Hello there..what's up?

I got this sweet message sent from Toronto today.

hmmm, it is hard to say. I am either happy or unhappy.

The weather gets clear today after more than half month's raining. I was scheduled a training in Sanya, a famous beach city in the southern part of China next week but have to cancel due to the US GAAP training in Shanghai at the same time. Surprisingly, I don't feel very disappointed as the works won't leave me as I leave Shanghai.

During the weekend, I registered to a gym. I got a discount paid the annual fee for a 16 months membership which I count it will be valid until I leave Shanghai. Besides the exercise equipments, they offer dancing classes such as Jazz, Latino, Hip Hop and Belly Dance etc. as well as Yoga & Spinning. I don't like very hard exercises and i think Yoga is boring. I plan to go to the dance classes at least once a week to get some exercise.

I also paid for a spa package. It is a very fancy spa club. I feel happy after spending a lot of money. Women's bad origin, guys will say.

Besides, it is just work, work, work, a lot of work. My buddy works so hard as he is expected to be a partner next year. He was not very happy when he saw me leaving at 7pm. In average, I work two days after 9pm in a week. No body mentions work life balance here. Once I commented if a person works so late in the evening, he won't discharge his work effeciently on the next day. A lot of people objected and one said he works every day until 12am and goes to the client office at 8am. I could just keep silence. However, I try to keep myself balance in order not to escape in the 18 months. After I got calls about work in a couple of weekends, I turn off my cell phone after 10pm on Friday until 8am on Monday. Although I also do some work at home during the weekends, I don't like to be called all the time.

There are a lot of things need to learn but there is no time. I am still struggling on getting all the engagement letters signed before December 15th.

Everyone makes mistakes

Congratulations to Inna's new baby !!!
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I made a couple of mistakes these days:

1. One of the major difference between Shanghai and Toronto office is that in Shanghai, there are a lot of new engagements. I messed up when I apply the IRC (independent clearance???) and New Client Acceptance (NCA) and New Engagement Acceptance (NEA) for one of the new engagement. The process is all on the system which means after you submit sth., you can't really make changes until the reviewer sending it back to you. My buddy was really upset after he learnt that I just filed an IRC without getting LCPS approval (not attached the approval email). I still haven't figure out what LCPS represents cos' he kept saying that and assume I know. However, I understand it means the leading partner of the global client. He looked at me so disappointed and said even in Canada you should do the same procedure.... I felt really sorry and said sorry I've never had new engagement in Canada ......

2. I don't use Dear who and who when I send emails. As well, in the email I just say what I need to say. However, my buddy always tells me "be nice and polite". I wonder he thinks I am rude.

3. There is a client always calling me ask sth. about PRC GAAP treatment. I don't really have enough knowledge on PRC accounting treatment so I try to avoid th question. I said as XXX firm is providing accounting service to you, you should check with them on certain accounting treatments. Due to the independence issue, we as auditors could not give you suggestions on how to made the entries. But she kept asking and asking. So I could just go to another snr. mgr for help. He gave me a lot of binders and said you should really study on those regulations @#$%^&*@#$%^&*:(

I know folks in Toronto getting busy now, since I always receive emails saying "Angela we really miss you on xxx's audit". I don't know if I should feel happy or bad. I hope people miss me because I am a good friend but not I am a good worker. However, I really feel very happy everytime I got a message from Toronto. Using a sentence I read in the subway - those emails "changing the colour of my day".

Qibao Town

Congratulations to the people who passed UFE !!!
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I went to a place called Qibao Town (Town with 7 treasures) on Saturday. The place is at southwest of Shanghai. It is said that the 7 treasures mean 7 good taste foods. Although Chinese like "10" which means completeness, but "7" is commonly used to represent "many" as well. There is a famous "Gongfu" novel called "Seven Weapons". I am not sure what the 7 treasures are, but people went to Qibao hunting for old style tasty foods

The tower of Qibao

A shop on the Ming Dynasty style lane selling "China Knots"

You can bring your own bottle to buy the rice wine here.

