issueLSBF Student association Newsletter

VARSITY LIFE

Start-up spotlight A new company to keep your eye on is Proximus, a Spanish start-up...

08

cONTENTSA Welcomefrom the President of the Student Association, Asmat Ullah

Is the UK economy growing or not?Ever since the recession began in 2008, a particular narrative has been repeated by politicians...

02/ 18

app of the month This month’s 60 Seconds features Nida Sadiq, MBA Global Risk Management..

09

Investment consultant gives career advice to students

03

12-13

meltdown at TESCO Tesco has now lost 50% of its market value in just one year after discovering a £263m gap in its profit forecasts, with profits crashing by 92% from January to June of this year.

04

Danish entrepreneur Per Wimmer shares his seven fundamental values

11

Employers in finance reveal what they’re looking for in a prospective candidate

14-15

self-employment: yay or nay?With self-employment rising from 12.6% to 15% in the last few years, setting out on your own is...

05

06-07

10-11

the research onion

14

Danish students get research advice

LSBF Student Elections coming upKeep an eye out for our student elections, which will be held in January 2015! If you think you have what it takes to be a leader at LSBF...

16

18 students in singapore win ACCA prizesLSBF are pleased to announce that our school in Singapore produced eighteen new ACCA prize winners in the June examinations...

17

A welcome from the president of the Student Association, Asmat Ullah

Asmat

President of the Student Association ,president@sa.lsbf.org.uk

Dear fellow students and friends,

We have exciting news for all of you: the Student Association general elections are coming up in January 2015! See page 16 for more information.

We’re also working closely with career services to bring you useful speaker events and workshops in the coming weeks. I urge you all to participate, as these events will give you advice to enhance your career prospects and increase your chances of getting your desired job.

We are also looking for an editorial team for Varsity Life. If you would like to write articles for us, email the editor at varsitylife@lsbf.org.uk. We would love to see any contributions you would like to make!

As mentioned in the previous issue, the football club has now been launched. You can join it by emailing me on president@sa.lsbf.org.uk, or follow its developments on the Facebook page ‘LSBF Football Club 2013’.

As always, I encourage you all to email me with feedback about your experience at LSBF and let me know how you are finding your studies here. Together, we can create a better environment for all of us; email me on president@sa.lsbf.org.uk with any suggestions for improvement.

I wish you all the very best!

04/ 18

business & finance news business & finance news business & finance news

MELTDOWN AT TESCO

Eight of the senior executives, whilst without any explicit blame attached, have stepped down for their roles whist the inquiries get underway.

Forensic accountants from Deloitte have estimated that £118m of the overstated profits were from the first six months of the current financial year – leaving £145m from previous years, indicating that this was an ongoing problem.

With new challengers like Aldi and Lidl, the desire to compete and keep the top spot amongst large retailers could very easily have pushed buyers to make rash decisions.

As a result of the apparent misconduct surrounding Tesco, sales are now falling at a worryingly fast rate, dropping by 3.6 points in the three months before 12 October.

Even worse, a survey by the specialist advisory firm Lazarus revealed that Tesco customers reported the lowest satisfaction, with the brand “severely compromised” due to the recent developments.

The group has now decided not to give any predictions for the full year until they have thoroughly reviewed their accounts.

We suggest that the lesson to be learned here is to always keep both your integrity and your accounts in good order!

Tesco has now lost 50% of its market value in just one year after discovering a £263m gap in its profit forecasts, with profits crashing by 92% from January to June of this year.

It had previously predicted £1.1bn in profits for the first half of the year, indicating severe accounting problems at the supermarket giant.

The Serious Fraud Office have also launched a formal criminal investigation into Tesco’s accounting practices.

