Flashback 2016

My Friends, Colleagues, Relatives and everyone! 2017 is here! On this occasion, I’m wishing you a Happy New Year! At the end of each year, I do an evaluation of the past year and make resolution for the new year. I write two separate blog, one regarding the flashback of the past year and another for the resolution. This time it would not be any exception.

In the flashback I try to compare what I planned to do in my new year resolution and what I actually did during the year. 2016 was not a eventful year for me like 2015. From my experience, i have noticed that even years trends to be uneventful for me. But that does not mean nothing happens to me in the even years. In my 2016 Resolution, primary objective was to progress in my career, ensuring secure economic future and maintain a healthy and peaceful file.

I started 2016 with Bell’s Palsy. Due to that, half of my face was partially paralyzed. It was a terrible time for me. I have recovered a lot since then but not yet fully recovered. My doctor said that some palsy might take some long time but it will be ok over the time. Even though I have stopped taking the medicines but I  often go for nerve stimulation therapy known as TENS.I’m hoping to be completely recovered as soon as possible.

I became a Chartered Accountant back in 2015. I had to work hard for it since 2012. During this 3 year time, I almost got disconnected with my friends and family members. One of my resolution for 2016 was to reconnect with my friends and family members. I visited many of my relatives and family members during Eid and any other opportunity I got. I also reconnected with friends from junior school, high school, college and university. I have met with them on several occasions, did some outing and remained connected through social media. I also reconnected with the persons who are very dear to me.

After becoming CA, I wanted to focus on my career development. I remained with A. Qasem & Co. Chartered Accountants as Manager. You must have already know that A. Qasem & Co. is a Member firm of EY in Bangladesh. Recently I have been promoted to Manager Rank in EY. Earlier I was in Senior Associate rank in EY Global. While working with AQC, I got several job offers but declined most of them as they was not matching with my long term objective. I felt that remaining in EY is the good option for me. Besides, I’m enjoying the challenges and my works in EY. I’m developing new sets of skills which I didn’t have earlier.

In related to the career progress, I wanted to have a secure economic future. Generally I have a tendency to spend almost all of my money. So I took couple of deposit schemes to ensure savings for future.

I tried my best to remain a fun loving person. Tried to maintain good sense of hummer with people. But there were times I god mad with people and for work pressure. I might have acted rude but I tried to recover as soon as possible.

My learning was bit slowed down during the year. I completed my CIMA and MBA during the year. I also have progressed a bit in my ICMAB study. Initially it was my plan for the year to got admitted in ICAEW and CISA. But later I have decided to skip CISA for now. Pursuing CISA would not add value to me right now. So I followed my plan with ICAEW. I got admitted in ICAEW hoping to attend the first exam in November 2016. But unfortunately I was not able to attend that session as the exam entry window already expired. Now I’m planning to appear in June 2017 exam. Apart from these, I’ve not learned nothing much. I wanted learn driving but it didn’t happen. May be next year.

Work pressure was extremely high during the year. But I tried to maintain  good work life balance. I went to watch movie in theater several times with my friends and colleagues. I also went on travelling hill tracks couple of time. It was really exciting. Also I have visited Chittagong and India for different purposes.Start actually saving for rainy days.

I wanted to be a practicing Muslim. I’m pretty sure I have not reached that level yet. I need to work on that.

I already mentioned that I started the year with sickness. It was my plan to maintain a healthy life during the year. Alhamdulillah! I had no sickness during the year. Only sickness was the bels palsy I had. That too was recovering. I was planning to drop some weight but looks like it was actually the opposite.

Well That’s pretty much how 2016 was for me. With the help of Facebook, I made  a month-wise highlight for 2016.