Crowded street with people come to seeking special foods

Jiaohua Chicken (begger's chicken). The origins of jiaohua chicken is quite legendary. It was said a begger stole a chicken, neither cooking nor flavoring, but wraped with mud and lotus leave, baked it into slow fire. After hours, the mud turned hard, and the feather exfilated followed the shell mud. And it was said the chicken smelled so good ...

Small steamer dumplings

Deep fried stinky bean curd - it smells awful, but so many people love it!!!

Junk shop selling pictures of Chairman Mao and 1930's calender girl

Qibao Town is also a pretty place

Project Management

From the review of last year's file, due to the different requirement, it is quite hard to get what I want following my normal thinking.

Although a budget is required, there is no budget vs. actual reconciliation in the file. I have no idea on how many hours we spent in last year's engagement. There was also no breakdown of the time entries in PY. What I can find is only XXX: 240hrs on Client Code XXX. Therefore, no clue for current year staffing, budget and the basis for fee proposal. I also concern about the approval of the OT. As the staff could get paid or get leave days from the OT. I am alwasy asking myself: Are those the actual hours they spent on the job? Have they extended the hours due to inefficiency or have they eaten the time due to the budget is not reasonable?

I have had meetings with a couple of the seniors of my jobs and communicated about the expectations on budget, breakdown on actual time entry, explain on the difference between actual & budget. As this was not a common practice before, I have come accross a lot of resistences. I found the tone from the top is very important, and hope the partners here could also arrange the project management training like Bill provided in Toronto. I am wondering what I could do in order to change the situation.

Old & New: a view from the office:

Weather & Mood

Haven't updated the blog for a while, there are two reasons:

1. After I came back from the sick, there are so many work need to make up.

2. I have found that I can't view the blog page myself. I have checked with some of my friends and found only people ourside of China could view the blog. During the weekends, I even could not go to the edit page. Now it went back. Anyways, if you have any comments, please send to me by email as I, myself have no access to the blog page. (Isn't it rediculous? God believes me, I've never put any political or erotic words in my blog)

It has been raining for a couple of days. Although the tempreture is not very low, about 10C degree. The first thing I went back home is to turn on the air-con (heating) cos' the room is humid and cold. There is no heating system in most of the residential places in Shanghai. I also bought a electric heated blanket for the winter.

I finally have some fees confirmed with the client and has issued 9 engagement letters.

I am not in a good mood these days and I think it is due to the gloomy weather. It is just like during the long snowing winter in Canada, a lot of people feel depressed.

Sick

I didn't feel good yesterday morning but still went to the office. I vomited twice in the first 1/2 hour after I got to the office and felt I am too sick to work. My secretary Paula brought me to a public hospital nearby which was very busy. I had a fever of 37.5 degree. We waited for 1hr to see the doctor and another 1hr to have the blood test and get the result. In the meantime, I vomited a couple of times. The washroom was really disgusting. The doctor asked me to have an intravenous glucose drip but I refused cos' I felt so weak that I wanted to go to bed immediately.

I slept whole afternoon yesterday and whole morning today. I feel much better now. I have started to do some work at home and hopefully could go to office tomorrow.

Chinese says A minor illness is a luck. So don't worry, at least I could take a good rest.

What is my commute like

Congratulaitons to Jenn's new baby!!!
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One of my friends asked me how to commute to work. Normally I take a cab or subway.

The subway is quite new and clean compare to the Toronto's, but very crowded in the morning. I also need to walk about 15 minutes from home to the subway, and another 15 minutes from subway station to the office.

Not that busy on Sunday

Subway Ticket Vender Machine:

Use the card bought from the vender machine to enter and exit

If I can get a cab, I normally take a cab. However, it is hard to get a cab in the morning rush hour. And the drivers don't want to go to the city centre in the morning cos' it is so jamed. It is about CNY30($4.5) to take a cab and CNY5 ($0.7) to take the subway for me to go to work.

