Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

It’s Sunday night and week 4 starts tomorrow. For a number of reasons, some work, some domestic, some just plain stupid, for me this term isn’t going as well as I’d liked. I’ve taken on two units as I want that piece of paper early next year that proclaims Graduate Certificate on it, as this gives me options in 2020. However given the nature of the units, this is feeling like a big ask.

Law, remaining reasonably comfortable with this. Law is law and the structure is similar to the undergrad unit I did in term 1. The expectations are different though, a different text book, hard copy only, no e-book, which is much harder to follow as it only sights case numbers meaning I need to get on the web with every case mentioned to find out what was going down. This will make the exam prep very challenging to get the most relevant cases ready for the day. Not impossible though planning and more effort required.

The challenge is Statistics.

statistics

I last did statistics 25 years ago and when I went into this term full of confidence, I’m not so sure now. At the end of week 3, we’re now covering topics I’ve never experienced before which need to be presented by hand in the exam and by Excel in the assignment. So not only do I have to learn a new concept, I’ve got to learn new ways of using Excel. I’ve probably spent far too much time than is healthy trying to find a YouTube video to enable me to work it out.

It also took me an age (and the support of my wife) to realize that the reason I couldn’t work out the Geometric Mean Rate of Return was because my cheap Kmart calculator didn’t have the correct function button to allow me to do so. So it’s off to Office Works in the morning for a new one.

So far this weekend I’ve spent about 12 hours in the CQU library and most of that time has been spent doing two assignment questions (which are not yet finished) and watching this weeks lecture. Not the greatest of learning experiences so far. It’s now gone 8pm and I’ve had enough, I think I’ve figured out some of what I need and will start again in the morning.

It’s at this time I reflect that, as there are thousands, maybe millions of accountants around the world, they can’t all be cleverer than me therefore this stuff really can’t be that hard. So challenge accepted and we will continue in the morning.

Why didn’t I do this sooner?

Here we are again, at the end of week 1 of term 3 and back on the books. Despite my concerns I did rather well last term with a distinction in the Economics and Accounting in Australia units. Fortunately my wife is in the UK at the moment, I say fortunately as she wants to give me a good slap for daring to be concerned about the exams. She has far more faith in me than I have. Which is even more surprising considering we met at university in 1992 and I was definitely less than a model student.

Term 3 brings with it Australian Commercial Law and Statistics for Managerial Decisions. Both have started well. With Law, apart from a different text book and higher expectations (it is a Masters course after all) there doesn’t appear to be many differences to the the Law unit I took in term 1. Lots of reading and making sure I’ve good notes in preparation for the exam. No worries here.

Statistics is a bit different. Lots of reading and lots of working through examples, both on the computer and by hand. This one will just take practice. It’s been 25 years since I last did stats, having read the first chapters of the text book, I’m not overly concerned. Practice, practice, practice. Then in 11 short weeks I can walk away with a Grad Cert in Professional Accounting!! A bona fide qualification that I can do something with. That’s something to aim for. All this is great, unfortunately outside of Uni stuff it’s been a pretty tough week, which prompted some thinking.

Which brings me to the question, why didn’t I do this sooner? I’m really enjoying the learning experiance, I’m meeting great people and rising to teh challenges of teh course. so why didn’t I do this earlier? This is what I’ve been thinking.

In 2014 I was made redundant, in a very nasty way when the Bluetongue Brewery in NSW was closed down. As part of the government support package I was given the opportunity to do an Advanced Management Diploma, which I started and enjoyed, but didn’t finish. This was a mistake.

Due to the nature of the closure, missing out on a job in California and some other corporate nastiness that caused significant stress, with hindsight I believe I was not in the best place to make decisions and as a result we packed up and went back to the UK. If I had been thinking straight and beyond the career that had defined me to that point, a Master Brewer with an international career, perhaps I would’ve realized that there are other opportunities out there.

I think as I was so used to being the “big man”, at home, as the primary wage earner and at work as the leader and expert, suddenly not being in that position was a shock. So my aim at the time was to get back into that position. Which I have done sort of.

I’ve spent over 20 years as a brewer so I know a lot of stuff about my particular field. I can walk through Dan Murphy’s and see dozens of beers that I’ve brewed. Some of which were first perfected in Australia due to my skills. Now I make soft drinks and rarely drink beer, I’ve come to the conclusion I’m really not that interested in the beer culture anymore.

This is part of my mindset change that started me down the accounting path. Move out of what I know and can do with my eyes closed into something new that I can do for a very long time to come and do anywhere in the country.

