r r a a b b a a h h K K a a p Ap S A MS CM IC I May 2018 | Spring | Issue 22
Table of Contents Past Events ICAEW Regional Business Challenge 2018 (Northern Region) ............................................................ 1 ICAEW Regional Business Challenge 2018 (Finals) .................................................................................... 2 ICAEW Seconds Impressions (Malaysia)............. 3
Associate Features Carmen: PwC Trust Builder Challenge............... 4 Lee Khang Sek: Japanese Cultural Tour........ 5, 6
ICMS Academy Investment and Banking Hub.................................. 7
Quote of the Month............................................ 8
Upcoming Events June: Associate Workshop on Communication Skills (SG) A new initiative of the Singaporean Chapter, this workshop aims to brief the gist of communication skills to Associates. ICMS Alumni are invited to impart their valuable insight on presenting, interviewing and public speaking skills. Complementing the sharing process is a practice session which allows attendees to apply the information they have absorbed.
Editors Eric Kho, Kek May Jenn, Loong Che Xing, Sanjay Madhav
Content Kek May Jenn, Teh Jia Qi, Carmen Lim, Ahmad Aufa Azmin
Designers Ng Jia Ming, Sanjay Madhav
Past Events ICAEW Regional Business May Jenn Kek Challenge 2018 (Northern) 21st April On the 21st of April, Universiti Sains Malaysia was lit up by hopeful participants of the ICAEW Regional Business Challenge of the Northern Region. The event kicked off with an inspiring welcoming address by Mr. Andrew Yew, ICAEW’s Senior Manager in Business Development. As a tip to the participants, he mentioned that the awaiting case study originated from ICAEW’s own professional paper - giving participants the added advantage of seeing what ICAEW can offer them to apply their critical thinking skills. Shortly thereafter, Lim Carmen, ICMS’ Malaysian Chapter’s National Executive Director gave a brief introduction. A total of 13 teams, which were derived from 73 participants from a range of both public and private universities were shortlisted to compete in this exciting and brain-cracking challenge. The participants were briefed on the challenge and ushered to breakout rooms for them to prepare their respective case study resolutions. The event was then followed by the presentation of the case study by the participants in conjunction with the judges’ deliberation on the presentation. After the case study presentation, Mr. Andrew Lim took to the stage once again to deliver an insightful presentation on ICAEW. He advised students of all academic backgrounds to venture out of their comfort zone and be bold to capture opportunities that are present. Following Mr. Lim’s address, Adrian Tung and Kek May Jenn, Directors of ICMS’ Project Development and Initiatives and Secretarial Division respectively presented an exclusive introduction to ICMS. The agenda continued with a lunch session in which participants had the opportunity to mingle with industry leaders and have their questions regarding the case study answered. The top winning teams from the presentation breakout rooms were then announced and the final case study question was provided to the respective teams. The event was then concluded with a prize-giving ceremony awarded to the top two teams, TableMasters from TAR UC and Endeavour from Universiti Sains Malaysia.
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Past Events ICAEW Regional Business Challenge 2018 (Finals)
Jia Qi Teh 3rd May
After sessions of gruelling competition in the Northern, Southern and Central regions, it was time once again for some of Malaysia’s brightest minds to compete once more in the Final Round of the famed ICAEW Regional Business Challenge. Only 6 teams made it through from a pool of 60, with 2 teams representing each region. The final stage was set at Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur. By 2pm, participants were all seated, eagerly awaiting for the final challenge to be revealed. It was to be a fierce battle: winners from the Northern Region, Team Endeavours of USM and Team Tablemasters of TARUC went head to head with the other finalists - Notts Prides from the University of Nottingham and The Outliers of UNITEN Bangi who reigned supreme in the South. Team Orca from Monash University and Preeminence from UNITEN Bangi, representing the Central Region, completed the lineup. We were honoured to have an amazing lineup of judges for the ICAEW RBC Final Round, with highly experienced representatives from a diverse background. In the words of Miss Loh Wei Yan, Head of ICAEW Malaysia, the ICAEW Regional Business Challenge aims to give participants a glimpse through the lens of a professional to the roles of ICAEW Chartered Accountants. She reiterated that in this ever-changing climate, the ability to be agile in the face of change, and being able to respond quickly and efficiently to disruption are essential. With this challenge, participants are able to have invaluable experiences that would be the learning ground for them to equip themselves with relevant skills for their future career. The finalists were presented with a tough challenge - a 4-page factual case study on the Commercial Awareness of Samsung. All teams were only given an hour of discussion time, where they will be required to answer 8 questions on how they would recommend Samsung to restrategise in a highly competitive market. Participants were tested on their abilities to decipher and synthesise information in a high-pressure environment, and were evaluated based on their teamwork, communication, coordination, and collaboration by the observing judges. In the end, Team Orca from Monash University and Team TableMasters from TARUC took top honours and will represent the nation for the upcoming ICAEW Regional Business Finals in Jakarta. All the best to them!
