And we’re back. It’s officially week 1 of term 2. But for me it’s technically term 1 of a new course. I’ve moved off the Bachelor of Accounting and leveled up to the Master of Professional Accounting (MPA) There’s a bit of a difference.
While doing the two units last term was fun and I achieved good marks, I really have nothing to show for it apart from a bill to pay, some intangible benefits and some new friends. This last point btw is the one I’m most pleased about.
I’ve had my course mapped out so I can pick up interim awards as I progress and my next couple of years looks like this. Not much room to move in this plan.
Fortunately for me, I am currently off work after having my hernia operated on last week. I’ve got until the 23rd to get as far ahead as possible before I got back to office. When I first looked at going onto the MPA I had assumed that it would be a bit tougher with more content and higher expectations. After all, participants are expected to already have a bachelors degree and should know what they’re getting into. I had assumed correctly and as I found yesterday it turns out that there are parts of the MPA that are shared with the MBA.
This week I have made a start and practically completed all the tasks for ACCT20070 and ECON20039. What I have noticed is that though the content isn’t particularly challenging at this stage the volume of reading and activities to go through at the end of each week is considerable. At the end of the first chapter of the accounting text book there are 16 pages of questions to go through. I could take the easy way out and just wait for the answers and then fill in the gaps. Really though, that’s not the way to do things properly. The accounting unit is an introduction, delivered with a very different style, content and expectation to ACCT11059 from the Bachelors. I’m actually quite pleased that I did that first, that unit has given me a decent grounding to get into this one. If it was my first ever unit I would be a bit more concerned.
ECON20039 is interesting. I’ve never studied economics before. Key take outs so far; it’s all about resources and choice and you can only spend money once. There are limited resources and the choice is what to do with the resources available, what output is required. To choose one output over another has an opportunity cost, this cost increases as the output of one of those choices increases at the expense of another. There is also the concept of the Production Possibilities Frontiers, which is a fun thing to get ones head around. There’s also a heap of graphs and other concepts that will no doubt surface as the weeks go on.
What was good about the ACCT11059 unit was the requirement to create this blog and interact. This worked really well for me, so in an attempt to form a study group I looked on Moodle to see where and who the distance students are. I emailed all participants. noting that there are some doing both the units as I am, and waited.
I am now in a little WhatsApp chat/study group with Suzy and Lucy, both MBA students in Rocky and Mackay. They’re both doing ACCT11059 and FINC20018, so we have a shared aim in accounting and for me the inside track on a unit I won’t be attempting until next year. From our chat last night I’m confident that this will be a positive term.
Midway through week 1 I’m happy that I’ve leveled up, I understand the expectations of the MPA and the workload will be greater and that’s OK so
Being Held to Account 