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Westpac Institutional Bank is the #1 rated* Institutional bank in Australia and New Zealand. With intern positions available in Financial Markets, Equities, and Corporate & Institutional Banking, you have the chance to be a part of a team recognised as a market leader.

For more information and to apply, visit www.westpac.com.au/summerinternship

Applications close 3 September, 2010.

*Peter Lee Associates, Large Corporate & Institutional Relationship Banking survey, Australia 2009.

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www.unswbsoc.com | Careers Guide 3

This Student Club publication is proudly supported by Arc

The annual UNSW Business Society Careers Guide is a handy resource produced by students, for students and is filled with useful tips to help you make the right decisions when choosing how to make the most of your hard-earned Business degree.

A lot can change in the space of a year and the revitalised job market which has bounced back from the unfortunate events of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008-9 is a testimony to that statement. Nevertheless, due to the comprehensiveness of the 2009 Careers Guide, this year’s edition is simply a revised version of the 2009 edition with minor updates to reflect changes to some core courses, electives and potential employers etc. which have occurred in the last year.

I would like to credit and thank our dedicated team of student writers from the 2009 edition whose work still appears in the 2010 edition and also acknowledge the various student societies at UNSW such as ASOC and Ecosoc that worked hard to update their particular majors in the Guide for relevancy in 2010. Further my thanks and appreciation extends to UNSW Careers and Employment for providing new information regarding the job market in 2010. Thank you also to our Publications Director, Jessica Thiyavutikan, for her patience and attention to detail which ensured that the Guide was produced to the highest standards.

Lastly, I would like to thank our sponsors (Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, Deloitte, Bain & Company, Deutsche Bank and ICAA) for their continued support. I highly encourage our readers to consider the various Internship and Graduate position opportunities available at these firms.

Yvonne LamUNSW Business Society Education Director

Foreward

Deans Welcome

Are Grad Jobs out

there?

Accounting

EconomicsActuarialStudies

Journey of an ASB student

Finance InformationSystems

InternationalBusiness

MarketingManagementConsulting

Management

Make the most of your degree. As you throw your graduation camp in the air, you’ll forget the lectures you attended but you’ll remember the friends you’ve made. You’ll forget the final exams you sat but you’ll remember the laughs you shared. We at Business Society, know that university is a once in a lifetime experience, so we’re here to help you make the most of it. From gettin’ kick started with our orientation camp, to helping you secure that dream job. Students - we’ve got you covered.

Come join: http://www.unswbsoc.com/recruitment


Messagefrom the Dean

Welcome to the BSOC Career Guide, an annual publication designed to help you make informed educational, internship and career decisions.

I would like to congratulate those of you who have completed your degree and wish you the very best for the future. For those of you who are still studying, I encourage you to start researching your career options as it is never too early to start this important step.

Australian School of Business graduates are highly regarded by the business community, so many exciting opportunities are ahead of you in Australia and overseas. I encourage you to research these opportunities and seek out advice from a range of people who can help you make important career decisions.

It is important to remain open-minded and pursue work experience to discover the career path that best suits your qualities, goals and lifestyle.

Best of luck to those applying for graduate and summer vacation positions.

Regards

Professor Alec CameronDeanAustralian School of Business


Accounting isn’t counting beans, economists don’t predict through a magic 8-ball and marketing isn’t subliminal advertising.

This is the purpose of the Careers Guide – to dispel any illusions of the business industry. This publication gives you a snapshot into the professions that your degree may lead you. Professions that are integral to all organisations. So when you graduate from university, you’ll know what kind of work you’ll be getting into.

Whether you’ve just finished your first semester at university, or you’re one of our more aged colleagues – you’ll find this publication a revealing read. Remember to peruse this magazine when you’re applying for internship and graduate openings because there are answers in here to the interview questions you’ll be asked.

What makes you different from me (and the 1,000 business students that are graduating this year from UNSW)? When you graduated from high school in year 12, there would’ve been, at most, 200 other students celebrating with you. There are over 5,000 students studying for a business degree – right now! That’s just from UNSW alone; there are over 30 major universities in Australia.

So what makes you different from all these graduates? What have you done in your past 2 to 3 years, that’s shown them that you’re someone else, not everyone else?Demonstrate that you are someone different. Join a club, manage group projects. This is just one reason to get involved with campus life. That and you’ll meet lots of interesting people and learn a whole boatload of things!

I would like to thank all our students who contributed to this publication, without you this wouldn’t have been possible. Sitting in our meetings and putting in hours of extra research, it is you who will be the leaders of tomorrow. Also a big thank you to our continuing sponsors, Westpac Institutional Bank, Deloitte, Commonwealth Bank, Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, Bain & Company and of course the Australian School of Business and Arc @ UNSW – without your ongoing guidance and support, we would still be at a loss of where to start.

I hope this publication helps you in deciding what career prospects there are for you. Remember, it’s never too early to get started.

EDITORS IN CHIEFYvonne Lam -Education Director

Jessica Thiyavutikan -Publications Director

EDITORJack Zeng - External Vice President

careers guide 2010

From the President

CONTRIBUTORSUNSW Actuarial SocietyUNSW Economics Society (Special thanks to Christine Cheung) UNSW Marketing Society UNSW Careers and Employment

DESIGN AND LAYOUTPasha Rayan - I.T. Director

Robert ChanPresident

UNSW Business Society

A survey of 185 employers conducted by the Australian Association of Graduate Employers

in February indicated that graduate vacancy numbers decreased by 22 per cent for 2010, compared to the number of vacancies on offer in 2009. Nearly half of graduate recruiters expect their vacancy levels in 2011 to be similar to those recorded in 2010. Some sectors have been affected more than others but there are definite signs of recovery and many organisations are still recruiting graduates. In the current economy the same principles still apply as they do in boom times. The most important thing to concentrate on is differentiating yourself from your competitors. How can you do this? Below are some tips to help you stand out from the crowd.