Interview

I applied to participate the 3rd round of Campus Recruiting. By entering the 3rd round, the candidates have passed the initial selection and writing test. This round is a group project by analyzing and presenting a short case.

I have to say that most of the candidates are much stronger than when I just graduated. They are aggresive, initiative, and well organized. I was especially surprised by their correct English pronouciation and fluency. I know they are among the best of the current year graduates, but English is not their major.

When people compare India & China, they always like to say English speaking population is an advantage of India. I think China has realized this and improved the English education in order to play a more important role in the global economy.

Due to the strong demand of accounting professional, the campus recruiting is not limited to accounting or business majors (not enough graduates). In the six group I met today, the candidates have various background: Mechanics, Electronics, Foreign Trading, Law, Mass Communication, Languages as well as Business.

I think this is a waste for some of the people as the position they applied has nothing to do with what they learnt in the University. However, in China, get a University degree is just another ID which means you have certain knowledge level. A lot of people don't like what they learn or they don't know what they want to learn when they enter the university. It is quite common that people do sth. quite different than what they studied.

However, I am still trying to rank higher on those people who are not so aggressive but with accounting background especially the intern background with the accounting firms. As I know they are easier to be trained on the job.

I met with my friends at Yu Yuan after the recruiting. Yu Yuan Shopping Mall is a new old-style building surrounded by a couple of temples and old houses. A group of ancient architecture simulation of the southern Chinese architectural style of the Ming and Qing Dynasties show visitors in front, The buildings are to pick each upswept, restaurants with red tiles, with strong ethnic charm. This is an interesting place to go, shop, and eat.


Crowded during weekends

A quite corner of Yu Yuan

Old & New - Not far from the office building

I am asked to standby until 12am

I am asked to standby until 12am due to another new version of the damn Bond prospectus which ruined my weekend in Beijing.

One of my friend said my blog looks like created for colleagues. I think it is true cos' I want to record my "experience of working in Shanghai" which was my purpose for the secondment. However, I don't want to bore everyone by talking about work all the time. I think even my colleagues won't be interested in talking about audit all the time after a full day of work.

So let me take this standby period to tell you more about Shanghai.

Some people aske me why I applied to second to Shanghai while I am originally from Beijing. I always pick an easy answer to different people. To Chinese friends, I said I don't want to be supervised by my parents in Beijing. To Western friends, I said the environment of Shanghai is more open than that of Beijing and Beijing is too political. To colleagues in Shanghai, I said I heard Shanghai office is more like Toronto office. To colleagues in Beijing, I said cos' Shanghai office sent two people to Toronto, and I am just like an exchange. All of the reasons are partially true. There are also some other reasons: Shanghai has more FI clients and an established FI team, and personally, I like to stay in somewhere that I am not so familiar with.

Huangpu River divided Shanghai into Pu Xi (Huangpu River West) and Pu Dong (Huangpu River East). The Bund I mentioned is the waterfront of Huangpu River at Pu Xi side.

Bund of Huangpu River in the north and south West Bank 4 km long, is an important symbol of Shanghai. The buildings on the west side of the Bund formed in the early 20th century, the 20th century, the 1930s and known as a "state of exposition," said. 1996, the Bund buildings as a key national cultural protection by the State Council. Waibaidu Bridge in the north to the south of Nanking East Road, the Bund buildings is the essence. In the meantime, 1.5 km west of the Bund, cream erected Customs House, the south wing of the North Building Peace Hotel. HSBC buildings, the original 52 blocks of Gothic, baroque style, Roman style, classic style, the Renaissance style. various Western-style buildings. Although the architects of these buildings from different hands, the style is quite different, but unified architectural style, building contour coordination Huangpu River in the beautiful skyline and the West Bank drew the line together.

