My academic experience with Hong Kong Baptist University and my previous professional experiences will provide a foundation towards achieving my career goals. The Master’s in accounting that I would receive from McIntire will further add finishing touches that will enable me to excel ahead of other candidates and distinguish me because of the rigorous academic requirements. During my undergraduate education I was a highly involved student. I excelled in the academics, because I enjoyed the course work. I studied the foundations of accounting and I was often collaborating with colleagues and professors in a wide range of disciplines. This culminated in my entry into national competitions for business students, and in 2011, the team that I lead was rewarded for our hard work with the title of National Champions in a competition sponsored by Unilever.
I have worked in several diverse enterprises and learned about different roles in the financial world. At Unilever China I worked in the customer development department and was a sales representative intern. I regularly visited Carrefour hyper-stores and RT-Mart stores in Guangzhou. I communicated with the store managers and discussed concerns regarding sales and helped solve sales related issues regarding our products. I was responsible for dealing with daily orders from both Carrefour and RT-Mart and ensuring that the supply lines were appropriately reinforced. I also prepared data analyses based on sales, as well as market and financial reports of Unilever. This experience reinforced collaboration, as each corporation had a different managing style, likely a result of the companies’ different national origins.
At PricewaterhouseCoopers, I worked as an Assistant Associate and participated in the annual audit of China State Construction Engineering Corporation.
My responsibilities were for the “Cash and Bank”, “Accounts Receivable” and “Accounts Payable” items. I was also responsible for estimating gains and loss regarding pending litigation and testing internal controls of the client. This job exposed me to many accounting procedures, and the potential pitfalls of dealing with large state run enterprises. Similarly, I worked in China Minmetals Securities Limited as an Assistant Analyst where I participated in asset management and made contracts and investment plans. I further was responsible for performing due diligence and the creation of custodial bank accounts for our investors. In support of these responsibilities I evaluated portfolio performance and gave feedback to the managers and performed financial forecasting.
In the short term, I would like to start my career with in a large accounting firm. A large accounting firm would enable me to obtain practical experience and expose me to different specialties within accounting and finance generally. In the longer term, I aspire to be an accounting or a financial manager. As a financial manager I will be responsible for creating and employing various systems for the aggregation and verification of financial information, as well as managing and mentoring the entire array of support staff. McIntire will provide me with the necessary foundations to achieve my goals by exposing me to even more of the accounting world.