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Past Events ICAEW Seconds Impressions (Malaysia)
Jia Qi Teh 3rd May
Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur set the stage for the Malaysian edition of ICAEW’s famed Seconds Impressions this year, hosting 45 students and 11 employers on a pleasant Thursday morning. Seconds Impressions is the bridge between renowned companies and brilliant undergraduates from 12 different institutions to give them a golden opportunity to learn skills that can impress their future employers as well as to gain insight on how being an ICAEW Chartered Accountant could benefit them in the long run. We were not short of top minds as representatives from 11 highachieving companies namely Maybank, Deloitte, EY, PwC, KPMG, BDO, Sapura Energy, Grant Thornton, HLB Ler Lum Chartered Accountants, Genting, and MahSing attended the event. Smartly dressed and fresh-faced participants started filling in at 9 am, eager to learn. In order to prevent overcrowding and to ensure efficient and quality communication, participants were divided into three different sessions - with the first starting at 9.30 am. The event is unique in its execution - participants are only given five minutes to impress a prospective employer before having to move to the next table. This speed interview recipe tests their mettle, dexterity and how well they can show off their winning edge under time pressure! In line with ICMS’s mission of Building Networks for Malaysian youths, ICAEW’s Second Impressions has successfully given the participants valuable one-on-one sessions with their prospective employers. ICAEW Second Impressions came to a satisfactory close in the afternoon, where everyone present was invited to join in a networking lunch session.
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Associate Feature PwC Trust Builder Challenge
Carmen Lim
I personally proclaim myself as an introvert, but many of my friends find it difficult to believe as they often perceive me to be bold and outgoing. The shy side of me wasn’t keen in joining the PwC Trust Builder Challenge initially, and I wouldn’t have foreseen myself saying yes to joining this competition - no less through a casual conversation over dinner. However, I am glad and thankful that I made the nod, and it seems like my love for challenges and opportunities to step out of my comfort zone heavily outweighs my introverted side! I was in the midst of my internship during the preliminary rounds, and there was a lack of time for my team to meet up for discussions. Both the essay and video required for submission were rushed out within a very short timeframe. It was entirely beyond my expectations that my team managed to pull through and make it to the final round. During the preparation period for our final presentation, I was swamped with work. It definitely wasn’t easy balancing my studies, final preparation and directorship handover process! At one point, I felt really lost and overwhelmed by the workload. Despite the limited time we had for preparation and the various obstacles we faced, we came in third! I attribute this achievement to having teammates who were incredibly understanding, accommodating of my schedule, even volunteering to help with my portion of the work. We weren’t the most capable individuals, but what we lacked in, we made up for by complementing each other.. All in all, I am immensely grateful for the strong support and chemistry of the team, and we would not have been able to do this without each other. Additionally, here’s a special shout out to our mentor, Ms. Mona from UEM. Her guidance and support played a huge role in our refinement of the presentation. Her advice and her stories were definitely among the best takeaways from this challenge. As cliché as it may sound, I believe that this competition gave me much more than the end result. I am thankful for the unforgettable and wonderful learning experience, and I hope I’ll be able to use all that I’ve learnt in practical application in the near future.