1. Be flexible!There are not quite as many positions available as there have been previously so it is important to be open to a broad range of opportunities. Identify a few different sectors that match with your interests and think about the jobs within them where you can use your skills. Don’t limit your applications to only four firms. Think outside the square! A search of “business” on www.joboutlook.gov.au returns 41 possible occupations. Make sure you are always checking Careers Online and other jobs websites to see what is out there but don’t limit yourself to an online job search strategy! You need to take control of your job search and be directly in contact with the organisations that you would like to work for.

Have you ever considered working interstate or even overseas? This could be a great way to kick-start your career and gain highly sought after adaptability and cultural awareness skills. AUSAID runs a great program called Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development www.ayad.com.au which involves 3-12 month

ARE GRADUATE JOBS STILL OUT THERE


It might be safe to say that the worst of the economic uncertainty following on from the Global Financial Crisis is now over, so now is a prime time for students to wonder about how to best position yourselves to gain a graduate position during this period of economic recovery where companies are looking for new people to take on jobs which were vacated during the GFC.

How to Get a Job in the Business World | UNSW Careers and Employment

AFTER THE GFC

?

community programs in third world countries. Professional employment overseas is another option but make sure you have done some research on job prospects, visa requirements and the current economic situation for that country. www.goinglobal.com is a useful resource for this. You could also try the Careers service of the University in your chosen country or local jobs websites to gain more information.

2. Do your research!If you are reading this and thinking “I don’t know who I want to work for” or “I don’t know what I want to do when I leave uni”, it’s time to start assessing your interests, skills and values and researching what’s out there.

UNSW Careers and Employment deliver a Vocational Guidance workshop which will help you with this process and websites such as www.myfuture.gov.au, www.graduatecareers.com.au and www.jobsearch.gov.au are great for researching different job titles and industries.

UNSW Business Society is also offering a brand new series of workshops running from Weeks 2-5, Semester 2 called PIMP (Peer Industry Mentoring Program) which will consist of 2 hourly workshops per week run by knowledgeable older students who have relevant and recent experience in job applications. The workshops will cover topics such as application tips including resume writing, cover letters and interview skills as well as subject selection for popular majors such as Accounting, Finance and Marketing.

Come along to learn how to market yourself to potential employers in the best way possible and ask our friendly PIMP workshop leaders any questions about job applications that you’ve always wanted to ask but haven’t found anyone to answer!

See www.unswbsoc.com or our Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/unswbsoc for more details regarding locations and times

3. Network!Networking is simply meeting as many people as you can and making a good impression. A good approach to networking is to think about how you can help others that you meet, not how they can help you. Someone who you have helped will be more likely to return the favour when they hear about a job vacancy that might suit you. Identify as many opportunities as you can to make these connections, they may be through events run by professional associations or university clubs and societies, alumni, friends, family, volunteering, lecturers, tutors, fellow students, conferences and


professional development events. If you want to impress at networking events, make your own business cards and take them along. If you don’t want to make your own, the minicards at www.moo.com are great and pretty cheap too!

Online networks such as LinkedIn and LinkMe, as well as your own website or blog, Facebook and Twitter (if used the right way) can be used to make connections and market yourself in a positive way. They allow you to build your online brand and make connections with professionals who may otherwise be hard to contact.

Once you have identified some potential job titles and organisations, identify the names of people in your network who could help you find out more about what it’s like to work in that job or organisation. Contact them via phone or email and organise a meeting. Prepare a list of questions asking about their profession and advice on how to get into it (See the Careers and Employment Info Sheet on the “Information Interview” on Careers Online for more information). You never know, they may be aware of an available job or be able to refer you to someone who does. 70% of jobs aren’t advertised so you need to use these proactive strategies to tap into the hidden job market.

4. Market yourself!Your resume and online applications are marketing documents. Their main purpose is to differentiate you from other candidates. Make sure your resume is up to date and highlights achievements, not just responsibilities. Your resume should reflect things other than study – have you been involved in any extra-curricular activities, done volunteer work, joined a professional association or worked casually? Don’t be afraid to use this information to sell yourself. You can’t be modest on your resume.

Focus, focus focus! Focus each resume on each job you apply for. Use Careers and Employment workshops, Career Advice Appointments and other resources for assistance with this. Register online at: www.careers.unsw.edu.au. Make sure you are contactable and professional. If you have an email like [email protected] or [email protected] HR isn’t even going to look at your resume. Also, make sure your voicemail message is professional.

When you are applying for jobs in the business world it is vital that you think about your application from the employer’s perspective. What do employers want? Employers want people who are genuinely interested in working for their organisation, people who can demonstrate the key

skills and criteria in the job ad. You must remember that organisations will spend a lot of time developing job descriptions and criteria for a job advertisement. Make sure you give them the respect of reading and UNDERSTANDING the job ad. Tailor your application to what they want. This is how you will be selected.

It is vital that you research the organisation and job you are applying for and use this information in your resume, cover letter and the interview. Find out who will be interviewing you. You could even Google your interviewer to find out about more about them (but don’t tell them you did this of course!).