05/ 18

business & finance news business & finance news business & finance news

yay nay

SELF-EMPLOYMENT

or

• You’ll be able to manage yourself and benefit directly from your own hard work

• No income tax until the January after your first year of trading

• Lower national insurance

• Tax relief is available for necessities like transport, office equipment, and advertising

• You’ll have to make your own pension plan

• No sick pay or holiday pay

• Long hours, particularly at the beginning

• Any losses will come out of your own pocket

With self-employment rising from 12.6% to 15% in the last few years, setting out on your own is looking like an increasingly viable option. 4.6 million people are now working for themselves, and those with a more independent personality may wish to join them. If you’re thinking about becoming self-employed by setting up as a consultant, going freelance, or setting up your own business, here’s what you’ll need to think about:

06/ 18

Is the UK economy

growing or not

?

business & finance news business & finance news business & finance news

07/ 18

Ever since the recession began in 2008, a particular narrative has been repeated by politicians in Whitehall, regardless of their party affiliation.

The argument is this:

1. The deficit is the fault of chronic over-spending by previous governments

2. The only way to fix the deficit is via austerity

3. The economy and the job market are recovering well due to the coalition’s “tough decisions”

In reality, this is not entirely accurate.

The UK was not the only country to fall into the recession: there was a complete global crash, mainly caused by risky practices amongst the larger banks in the USA, and epitomised in the fall of The Lehman Brothers.

The banking regulators failed to properly oversee the imbalances and excesses that were climbing to a peak until they inevitably came crashing to the ground.

It can reasonably be said that the current state of affairs cannot be blamed completely on a decade of Labour government. The years between 1997 – 2002 had a balanced budget, with 2003 – 2007 seeing a manageable deficit rise of 3.2%.

After 2008, government spending rose by necessity as jobs were lost and income support was required, as well as healthcare needs that were caused or exacerbated by the stress of unemployment or financial difficulties. At the same time, tax revenue to the government dropped due to the recession.

Leaving this aside, many will maintain the position that the only solution to the UK’s government debt is cutting back on spending. However, according to Keynesian theory, this is the opposite of what should be happening.

Keynes believed that when the economy takes a downturn, the public try to save their money –resulting in businesses not being able to sell as much, and even less economic activity. He felt that he way for a government to avoid this is to spend more to help people find work again, increase their ability to buy more products, and thereby kick-start the economy.

If this scenario is correct, eliminating as much public spending as possible (which is the current strategy) will only make things worse. The public will stop spending money, since many have lost their jobs and no longer have the capital to do so.

Finally, the economy is not recovering as well as the coalition government predicted. The economic forecasting group EY Item Club recently predicted that the UK economy will only grow by 2.4% during 2015. This is well below the expected 3.1%.

Peter Spencer, EY Item Club’s chief economic adviser, said: “The glimpse of economic rebalancing that we saw in the early part of this year has turned out to be a false dawn.

“Looming political uncertainty risks denting corporate confidence - the question now is how will these risks play out? I expect caution to become the order of the day.”

In short, everyone with an interest in the financial sector needs to have a realistic view of what’s really going on - and it may not be as optimistic as the British government are suggesting.

Make sure to keep an eye on the markets; 2008 has taught us that everything can change in a matter of days.

business & finance news business & finance news business & finance news

08/ 18

START-UP SPOTLIGHT

A new company to keep your eye on is Proximus, a Spanish start-up who have developed wireless beacons that can track customers around a shop and register what each person is interested in.

Technology is one of the most booming industries in the modern world, with new inventions and applications for software being created every month – so it’s no surprise that the tech sector is a field brimming with new businesses and innovations. The concept of wireless beacons that can monitor a particular space and transmit messages to other devices within that space is one of them.

These beacons can use Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to map out a chosen indoor area, such as a particular display. If the customer has the shop’s app installed on their phone and stands near the display, the beacon can then send a targeted message to them about a special offer or specialised information based on their previous purchases.

The Proximus API can be quickly installed into a company’s app, and immediately begins picking up data about the preferences of customers or clients in a particular space.

It allows retailers and other companies to keep track of their target markets and send them tailored content, taking customer insights to another level.

The benefits of using Proximus include helping companies to optimise their product placement, measure the impact of specific campaigns, and adapt in- store advertising to the real needs of customers – so keep an eye out for widespread adoption in the next few years!

