A Counting School - Hardcore Chartered Accountancy

Memo to CA recruiters - if you don't sound like a professional, you're in trouble

If you're going to e-mail me a job offer - where'd you get my address from, anyway? - consider running a spellcheck on your announcement first. And hire a decent proofreader or editor to make your pitch look serious. If you can't even bother to do that, at least do something proper with your layout. Misaligned paragraphs and bullet points make me think you really have no idea what you're doing. I was thinking of demonstrating it myself with some funky formatting but the very idea hurts my brain and upsets my eyes. I'm sure you've seen ugly formatting before, no need to commit another atrocity of design No matter how tantalizing your offer is, nothing make me think of my friend's warning that "recruiters are there to help a company with high turnover and often unpleasant work environments" faster than a basic failure to look act like a professional. Instead, these small tragedies cause me to picture a greasy, dank boiler room where the product is people...

No photos at the train station now? What for?

I'm not really in the mood to argue. I mean, I've had some excellent food lately, which should really put anyone in a good mood. But I'm still shocked and appalled. And I really should've replied to the news that photography is banned from the station with a chilly, "what for?" You see, according to the best guess of the Montreal train station's security, I apparently must look like a terrorist. Wow, they should've seen me when I was all scruffy and bearded in university. One of my friends from back then thought I was a History, rather than a Commerce student, for that simple fact. This is the second time in two months that I've been witness to an instruction from security to stop taking photos in a government-owned facility. And it's so stupid I wish I got drop the hammer on someone the way America's Henry Waxman does two and a half minutes into this video . Waxman is understandably annoyed with the stonewalling he gets from the EPA about...

How to use e-mail properly - a very important lesson

Unfortunately you won't learn how to pass most exams with this knowledge, but applying the rules or tips in Dave Pollard's "When not to use e-mail" posting will make you a much better communicator. This list applies to all people, but there are specific insights for auditors. Especially when you're starting out, and you find yourself thinking, "this is great, I can just e-mail everything and wait for answers to come back." Although it can, funnily enough, often work in spite of Pollard's list, it's important to know how this can and will fail. Above: there are media other than e-mail which you can use for communication, more successfully too Remember, that time is precious, and e-mail can unfortunately waste it. Consider these two 'rules'. 3. When you are seeking information that is not simple and straight-forward 4. When you're sending a few people complicated instructions The rules are tightly linked - the more confusing something gets...