If I’d realized this in 2014 I could’ve done this course in NSW, my wife would’ve remained teaching at a school she loved and I wouldn’t have paid out thousands from my redundancy to move from NSW to Northamptonshire in the UK and back to QLD. However the move did provide new experiences for the family, so it wasn’t all bad. As they say hindsight is 20/20 and I can see it all clearly from the lofty heights of 2019.

I’ve just read through this post and it’s taken a completely different tone to what I had planned, what it has done is remind me that experiences bad and good all help define the direction we take and the person we are or wish to be. If I had done this in 2014, life would not be the same, but then I would’ve had different experiences in the last 5 years which may not have given the same result. So I’m quite happy where I’ve ended up.

Throughout these first two terms and into this one I am continually glad that I have taken this opportunity to study and aim for a new career. I hope those of you reading this feel the same.

Happy studies

What do you do before an exam?

Just looked and my last blog entry was in week 3. Been a bit busy in the meantime.

calm exam

We’re now in week 12 and it’s exam time. Over the last 9 weeks I’ve made some new friends and worked as a team on the accounting assignments, where we did rather well. I’ve done the online tests for both accounting and economics and submitted an economics assignment. I’ve read every page in the text books and done loads of practice questions. For accounting I’ve done all of last years past papers multiple times. And now what?

I haven’t taken a closed book exam for 15 years. I can’t recall what I’m supposed to be doing? Should I desperately read all my notes? Should I redo all the test questions? Should I write out all the ratios that I think I might need? These are possible good things. What I’ve actually done is drink tea, go on Twitter and the washing up. And write this. Procrastination and avoidance appear to be the go at the moment.

These exams are odd. I was under the impression that to pass the unit I needed to pass the assignments and pass the exam, which I thought needed at least 50%. Turns out I’m mistaken I only need to pass the unit. So I need 15/60 on accounting today and 20/60 from Wednesday’s economics and they’re passed.

Does this take the pressure off? Yes, it does. Does it make me more anxious as it seems too easy? Yes, it does that too. My wife and my accountant friend (doing her MBA with no exams this week) seem to believe that I’ve got this in the bag. I probably have, but until I take a deep breath and see the paper I have no idea.

A long time ago as part of my Food Tech degree we had a business unit. The night before the exam I was coaching my housemates on the subject, full of confidence. In the exam, disaster, I had nothing. I do not want a repeat of that. I feel it’s unlikely, but until I get to see that paper at 2pm, it’s going to niggle at me.

I’ve 3 1/2 hours before I leave for the uni. That’s a lot of time I can spend doing something. Not sure what that’s going to be though.

The other odd thing is that #1 child, who is at the Rockhampton CQU campus (I’m distance with CQU at Bundaberg) is also taking exams today. If you’d said to me over the last 20 years that there would be a day where one of my children and I would be taking exams at the same time, I would’ve called you out as being ridiculous. Yet, this is where I find myself. Funny how things work out.

I’m going to sign off with this gem from REM. This was my pre-exam song throughout the early ’90’s at uni and when I did my brewing exams.

It’s not the end of the world and I feel fine!

For those of you also doing exams this week and next, good luck, you got this.

Making the grade

Term 1 is officially closed with the release of grades today. I am astounded to say that I did rather well. A HD in both ACCT11059 and LAWS11030. I am really pleased to hear from a number of my fellows that they have achieved good grades as well.

Going to put in here a thank you to Martin Turner, Maria Tyler and Ronald Farran (Law) who have been most excellent in their support, feedback and incredible marking speed this term.

What I am more pleased about is that my daughter Alice, who has just completed her first term at CQU Rockhampton, has achieved three HD’s and a distinction in her Bachelor of Oral Health Therapy degree. She’s done this while being a Resident Associate and dealing with other peoples drama’s. My daughter is amazing. Must take after her mother, who is also amazing.

As for me I have never in any study ever achieved this well. Quite possibly due to a number of factors that are different to my original student days

I’m 45 years old and don’t have the stamina to spend all day in the pub
I’m paying for my education (no course fees in ’90’s UK universities)
I’m “slightly” more mature in my approach to learning
I have an example to set to my children
I want to learn and put the effort in. (I was very lazy the first time)
I LISTENED TO MY WIFE WHEN SHE SAID MY WORK WAS NOT GOOD ENOUGH!! and took her advice and made the appropriate changes, (she did say the same thing at Uni the first time, I should’ve listened then too)

If you speak to my Uni friends they will tell you that back then I was a terrible student and I really shouldn’t have achieved. It is surprising how things change as you get older. What this term has taught me is that I can manage all of my commitments, I can learn new things and I enjoy learning, sharing what I know and helping others (though I do a lot of that at work anyway). I’ve really enjoyed the interactions with my fellow wannabe accountants through the Facebook page, through the PASS sessions and made some friends along the way.