5. Monitor your online identityIt is important to think about how you want employers to see you. While Google is a helpful tool to find out about the organisation and your interviewer, HR can and probably will use Google to find out about you. Although recruiters say they won’t look you up online, a lot of them will. A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald stated that “employers frequently search for a prospective employee’s name through Google and Facebook, rejecting those with seemingly inappropriate cyber profiles”.

Google yourself right now! Does anything come up that you wouldn’t want an employer to see? If you have a blog which covers controversial topics just remember that a future employer will probably look at this and may not have the same opinion as you do. There is also new software available which allows employers to search a name across over 40 different social networking sites. Although you may not intend to put information online for professional purposes, this info is accessible to employers whether you like it or not. Is your online identity a true reflection of your skills and personality?

6. Stay positive!The current economic situation is outside of your control - but relax, there are still jobs out there and more opportunities will open up in the future as the economy recovers from the GFC. Remain positive and think broadly in your job search. Be proactive, target your applications and utilise your careers service. Remember that your first job out of university may not be your dream job but it is a step towards it. Your career path may change many times just as your interests and values change throughout your life. The important thing is to be flexible and willing to take on new challenges, you never know where they might lead!

AFTER THE GFC

How to Get a Job in the Business World | UNSW Careers and Employment

‘I could only have done it at Deloitte’. When we hear this it means we’re inspiring our people to achieve their potential. So how do we do this?

It’s your potential Are you ready to realise it?

Our seven Signals, our innovation, and our commitment to a diverse and collaborative culture set us apart. You’ll be joining a firm with a relentless drive and passion for world class client service and a sense of shared responsibility for our place in our local communities.

What we doDeloitte is a leading advisory, audit, tax and consulting firm. Our 4,500+ team of professionals serves 85 of the top 100 of Australia’s largest publicly owned companies, family and private businesses, and all three tiers of government.

Globally, Deloitte is the largest professional services organisation, with over 169,000 people, and generating revenue of more than $US26 billion in nearly 140 countries.

• BRW Great Place to Work, 2010• EOWA Employer of Choice for Women, 2010

(for the ninth year in a row)• AAGE Employer with the Best Opportunities for

Graduates, 2009• AAGE Top Accountancy Graduate Employer, 2009.

Our Summer Vacation ProgramWould you like to join us in our vision to become the most inspiring professional services firm in Australia?

The Summer Vacation program is your opportunity to gain practical and paid work experience at Deloitte before embarking on your final year of study. Spend four to eight weeks from November to February gaining exposure to client work, our award-winning learning and development programs, and social events, with the prospect of securing a Graduate position with the firm. If you’re in your penultimate year at university you are eligible to apply.

We have opportunities for students in our actuarial, audit, business services, corporate finance, economics, finance, forensic, HR consulting, insolvency, IT consulting, marketing, risk consulting, strategy consulting, taxation, and web design teams.

We look for excellent communication, leadership and team working skills, the ability to problem solve and think innovatively, as well as a strong academic record.

How to applyVisit www.graduates.deloitte.com.au to apply.

Follow @Green_Dot

www.youtube.com/DeloitteAustralia

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.© 2010 Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. AM_MEL_06/10_042090

You might think that starting work as a vacationer with little real-life business expertise means tedious tasks and no responsibility. Jeremy Smith, a Summer Vacationer with Consulting at Deloitte in Sydney gives an insight into how that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth.

Degree Commerce/ArtsUniversity Sydney UniversityDeloitte service line Consulting – Strategy & Operations

I accepted a vacationer job with Deloitte because… Deloitte offered the most ‘hands-on’ vacationer program, geared towards providing experience with clients and giving a full insight into work as a consultant. Deloitte is devoted to bringing innovative solutions to the market and the Consulting line is supported by integrated solutions with other service lines which really appealed to me.

I first got to work with clients… on my first day! And by the third I was attending meetings with executives. I found that vacationers are an integral part of the team and the work they produce is vital to the success of the project. I was given the opportunity to get involved in team brainstorming sessions, work through difficult problems with managers and interact with everyone from fellow vacationers to partners.

I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with a single financial services client across multiple engagements and consulting lines – a strategic capability development piece and a human resources transformation project.

The most surprising thing I’ve learnt has been… that you are never pigeon-holed at Deloitte; engagements span across various service lines and every engagement brings new challenges.

What is it really like to be a vacationer?

Get to know Jeremy a bit better…

What is still on your must-do list? Travel to Tibet and learn another language. What is your most treasured possession? My 21 year old bottle of Penfolds Grange waiting to be enjoyed very soon.

What is currently on your IPod? Vampire Weekend, Phoenix, Florence + Machine, Miami Horror and Temper Trap.

How would your mum describe you? Determined, competitive, fun-loving and definitely not doing enough around the house.

How do you switch off after a busy day? Head to the park with some mates, go for a run or just sit down to watch “How I Met Your Mother”.

AM_Syd_02/10_040900

The experience as a Deloitte vacationer will contribute to my studies by… giving context to my university courses and providing practical solutions that I wouldn’t have otherwise encountered – the exposure to the client environment has been very valuable. Constant guidance and support from buddies and counselling managers ensures there is always someone around who is happy to answer questions. They help join up the dots between theory and practise.

