Maximum Adventures of the Aussie Seven

Last CA Module cleared

2008-02-15T12:03:00.000-08:00

Congrats to all of us for clearing the Financial Reporting paper...1 more month and we will finally have CA-less weekends to enjoy ourselves!!

Aust CA: Myth or no Myth?

2007-11-01T10:17:00.000-07:00

Mixed responses from our current CA batch with regards to the above video...

HY: Crappy but funny...

Yishan: I'm so embarrassed to be part of the video!

Mich: Such a misrepresentation...

Overall consensus to Jerry Hwang (Dua Kang Kia): Part time work, Part time study, full time play -> MY ASS! haha ;p

It's been a year!

2007-07-08T00:01:00.000-07:00

Looking back, it dawned upon me that we have been in Aussie Land for a year! My goodness, how time flies. Now that the new batch of secondees are here, it makes me reminiscene the times where we just stepped foot on Wallaby Land...

3 more CA exams and the Lion Land awaits us! As you all would have realised from the previous blog entries, you would have reckoned the following:

- Sydney secondees are a highly motivated bunch (longer working hours, more intensive CA tutorials, lesser leisure time, etc yet still the lot that performed the best!)

- Melbourne secondees are a slacker bunch (good working hours, spread out CA tutorials, forever leeching on the work of Sydney secondees, etc and doing well enough to pass!)

- Adelaide secondee is a hardworking soul (the brave soul which is all by herself in Adelaide, slogging like nobody's business cause the office is small and staff is short, and still working like an ant to pass all her exams!)

So just a couple of months ago, where Yishan and I (housemates) were having our regular dosage of bo liao chats, we reckoned that the CA exam markers in Sydney must have been more lenient, hence resulting in our fellow secondees performing much better than us!

Ha, but deep down, we all knew that we got the best deal out of Aussie Land. With 1 more year of life away from home, the Melbourne slackers aim to achieve the following:
- Skiing (in Aug 07: accommodation and plan has been finalised)
- Phantom of the Opera musical (in Aug 07: Tickets purchased)
- David Campbell Concert (in Aug 07: Tickets to be purchased next week)
- Aust Open match (in Jan 08: Definitely on the agenda)
- Grand Prix (in Mar 08: Definitely on the agenda)
- NZ trip (in Mar 08: work in progress)
- Round Aust & Asia trip (after secondment in Jun 08 - to be confirmed)

And the list goes on...as we go along...So stay tuned for more updates!

Congratulations

2007-06-11T05:33:00.000-07:00

Congrats to all who passed TAX. Especially happy for Horny Yuh who merit listed!!! And of course for myself as well!!!haha

2 down 3 to go!

2007-06-07T04:54:00.000-07:00

Aussie 7 successfully got through the most difficult - cum - most irrelevant CA technical paper of the 4 (TAX!) that we had to get through before the final integrative EBA paper. All pass!

Great! Now for MAA and FIN!

Cheers!

It's still Aussie 7 and it's Tax results day!

2007-06-06T18:53:00.000-07:00

This blog has been pretty dormant recently and from the last post, Max nearly left the team but it is stil intact! Still Aussie 7! haha..

Today is judgement day for our Tax CA paper - 2nd of the 4 that we need to do! 4 hours and counting down.. Another merit paper for our dear Max, Kevan and Darrel? Updates wil come in another 5 hours time! Cheers!

Aussie Six soon?!!

2007-04-02T19:20:00.000-07:00

Fellow secondees,

In 6 hours' time, I will be making my final decison. Stay tuned to the conclusion!!

Will it be Aussie 6 or still 7?!??

Many people have been giving me advice. Some good, some not so good. Ultimately, as the cliche goes, its my own decison to make.

Thanks for the many concern shown. Much appreciated.

MT

Details of proposal from SG HR

2007-02-26T13:31:00.000-08:00

The long awaited preliminary calculations of what we would be getting from the SG HR for the 'inequalities' that we had to endure for the last 8 months was finally revealed to me yesterday. I was supposed to be the sounding board of the HR to determine whether if the sum to be offered is 'reasonable' or not. Fair. Glad that HR really did consider the reasonableness of the amount instead of just throwing a number at us and say, 'Take it or leave it'.

Overall, the amount is reasonable, by my standards and also relatively our general expectations (majority of us at least). For practical reasons, it is not appropriate to disclose anything more than what I had just mentioned. Just to add on to Max's previous post and reveal more details.

