SAGC Newsletter

Edition #1

August 2010
 Special thanks

To the SAGC Committee members

and staff of Sunway-TES who have
all helped make this possible
Contents Page

1 SAGC Mission Statement 1

2 Message from the Director of Sunway-TES 2

3 Message from the President of SAGC 3

4 Message from the Editor of SAGC 4

5 SAGC Committee – organisation structure 6

6 People behind the scenes 7

7 Angles: 13
Can we live solely on love?

7. Upcoming events: 16

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SAGC
Mission
SAGC aims to pave the way towards the betterment of you,
Statement our members, our peers, our friends. It is meant to be more
than your average fancy-newsletter-each-quarter alumni.
And it was with this in mind that the following vision and
mission were developed:

Vision

SAGC will strive to be a dedicated and solid platform of

resources, knowledge sharing and networking amongst
Sunway-TES graduates, focusing on adding value to
respective individuals’ career paths and work life balance.

Mission

1. To promote knowledge and experience sharing

amongst peers in various fields and industries for
continuous self-development;
2. To keep peers up-to-date on the latest developments in
the industry;
3. To provide guidance and support to graduates in
career planning and preparation to join the workforce
as professionals; and
4. To encourage building and maintaining relationships
based on mutual trust, respect and continuous support
amongst peers, graduates and students.

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Message
from the
Director of
Sunway-
TES Sunway TES, which runs the ACCA and CAT program
for Sunway University started in 1994 and as to date we
have over a thousand of graduates in various fields.

It is with this intention I decided to form the Sunway

Accountancy Graduate Club (SAGC) in which, a way
where graduates can reach out to their fellow graduates.
To promote sharing of knowledge, in the various fields,
for example Accounting, Audit, Tax and Consultancy.
By providing resources for the latest updates and
events, improving the networking of students, graduates
with other corporate entities, providing exam techniques
to all the ACCA students and also providing guidance to
fresh graduates in terms of career planning and job
hunting.

I look forward for years to come that one day we can be

the first Sunway Accounting Graduates Club to provide
networking to all our graduates worldwide

Teo Ee Sing
Director of Sunway-TES

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Message
from the
President
of Hi readers!!
SAGC
First of all, thank you for taking the time to read this
newsletter and even be curious about what SAGC is
and has produced. This alumni strives to be your
avenue to share, contribute, learn and experience great
things. Even after college, you still belong to an alumni.
And this will only work if you are interested of course.
And we really hope that you are.

After much blood, sweat and tears, finally, our first

edition of the SAGC newsletter is out! This is all thanks
to my wonderful editors for putting in such hard work
and commitment despite their actual workload that is
also bestowed upon them by their employers. =D Great
job guys and thank you! What would I do without you
guys… (Hire new people!)… Kidding!

This newsletter is an avenue to reach out to you, our

readers, to keep you connected and updated with all the
upcoming events organised by us. In this newsletter we
will bring you new and exciting write ups and perhaps
even things that you will surprise you. I do hope the
content of this newsletter will interest you and benefit
you in more ways than one. Hope you’ll enjoy this read.

Happy Reading!

Melissa Tan
President of SAGC
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Message
from the
Editor of
SAGC
Contrary to popular belief, SAGC does NOT stand for
Square Accountants Geek Club. But hey, don’t get me
wrong if you’re square, or an accountant, or you’re a
geek, it’s perfectly alright. We love you anyway. Or at
least we’ll try. =)

Alright alright, before my president throws a book at me,

I was joking. So turn those frowns upside down! What is
SAGC, you ask? It really stands for the Sunway
Accountancy Graduate Club.

SAGC represents more than just an alumni association.

It’s certainly more than the Wikipedia definition; an
association of graduates. It’s more than networking and
getting some old friends together. It’s really about
creating a bond between all of us. A bond that
transcends the year we graduated in or the clique we
fraternised with in classes. A bond of sharing knowledge
and war stories. One that allows us to learn from each
other as well as to form new relationships. Get the
picture?

Sounds like a tall order? Well it is. Maybe even as you

read this you’re wondering how that can ever be
achieved. But with that being said, if we’re going to have
a vision about something, why not set our sights on a
higher goal? And I’ll tell you how we can achieve that.