The main assumption I had before joining Deloitte was that… I would start in nothing more than a support role with limited input. Instead, you are encouraged to throw yourself at every task, speak up in the team and get involved. I learnt that being a vacationer is about relishing every opportunity that comes your way and learning from the many new experiences you are exposed to.

My advice for others studying who might be considering applying to Deloitte is… to be enthusiastic. One of the most important qualities of a Deloitte Consultant is enthusiasm. Deloitte has a fantastic work environment driven by passion for the exciting work on offer. Being genuinely enthused will go a long way, so go for it!

‘I could only have done it at Deloitte’. When we hear this it means we’re inspiring our people to achieve their potential. So how do we do this?

It’s your potential Are you ready to realise it?

Our seven Signals, our innovation, and our commitment to a diverse and collaborative culture set us apart. You’ll be joining a firm with a relentless drive and passion for world class client service and a sense of shared responsibility for our place in our local communities.

What we doDeloitte is a leading advisory, audit, tax and consulting firm. Our 4,500+ team of professionals serves 85 of the top 100 of Australia’s largest publicly owned companies, family and private businesses, and all three tiers of government.

Globally, Deloitte is the largest professional services organisation, with over 169,000 people, and generating revenue of more than $US26 billion in nearly 140 countries.

• BRW Great Place to Work, 2010• EOWA Employer of Choice for Women, 2010

(for the ninth year in a row)• AAGE Employer with the Best Opportunities for

Graduates, 2009• AAGE Top Accountancy Graduate Employer, 2009.

Our Summer Vacation ProgramWould you like to join us in our vision to become the most inspiring professional services firm in Australia?

The Summer Vacation program is your opportunity to gain practical and paid work experience at Deloitte before embarking on your final year of study. Spend four to eight weeks from November to February gaining exposure to client work, our award-winning learning and development programs, and social events, with the prospect of securing a Graduate position with the firm. If you’re in your penultimate year at university you are eligible to apply.

We have opportunities for students in our actuarial, audit, business services, corporate finance, economics, finance, forensic, HR consulting, insolvency, IT consulting, marketing, risk consulting, strategy consulting, taxation, and web design teams.

We look for excellent communication, leadership and team working skills, the ability to problem solve and think innovatively, as well as a strong academic record.

How to applyVisit www.graduates.deloitte.com.au to apply.

Follow @Green_Dot

www.youtube.com/DeloitteAustralia

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.© 2010 Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. AM_MEL_06/10_042090

You might think that starting work as a vacationer with little real-life business expertise means tedious tasks and no responsibility. Jeremy Smith, a Summer Vacationer with Consulting at Deloitte in Sydney gives an insight into how that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth.

Degree Commerce/ArtsUniversity Sydney UniversityDeloitte service line Consulting – Strategy & Operations

I accepted a vacationer job with Deloitte because… Deloitte offered the most ‘hands-on’ vacationer program, geared towards providing experience with clients and giving a full insight into work as a consultant. Deloitte is devoted to bringing innovative solutions to the market and the Consulting line is supported by integrated solutions with other service lines which really appealed to me.

I first got to work with clients… on my first day! And by the third I was attending meetings with executives. I found that vacationers are an integral part of the team and the work they produce is vital to the success of the project. I was given the opportunity to get involved in team brainstorming sessions, work through difficult problems with managers and interact with everyone from fellow vacationers to partners.

I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with a single financial services client across multiple engagements and consulting lines – a strategic capability development piece and a human resources transformation project.

The most surprising thing I’ve learnt has been… that you are never pigeon-holed at Deloitte; engagements span across various service lines and every engagement brings new challenges.

What is it really like to be a vacationer?

Get to know Jeremy a bit better…

What is still on your must-do list? Travel to Tibet and learn another language. What is your most treasured possession? My 21 year old bottle of Penfolds Grange waiting to be enjoyed very soon.

What is currently on your IPod? Vampire Weekend, Phoenix, Florence + Machine, Miami Horror and Temper Trap.

How would your mum describe you? Determined, competitive, fun-loving and definitely not doing enough around the house.

How do you switch off after a busy day? Head to the park with some mates, go for a run or just sit down to watch “How I Met Your Mother”.

AM_Syd_02/10_040900

The experience as a Deloitte vacationer will contribute to my studies by… giving context to my university courses and providing practical solutions that I wouldn’t have otherwise encountered – the exposure to the client environment has been very valuable. Constant guidance and support from buddies and counselling managers ensures there is always someone around who is happy to answer questions. They help join up the dots between theory and practise.

The main assumption I had before joining Deloitte was that… I would start in nothing more than a support role with limited input. Instead, you are encouraged to throw yourself at every task, speak up in the team and get involved. I learnt that being a vacationer is about relishing every opportunity that comes your way and learning from the many new experiences you are exposed to.

My advice for others studying who might be considering applying to Deloitte is… to be enthusiastic. One of the most important qualities of a Deloitte Consultant is enthusiasm. Deloitte has a fantastic work environment driven by passion for the exciting work on offer. Being genuinely enthused will go a long way, so go for it!


Accounting.Accounting is mainly involved with the provision of information relating to how a company manages their economic resources and how this information is communicated. The benefit of an accounting career is that issues such as taxes, audits and bookkeeping are core essential functions within almost every business organisation. They are compulsory requirements not subject to the state of economic conditions. In other words, a well trained accountant will always be in demand.

So What Do You Do As An Accountant?

Requirements foran Accounting Major

This will depend on which area of accounting you may decide to specialise in. Besides dealing with financial statements, accountants, on one end of the spectrum, will engage in computing costs of business processes while on the other end, may extend to developing tax strategy and ways to manage business quality.

