I am in week 9 of term 2 continuing with Financial Management and Financial Accounting. Both are now starting to dovetail into each other as we look at company valuations and analysis.

Financial Management we have been looking at Corporate Payout Policy, namely the types of dividends and share buybacks. The question many company’s will need to ask is whether they should pay a dividend or retain profits in the business.

Financial Accounting we have been looking at Financial Statement Analysis. Our lecturer placed the caveat at the beginning of the class to warn that we are learning enough about financial analysis for investment purposes to be dangerous, by the fact this is only the beginning steps to understanding financial analysis. Financial analysis is not just about ratio’s but understanding the economic / business environment / industry the company is in to then assist to identify ratio’s might be of use. We have focused on the DuPont Decomposition and its components for this class.

The current subjects have also incorporated practical applications given the current economic conditions created by COVID19. For Financial Management we have looked at the financial indicators that can be looked at for both COVID19 and the Global Financial Crisis. For Financial Accounting we have discussed the impact COVID19 will possibly have on financial statements for both the short and long term.

For the last several weeks I have been researching the economic front with the unemployment figures for April released being surprisingly low. As a result I wanted to see where we are going, listening to the view points of economists, CEO’s and investor’s both here and in America. One point that I took note of was ‘is there is a disconnection between main street (economy) and Wall Street (share markets)?” We have predictions of a drawn out economic recovery yet the sharemarket is in a sharp upward trend. What was also mentioned is that the sharemarket is also a leading indicator. An additional factor is the China- America-Australia relationships.

I interview David Potter, a fellow student at the Melbourne Business School undertaking the part time MBA. David has always lived in Melbourne. He and his family have always had a love for the outdoors, traveling and being active.

David went on to do a Science Degree at University of Melbourne and later Monash University. But his passion for Lifesaving led him from volunteering as a little nipper through to being the club captain, trainer and chief instructor, that included sitting on the committee.

David’s love for the organisation led him to go on and work for Life Saving Victoria where he works with volunteers and manages project’s. It was from his friend’s and peers he considered doing an MBA. It was a manager in Surf Lifesaving that pushed him to broaden and grow his professional skill sets by doing an MBA.

David chose to do the part time MBA at Melbourne Business School as it was a full face program that suited David’s choice of learning, to interact and draw on the experience of both the faculty and fellow students at Melbourne Business School.

Being in isolation and working from home, David confesses he may have went on a little shopping spree. His most valued purchase was the essential work from home coffee machine.

It’s Week 2 and I am settling into studying online. Financial Management we have continued to look at the financial mathematics of the subject. We discussed the risks of bonds such as interest rate risk and time or default risk. I do need to increase my study in this subject as I’m finding I am only doing okay in the questions, so need to do more work then I have.

Financial Accounting has been on ‘T’ Accounts, balance sheet reconciliations and the construction of the cashflow statement from this. The tricks to this section are putting the transactions on the correct side of the ‘T’ account as well as the calculation of the Property, Plant & Equipment (PP&E), Accumulated Depreciation, and Gain/Loss on Sale of PP&E. I am putting a lot more time into this subject then Financial Management as it does require more preparation work for classes.

Work this week has involved more preparation of reporting then phone calls. My home office has been improved with my work being able to secure a sit stand desk for me. This has been supplied by a Kinaway member who has pivoted into a new business. Dreamtime Art has now established a new business venture, ‘Dreamtime Office‘. I also show off my mug designed by Ngarga Warendj or Dancing Wombat, as well as becoming more house proud I purchased a hand painted plate from BNYM Indigenous Designs.

My home office now comprises of

• Sit Stand Desk
• Office Chair
• Laptop
• Laptop platform/riser
• Headset with audio and microphone
• Second Monitor
• Wireless mouse and keyboard
• Powerbaord and multi function power adaptor
• Whiteboard
• Rechargeable batteries and charger.

Week 1 of Term 2 has been completed with my first experience of doing a course online with e-learning. I am surprised that I am enjoying the online learning delivery method.

Both Financial Management and Financial Accounting involve Tutorial Assisted Sessions on Saturday morning and early afternoon.

Financial Accounting was set up as an online learning module prior to COVID19 so it is very well set up. Financial Accounting does involve a lot of preparation for class work so having an early start to the work puts you ahead. I am finding that even though I have an accounting background and did accounting at university, I am learning the updated terminology and the new financial statements that were not around.

Financial Management also requires pre class work and pre work for the tutorial sessions. I did make the mistake of not preparing completely for the Financial Management as we also had to complete Week 2 questions sets for the week 1 Tutuorial Session.

COVID19 is still with us and I had a hair cut at a nearby barber in the Melbourne CBD. As a small business owner he now only opens 2 days a week and on one day he only had two customers come into the shop. While COVID19 is having a health effect on the world, it is also having a wealth impact on the world. This makes learning subjects like Financial Management interesting in these current economic conditions.

Tonight was my first class for Financial Accounting. While I have an accounting background, this subject still has areas of revision and learning for my professional development. This first class went through the different financial statements you will find a major listed company will report on.

This includes the Balance Sheet, Profit and Loss or Comprehensive Income Statement, Cashflow Statement and Statement of Shareholders Equity. It also went through the various elements of these statements as current and non current asseets, current and non current liabilities and owners or shareholders equity. Assets equals Liabiliities plus Owners Equity.

I have also provided some tips on e-learning as work from home.

1. Zoom- Set a virtual background
2. Separate room and a ‘Do Not DIsturb’ sign
3. Headset with microphone
4. An alternate wifi as a mobile with hotspot for backup.
5. Two separate screens.

It’s the start of Term 2 2020 and my two subjects for this term are Financial Management and Financial Accounting. Having my background in accounting I am feeling confident, though it has been some years since I studied the subjects at uni and I have predominantly worked with small and micro business since that time. It is has been a while since my last post and a lot has happened. First I passed my two subjects for Term 4 2019 being Data Analysis and Managing People which I am incredibly pleased with. I then had the End of Year break before returning back.

In term 1 I only did one subject being Marketing. I found this to be an incredibly practical and applicable subject for applying to my work and in business. For this reason I loved the subject. I have yet to find out my results for it though. I only did the one subject as I was travelling for work in regional Victoria and the subject was on a Monday night, allowing me to travel Tuesday through to Friday aweay from Melbourne.

But 3 weeks ago there were restrictions around travel and groups of people gathering with COVID19. As a result I was told to work from home and Melbourne Business School has closed. We had our Term 1 exams online and I have been working and studying at home for the last three weeks.

Now in Term 2 this is a new experience for me of using online or e-learning. One of the main reasons I relocated to Melbourne was to gain the advantage of the network of the stucent cohort that study at MBS. Now, like many workplaces, we are having to adapt and be innovative on how we remote work. So this will be something new for me to learn and adjust to.

Damien talks about while he has been affected by things going on in his study, personal and work life, he has come to realise talking to a Kinaway member that he has a greater purpose for his being at the Melbourne Business School doing the MBA.

Damien also congratulates his fellow Managing People syndicate team members, George, Priscilla, Pauline and Fay who did a great job on presenting our mid term presentation this evening as a role play coffee table discussion.

Damien gives a quick recap of his day and talks about how he hasn’t been able to concentrate on study due to having the worry of finding somewhere to move on his mind. He also discusses ’emotional intelligence’ about how people can identify their own feelings and emotions but not able to pick up on other people’s emotions.