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Associate Feature Japanese Cultural Tour
Lee Khang Sek
The comfort zone will only be broadened when we push the boundary further. It was a random night, my friend showed me the leaflet of a Japanese cultural exploration organised by the student housing office in HKUST. The visiting place is Hamamatsu, Japan. Without much hesitation, I decided to join this trip with two other Malaysian friends of mine. It proved to be one of the most meaningful trips I have ever had. We lived in a high school throughout the trip. Things were completely eye-opening to us as we learned that we had to bath together with gender separation. Although I had similar experience before, it was the first time with friends. Things were awkward at first, but slowly we got used to it and saw it as a good bonding session as we were all the same inside the public bath area. Apart from that, we did not have a proper bed, but a thin mattress on the floor to sleep. Lights would be turned off at 10:30 p.m sharp, and the morning would usually start at 6:30 a.m. Any latecomer would not be tolerated throughout the whole trip as Japanese emphasize on punctuality very much. We were lectured by the instructor when we were late for the first morning stretch. Things got better ever since but we were still late occasionally throughout the trip.
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Associate Feature Japanese Cultural Tour
Lee Khang Sek
Talking about food, we had most of our meals in the high school’s canteen. We had a fixed meal every time depending on what the kitchen prepared. The chefs always cooked mass meals to cater to the few hundreds of students in the high school. What fascinated me the most was the fact that they had a limited time to finish their meal, which was 7 minutes long. They would also pray to show their gratitude for the food before starting to eat, followed by an appreciation pray to the workers in the canteen after they have finished the food. After that, we had to clean and sort out the utensils for the students who were responsible to clean them up. Everything was very disciplinary and spontaneous in Japan. These are the good values that we should emulate and practise in our daily life. Aside from that, we also had a few firm visits to understand more about the places we went in Hamamatsu. They gave us a brief history of the successful entrepreneurs that were born there and how they started their legacies here. This includes Yamaha, Suzuki and many more. As a Mechanical Engineering student, I was very glad to have the chance to visit the Suzuki manufacturing plant. It gave me a better understanding of the production line of an automobile company. It was a truly a fruitful trip where I was exposed to different cultures and also met friends from different places with different personalities.
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ICMS Academy Investment and Banking Hub
Ahmad Aufa Azmin
Investment and banking. Some of us may not be savvy enough to know exactly what these words mean. Two words that can work in three ways: investment, banking, and investment banking. This article is going to mostly explore what investment in ICMS really stands for. To begin, what is investment and banking? Banking, as all of us are aware of, is a business or service that is coordinated or proffered by a bank. It is where consumers make deposits, request loans, finance mortgages, and much more. Now, investment banking is a whole new level. The intricate systems it offers are not very friendly for the average consumer, as we are not organisations that offer products or services. Investment banking is a division that aids in the underwriting of debt and equity securities, selling of securities, handling mergers and acquisitions, and trading for private investors. In short, investment banks are the middlemen for corporations who are going to pursue big decisions that affect profitability in the future. Back to investment. It is an act of paying an upfront cost and hoping for some benefits in the future. Trading stocks and buying properties are some commonly known methods. In the real world, it can be anything as long as you invest an upfront cost and expect capital gains after a short or long term. The next step then is to create an investment portfolio - and having a student-run portfolio is one of our Council goals for this term. What then is an investment portfolio? It is a pool of assets that are in the possession of a person, an organisation, or an entity. It typically involves long-term holding of securities such as stocks and bonds. Common options are mutual funds and hedge funds - promising investors higher returns based on the risk profiles of the investments. This is usually followed by portfolio managers analysing stocks based on the performance of the companies. So that’s a crash course on investment and banking. This brings us neatly to Investment Research Program, an initiative that is run by the Investment and Banking Hub (under ICMS Academy). We act similarly - members choose some companies and study their progressions. With detailed analyses in hand, our portfolio managers then anticipates the degree of risk the investments carry and make sound investments in them. With this initiative, we hope to propel it and our Council further into the future.
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Apply Are you interested to be part of a multinational student organisation that spans across five chapters around the world? Do you want to build meaningful relationships and networks while realising your ideas? At ICMS, we want to make a difference for our home country, Malaysia. If you are a passionate individual who aims to bring an impact to the Malaysian community, don’t hesitate. This is the platform for you to shine! Recruitment for the 9th Council will launch soon. Our selection process is outlined here . For further enquiries, please visit our FAQ page or contact recruitment@icmscholars.org.
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