Some brief examples of what you will be required to do in an accounting major includes:

• Studying the financial accounting system and how financial data are used to produce financial reports.

• Looking at financial statements, double-entry book-keeping and accounting for cash, inventories and property plant and equipment.

• Examine the regulatory environment that oversees the production of financial reports.

• Understand the definition and recognition of assets, liabilities, owner’s equity, revenues and expenses.

• Analysing cash flow, cost, volume and profit of firms and the budgeting process.

• Explore how management accounting systems are designed and implemented to support effective resource management and process improvement.

• Accounting for investment in subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures, foreign currency transactions, offshore operations, diversified operations and derivative financial instruments.

A degree in Accounting does not mean a graduate is restricted to dealing with balance sheets and cash flow statements. Though the Big4 accounting firms are indeed a launching point, it is by no means the only path. The skills an accountant acquires, such as analysis, reporting and attention to detail are highly regarded by consultancy firms as well as various government organisations.

Additional Information

www.accounting.unsw.edu.au http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/plans/2010/ACCTA13502.html

Students must complete:

48 units of credit from the Finance list to fulfil requirements for a single Major. 42 units of credit from the Finance list to fulfil requirements for a double Major.

Required Course List• ACCT1501 Accounting & Financial Mgt

1A (6 UOC) • ACCT1511 Accounting & Financial Mgt

1B (6 UOC)• ACCT2522 Management Accounting:

(6 UOC)• ACCT2542 Corporate Financial

Reporting (6 UOC)• ACCT3563 Issues in Financial

Reporting (6 UOC)

Apart from the compulsory course, there are six option topics to choose from. This list has been revised for 2010 as some courses are no longer available. The available options are:

ACCT3583 Management Accounting 2 (6 UOC) - this course examines the relationship and competing interest between different stakeholders to a business. It is relevant for those interested in management accounting.

ACCT3585 E-Business: Strategy & Process (6 UOC) - the aim of this course is to explore the growth of e-commerce and unique strategic opportunities that organisations are confronted with to remain competitive globally.

ACCT3610 Financial Statement Analysis (6 UOC) - students will mainly be analysing financial statements with the attention given to analysis techniques on equity (share) valuation decisions.

ACCT3708 Auditing & Assurance Services (6 UOC) - this course looks at the practice of auditing and the underlying concepts, auditors responsibilities and the audit environment. This course is very useful if you are interested in CA or CPA.

Opportunities for Advancement


What Kind of Jobs Will There Be Waiting For Me?The different specialisations or fields of accounting have skills or niches which are sought after in the real world. Although it may be thought that accounting yields a single job of number cruncher, the skills gained in accounting yield a plethora of different jobs available for a graduate with a wide range of employers:

Position Likely Responsibilities Potential Employers

Financial Accountant

• General ledger management. • Statutory & tax reporting.• Budgeting & forecasting. • Variance analysis.• Monthly/Annual financial reporting. • Reconciliations. • Prepare accounts for trial balance.

• Government agencies and most large corporations.

• Big 4 firms.

Management Accountant

• Budgeting & forecasting. • Project analysis. • Process design, improvement &• implementation. • Variance analysis. • Monthly management report. • Financial modelling. • Ad hoc reporting – usually on performance variance.

• Most firms will require a management accountant. The options are endless.

Tax Accountant

• Tax reporting. • Implement tax optimising strategies. • Tax effect accounting and management. • Provide taxation advice to CFO/client. • General ledger reconciliation for tax-related accounts.

• ASX-listed companies. • Government agencies (e.g. ATO). • Big 4 firms. • Tax specialists.

Auditor • Audit department spending. • Internal & external • Risk management review. • Review compliance.• Assurance services. • Operational analysis.

• Big 4 firms.• Specialist firms.• Companies requiring internal auditing

needs. • Government regulatory agencies (e.g.ATO).

Financial Controller

• Operations planning. • Product costing.• Review financial data and performance.• Develop systems and procedures. • Prepare management reports.• Cost analysis. • Budgeting.

• ASX-listed companies.

Procurement Specialist

• Cost reductions.• Product improvements.• Securing acquisition of goods from external suppliers. • Strategy development.• Bidding.• Negotiations.• Performance monitoring.

• Any inventoried company.

Systems Analyst

• Introduce new financial reporting systems.• Developing new costing systems. • Preparing test plans and life cycle testing. • Assist with business queries. • Develop ongoing reports.

• Consultancy firms.• Government agencies. • ASX-listed firms and other large

corporations.• NGOs.• Research centres.


What Different Specialisations or Fields of Accounting Are There?

ProfessionalFields

Work Environment Types of Work Involved

Public Accounting

(sometimes referred to as assurance services)

Public accountants work in partnerships which facilitate accounting services externally to individuals, corporations, various tiers of governments and sometimes non-for-profit organisations (NGOs).

This field provides potential advancement opportunities to specialised roles such as forensic accounting or qualifications such as CPA and CA.

Most notable employers of public accountants in the professional services sector are the Big Four accounting firms (PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Ernest & Young and Deloitte).

Much of the services performed by public accountants are externally orientated and client focused.

• Some of the prominent services they provide including (but not limited to):

• External auditing.• Tax planning.• Tax return preparation and/or review.• Consultation on financial transactions. • Bookkeeping.• Financial analysis. • Account management services.

