Accounting and Finance PersonalStatement (Durham University)
My decision toapply for accounting and finance at degree level has come from both myaffection to economics and my desire to understand the language of business.Although I had initially planned on pursuing a degree in economics, myinternship at Chio Lim Stone Forest and subsequent research as well as advicefrom my father led me to value the pragmatic skill set that accounting andfinance can give you to prepare for a career in the business world.
Since I wasyoung I had always planned on pursuing a career in finance and my internship atthe accountancy firm Chio Lim Stone Forest, where I witnessed the formulationof Wilmar's SGX IPO, further developed my predilection to accounting. Irealized that in order to function and efficiently navigate through thebusiness world you needed to know the basic language of accounting. In additionto seeing how an accountancy firm worked from the inside, I was able to improvemy accountancy skills as I helped the firm with data entry. I also worked onthe ratio analysis of a proposed hydro-power plant project in East Java, andwas taught by my colleague how to analytically assess the feasibility of theproject.
Taking bothEconomics and History at A-Level has given me a firm understanding of thehistory of society's evolution and how the financial world is one that iscontinually changing; for instance, the situational leverage of Keynesian vsfree market stance depends very much on the current status quo compared to thevalidity of the theory itself. Whilst in college I subscribed to the'Economist' which helped me to keep up to date with recent macro-movements inthe world, as well as the provision of different viewpoints. Reading literaturecentered around the financial crisis, such as 'Uncontrolled Risk...' and 'Timefor a Visible Hand...' gave me a basic understanding of the toxic accountingtrends that prevailed and partially led to the 2008 financial crisis. Moreoverthe unchallenged nature of Wall Street's fiddling increased my desire tounderstand the accounting under the false statements.
As a permanentresident of Singapore I came back home after college in order to serve my 2years of National Service in the army. Since the past year of grueling basicand further military training I was promoted to a 3rd Sergeant and am now asection commander leading ten of my own men. To quip the experience as merelydifficult and trying would be an understatement; the perseverance needed to,not only keep a straight face in front of your men during training, but toencourage them as well is a very tall order. Besides learning the skills neededto complete the mission objective under a climate of near-physical exhaustion,I have also improved my leadership skills. The diversity of social backgroundsthat my men come from has also forced me to adapt my people management skillsto each individually; for example, some of them have drug abuse problems,whereas some are married at the age of 18 with two children. Despite thesevariances, as a section commander my job is to unite them together to worktowards the objective.
Although I stillhave a year left in the army, the difficulties and training that I faced insidehave strengthened my resolve to pursue my further studies in accounting andfinance. Despite being several years older than my colleagues, I feel that Ican share the life and leadership skills that I have learned in the army, aswell as my maturity, with the student community. Once I am discharged from thearmy, I plan to take a gap year in order to travel the world and gain workexperience at my father's oil field in Bakersfield, California. After that Ihope that I can bring the skills that I have gained, and my passion of furtherunderstanding the business world into university.
My decision toapply for accounting and finance at degree level has come from both myaffection to economics and my desire to understand the language of business.Although I had initially planned on pursuing a degree in economics, myinternship at Chio Lim Stone Forest and subsequent research as well as advicefrom my father led me to value the pragmatic skill set that accounting andfinance can give you to prepare for a career in the business world.
Since I wasyoung I had always planned on pursuing a career in finance and my internship atthe accountancy firm Chio Lim Stone Forest, where I witnessed the formulationof Wilmar's SGX IPO, further developed my predilection to accounting. Irealized that in order to function and efficiently navigate through thebusiness world you needed to know the basic language of accounting. In additionto seeing how an accountancy firm worked from the inside, I was able to improvemy accountancy skills as I helped the firm with data entry. I also worked onthe ratio analysis of a proposed hydro-power plant project in East Java, andwas taught by my colleague how to analytically assess the feasibility of theproject.
Taking bothEconomics and History at A-Level has given me a firm understanding of thehistory of society's evolution and how the financial world is one that iscontinually changing; for instance, the situational leverage of Keynesian vsfree market stance depends very much on the current status quo compared to thevalidity of the theory itself. Whilst in college I subscribed to the'Economist' which helped me to keep up to date with recent macro-movements inthe world, as well as the provision of different viewpoints. Reading literaturecentered around the financial crisis, such as 'Uncontrolled Risk...' and 'Timefor a Visible Hand...' gave me a basic understanding of the toxic accountingtrends that prevailed and partially led to the 2008 financial crisis. Moreoverthe unchallenged nature of Wall Street's fiddling increased my desire tounderstand the accounting under the false statements.
As a permanentresident of Singapore I came back home after college in order to serve my 2years of National Service in the army. Since the past year of grueling basicand further military training I was promoted to a 3rd Sergeant and am now asection commander leading ten of my own men. To quip the experience as merelydifficult and trying would be an understatement; the perseverance needed to,not only keep a straight face in front of your men during training, but toencourage them as well is a very tall order. Besides learning the skills neededto complete the mission objective under a climate of near-physical exhaustion,I have also improved my leadership skills. The diversity of social backgroundsthat my men come from has also forced me to adapt my people management skillsto each individually; for example, some of them have drug abuse problems,whereas some are married at the age of 18 with two children. Despite thesevariances, as a section commander my job is to unite them together to worktowards the objective.
Although I stillhave a year left in the army, the difficulties and training that I faced insidehave strengthened my resolve to pursue my further studies in accounting andfinance. Despite being several years older than my colleagues, I feel that Ican share the life and leadership skills that I have learned in the army, aswell as my maturity, with the student community. Once I am discharged from thearmy, I plan to take a gap year in order to travel the world and gain workexperience at my father's oil field in Bakersfield, California. After that Ihope that I can bring the skills that I have gained, and my passion of furtherunderstanding the business world into university.