The Bund in 1930's:

Tourists on the Bund

People from Shanghai used to think Pu Dong is the countryside. However, nowadays, following the development of Pu Dong, Lu Jiazui at Pu Dong became the financial centre of Shanghai. Most of my clients are actually located there where foreign investors could take tax advantages.

This is a picture of Lu Jiazui, Pu Dong, taken from the Bund at Pu Xi. The TV station is called "Oriental Pearl"

The New Financial District in Pu Dong.

I remember when I was young when China had scarce resourses, my parents always bought toys and cloths for me during their Shanghai business trips. And these toys and cloths were always envied by my friends. Known as "the Oriental Paris", Shanghai is a shopper's paradise. One of the musts for tourists is Nanjing Road.

Huaihai Road intrigues those with modern and fashionable tastes, while Sichuan North Road meets the demands of ordinary folk.

In addition, Xujiahui Shopping Center, Yuyuan Shopping City, Jiali Sleepless City are thriving and popular destinations for those who are seeking to buy something special as a memento of their visit.

A wide variety of cuisines can be found in the City and Shanghai offers a plethora of culinary delights focusing on the traditions of Beijing, Yangzhou, Sichuan, Guangzhou as well as its own local dishes of "Ben Bang Cai". Shanghai's restaurants are among the finest to be found in China and they welcome diners from anywhere at any time. Normally, I spend CNY 10 - 20 ($1.42 to $2.85) for the lunch. There are numorous small restaurants in the area of the office building. When I meet with my friends, we always go to some fine restaurants in the old house with garden. I really love to eat in those old houses where used to be the residential places of some famous warlords or bigwigs during the colonial time.

One of the restaurant we went called "Xi Jia Hua Yuan" (Family Xi's Garden)

Steep Stairs inside the restaurant:

(To be continued).

I completed the review of the prospectus at 12am. It is released in the next day. This job is over :D

Fee Proposals

My major tasks in the current period are to prepare the fee proposals and negotiate the fees with the clients. In these days, I feel no achievement at all. As all the clients think the increase of the fees are unreasonable. Sometimes I feel ashame to bargain with the client. Bargaining is a common practice in China. Although my opinion is that our firm's name is the top brand, just like LV, we should not bargain at all. (Especially I am not good at bargaining.)

Most of the accounting firms in China are experiencing an annual staffing cost inflation of about 20% to 30% (depending on the level of the professionals) due to the strong demand for professional accountants.

The Chinese firm also has a solution of charging a 30% premium for the engagements required to be arranged during the busy season from January to March. The upward adjustment by 30% reflecting the scarce staff resources and concentration of engagements during the period. I think Toronto office could also adapt this approach in order to persuade some of the clients to move the engagement to a less busy month if possible.

As a result, there is about 15% to 100% increase of fee this year for all the clients in order to achieve a reasonable recovery rate. Now is November, I am worrying about the fee and engagement letters in order for us to start interim, or even year end work of my 27 clients.

GOD!!!

The firm has named one of the top employer in China

The firm has named on the top emplyers in China. And we are the only professional accounting firm. The China's Top Employers project is organized by CRF together with its partners, including China Business Network, China Europe International Business School, and ChinaHR.com. CRF (Corporate Research Foundation) is a professional publishing company, which has conducted numerous Top Employers projects in 10 countries on 4 continents.

I have started to receive farewell emails from people I don't know. The retention is a common issue for both Toronto and Shanghai. Everyone said they appreciate the training and experience obtained from the firm, as well as treasure the friendship from work together day and night. I can feel it is always a hard decision for everyone leaving the firm. On the one side, the firm is a great place to stay and meet bright people, on the other side, some people look forward to a more relax life style.