Typically public accountants utilise historical data and tackle financial problems in retrospect.

Management Accounting

(sometimes referred to as private accountants, or cost, industrial or corporate accountants)

Management accountants, whose services are often embedded internally within a firm, are responsible for advising management in terms of financial decision-making and resource allocation.

Management accounting involves the recording and analysing of financial data obtained through key performance indicators including statement of financial performance, statement of financial position, and statement of cash flow. Ideally, the role of management accounting is not limited to interpretations of financial data within the firm, but also preparing them before investors and tax authorities.

The scope of this field can encompass a variety of areas within the accounting departments, such as planning and budgeting, cost accounting and financial analysis.

Services performed by management accountants are generally internal and are concerned with the profitability and sustainability of a corporation.

Majority of the work performed by management accountants consists of the following (but not limited to):• Budgeting. • Cost and asset management. • Performance evaluation. • Preparing reports for shareholders, tax authorities or• regulatory agencies. • Advising on tax obligations. • Facilitate international transactions.

As opposed to public accountants, management accountants primarily scrutinise past and current financial data in order to plan for the future.

ProfessionalFields

Work Environment Types of Work Involved

Governmental Accounting

Government accountants, who are employed by the public sector, engage professional accounting services for government enterprises, public agencies and all levels of the government (Federal, State and Local). Governmental accountants often also undertake auditing of private businesses or individuals whose activities are subjected to government regulations.

Governmental accounting demands a sophisticated level of understanding, interpretation and applications of laws and regulations as a significant amount of work involves government revenue collection and expenditure which are bounded by the legal framework.

In the public sector, this field of accounting can offer career advancement at the Federal level including the Department of Defence, the General Accounting Office and the Internal Revenue Service.

In the public sector spectrum, governmental accountants may work at the local/state level or the Federal level, providing services including (but not limited to):

• Administer and formulate budget across all levels of government.

• Cost and asset management. • Analysing financial viability and sustainability of government schemes and programs.

At the same time as an auditor of the private sector on behalf of the government, governmental accountants are involved with:

• Revenue collection. • Tax compliance of corporations and individuals.

It is important to note that the services provided can have high impact on the public good and is often very sensitive to political and bureaucratic obstructions.

Internal Auditing

Internal auditing accountants, as the name implies, carry the sole responsibility of providing assessments to internal financial records of the firm whom they have been employed. This field of accounting is distinguished from management accounting as internal audit accountants facilitate monitoring and evaluating roles as opposed to the direct engineering of financial statements.

Internal auditors undertake scrutiny to ensure the financial statements of the firm accurately reflect its consequent financial performance. Under this designation, internal auditing accountants may specialize in areas such as IT auditing, compliance auditing or environmental auditing.

To ensure the firm’s financial statements are accurate and legitimate, an internal auditing accountant would:

• Review the firm’s financial practices. • Initiate controls to prevent fraud, waste, or

mismanagement of funds. • Evaluate the firm’s budgeting and management

systems and operations for performance, efficiency, and compliance to laws and regulations.

• Advise the firm on areas that need extra caution and improvement.


Professional Recogition

The Institute of Chartered Accountants

Many firms now require their accountants to have a secondary accounting qualification for professional recognition. This will mainly be in the form of either a CA or CPA. CA/CPA allows for further advancement in your accounting career and allows you to access greater opportunities and employment. Every firm is different and their preference for CPA/CA will differ as well. By no means is one qualification better than the other, though when looking to advance your career after graduating, one should check what qualification their firm is looking for. Below is a breakdown of what each qualification is about and how they are attained.

• Professional development opportunities. Become part of an elite professional network.

• Recognition and rewards of an internationally recognized professional designation.

• Chartered Accountants are the only Australian members of the Global Accounting Alliance (GAA)(an international accounting coalition of the world’s premier accounting bodies).

Steps to Undertake to Become a CA 1) Complete a undergraduate degree with a CA accredited course. (see http://www.charteredaccountants.com.au/A116945659)

• Single degree (e.g. BCom (Accounting), BEc (Accounting)). • Combined degree (e.g. BCom (Accounting)/LLB). • BTax. • Other non-accounting degrees (provided an accredited conversion course or entrance exam) Note that Conceded Passes acceptable in a three-year Bachelor degree is restricted to two and that no more than one conceded pass is acceptable for courses in the core curriculum.

2) Commence six months of work with a qualified institution.

3) Pay fees, enrol and complete for Graduate Diploma of Chartered Accounting (GradDipCA) program. Each of the five module takes about 14 weeks.

• Audit & Assurance• Financial Accounting & Reporting• Management Accounting & Analysis• Taxation• Ethics and Business Application

Eligible candidates are able to apply for one exemption in the "Taxation" or "Management Accounting & Analysis" module of the Chartered Accountants Program. This means candidates have the opportunity to complete the Program sooner and save costs. The Chartered Accountants Program will only provide one exemption in the Program.

4) Complete the Practical Experience Program and accumulate three years(including the 6 month qualifying period from above) of experience with a mentor from a CA approved organizatiom.

“ ... Becoming a Chartered Accountant opens doors. Whether it's in public practice or commerce, a career in Chartered Accounting gives professionals the chance to work in key strategic role, all with great earning potential ... ”


Why Chartered Accountants?

CPA (or Certified Public Accountant)

Steps to Undertake to Become a CPA

1) Completed accredited bachelor degree with pre-requisite courses.

