Deno

Deno ! Why do I feel like that I always end up offending your or in this case hurting you, whenever we talk for a while ! I'm sorry...but I never meant too ! I think I'll just shut-up for a while then ! Sorry !

Deno, I'm sorry if I came across as being callous, I usually only get sense kicked into my brain about these 'sensitive and emotional topics' after I've already blurted something out ! I'm really...really sorry if I hurt you by talking so candidly. I'm truly sorry for your loss; I haven't lost my parents but I did loose a sister and so I know how hard it is sometimes ! But I meant what I said - You're an exceptionally good person and your Mom and Dad, wherever they are, must be very proud of you. I know I am, my dear sister !

Deno, I am proud of my mom ! Shes the best person I know. But I think I have the right to be proud of her even more considering that shes got a post-graduate degree in landscaping, another in interior designing and another in Botany plus shes also an M.Phil scholar with her dissertation on 'Environmental Management' and shes currently pursuing a PhD in the same ! And she did all of that with 3 kids and in a country like Pakistan where women aren't exactly encouraged to pursue higher education or to work ! You'd love her if you ever meet her !

And I do feel for you sister ! I'm sure your Mom and Dad must be very proud of you because you are an exceptionally good person ! Do you hear me ? An exceptionally good one ! And if you ever need any help...we, here on PDF, are the family that you can always turn too !

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Deno...look at your language ! Wheres the religious police ? Lock her up in a Burqa and make her do yoga (I mean offer prayers) 5 times a day !

And if shes a good girl then marry her off to a rich sheikh with a harem full of rinkly old women so that Deno gets preferential treatment !

Nah..Deno ! No Pride..! I know my worth...it isn't much but I'm not a piece of trash either ! I can get the job and I can work my buttt off doing ! And I've got around 6 internships with everything from an audit firm and a bank to a teaching position and interning at a newspaper, to show for it ! Beat that...Michel - Deno - angelo !

Oh wait ! Was Michelangelo ever an architect ? Ufff I'm going to have to ask my mom...she knows about these things ! By the way she has a post-graduate degree in interior designing and landscaping along with a couple of other degrees and she's worked free-lance in that field for a while now !

I know...I'm a show-off but shes my Mom !

'toooopid' ! Gearing isn't a debt/revenue ratio its a debt/equity ratio i.e how much is your business financed by debt relative to how much of it is financed by equity or Shareholder's funds ! And it can be for any business thats financed by both of the sources !

*oh Deno...didn't know...she didn't know...ohhh yeahh....ohhhh yeah* - Is that self-righteous pride enough for you !

Good..! So the accountant in me is curious ? Whats the gearing ratio of the company ?

* let see if Deno even knows what that means *

If I were to opt for the 'Investment Finance' route (and yes I do mean a Financial Advisor or a Financial Analyst that...more so a Hedge Fund manager ultimately !) I'd be going for the CFA charter (Chartered Financial Analyst), which in turn is a 3 stage based qualification for 'Investment Finance Professionals' and is the yardstick by which all other similar qualifications are measured by ! The problem is that if I were to go for the accountancy stream I'd be doing the 3 year internship with an audit firm (and I do have an offer from a very...very good one) but if I go for the other stream it would make more sense for me to work with a brokerage house, a bank's financial advisory or mutual/hedge funds ! And I don't really know any person who can guide me for the latter but I do know quite a few Chartered Accountants - one of them even is a partner at a very respectable firm.

So the way I see it - Unchartered waters...do I take the plunge or do I play it safe ?

Nah, Deno its not like that ! I dunno if you're familiar with the term 'Chartered Accountancy' ? And so my qualification isn't an academic university based qualification but rather a professional degree based on around 14 papers I have to pass to qualify as a 'Chartered Accountant' and then do a mandatory 3 year internship with an ACCA prescribed training partner ! The 14 papers themselves range from 'tax, audit, economics, finance, management, management accounting, financial accounting, business analysis and their advanced versions' ! So its a very complete qualification when compared with say - a bachelors in accounting or finance and it is equivalent to a Post-Graduate (Master's) degree ! The thing is that I think a PhD would make it a bit too academic and I'd rather gain some relevant work experience instead - the People I've talked to also agree with this assessment !

Well I am home now.

Naturally my father, who is a cautious man, is urging me to go for accountancy, to choose job security over fun ! But I really dunno...!

You tell me what about you ? A company...wow, Deno ! Do I see a Warren Buffet, an Jobs, a Gates of the architectural world in the making ?
Is it a quoted company ?

Nope...I still have around 6 more months to go before I can finally enter the job market ! And yeah the Exams went well...! On the future - I dunno; I'm sort of stuck between choosing 'Investment Finance' or sticking with 'Accountancy' ! The former is very interesting and pays quite handsomely but its also quite risky and then theres the added disadvantage of there not being very well developed 'capital markets' in Pakistan...so if I go for that I'd probably have to leave the country or at the very least move to Karachi - the financial hub of Pakistan but I kinda like Lahore - my Home ! The accountancy stream on the other hand is secure because everyone whose ever managed significant amounts of money knows that an accountant is indispensable and yeah it pays good enough too. But I'd rather go hug a suicide bomber then sit through an accounting lecture and I can't really imagine what I'd do if I had to work 9 to 5 every day as an accountant ! So I really don't know !

Out of the house will be there within the hour.

You free today?