China's Top Employers 2007 Shanghai Region
(in alphabetical order)

ABB
Adidas
Alibaba
AXA-Minmetals Assurance
Baosteel
Bayer
Booz Allen Hamilton
Bosch
Camelot
China Mobile
Ciba Specialty Chemicals
CNOOC & Shell Petrochemicals
Degussa
Deloitte
DHL
DSM
Emerson
Ericsson
Fluor
Getronics
Goodyear
Grand Hyatt Shanghai
Home Inns
Honeywell
Hormel
HP
InterContinental Hotels Group
Jones Lang Lasalle
Omron
PepsiCo
Sara Lee
Schindler
Shanghai Asia Pacific Brewery
Shanghai Hitachi
Shanghai Media Group
Shanghai Volkswagen
Siemens
UPS

National Audit Conference - Oct. 26 & 27

Oct. 25th

Ha! Ha! Ha! I could go to Beijing again. The National Audit Conference was held in Beijing on Oct. 26th & 27th. I booked the flight back on Oct. 29th and thought I could enjoy a weekend in Beijing.

Oct. 26th & 27th

All the managers and above from mainland and Hong Kong offices were gathered in Beijing for the conference. I thought there are about 600-700 people. I can't believe I met Quincy, who worked with us in Toronto Office. I knew he went back to Hong Kong, but did not expected to see him so quickly. It was amazing when we saw each other in the elevator.

Different offices work for the same client but different branches also use this opportunity to meet together to communicate fees and audit issues. I was invloved in the group meeting of a Japanese Bank, which has branches in HK, Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Wuxi, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. It was a new experience for me to share the thoughts with people from different offices.

Needless to say, I met a lot of new people and exchanged a lot of business cards in the two days conference.

Bilingual slides were used in the conference. I was very interested in the general introduction about the growth of revenue and size in the past couple of years, and the future plan of the firm in China. Another thing I was interested was the comparison of SOX 404 with so called "China SOX" ("C-SOX"). China is on initiatives to align with world's best practices, and to enhance the quality of listed companies. Per China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), Management should conduct regular self assessment over the internal controls of the company from the following perspectives:

1. Comprehensiveness;
2. Appropriateness; and
3. Operating effectiveness

And external auditors should verify, evaluate and report over (1) management's internal controls self assessment and (2) the effectiveness of the underlying internal controls of the company.

This is applicable to all public companies listed in Chinese Mainland Exchanges in Shanghai (SSE) & Shenzhen (SZE). The management self assessment is the BOD's responsibility while in SOX 404, it is the CEO & CFO's responsibilities. SSE's and SZE's Directives have specific coverage on:

1. Management & control of subsidiaries;
2. Internal control over related parties transactions;
3. Guarantees provided to other parties;
4. Internal control over capital raised;
5. Internal control over major investments;
6. Internal control over disclosures

which are not included in SOX 404. The C-SOX frameworks are borrowed and modified from COSO's Enterprise Risk Management but expanded into 8 areas:

1. Internal Environment: Risk philosophy and culture of an organization.
2. Objective Setting: Setting of strategic objectives based on risk strategy, risk appetite and risk tolerance.
3. Event Identification: Identify events (internal and external) that may have negative impact or positive impact
4. Risk Assessment: Evaluate events in terms of likelihood and impact that affect the objectives set.
5. Risk Response: Identify and evaluate possible responses to risk.
6. Control Activities: Policies and procedures established to ensure that directions of management on risk responses are followed in an appropriate manner.
7. Information & Communication: Ensuring that necessary information is appropriately communicated throughout an organizations and relevant parties.
8. Monitoring: An ongoing process of observing and assessing the effectiveness of Internal Control.
   

Oct. 28th

I received a call in the morning saying that I need to check my email and review the updated version of Chinese translation of the bond prospectus. I don't have email access at my parents' place, so I called one of my friend and asked if I could work a while at her place ... actually i stayed there for lunch, dinner and a nap in the afternoon.

I arrived her place at 10am but didn't get the email until 6pm. Then I communicated with the lawyer back and forth for a couple of versions and we finally had that done at 10pm.

:'(
:'(
:'(

My weekend in Beijing :'( .................