For full list of accredited undergraduate courses, visit http://www.cpacareers.com.au/apps/accreditedcourses/coursesearch.aspx?CPSSessionID=SID- 3F57FECB-18B70B04.

• Single degree (e.g. BCom, BEc). • Combined degree (e.g. BCom/Arts). • BTax. • Other non-accounting degrees (provided a CPA graduate conversion course is complete).

2) Pay fees to become an associate member of CPA.

3) Enrol in CPA program and complete 6 segments.

• Required to complete three compulsory segments plus three elective segments within six years.

• Total cost is approx. $4,440 to $5,040 for the whole program.

5) Complete 3 years mentored work experience.

5) Advance to CPA status within 6 years.

“ ... CPAs are sought after because of the high standard and content of their undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications, their commitment to ethical standards mandated through adherence to a comprehensive code of professional conduct, and the technical support available to them ... ”


Our Chartered Accountants Networking Lunch held yearly during the applicatin period

0110

-35

UK

If you want a career that’s rewarding, become a Chartered Accountant.

Not only will you earn good money, you’ll also be able to work in diverse and interesting roles in almost any industry and any country you like. For many, becoming a Chartered Accountant opens the door to a world of international travel opportunities.

Chartered Accountants live and work in over 119 countries around the world and are among the most respected of all business professionals.

Register today at charteredaccountants.com.au/students and find out how you can become number one.

It will make you not a number, but number one

In some walks of life three years is a rather long stretch of time, yet in others it passes by before we can grasp a

single memory. Throughout my time as an ASB student at UNSW I’ve not only come to learn a multitude of knowledge in the area of business but also gained a group of friends who I will hold well and truly into my professional life. I believe that it is the notion of university life which is the most important and one that runs through all my experiences at UNSW.

I began my Bachelor of Commerce degree at UNSW in 2008 and will be sadly completing my final semester in the second half of 2010. Summarising three years of experiences within one informative article is a near impossible task, as the opportunities and experiences offered at UNSW are unique to every student that walks the plethora of steps offered throughout the Kensington campus. From the first day I walked into UNSW, I found that there was always a

JOURNEY OF AN ASB STUDENT


helping hand available, whether it be trying to find a classroom or even general career help, if someone didn’t know the answer, they knew someone that did.

My first word of advice to those roughly following my steps would be to attend social events. Whether it be respective faculty society camps or peer mentoring programs, the social and academic benefits far outweigh those achieved through hours spent on Facebook and Hotel City. Although I did not attend these events as a first year student, I was fortunate enough to experience them as leaders in later years and with the beauty of hindsight, highly regret not attending them earlier. These social events allow students to develop a highly useful social circle which in a university environment, are highly beneficial especially in times of assignments and assessments.

As I have experienced, a good social group enables students to effectively obtain relevant past papers, notes and

even general help in relation to respective subjects. Throughout my three years at UNSW I’ve developed an ever growing circle of friends who have helped me, and also enabled me to help others. In comparison to high school, scaling is minor and not used to rank students and hence it is beneficial for each individual to help one another.

In line with notion of assessments, I believe all students should realise that no university degree is one straight road. Although within a single school, many students may be vying for the same final degree, a bird’s eye view will show students sailing from different areas of interest and hence all taking different paths to the same destination. With this in mind, no student should be worried or even upset in the event of failing a subject. Personal experiences have allowed me to learn that after the dust has settled, a simple talk to knowledgeable parties will easily reset one in the right direction. A failed subject should not be

by BORIS CHEUNG

seen as a failure as such, but rather a short term detour towards the long term benefits of university study.

Study and social aside, I have found that a good work life balance is essential in not only progressing through university, but also aiding in professional internship and graduate position applications. Despite popular sentiments echoed by parents in general, out are the days where professional firms only assess candidates on their academic standings. After completing a multitude of professional applications and interviews, I have discovered that although professional firms still appreciate a good academic standing, they now place an equal weighting on work experience and extra-curricular activities. Furthermore, work experience does not have to be industry related. Throughout my three years at university, I maintained a retail position which ironically was the determining factor and the strongest aspect in my applications in allowing me to gain both a Summer Internship at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and a Graduate Position at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

My experiences with applying for professional positions have taught me many lessons which hopefully others will learn prior to starting their applications. Starting early, saving answers, learning from experiences and most importantly


completing as many applications as possible are all important lessons which I have learnt, all of which would have been beneficial to know prior to commencing my applications for professional firms. In stating so, like other aspects of university life applying for professional positions should be about balance and whilst completing 30 applications may increase your chances, the applications are often around assessment times and hence should not compromise university results.

Furthermore, careers fairs and also specific career events (such as those often held by the UNSW Business Society) are highly beneficial in obtaining relevant information about respective firms and also their selection processes and what the look for. These events are often a great opportunity for networking; a term which I initially struggled to understand, but learnt to appreciate as I progressed throughout university. Surprisingly, networking in the professional sense, is similar that which is gained through social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Personally, I have come to understand networking as simply the process of meeting new people; and in an ever growing professional world, it helps to know a number of people who have once walked a similar road.

As a point of reflection, I understand that the common (yet not definite) purpose of completing a degree is to gain professional employment; and as such I have often been asked how I have managed to secure professional positions. Many often iterate the sentiment that my WAM must be very high, however that is not always the case. Whilst

applying for both Summer Internships and Graduate positions, my WAM floated around the 63 mark. In stating so, I would like to enforce the importance of academic studies and in hindsight my applications may have been more successful if I had maintained a higher WAM. Although I may not have spent as much time as others studying, I ensured that my time was securely spent in areas such as work and extra-curricular activities (such as being a part-time DJ); all of which were crucial factors in developing a strong all-rounded personal profile which definitely aided me in gaining professional positions.