(continues on page 5)

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Message
from the (continues from page 4)

Editor of An alumni is more than its committee. We can sit

around all year organising events and writing
SAGC newsletters like this one, but that’s not going to do any
good if we can’t get you involved. So when you’re done
reading this newsletter, I know your first impulse will be
to chuck it aside and forget all about it. But if you dare to
be different, please do find out more about us. Visit our
Facebook page. Get involved. Do that, and who knows,
you might be pleasantly surprised at what you’ll find.

And now with all the serious pish-posh out of the way, I
can actually say something about this newsletter. Our
very first one in fact. Finally, its out!

This newsletter is an avenue to reach out to you, our

readers, to keep you connected and updated with all the
upcoming events organised by us. So get out your
diaries, berries, scraps of paper or whatever it is you
note important dates on and take note! Do come for
these events as a start, and like I said, you just might be
pleasantly surprised. We’re not stodgy, stuffy dorks you
know. Well… not ALL of us at least.

Enjoy!

Kenneth Koh
Editor of SAGC

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SAGC President
Secretary Vice President
Committee Kuan Yee-Zhen
Melissa Tan
Michelle Kho
Org
Structure
Assistant Secretary
Head of Fong Meng Hui Treasurer
Event Management Yip John Wai
Nicole Soo

Event Management
Khor Kim Li Event Management
Head of Editorial Teoh Jun Seong
Kenneth Koh

Editorial
Aruna Devi

Head of IT & Design

Chai Chun Howe IT & Design
Tan Wui Li
Editorial
Choong Woon
Head of Public Relations Wei
– Yeap Boon Hean
Public Relations – Oon Kim Kim

Head of Logistics Logistics

Suthaharan Elaine Pong
 7

Let us all get to know more

People about our committee
Behind the members...
Scenes …starting with the ring
leader….

SAGC is a crazy bunch...

and I'm the ring leader!
No idea how I got myself
into this. =D
Melissa Tan

Hey there, I'm Michelle! But

that's enough about me =)
SAGC, as you will soon see, is
more than just accountancy or
accountants – It's about
professions (because
accountancy offers you more
than an accountant's job
description); the people (i.e.
the graduates cos this is, after
all, a graduates club) and the
person- who is, well, basically-
YOU! =D Please do check out this newsletter; get a
peek or an insight on who we are, what we do, and join
us! *Brings in TV commercial voice* Cos we can't spell
"Graduates" if we didn't have "u"! Hehe, sorry, just
couldn't resist. NEXT!
Michelle Kho
 8

…the wishes that they have…

Hi all,
People
Behind the First of all, I would like to say
"welcome" & HELLO to everyone who
Scenes is reading our very 1st newsletter.
*applause*

Just a simple and quick introduction of

myself. I am the vice secretary of
Sunway SAGC. I graduated from
Sunway ACCA in June 2009 and I am currently working
with Ernst & Young in audit line.

Cheerio =)“
Fong Meng Hui

If you want to take a break

f r om your daily exciting
(could be a torture too)
workload, then SAGC is the
right place to be!
SAGC is the ultimate
getaway from your work, your
job, and your assignments! (aren't they all the same?)
Feel free to join us, and your memories will never be the
same again! Satisfaction guaranteed! :)
Yip John Wai

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…the things that come first

People to their minds when asked to
Behind the describe themselves…
Scenes Heading the event management
department with awesome
members is my first time. Thank
you for giving me chance to learn
and grow up with the team :)
Nicole Soo

Hi All..

As the first decade of the new

millennium comes to an end,
something great has only just begun.
Is it the World cup fever ?? No. Is it
the Iron man 3 sequel ?? No. Its just
the most awesome powderful
canggih bestest coolest hyper active craziness
*breathes* super duper all outstanding committee for
SAGC 2010 / 2011. I'm Jun Seong and I'll be part of the
event management team planning and trying our best to
make things as fun as they can get.

Teoh Jun Seong

 10

…the one who insisted that

People he alone must have the
Behind the entire page dedicated to
Scenes him…
This morning I googled for the meaning
of ‘Kenneth’ (that’s my name) and
interestingly it literally means “born of
fire”. Now I’m not trying to blow my own
trumpet here but that really sounds like
just another way to say “He’s hot!”…
Deesn’t it?
Moving on, being part of the Editorial
team for SAGC, my role is basically to play around with
words and come up with something that people would
want to read. So I hope you enjoy this very first edition
of our newsletter, stay tuned for more ‘facts’ from
Kenneth in future issues, and continue reading down to
the article by my fellow editor William, who lives in
Glasgow, Scotland, with his wife, three kids and nine
dogs. Or at least that’s what he tells me.
Kenneth Koh

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…the plots that they scheme

People with a kindly grin…
Behind the
Greetings everyone! I’m Aruna!!
Scenes
Description: Certified TV addict,
chocolate-lover and soon to be
Facebook junkie who dreams
that she owns Astro channel 121
as it bears her name!
Has a love-hate relationship with numbers and earns
a living by auditing them.