09/ 18

THERE ARE SEVERAL OTHER FEATURES FROM EVERNOTE THAT YOU CAN USE IN YOUR DAY-TO-DAY STUDY OR WORK LIFE, INCLUDING:

• EvernoteHelloisperfectfornetworkingevents,helpingyoumakeasearchablehistoryofindividualswithdetailsofwhotheyareandwhereyoumet

• EvernotePeek,tohelpyouprepareforyourexamsandturnyournotesintohelpfulstudymaterials

BEST OF ALL IT’S FREE

– andeventheupgraded

EvernoteBusinesspackageisonly£8amonth.

Appof the month

Evernote

Evernoteisanappthathelpsyouwithnote-takingandarchivinginformation,rangingfromavoicememotoyourselftoahandwrittennote.Italsohasa“Present”function,whicheliminatestheneedforyoutobuildaPowerPointpresentation–yournotesgetsmoothlyconvertedintoavisuallayoutwithminimaleffortfromyou.

Youcanorganisethemintofoldersandtags,annotateandeditthem,andthewholeapplicationisfullysearchable–sonomorefiddlingwithpapernotesandcrammedbinders.

ItcanbeusedwithAndroid,iOS,BlackberryandWindowsPhone,aswellasonlinebackup.Dependingonhowsecureyouwanttobe,youcouldevenstoreyournotesonEvernote’sserverstoeditthemwhilstoffline.However,yournoteswillnotbeunencrypted.

YoucanalsouseEvernotetotakepictures,screenshotsofwebpages,andselectsectionsoftextfromawebsite–oryoucansendshortnotestoyourselfviaTwitter.TheonlineformofEvernoteallowsyoutoshareyournoteswithothersandshareideas;ausefulfeaturewhetheryou’restudyingorinwork.

This issue’s recommended app

for students interested in business and

finance is

• Skitch,anidealproductforpeoplewhoprefertousesketchesandbriefannotationsratherthanlongparagraphs

• Penultimate,abest-sellingdigitalhandwritingappthatallowsyoutowriteyourthoughtsratherthantypethem

10/ 18

Diederik Schmull, an investment consultant with forty years of experience, visited LSBF’s Red Lion Street campus on 15 October to speak to students about how to be successful.

Mr Schmull has decades of experience as a stockbroker with Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. Originally from Holland, he now works independently as a blogger and investment consultant.

His talk, called ‘Plan for Prosperity’, covered several guiding principles for students to follow that will help you achieve your career goals.

These were:

• Do what you love to do and make your dreams come true

• Don’t let your talents go to waste, but focus on what you are passionate about

• Discover what would unleash your drive and learn how to keep up momentum

• Share a vision with the right people and expand an invaluable network of contacts

• Believe in the power of the profit motive, but remain ethical at all times

• The keys to success are relentless self-discipline, persistence, and consistency

• Cope with the inevitable setbacks and always bounce back

• Build a business by understanding the mass psychology of markets

• Make the law of attraction work in your favour.

Expanding on the point on understanding the mass psychology of markets, Mr Schmull explained: “You have to have a willingness to stand apart from the crowd.

INVESTMENT CONSULTANT GIVES CAREER ADVICE TO STUDENTS

11/ 18

Danish entre preneur Per Wimmer shares his

Per Wimmer visited LSBF early in October to give an inspiring speech to visiting Danish students on how he got to where he is now.

After founding his own investment bank, Wimmer Financial, and travelling the world, Mr Wimmer has set his sights on becoming the first Danish person in space.

“Travelling so much, going further out and further away, inspires you to do the ultimate – and for me, that was space,” he explained.

Mr Wimmer went on to highlight the following points as a useful blueprint for people starting out in their career to increase their chances of success.

The Seven Fundamental Values of Wimmer Space:

• Allow yourself to be inspired. Think “out of the box.”

• Follow your heart and passion. Have fun. Be Authentic.

• Focus and execution.

• Time discipline: Be conscious about time allocation.