The only thing I haven’t enjoyed is that as I run less, I’ve actually put on a kilo and a half in weight over the last three months. Need to work on building in more activity into the study plan.

Term 2 has effectively started and fortunately for me I have two weeks off work of uninterrupted study as I recover from a hernia op. I’m sad to say goodbye to the Bachelor of Accounting and my fellow students on that course, though I’m looking forward to the continued challenge on the Master of Professional Accounting. All being well, we all come out on top at the end of it with everything we want and expect.

Let the studying commence.

New Term, New Beginning

I started this blog as a task for my first accounting unit. It seemed an odd thing to do at the start, but as the unit progressed I could see the point. As I’m no stranger to blog writing it wasn’t a particularly arduous task to keep it both updated and meet the unit requirements and I quite enjoyed doing. Pretty certain it helped a number of my fellow students along the way as well. Now that particular unit is over, what to do with this blog?

Term 2 starts officially in 8 days. A new term and a pair of new units and a new course. I have really enjoyed my first term as a mature student, both accounting and law units were really interesting and I’ve made some friends along the way. The friends, I hope will remain as I step up to a new course. As this week I start on the Master of Professional Accounting post grad degree course.

The first part of the Bachelor was fun, a good introduction into the planning and focus required to balance life, work, study and everything in between. All good things to take into the Masters degree, a degree course that suits me better. I’ve gone from a 24 unit course over 4 years to a 14 unit course over 2 years. The added benefit is that the MPA offers interim awards, so if I want to step away into another career I can do it sooner than waiting the four years to get the Bachelor qualification.

As for the blog it doesn’t form part of the MPA. I think I’m going to keep it up as it’s fun and might help someone along the way.

Today’s loosely connected song is Asian Dub Foundation, “New Way, New Life”. I used to live in Slough, a very mixed race area West of London. When we were there we were privileged to be invited to a number of Sikh and Hindu weddings, they had great music and food, which led me to be a fan of Asian Dub Foundation and this my favorite song, which is reflecting how I feel at the moment.

Good luck everyone in Term 2 and beyond. Happy studies.

And relax! But not for long.

That’s it term 1 is done. The only exam that I had this term was done this morning. To be honest I was a bit concerned. Would I be able to write for three hours, would I survive without the hourly cup of tea that I have during my work day, do I even know the subject matter?

As it happens, none of this was a problem and I rather enjoyed myself. Thanks to our PASS leader Danielle I had taken her advice and wrote up notes and cases instead of tagging my text book. This was a perfect way for me to prepare. In writing the notes I was refreshing my memory and the areas that weren’t in my notes I knew where they were in the text book, so it was easy to get to the information I needed. It turns out I do know the subject and the questions fell into the areas that I was comfortable with. Three hours went past in a blur of statutes and case law and the handwriting went a bit ragged as the time went on. My only real concern is can the marker decipher my handwriting.

With this exam done I can now relax for a week or three. Or not, as normal work continues and domestic duties and DIY is planned by Mrs F. Running will definitely be involved. All this sitting and studying is making me fat.

The other question to be considered is do I stay on the Bachelors or switch up to the Master of Professional Accounting degree? This is 14 units and would taken 2 1/2 years of two units per term, compared to the 24 of the Bachelor where I’d need to wait 4 years before having a qualification.

With the Master degree I can get interim awards at the end of each block of units, so technically I can have my Graduate Certificate Professional Accounting by Christmas, which then gives me an escape route into another career. By the end of 2020 I should achieve the Graduate Diploma and by 2021 the Master qualification. Bachelor or Master I’d still have to start at a level below my current earnings to begin my new career, unless I can engineer something. A few more things to consider before I make up my mind.

Meanwhile I’m going to enjoy the rest of my afternoon, perhaps read a book or enjoy a game on the PS4, and get back to almost normal tomorrow. Rest easy people, next term is on the horizon.

. time to relax

Onward and upward

The end of week 12 and I’m happy to say I’m now done with ACCT11059 and the final assignment of this unit is submitted. There really are only so many times you can read and polish a document. If you want to see the final submission it is here. ASS#2 Step 7 to 10 Paul Feasey GALLIFORDTRY Company Spreadsheet FEASEY

Thank you to those who gave me feedback, your eagle eyes in spotting bits I missed was most welcome.

It’s been an interesting 12 weeks in my return to Uni as a mature student and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. With this final accounting blog for this particular unit I thought I’d put down some of the things I’ve learnt about learning and about myself during this time.

