'May you live in interesting times,' goes the traditional curse. The credit crash certainly makes it a fascinating time to be studying finance - but how bad is it? We ask students around the world. By Camilla Berens, freelance journalist.
Very few companies employing CIMA students have avoided the effects of the credit crunch.
But while we're all feeling the personal effects in our wallets, many students are finding it an interesting and challenging time to be studying and working in accountancy.
Keeping an eye on cashflow
When it comes to business productivity, cashflow is ever more crucial of course.
Australian student Simon Sheen works in the steel manufacturing sector and is keeping a careful eye on cash. 'The credit crunch appears to be affecting our suppliers more than my employer, especially when it comes to credit providers,' he says. 'As a company we're in a position of holding cash at the moment and hence our credit rating is high. But our customers are taking longer to pay their bills so we have to monitor this carefully.'
Simon is rising to the challenge and believes his experience at work also provides useful insights for his CIMA studies. 'Topical subjects are useful in CIMA exams as they are current. And if they're in your mind, they'll be in the examiners' minds as well,' he adds.
Lending profitably
In the UK, CIMA student Alex Longson has seen the effects of the financial crisis first hand - his employers are finance brokers. 'The success of our company is dependent largely on the ability of our panel of lenders to lend profitably ' and this has clearly been compromised by the economic factors of the past 12 months,' he says.
However, the additional demands on the company have given Alex new insights into the business world. 'This is an extremely challenging environment and a fascinating one for me to be involved in at this early stage in my career,' he says. 'I've found myself getting involved in projects and pieces of work that I otherwise may not have had exposure to.'
The crunch has also come up in class discussions. 'The business stories in the news at the moment are coming up now in discussions and may well form the basis of some useful examples to use in the Strategic exams I'll be sitting,' Alex concludes.
The CIMA advantage
In South Africa, Barati Mogane, a trainee at a large multinational company, has found that the credit crunch has been useful in concentrating her mind on her CIMA studies. 'It has had a huge impact on my lifestyle,' she says. 'Also fuel and food prices have increased dramatically. My groceries bill has doubled, for example. Now I don't travel or party as much as I used to. This means I'm home much more often and I have more time for my CIMA studies!'
Working in Hong Kong, CIMA student Herman Chow is cautiously optimistic about the future. 'A lot of net asset value-orientated investors say that the best time to enter the stock market is when everybody gets jittery,' he says. 'I sense that the worst times are yet to come but I'm also confident about the future and a rapid bounce back. Luckily, my company is subsidised by the government and currently has no cashflow problems but my modest savings have started to evaporate.'
In Malaysia, CIMA student Benjamin Chin Fook Chuan is finding that his abilities are being stretched. 'Being with a global company, we're shielded to a large extent from the credit crunch but we still suffer from the general ripple effect in terms of things like lower investor appetite and clients taking a wait and see approach,' he says.
'But it's a mighty interesting time for us as finance guys because the company is really tapping into our expertise for fresh ideas to streamline costs, increase efficiency in the process, etc. This has definitely helped to shape my exam answers to make them relevant in today's context.'
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