• January:
  • Started the year with Bell’s pulsy.
  • Attended wedding reception of Jillur Rahman Xico vai (member of V&C).
  • Attended 2 day long training session with EY India
•  February:
  • Frequent hang out with V&C members. Most of them were in restaurants.
  • Went to watch Asia Cup T20 final match at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

• March:
  • Went to Sajek Valley, Rangamati
  • Became extreme (!) Clash on Clan Player!
  • Went to watch movie –Batman Vs. Superman with V&C members

• April:
  • Attended the last class of MBA
  • Manik (another member of V&C) left the firm.
  • Attended Congratulations party arranged by AQC SFO.
  • Participated in historic (!) Biometric registration process for SIM cards.
  • Submitted my Intern report to complete my MBA.
  • Initiated to create a Network for the Qualified Chartered Accountants under the name AQC Qualified Network (AQCQN).

• May:
  • Hangout with V&C members around the city. Got in the middle of a sand storm in 300 feet road in Bashundhara. Life time experience it was.
  • Went to watch Movie X-men: Apocalypse with V&C members.

• June:
  • Lost my cell phone. It was snatched from me when I was in a CNG.
  • Got together with school friends.
  • Attended AQC Iftar party

• July:
  • Had iftar party with college friends in a restaurant at Dhanmondi. Same day the city withnessed #GulshanAttack by the terrorist group ISIS.
  • Bought a new cellphone.
  • Went to my native village in Chandpur to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr. It was a 9-day holiday and I took a photo challenge for these 9 days. Took pictures of places & persons I visited during these 9 days.
  • After many days, went to an audit tour in Shunamgonj with partners and managers of the firm. It was part of our factory visit initiative.
  • Bought some books after many years with a view to get back to reading habit.

• August:
  • Went to watch movie-Suicide Squad with my colleagues.
  • Celebrated my birthday with my colleagues and team members.
  • My best friend Murad got married. Attended his engagement, wedding and reception program.
  • Celebrated first anniversary of becoming Chartered Accountant.

• September:
  • Went to Mawa ferry Ghat with V&C members to eat fried Hilsha fish.
  • Returned to Chandpur to Celebrate Eid-ul-Azha. Got a long weekend similar to Eid-ul-Fitr.
  • Hangout with V&C memebrs in the city after returning from Eid celebration.
  • Frequent hangout with V&C members in 300 feet road, in Bashundhara. Most of these were business (!) meetings.
  • Joined in Rotary Club of Dhaka Luminous.

• October:
  • Went to watch Trending and Hit new Bengali movie –Aaynabaji with colleagues.
  • Qualified from CIMA after passing CIMA Strategic Case Study Exam after 4 attempts.
  • Held a welcoming party for the new member & recent qualified chartered accountant of AQCQN.
  • Got admitted in ICAEW.
  • Went to a tour with colleagues in Bandarban, Roma bazar & Boga Lake. It was an extreme experience. Had to walk around 6 hours in the muddy passage to go the top of the hill. Almost 2 hours of these was in the moonlight night.\
  • Reassigned as manager in EY Global network.

• November:
  • Went to Chittagong to attend wedding reception of friend and ex-colleague at Chittagong. Meet with relatives and friends in Chittagong on this occasion.
  • Celebrated the short visit of Tasmina Jerin, university friend, in Bangladesh.
  • Went to watch movie – Doctor strange with colleagues.
  • Attended two day training organized by EY.
  • Celebrated short visit of Kazi Atik & Mahabubur Rahman (two of my friends and ex-colleague) to the City.
  • Had busy time with tax assessment and return submission. It was my first time tax return submission.

• December:
  • Went to India for second time to attend Executive Event 2016 organized by EY.
  • Went to watched movies – Kahani 2 & Love you Zindegi with colleagues who traveled to India with me.
  • Attended Transfer Pricing Seminar jointly organized by Ernst & Young.
  • Went to Chittagong.
  • Participated in ICAB Members’ night 2016.
  • Had a family get together at my native village in Chandpur.

2016 was not that much exciting year for me. But I’m sure 2017 will be an exciting one. But during 2016, I gained lots of experiences. Due to those experiences, I was able to made lots of matured decisions.

Finally, let me share you the performance of my Blog in 2016. During the year, I wrote 12 blogs on different topics. Visitors of my blog site has increased significantly. My blog site attracted over 31,700 visitors. Last year number of visitors was over 17,000. I’m hopeful that my site will get even more visitors in 2017.