Overall, it looks like a sweet success against an 'establishment' as Max had appropriately put it. But, it was never a baseless fight. It was based on valid arguments put forth by us. Kudos to all who stood by it and united we stand. Sweet victory it is! Glad that we made a difference, both to our seniors (who may be remunerated accordingly), our fellow UK secondees and also our juniors coming on this program!

Also very glad that SG HR is receptive instead of being overly defensive. The fact that they digested our reasons positively and proactively (by reviewing PwC policies AND also the current standard of living differential AND also its ultimate HR policy on EQUITY towards its staff, particularly those of the same grade) shows that this firm is still worth our commitment.

Hopefully, this chapter would close soon with everyone happy. Time to look forward.... TAX CA focus session, Tasmania trip, TAX EP submission, more TAX, more worK... hmm.. sounds interesting? Haha.. it's up to us to make it more interesting... Cheers!

A Giant Victory

2007-02-26T03:58:00.000-08:00

Tonight marks a giant victory in our challenge against the establishment!!

Credit must go to:
HY - for being the "ringleader" and leading the charge towards equality
Mich - for providing much-appreciated and constant support for the cause
Yishan - for sleeping thru the conflict? Haha, kidding lah - This allowed us to proceed w/o conflict amongst ourselves..honestly for the well-received support as well
Angela - she suffered enough in Adelaide - this will be a nice reward for her
Darrel - for always providing a dissenting view that makes the rest of us even more determined to go on..
Kevan - HY and me finally walked the talk; so no more groundless accusations. Now you can take more holidays, just like the time we went back Singapore to fight and you went holidaying..

That's all folks....I said my piece whether you like it or not.

Not to spoil the celebratory mood - looking forward to our Tasmania trip so we can toast to this victory!!!

Sweet Shiraz bought!

2007-02-19T05:22:00.000-08:00

Bought them! Got them! No more worries for the D's.... from the continuing complaining from our Leader M! Luckily my name is starting with 'H'...
2 bottles of Sweet Shiraz from the Iron Gate for Chris. They are real good! exCelleNt sweet red wine! You can't get it anywhere other than at Iron Gate - Hunter Valley... Their sweet Mandala (white wine) is great too! Think the Aussie 7 + Darren really missed GOod stuff the last time we visited Hunter Valley... Haha..
HappY ChinEse NeW yEar to everyone! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Iron Gate Estate - Sweet Sweet Shiraz

2007-02-12T16:08:00.000-08:00

I'm so sad today again, cos Darren didn't buy me my Sweet Shiraz. He missed Iron Gate Estate winery again. I never trusting people with Christian names starting with D's again...that includes you, Darrel!!

Anyway, congrats to the Aussie 7 for passing our first CA module - Audit & Aussurance!! Good work!!

Btw I repeat that I do not get $1k..FS just gives out a bottle of wine. So stop hustling me for a treat the net time you see me. I wonder if you guys are my friends sometimes...haha

2 hours and counting

2007-02-08T18:51:00.000-08:00

No mood to work. No mood to think. No mood to eat..or wait a minute, maybe this is not true cos I just had like BBQ pork rice + a free ice cream choc top...

Just keep thinking about my AAA results that's going to come out soon...Hope everything will be good for all of us, so that we can enjoy our weekend...

Judgment Day

2007-02-08T13:23:00.000-08:00

Judgment Day!
My turn to finally blog about our Aussie adventure so far on this judgment day for all of us. From the look of how our Aussie 7 blog has been taking shape so far, it seems that it is on its way to be a 'classic', with all the rhetoric flying from 1 end to another and counter-attacking (via creative usage of words and the need to read between the lines). Great fun reading it ya! Haha.. That's what this blog is meant to be. Summarizing stuff that the Aussie 7 had gone through, had done, had thought, had pondered, had discussed, had complained, etc....

Our adventure (or even mis-adventure at times when we pondered about the 'true value' of this program) thus far has lots of ups and downs. And the ups and downs may differ slightly between all 3 groups of us (Syd, Mel and Adel groups) but luckily, our togetherness and united stand had neutralised/conquered most of the negativity that threatened to seep through the gaps and making this secondment a true JoKe.

Anger, disappointment and emotion imbalance were left behind in SG after our discussion with HR during our home leave trip back as there were positive developments and news from our firm (although at this point of time, we are still patiently waiting for confirmations). We saw light at the end of the tunnel; our firm is not as petty / unconcerned as we thought and it looks like it may be a worthwhile decision that we had all made to come on this secondment which effectively 'guarantees' us employment for the next 4 years!