• Teamwork: The sum of the parts is greater than the individual parts alone.

• Take calculated risks, assessing all risks and rewards.

• Inspire others, especially children, and encourage them to live their dreams.

You can find out more about Mr Wimmer and his interest in space at his website: http://www.wimmerspace.com/

From time to time, step out from the rest and make decisions; take responsibility for yourself and your life. You may have made mistakes, and you may have regrets, but that is history and you can’t change that. What you can change is the future.”

He also emphasised the importance of developing a good network, recommending LinkedIn as a valuable resource in this regard.

“One of the most important things is a network,” he said. “If I look back at all the jobs I’ve had, they were all through someone who introduced me- but that doesn’t just happen. You have to keep the network up to date and constantly make sure that you’re in touch with the people who matter. Linked In is very important for this.”

Self-improvement and self-belief were also key factors for Mr Schmull in reaching and then maintaining success. “The worst thing in life is to rest on your laurels,” he advised. “The problem is that it could all change tomorrow; ou could be obsolete tomorrow.

“You will have to constantly improve yourself, because not a day goes by that someone will think they’re comfortable and then lose everything. Businesses can rise and fall in the space of ten years.

“If you’re not constantly getting better, you’re getting worse. There is a lot of competition out there, and setbacks are something you have to deal with.”

In an astute comment on previous financial situations, Mr Schmull added: “When things go well, it’s easy, and those are the most risky times. Everybody thinks it will last – but nothing ever lasts.”

To find out about more events like these, visit http://www.lsbf.org.uk/careers/events.html

7FUNDAMEN-TAL VALUES

food for thought food for thought food for thought food for thought

research onion

the

An important part of researching for an academic paper or dissertation is understanding the research onion.

12/ 18

Monomethod

Data collection & data analysis

Mixedmethods

Multimethod

Cross-sectional

Longi-tudinal

Positivism RealismInterprevitism

Objectivism

Subjectivism

Pragmatism

Functionalist

InterpretiveRadical humanist

Radicalstructuralist

Inductive

Deductive

Ethnography

Archival research

Experiment

Survey

Casestudy

Actionresearch

Groundedtheory

Below is a diagram of the research onion, as formulated by Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill.

food for thought food for thought food for thought food for thought

13/ 18

Philosophies

Approaches

Strategies

Choices

This context is, in the research onion metaphor, the outer layer – but unlike an onion, these decisions are vital to successfully obtaining data for that particular research question.

They must be taken into consideration because they form the framework of the study.

times & horizons

techniques & procedures

Subjectivism

Pragmatism

Research is designed to answer a particular question, or find a solution to a problem. The first thing needed is to decide what information is needed to do this and how it can be acquired.

The various methods that can be used include interviews, surveys, and secondary data from other sources. However, choosing which to use will be influenced by the researcher’s other decisions when designing the original question and deciding how to go about answering it.

14/ 18

Employers in finance reveal what they’re looking for in a prospective candidate

The report also highlights the value of relevant work experience, with nearly three quarters (73%) of the 149 financial and accountancy employers surveyed rating it as “extremely important” or “important”.

Soft skills are also valued, with 88% of the employers finding communication skills to be the most useful attribute, followed by people skills and teamwork.

Rob Sowerby, Director of Professional Courses at LSBF said: “In such a competitive industry it’s not surprising that employers are looking for varied skills sets when recruiting for entry level roles – possessing basic job skills or a qualification on paper simply won’t cut it.

“Having experience in the workplace, practical skills, and the ability to apply theoretical

knowledge from day one in a new job is integral to candidates’ employment prospects.”

Just by studying for a professional qualification at LSBF, you are enhancing your chances of getting a better job when you have graduated.

Andrew Robertson, Head of Sales at GAAPweb, explained: “The most important quality employers look for in candidates is their aptitude and motivation. They’re looking for newly qualified people who show enthusiasm and actively seek out potential work experience, which not only includes paid employment but can also include internships and voluntary work.”

