Study Guide Reflection & KCQ’s:

First and foremost, I have been feeling quite overwhelmed and nervous about studying accounting with the assumption that yes accounting is silly nerdy numbers and is very hard and boring. Then I began feeling overwhelmed with the amount of reading that this subject has as I have struggled to stay focused with these types of tasks. Upon reflection of reading the Introduction and Chapter 1, I have found that you have completely changed my prospective of accounting and have written these chapters in a very funny and engaging way so for that I would like to say thank you.

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One of the concepts that I was very intrigued by in the introduction was ‘Communicating effectively online’. I’ve always seen my self as being an excellent communicator with my history of managing McDonalds restaurants and working in a busy emergency department for QLD Health, but there are so many other ways of communication that isn’t just face-to-face that I have not been fully exposed to or really taken full opportunity to be a part of. I found as Martin talks about how online communication is much narrower and can easily lead to more ‘superficial’ relating unless is used skilfully. This made me think and ask my self ‘have I ever really explored different types of communication?’ and ‘how do we know which types of communication are best to get the best out of people?’. This has also made me think about whether I pick communication tactics that are most suitable for my needs, when maybe I could pick tactics that are more suitable for the people I work with and their personality types and needs.

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              Another topic in Chapter 1: A way of viewing business, that I connected with was the how we really began asking ourselves what is accounting? Is it a game, where we can manipulate things or move things around to get what we want?  My immediate reaction was yes, yes it is. Another cheeky term I’ve know this as is ‘creative accounting’. Now I know what your thinking, this sounds dodgy but through my time in managing McDonalds restaurants I’ve been put in positions where there is money that we need to spend in the business that is going to help the business and improve quality and service, that in doubt will lead to more sales coming through the door, but how do we choose to correctly account for that money and best meet targets of PAC and/or SOI ? It all can be the same amount of money spend and then receive a return on investment, but which one do we want it to affect more? It just really made me think on the choices we make in the business can really affect the outcomes in accounting.

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            As I get more into the chapter another subject that I felt I connected to was how there are ‘Two sides to everything’. I think it’s the HR skills that have been embedded into me which always makes me analyse both sides of every story/situation. The was that Martin talks about how ‘You need to personally engage and connect with these ideas. You need to connect these key ideas about business that underpin accounting with your prior knowledge and previous experience’.  This makes me question what my preconceived ideas of accounting and business are and what skills will I learn from this subject and be able to take on in the workforce and as I move forward in my career. I’m very eager to learn how different businesses do things differently. My vast knowledge basically only comes from one company, so I am keen to see what other points of view other companies have and prioritise in accounting.