Board approval, are you able to partner the GM and engage them as an equal?

Most corporate finance people I know get stuck with doing standard SOP financial report generating and transactional process stuff that they cannot move on to the next level. First few years in your job people tend to be more forgiving, but if you've worked in corporate finance departments for >10 years especially in mega MNCs, employers do expect more than just basic data crunching and report template running.

You need to see it more big picture like a personal development towards understanding your business dynamics, senior level engagement and leadership skills rather than specific narrow actions like joining whatever big4 jobs there are or learning excel automation skills.
04-05-2015 09:26 AM
Unregistered
Quote:
Originally Posted by yowie89 View Post
Appreciate your honest opinions. Of all your options, i think it is too late for me now. I am already too late to the game, already 36 now. Damn.
My friend graduated from JD 1 years back when he was 38.

One more alternative is keep job hopping getting more than 10% hike each jump(fcuking PAP and the NWC 3% rise make us eat ourselves)...etc..

Try find a job that has an inflated title like Accounts Manager, assistant manager...etc...

After settling for "fake managers" for a few years, than go find a "real manager" job.

In the current PAP rigged environment full of exploitation of workers, it will be fcuking stupid to be loyal to a company.

The entire Singapore managers and leadership will pay for masturbatting the workers..and in future I predict SG will go shitt hole, if we do not kick out PAP.
04-05-2015 09:17 AM
yowie89 Appreciate your honest opinions. Of all your options, i think it is too late for me now. I am already too late to the game, already 36 now. Damn.
04-05-2015 12:02 AM
Unregistered
Quote:
Originally Posted by yowie89 View Post
Currently, I am an accountant in finance department in a hospital. The job scopes are mostly focused around cost control, budgeting, clinical service costing. I will be completing my CPA (Aus) by 2015 end. Currently, i am looking forward to upgrade myself further in terms of skill sets. So hopefully, i can seek some advice who could be in the same position as me. Well, my main aim is to move to a more profit-driven industry (any) to pursue a FP and A role.

From my observations, Lacking experience in Audit and Financial Accounting background seems to limit my career progression and put me at disadvantage. Is that even true at all ?

Is there any skills which i could pick up that makes my application more appealing at all ? Like Learning VBA for Automation in excel spreadsheets ? M Sad Case though. Any advice would be welcomed. Many thanks

Many fake adviser and Asxhole here will tell you "if you work hard", then you make it... bla bla bla, all the coc stories.

Reality is true, you get stagnant if you never went BIG 4. Worse, most of the time, leadership of a company will hire ex-auditor from outside rather than promote from within, if your boss empty his seat.

You need a lot of luck.

1) Try getting into BIG 4 after CPA.

2) Else try sales and marketing.

3) I got a ex-auditor friend who go take a law degree JD and earn a lot of monies now, but he is exception.

4) Try getting into a bank as analyst or take CFA and try again
03-05-2015 10:27 PM
yowie89
Career options as an Accountant in Healthcare (Hospital)

Currently, I am an accountant in finance department in a hospital. The job scopes are mostly focused around cost control, budgeting, clinical service costing. I will be completing my CPA (Aus) by 2015 end. Currently, i am looking forward to upgrade myself further in terms of skill sets. So hopefully, i can seek some advice who could be in the same position as me. Well, my main aim is to move to a more profit-driven industry (any) to pursue a FP and A role.

From my observations, Lacking experience in Audit and Financial Accounting background seems to limit my career progression and put me at disadvantage. Is that even true at all ?

Is there any skills which i could pick up that makes my application more appealing at all ? Like Learning VBA for Automation in excel spreadsheets ? M Sad Case though. Any advice would be welcomed. Many thanks

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