Find out more about LSBF and GAAPweb’s Industry Report ‘What do Financial and Accounting Employers Want?’ at http://bit.ly/1wjYrvf

Recently, over forty students from the Zealand Institute of Business and Technology (ZIBAT) in Denmark visited LSBF as part of a week-long trip to London.

The business and finance undergraduates took part in a research workshop with Dr Steve Priddy, LSBF’s Head of Research, to learn from his experience and apply his tips to their own work.

The workshop started with an exploration of what a good research question is. After many suggestions and voting from the class, the chosen topic was to find out what drives entrepreneurs to explore and invest in space.Dr Priddy then showed how students should choose their aims and objectives, emphasising the importance of S.M.A.R.T.

S.M.A.R.T. means:

• Specific• Measurable• Achievable• Realistic• Time-bound

A study launched by LSBF and accountancy job site GAAPweb has found that 46% of employers place importance on a professional qualification when looking for entry-level candidates.

Danish students get research advice

He also explained what a literature review is, how to create one, and why it’s important. A good literature review should be about 5000 words long, with 50 to 60 references to secondary sources that have been used in the text. At the same time, he mentioned that people like Einstein, Freud, and Chomsky all turned traditional methodology on its head, and that his best students have been those who have done the same thing – so don’t be scared of doing things a little differently.

“The point of research is to think deeply about your ideas, translate them into your own words, consider how they fit into your overall hypothesis, and arrange them accordingly,” he said. “Research takes you everywhere. If you don’t want to go to some of the places it’s pointing to, research will force you to – and a lot of the time, students are glad that they did it.”

Recommended methodology:

• Understand your philosophy, approach, strategy, and the timeframe you have

• Justify your philosophy, approach, strategy, and timeframe

• Explain your research design solutions and challenges

• Reflect on the credibility, reliance, and validity of your data

• Address research ethics

Jakob Hornbeck, assistant professor at ZIBAT, said: “I think it went very well. It was very compressed compared to last year, but I actually believe that having their concentration over a long period of time is harder.

“The good thing about this is that they are going to write their projects soon, and this workshop means their minds are going to be extra sharp.”

If you’re thinking of doing a research project, make sure you’ve got a good question and a plan to tackle it; and don’t be afraid of asking your tutor for advice.

16/ 18

You can run for one of the following positions:

• President

• Vice President – Careers, Societies & Events

• Vice President – Professional school (ACCA & CIMA)

• Vice President: GGSB School

• Vice President: Business School (Undergraduates & Post Graduates)

• Vice President: Law School (LLB & LLM )

• Vice President: LCCA

To find out more information, you can contact the Student Association on:

Email: studentassociation @lsbf.org.uk

Facebook: LSBF Student Association

Twitter: LSBF_SA

Visit us: Sceptre Court, 40 Tower Hill, London, EC3N 4DX

It’s yourvote, your voice, your choice – make sure you get your say next year!

LSBF STUDENT ELECTIONS COMING UP

Keep an eye out for our student elections, which will be held in January 2015!

17/ 18

18ACCA PRIZES

ST

UD

EN

TS

IN

S

ING

AP

OR

E W

IN

LSBF are pleased to announce that our school in Singapore produced eighteen new ACCA prize winners in the June examinations - one third of all ACCA prize winners in the country.

Our students achieved the top three places in Singapore, and ranked in the top 20 worldwide for the Fundamental and Professional ACCA papers.

In order to qualify for these prizes, students must achieve 85% or above on their first attempt.

“We are immensely proud of this result,” said Rathakrishnan Govind, Managing Director at LSBF in Singapore. “Once again, the performance of our students reflects the high quality of our tutors, who are some of the most experienced in the country.

Most of our students agree that they are inspired by their tutor’s dedication, as many put in extra hours with the students to help them achieve their targets.”

“Our success is down to the focus on giving students great tutors and outstanding classroom experience, plus the best administrative support that we possibly can – and always looking to make it even better”, added Mr Govind.

To find out more about our school in Singapore, visit:

http://www.lsbf.edu.sg/