I’m expecting many big things in 2017. Hopefully 2017 will be an exciting year for you too. May Allah grants  your expectations. Once again wishing you a Happy and peaceful new Year!!!

Flashback 2015

I heard dying people sees flashback of his life before dying. I don’t know whether its true or not. I suppose no one left to share that experience with me. I don’t know when I will die and whether I would have flashback of my own. But If I do, I want my flashback to be a happy one. I want to die with the satisfaction “Life well spent”! For now lets stick to the point. We are at the edge of another year. Just couple of hours left before new year 2016 starts. Each year I try to write a review of my life for the year. I would like to do the same for this year too. I know there are few regular readers of my gibberish, random and pointless thought. I want to flashback with them to my life in 2015.

If my previous flashback (Click here to read), I mentioned that odd years favors me the most. When 2015 started, I was very much hopeful.  It didn’t disappoint me at all. Rather it favored me more than I imagined. Alhamdulillah! 2015 was a blast for me despite there were some incidents at the end. 2015 was a year of success for me.

I can recall that 2015, I was very much tensed at the start of 2015. I just appeared on Application level exam for second time with aim to pass remaining 4 subjects. I badly needed to pass those 4 subjects. There were lots of variables hanging over my head. in the mean time, I  attended a apps development session with Microsoft (read here). It was an exceptional experience. It helped me to get rid of my stress for few days.

Life always have some surprise for you. Just when everything started to look bad, good news started to come out (read original blog). I traveled to Khulna as part of my last audit tour. It was first audit tour being a senior and my first air travel. The tour was just before the exam result. Alhamdulillah! I managed to pass all remaining 4 subjects when results were published in March 2015. I got admitted for CA advance stage in march and attended march-may 2015 session of coaching class. At that time my CMA result were published. I passed “Intermediate Financial Accounting” which i was struggling to overcome. I got admitted for the level 3 in CMA at time when I was undergoing my CA advance class. I started to realize that my dreams were started to take shapes.

When I started my CA articleship, I planned to complete at least two level of CA within the articleship period. When I passed second level within the articlship period, I felt like I achieved my aim. Ultimately it kept me away from achieving the ultimate dream to be a CA. So I made a new aim. To pass CA without giving any annual fee for maintaining Articleship. This ultimately meant passing 4 subjects of Advance stage within the first attempt and my last attempt in articleship period. I also availed my last one month exam leave.

I completed my CA articleship on 12th June of 2015. It was already 3 years. I was so waiting for this day. But when it did, I kinda felt bad. “When I started it, was like a hell. but as days went by, I started loving it. I met many wonderful people, I went many places, I had stress, I was insulted, I had frustration but then again I had exciting experiences. Looking back to these three years, I had great luck. I had many moments that are rare even among the CA students” [FB status]. Just few days after completion of articleship, I attended CA May-June 2015 exam.

After exam, I joined AQC as an Assistant Manager in assurance department. Although I was automatically promoted from the very next day of articleship, I started working only after I returned from exam. I worked as Assistant Manager until 20th August when CA result was published. To my surprise, I managed to pass all subjects of CA advance stage within the first attempt and I have became an Associate Chartered Accountant. It was a bit shock to me. I was not expecting that much. But Alhamdulliah! almighty favored me. After becoming an ACA, I was promoted as Manager – Assurance at AQC.

Things become different for me when I became a ACA. A got my own room at office, got new responsibilities and new clients. People started taking me differently and somehow I felt tone in their voice has changed a little. I was enjoying the changes around me. I knew it was my time. I worked had for last 3 years to achieve these. But to be honest, I don’t like to be treated differently. I am same old me. A degree doesn’t change me. I know who I am. I know my strengths, my weaknesses and I know I have not become someone special to be treated differently.