Aruna Devi

Warm greetings, folks. My

grandiose purpose here is to twist
the truths of the world with my
out-of-the-world views and
perspectives.

As Marcus Aurelius once put it,

"Everything we hear is an opinion,
not a fact; everything we see is a
perspective, not the truth".
That is not to say that I will deliberately sabotage the
technical columns, of course.
Choong Woon Wei

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…and the views that they

People want to share with you…
Behind the Aloha! An ACCA
graduate who does not
Scenes think like one and act
like one. Ironically, I am
back to Sunway-TES as
an employee, rather
than as a student. Part
time job staff in SAGC to join the happening,
diversified and radical committees. ~ Elaine Pong

Hi, I'm Chun Howe. I'm

the Superhero of the
accounting world -
sleeping late nights,
stopping all bad things
from happening, saving
little babies and old-
aged, grannies from
economic disasters. Hahaha, yes, economic
I'm an auditor! In the
SAGC, you get to know more people, exchange more
ideas, and value-add to yourself - about your peers, your
industry and your life! ~ Chai Chun Howe

Hi, I am Wui Li and I graduated

from the Dec 2008 ACCA exams.
Being part of potentially one of the
very first ACCA alumni is something
special and I strongly encourage
fellow graduates to join us :) After
all "Life is like a box of chocolates.
You never know what you're gonna
get." So why not try something new,
you might end up enjoying it :)
Cheers!
Tan Wui Li
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Can we live solely on love?

Angles By William

It is said that although love is good to have, it does not fill the
stomach.

In case you are mistaken, I am not referring to familial or romantic

love here. I am referring to the love we have for the work that we do.

It is a much-publicised statement these days: You have to love what

you do. If you‘re a student reading this, you would go, ‘Of course!
How can it be otherwise?’ If you were a young working adult, you
might go, ‘I like what I’m doing now. If not, I would change my job
immediately.’ If you have been working for many years, your reply
would be a lot more varied depending on circumstances. Some
would say that loving what you do is a necessity, whilst others
would say that it is merely a luxury that precious few can afford. For
them, they would do a work that they know best or could generate
the most income, because they have other commitments to fulfill.

I fall under the category of the young working adult, and therefore,
the experiences I share shall be from this particular perspective.

As a young working adult, it is important to find something that you

love to do. Bear in mind that you will be doing this same stuff for the
next thirty years of your life, and maybe even more (as retirement
age increases). If you choose to do something you never liked,
would you somewhere down the line lament not doing something
else you wanted? Ideally, wouldn’t you would want to do something
that you truly believe in? You would want to work only for something
that you are deeply passionate about. Whichever route you choose,
there are several considerations that we would all encounter, which
I will further expound.

Here comes consideration #1. Some people know what they want;
for others, it doesn’t come immediately. What happens if you
happen to fall into the latter category? The common way through
this obstacle seems to be to follow the ‘safest’ path – pick a job that
offers the greatest mobility in terms of transferable skills. Sounds
very profound, but in a layman’s words, it is to simply pick a job that
everyone applies for. That seems to minimise error rate, doesn’t it?
Subsequently, there is more time to think about what job truly
excites; and if you should move on, where to.

(continues on page 14)

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(continues from page 13)

Angles Then comes consideration #2. Is what I am interested to do relevant

in the marketplace? To put it even further, will it be relevant in the
marketplace in the foreseeable future (foreseeable future equates to
the expected working years ahead of you) or is it a dying industry or
skill? Needless to say, this involves a combination of in-depth
market research and the intangible thing we call intuition, the result
of which is an educated speculation. To boost the chances of
making a correct move, reading the papers and magazines would
help as much as keeping in contact with friends and other
acquaintances who could help offer advice and guidance.

Then comes consideration #3. What if I become disinterested in

what I do several years down the road? Should I take up something
that enables me to have wide-ranging skill sets so I can move
horizontally across industries or professions more easily? I would
opine that, no matter which route you choose, there would be give-
and-take. If you are to be a jack-of-all-trades, then the drawback is
that career progression will be hampered. If you are specialised,
then the drawback is that you might have to start all over if you
choose to switch your field of work.