We had great deal of fun during Australia Day long weekend and will be replicating that for our long weekend at Tasmania come March. BUT for now, our 'future' lies in the results that we would be getting at 4pm today. Judgement DAY is today! Already, some of us (maybe just 1) had pondered going back straight to SG if the results is unfavourable. Let's hope for the best ya, although I know that there is a SURE pass with Max-imum ease.. Think you know who.. Haha..

Max, hope you can break Jalen's historic performance in the CA, get all merits and you can beat him as you have gotten 'A' for your bridging course too (think he forgot to mention in his last blog when he talked about his humility... hehe..)!

A message to the Aussie 7, good luck for the AAA106 results today and remember that we are all in the same boat together and it's us who would make this secondment a GREAT one or a FOrGettabLe one. Cheers!

In Self-Defence

2007-02-07T19:04:00.000-08:00

After all the abuses hurled at me from various people, this is my point-by-point rebuttal:

(1) Yishan, I do not look like a chipmunk. At best, you can say that I look like a hamster which is way cuter; or more like the Coca-Cola drinking Polar Bear (see below)...

(2) Darren, I do not know why you climbed on top of me in the middle of the night. But you sure have a lot of explaining to do to Judee...

However, at least, you redeemed yourself by saying my email on the "Planning for Tasmania" was GOLD!!

Extract of DarrenQ's reply reproduced:

haha...good 1 max! "with faith I lead"...haha
ur email is gold...I should post it up on my blog ;)

(3) Darrel, you will not be forgiven for messing up the itinerary for Hunter Valley by not going to Iron Gate Estate Winery first. It was not my 10 minute toilet break that was the cause of me not getting my Sweet Shiraz. If we had skipped the chocolate factory, Tempus Two and Lindeman,; we would have reached Iron Gate in time!!!

(4) Mich, I am not SHAMELESS. Instead, anyone close to me will realise that if I claim 2nd spot for being humble, nobody actually dares to claim the first spot. (literally translated from a Chinese saying)

Also, although I am first class honours (40th place), 277 for PSLE, son of a famous national bowler and the descendant of a legendary char kway teow hawker, I am still worried for my CA results tommorrow!!

To demonstrate my "humility", I didnt even blame you for forgetting to mention that I obtained 9 As for my "O-Levels".

(5) Lastly, to ALL, I feel hurt when you guys tease me about being fat. This is because I am obviously a bit on the big side because of my bone structure and bulging muscles, due to my vigorous workouts and years of rugby & soccer training. And this is not FAT!!

I rest my case.

Make or break milestone for the Aussie 7!

2007-02-07T04:01:00.000-08:00

Now, after lots of blog entries about our blasting Sydney weekend getaway from Maxy, Horng Yuh and Yishan, not forgetting the ultra cocky and shameless "leader", Maxy, who spends most of his time couping in his second permanent retirement home, STAR CITY CASINO, I have decided that there is enough said and done!

Everyone, if you wish to get a better understanding of what SHAMELESS means, please, take a look at the email on our upcoming Tasmania in Maxy's blog which is a perfect illustration. And to think Darren is a up and coming lawyer, oh, how i fear for Australia! Haha, his email is GOLD? Gosh! What golden shit is stuck in that brain of his? Haha.

But..But..Despite all verbal abuse hurled amongst one another, there is lotsa love going around between all of us. It dawned on me that 9 Feb 2007, this coming friday, is a hallmark day for the Aussie 7! Why? It is the result release of our 1st exam taken in Dec 2006!

Anticipated sweaty fists and explosive heartbeats before our laptop screens this coming friday afternoon as we await our results. Failure is not an option for us all. Even the thought sends shivers down my spine.

Of course, all will be experiencing jitters. All except one.

Who else can it be but our first class honours Maxy, the great man who scored a humble 277 for his PSLE, the son of a famous national bowler, the descendant of a legendary char kway teow hawker and not forgetting, the 40th smartest guy in NBS.

Haha, for that weekend, I think all of us knew ALL we had to know about Maxy. Even Yishan who slept away majority of the road trip...tsk tsk...

Aussie Seven

2007-01-30T03:21:00.000-08:00

It was only slightly more than 6 months ago when Aussie 7 finally arrived at the land of the fabled myth, where everything was supposed to be "chill", and everyone was supposed to be packing up at the dot.

However, true to Murphy's Law, things were definitely not smooth-sailing initially. But gradually, life became much better..

A random discussion during the Australia Day weekend gathering led to the creation of our own shared blog where our close friends can also share a bit of our life here, be it good or bad....

So stay tuned for our latest adventures pretty soon...

Cheers!!