When I first saw I had a UK construction company to focus on I was “meh” and not overly enthused about the prospect. I would have put in the same amount of work and research into any company, but on reflection I actually think that GallifordTry was to my advantage. Only a couple of years ago I’d been living back in the UK for 18 months and was well aware of the state of the UK, price of housing, the political situation and various other impacts in that once great nation. This did make understanding the financials and the company operating climate easy to understand and research. I’m calling that a win, I was able to learn the process of accounting, ratios etc, and relate that to an environment I understood.

KCQ’s and the study guide. I’m still not convinced about KCQ’s, though I appear to be reasonably proficient at them. I’ve enjoyed the study guide, though I do wish Martin would get to the point sooner and I did pine for a text book on occasion. Saying that I have been fortunate to have had two very constructive conversations with him recently and I can understand where he’s coming from and the intent of the process. I really appreciated his insights and support from these conversations. With regard to the unit, I can say though, that it did work, I have learned and my learning style has been challenged. So, thank you Martin.

This blog, I already write a blog for fun, I wasn’t certain how much value this one would have. Well I’ve enjoyed writing it and 65 other people, including people outside of the unit, are looking at it. I’m going to assume that it’s adding value to them as well.

dilbert blog

I’ve provided support (far too much according to my wife) and helped a lot of people through Facebook and through checking over spreadsheets and calculations. While this has been very time consuming, what it has done is secured my knowledge of the subject, so it is a win for me. Even though I tell my wife I’ll do less in the future I’ll still help where I can, just remember to say thank you. Through the Facebook group I’ve met some wonderful people and got some solid friendships out of it. That’s what uni is also all about.

PASS! How good are PASS sessions, I really enjoyed all of them, shared a lot and gained a lot as well. Danielle is a most excellent facilitator and will no doubt end up with a high distinction when she finishes her degree and will go far in her chosen field. I am most grateful for her support in these sessions.

When I started out with this unit I was concerned about the time required to get everything complete and manage life, the universe and everything. I am unbelievably grateful to the support of my wife and children who have given me the space to get stuff done. Though by the children leaving me alone I’m not onto them to do their chores or their gym work between their swimming training sessions. A cunning plan on their part.

The final thing and probably the most important thing I have learned and it’s what I shouldn’t have had to learn (and its not in relation to this unit either) is this. I should never, ever doubt my wife!

A true story. A week out from the due date for Laws11030, 40% assignment, I thought I’d done a really good job, I gave it a quick read and thought it was good to go. I asked Mrs F to take a look. She didn’t make it past the first paragraph, before telling me how bad it was! She was asking all sorts of questions, what’s the word count, what references are you using? I was horrified, I thought it was brilliant, how dare she! I know she’s a teacher who did her second degree by distance, but really! Long story short I got a bit cross. Fortunately for me, as we met at Uni in 1991, Mrs F has known me for a very long time and knows that while I am an idiot, I am not totally stupid and I will see sense. And sense I did see, I listened and learned, edited and re-edited and polished that turd before hitting the submit button.

Thanks to my wonderful wife I received 37/40, 92.5%! This type of result is unheard of, I’ve never got grades like that before and I couldn’t have done that without her. It really makes me wonder, not only what she sees in me and why she puts up with it, but what I would’ve got in my first degree if I’d spent less time in the pub and listened to her more then.

Moral of the story, listen to your wife, she knows more than you do, especially when she’s a teacher!

This term isn’t quite over as I’ve the Law11030 exam on the 19th. I originally had it as the 17th so I’m glad I checked again. It’s an open book so I’ve a bit over a week to get all my notes ready for the day. Thanks again to Danielle for the insight to preparing for my first open book in 15 years.

In honor of Law here’s this blogs musical interlude, Anthrax singing about one of the iconic comic book characters of the 20th Century Judge Dredd. Unfortunately the video has footage from the 1995 film staring Sylvester Stallone, not the best interpretation. The 2012 Judge Dredd staring Karl Urban is so much better.

So that’s what I’ve learned so far. Once the exam is done its onward and upward with the next two units, whatever they may be as I haven’t decided. For those of you who’ve stayed with me this far, I’m going to continue this blog and my running blog and see where it all goes.

Happy Studies folks.

One more thing

The end of week 10, not long to go until the end of the first term as a mature student. The weekend started well with a 10k run and wearing a yellow tutu while doing barcode scanning at parkrun.

This has been an interesting unit. I’ve learned a few new things over recent weeks, had a few things I already knew confirmed and sharpened up and made some new friends as well, an unexpected and welcome bonus.