Consideration #4 is something that is on top of everyone’s mind,

which is the remuneration package offered. At the end of the day, all
of us need money for living. There are many expenses in life, and a
good remuneration package ensures that this would be one less
matter to worry about. A suitable remuneration package should
properly recognise the level of contribution to the work done, as this
reflects the value an employer places on the contribution made. A
good remuneration package will motivate the employee to give their
best, as it is the most direct way for an employer to convey their
appreciation for the efforts of the employee.

Finally, comes consideration #5. Irrespective of whether you love

your work to bits or no, there will always be the people element
involved. The three different levels of relationship: boss, colleagues
and subordinates, are essential towards creating a positive working
environment. Personally, I rate people relationship to be the most
important consideration of all because of the following scenarios:

• You love your work to bits, and you love the people you work
with. This creates the much sought after winning formula.

• You love your work to bits, but you just cannot stand the sight of
that @*#! anymore. This contributes to a low working morale.

(continues on page 15)

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(continues from page 14)

Angles iii. You do not particularly love your work, but you love the people
you work with. This contributes to a better working morale.

iv. You do not particularly love your work, and you just cannot
stand the sight of that @*#! anymore. Morale? What morale?

Having good people relationship remains the foundation to a

positive working environment. Given the many characteristics
present in an organisation, there are bound to be differences
between the staff. Admit it, there will always be that one person (at
least) whose guts you hate, or whose *insert characteristic* you
hate. It is something that all of us will need to learn how to live with,
because as much as we want it to, this issue will not disappear. You
can call it an omnipresent issue, for it is like the polluted air that we
breathe. Therefore, the simplest thing we can all do for each other
would be to practise some tolerance and acceptance. If we do not
care to make that effort, why then would others make it for us?

So, back to the question: can we live solely on love? I say we can,
not just on love for the work we do, but also love for the people we
work with. I hear a majority shouting out for the love for a ‘proper
compensation’, and I agree with that as well (which needs no further
emphasis, but there really is no harm repeating it a thousand more
times, right?). It is an ideal thing to have, but I still believe that it is a
target worth striving for, because if we do not hope and work
towards it, there is no chance of getting it. The hope may be a
glimmer, but a glimmer is better than nothing.

And with hope, let us strive to achieve our goals; while recognising
the roadblocks, but also with the perseverance to get back up after
every fall we have.

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Upcoming Look out for the following upcoming events coming your way:

Events
Sunway TES 21st Graduation event

Date: 2 October 2010

Venue: Sunway Convention Centre

Here we celebrate graduates from the Certified Accounting

Technician (CAT), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
(ACCA) and The Institute of Chartered Accountants on England
and Wales programmes respectively.

Dinner event: Spectrum

Date: 6 November 2010

Venue: Sunway Convention Centre

A chance to reconnect, reunite and simply have fun. Like its

namesake, it will be a night full of colour (metaphorically), and it
will be an event filled with great memories.
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Upcoming
Events

Spectrum. It's more than just another calendar event. More than
just a dinner. The splash of colours - more than just a work of art,
although undoubtedly it does look very nice. So why the reference
to the colours of a rainbow?

It's because that's who we are. Diverse cultures and races.

Diverse tastes and senses of humour. Diverse ages and
backgrounds. Diverse hobbies and pet peeves. And yet here we
are, all under one roof, one commonality – a 4-letter 2-alphabet
word; ACCA.

Over the years we in the accounting profession have picked up a

laundry list of descriptive nicknames. Some have called us
necessary evils. Some call us squares. Others think of us as the
backbone of every company. Not to mention bean counters,
number crunchers, etc. A distinct few have even had the honour of
becoming the most famous document shredders in history.

So add all of the above up and what do you get? A potpourri

diversity. From the wealthy chief executive to the fledgling just
learning how to burn the midnight oil, all are welcome here at
Spectrum. Feel free to meet new people and form new
relationships. Head up to business rivals and shake their hands.
Forget business cards and get phone numbers. Mix around.

After all, isn't that what 'spectrum' means? Unity in diversity.

The Spectrum gathering and dinner will be held on the 6th of

November 2010. Be there and join us in the fun!

For further information, please kindly contact:

Margaret, 03-74918725
marge@sunway.edu.my
sagc.alumni@gmail.com