Things got little busy after becoming manager. Work pressure started to increase but I stated to get used to with these. Thanks to Arif vai [Md. Ariful Hoque, Director, AQC], Shabab vai [Shabab M. Zaman, Manager, AQC, and Hamid sir [Partner, AQC]. There were very kind and helpful to me. I took charge of my first audit client as manager. By the end of client, a member of Vuries & Co. left AQC. It was Saad. He joined Index group. Saad and I started our articleship together. We were very competitive to each other but we are very good friends. We two had good understanding of each other. Together we developed lots of audit templates and different audit strategy for our audit and advisory clients. I was also happy for him. He got a job he wanted and best suits him.

Nothing important happened from then other than few random events. I appeared on CIMA strategic  case exam, I attended first CPD seminar of ICAB, I voted in ICAB election 2015. This was upto the end of November. December started with a twist. I lost one of my dearest person. Soon some of my friends, colleagues and relatives lost some of their own. By end of December I heard total of 7 death news. Another bad thing that happened to on December that I developed  Bell’s palsy. I will write about it in different blog sometimes. yet after all these, 2015 being a odd year and favorable year, kept it charm. I took my first tour outside the country in December. I went to India for official purpose at the beginning of December. And finally I heard that there will be raise soon enough.

Now if I point out to my month-wise Highlight for 2015, I am sure it would be like this. Took some help of my FB account to make this highlights.

• January:
  • Last audit client with Md. Jillur Rahman Zico vai.
  • Participated in apps development training under Microsoft Bangladesh.
• February:
  • Audit Tour to Khulna. Last audit tour as an audit assistant and first air travel.
  • Qualified Professional Stage (Application Level) from ICAB
• March:
  • Started coaching class for CA advance stage.
  • Passed level 1 at CMA.
• April:
  • Tested the test of EY! attended Ernst & Young Town hall Program at The Westin, Dhaka.
  • Visited my native village with members of Vuries & Co. [Saad, Wahid, Manik & me]
  • End of Spring semester of MBA.
• May:
  • Nothing significant! hanging out with Vuries & Co. watching movies and Game of Throne, exam preparation and one month exam leave.
• June:
  • Completed CA articleship  from A. Qasem & Co.
  • Joined A. Qasem & Co. as Assistant Manager.
  • Attended May-June 2015 CA exam.
  • Stopped paying Marvel : Avenger Alliance; Enough with avenging the world.
  • Started playing Clash of Clan. Need some resources you know! 🙂
• July:
  • attended hectic classes in MBA.
  • Tried to match with new position.
• August:
  • Became Associate Chartered Accountant (ACA).
  • Promoted as Manager-Assurance at A. Qasem & Co. (Rank-Senior in Ernst & Young).
  • End of Summer Semester of MBA.
• September:
  • Celebrated Eid-ul-Azha with family at Native Village.
  • Start of Fall semester of MBA. Last one before final semester.
  • Got admitted to CIMA and enrolled for Strategic Case study exam.
• October:
  • Visited native village once again with [Murad, Imran, Yamin & Ricky].
  • Started last audit client with Saad Mahmud.
• November:
  • Participated in ICAB election 2015.
  • Saad left A. Qasem & C0. and joined Index group.
  • Attended CIMA Strategic Level case study exam.
• December:
  • Loss of nearest and dearest persons of me, my colleagues, friends and family members.
  • Stepping out to India. First foreign tour and second air flight.
  • Stress of assignments, exams, term papers and finally end of Fall semester of MBA.
  • Developed Bell’s Palsy.
  • Got a raise!

Now just one more things to write about. Review of 2015 resolution and comparing achievement. In 2015, there were only 2 aim to achieve. 1) To live happily with my closest one. 2) to be a better man than I was in earlier years. I don’t know how much of it I achieved. I am alive and same old me. Just with one new degree and new role to play. I am happy as long as I am alive. And others know whether or not I have been better than earlier self.

Alhamdulillah! It was an exciting year for me! wasn’t it?? In Sha Allah! I upcoming years will be exciting too. Though i don’t expect much from 2016 being a even year. Now before I finish, let me share something about my blog. 2015 was a very good year for my blog too. I write 8 blogs around the year and in contrast it attracted 17,000 view this year. In 2014, it was only 4,000 views. I just loved it.