I’m on track for a good finish to this unit and want to get it out of the way so I can prepare for the Law exam. I’m up to date with submissions and have Steps 7 & 8 complete. Step 7 Contribution Margins can be found here ASS#2 Step 7 Contribution Margin

Yet there is always one more thing to do. Which reminded me of a song that I played a lot during my original student days in the ’90’s. L7 for those unaware are a female punk/grunge group from Los Angeles and this is from their 3rd (and best in my opinion) album Bricks are Heavy

That one more thing is Step 9 NPV and IRR. To be honest this is irritating me. I understand what the expected outcome is and how to get there by calculation. What I’m supposed to put in the calculation from the initial investment and expected cashflow is a mystery at the moment. I’d rather not have to take a wild guess if I can avoid it. I have had a go this morning and used information from the 2018 report and a bit of research. You can find it on the NPV tab in the spreadsheet if you want to take a look. GALLIFORDTRY Company Spreadsheet FEASEY

The calculation is correct, but is it accurate or relevant? At this stage I’ve no idea. So I’m putting the brakes on and doing something else. I’m going to save the question for the next PASS session and see if that gains me some insight.

dilbert NPV

Talking it through

I’ve had three attempts at KCQ’s for chapter 6 and I wasn’t happy with any of them. Yesterday I thought I’d try a more radical approach and talk through the issues with Chapter 6 himself.

The conversation went down on here. Paul Feasey ASS#2 Step 2 Version 4

As it’s a rather different approach to KCQ’s I’d appreciate some comments. If it’s pants I’ve still got time to go back and do it again

dilbert

Who doesn’t like a long weekend?

Long weekend’s, I love them. But that’s easy for me to say as I don’t have to work them at the moment. In the UK they’re called Bank Holidays which has an interesting history and Britpop legends Blur wrote a song about it.

In NSW I was essentially always on call so couldn’t really relax just in case something went pear shaped. In the UK at Carlsberg I was on a 24/7 roster. In my 18 months there I think I worked all the public holidays. In my double life as a project leader and student, all I have to worry about is me, and if I want or need to work over the long weekend in either of my roles I can.

I do appreciate how sucky it is when you see an update from family and friends mates and there’s nothing you can do about it. So if you have worked this weekend I hope it wasn’t too hard, you had some benefits and fun from it.

Vac week. What an interesting concept. No lecture videos to catch up on, no PASS sessions and no tutorials. The chance to catch up and hopefully get ahead of the curve. To be honest I tried, but not very successfully when I consider what I wanted to get done.

With the swimming season over the whole family has been around and doing things with them is far more amusing than restating financial details and reading Chapters 5 and 6. Though I have managed to complete the first draft of my LAWS11030 assignment and finish off my ASS#2 step 1, if you want to read it it’s here. Paul Feasey ASS#2 Step 1

We did go up to Rockhampton see child #1 on campus. Students in Rocky, you are very privileged. What a great campus! The halls are great, the food for the res students is amazing, the sports facilities are great and the gardens are lovely. When I went to Uni the only facility we had was a common room with a TV.

We used the BBQ’s in the gardens for our sausage sizzle. Absolutely fabulous. Public BBQ’s rank in my estimation as one of the greatest societal benefits of all time.

Alice is in a great spot to study. I’m happy she’s there, though she’s got a lot on, with balancing an RA role, adjusting to being an adult, having a social life and intense study. Dentistry is not for the fainthearted or lazy. Very proud of my eldest (takes after her mother in awesomeness)

Family BBQ Easter Friday

As there’s no work today I’ve caught up on some blogs. Amazing how we all interpret the chapters in different ways. Maitland’s blog made me laugh, Lisa has managed to break herself, Kyle is working on centrifuges and sugar, and Caitlin has new cows. This all links into Chapter 5 when Martin starts talking about relationships. As a distance student I doubt we’ll physically meet many of our fellows, but reading blogs does give an insight into how we all tick.

It looks like I’ll be getting some more study time in. I had a great run before parkrun on Saturday morning. Just shy of 8k in the dark and the pouring rain. I haven’t run in the rain or in the dark for ages. The Zombies, Run mission was great and I was soaked to the skin. It was awesome. Though it was a bit painful.

morning run saturday 20 april

About three months ago there were indications that something had come adrift internally. After much abuse by Mrs Feasey and my work colleagues I finally went to the doctors and I have an ultrasound next week. This means unfortunately I’m going to have to stop running for a week. Hopefully it’s nothing too drastic and I can get back out soon. I do get a bit rangry (grumpy due to lack of running) if I have too much of a gap.

This gives me some increased study time. Speaking of which, while everyone else is slowly rising in the Feasey household I’m going to have another cup of tea and read Chapters 5 & 6.

Happy Studies folks.