Looking back, I am proud of what I have achieved and also highly grateful for the opportunities UNSW has presented. The knowledge and skills that I have learnt throughout my degree will be crucial and highly relevant to my professional future, with a UNSW Bachelor of Commerce being a very highly sought degree. My only regret would be spending too much time outside of university and not enough time enjoying university life which I have come to really appreciate over my final year.

Boris is one of UNSW Business Society’s Peer Industry Mentoring Program Leaders and will be running careers related workshops on Mondays 5-6pm and Wednesdays 12pm-1pm in Weeks 2-5 of Semester 2, 2010.

If you are interested in asking him or our 3 other PIMP Leaders further questions about how to land a job after you graduate, feel free to drop in on the workshops which are open to all ASB students.

ACTUARIAL STUDIESAn actuary is a business professional who analyses and manages the risks of financial contracts. An actuary’s work is intellectually demanding but greatly rewarding, and actuaries often play a key role in management.

An actuarial career is more accurately depicted as a business career with a mathematical basis than as a technical mathematical career. As such, the common stereotype of actuaries being glorified human calculators who work with arcane statistical models and ridiculously large Excel spreadsheets boasting convoluted formulas does the profession a huge disservice. As business professionals and consultants, actuaries need the ability to communicate their results. Actuaries are employed by organizations that need to manage financial risk, such as insurance companies, consultancies, banks, government departments or hospitals.

If you’re interested in assessing or quantifying risk, then this is the profession for you. Perhaps you want to model future claims from possible future natural disasters in order to properly price property insurance. Actuarial models have even been used in non-traditional areas, such as in criminal sentencing guidelines in the US, where variables such as the type of crime, age, educational background and offender ethnicity are used to predict the chance of re-offending.

Persistence, critical thinking and a strong background in mathematics are essential. Given a problem, an actuary must be able to use the aforementioned skills to design a solution to it, and clearly communicate this solution to clients who may not have the same mathematical competence. The actuarial courses are without doubt challenging and often unforgiving. If you’re willing to put in the effort and keep motivated, then a rewarding university degree awaits you. The skills that you will gain from an actuarial degree are extremely highly regarded within the banking and insurance industries, and can be applied within virtually any other field imaginable.

The actuarial profession is demanding and challenging, yet it is vital to ensuring the stability of the global economy. The industry is small in size, with an estimated 30,000 qualified practicing actuaries worldwide. Actuaries engage with risk, usually in a financial context, and assess how to manage and control that risk. As such, actuaries are in high demand for insurance companies, investment banks and other financial institutions.The majority of the profession is split up into either corporate or consulting practices:

• Corporate actuaries work in large corporations, such as banks and insurance companies. These firms constantly deal with risk, and employ actuaries to manage the risk they encounter and improve business performance.

• Consulting actuaries perform actuarial activities for external clients - companies that don’t have an actuarial team, but have risks to be managed, such as airlines and pharmaceutical companies.

Is Actuarial Studies For You?

The Actuarial Profession


The professional body for actuaries in Australia is the Institute of Actuaries of Australia (IAAust). In order to practice as an actuary, one must first become accredited with IAAust. IAAust also provides courses, business networking sessions and aims to set and maintain professional standards.

There are many other bodies of actuaries around the world, including the Institute of Actuaries based in England, and the Society of Actuaries in North America. All of these offer similar qualifications to the IAAust. Being qualified with the IAAust will generally allow you to work as a qualified actuary overseas, although this may vary slightly between countries.

Professional QualificationBecoming a qualified actuary is an arduous but rewarding process. Three levels of qualifications (known as Part I, Part II and Part III) must be obtained from IAAust before becoming qualified as a “Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia”.

Part I is covered in courses at UNSW within the Actuarial Studies major. To obtain this qualification, students are required to obtain at least a credit grade (65+) in each actuarial course as well as certain non-actuarial courses such as first year economics, finance and accounting.

Part II can be completed by students in their fourth or honours year of studies in Actuarial Studies at UNSW, through their postgraduate degree or externally through IAAust

Part III is completed with IAAust while working full time. There are four subjects that must be completed and passed for a Fellowship to be awarded. Two of these subjects are compulsory, while the other two are options chosen from four specific actuarial-related fields.

The UNSW Actuarial Society (ASOC) is the student association for actuarial studies at UNSW and provides support and encouragement for actuarial students while at the same time enhancing the university experience. ASOC’s activities include peer support, academic support programs, careers events, and social events such as the ASOC Camp and the ASOC Ball.

For more details please visit www.asoc.unsw.edu.au.

For queries regarding Actuarial Studies courses and curriculum, please contact the School of Actuarial Studies directly: http://www.actuarial.unsw.edu.au.

Professional Body


Career Opportunities

A degree majoring in Actuarial Studies leads to career opportunities in many sectors of the workforce, as the skills learned are relevant across a diverse range of fields. Furthermore, there is great potential for an international career, with many graduates finding jobs overseas.

Possible career paths include:

• Corporate firms: life insurance, general insurance, health insurance, reinsurance (e.g. Zurich, IAG, Suncorp)

• Consultancies: working on projects with different clients (e.g. Finity Consulting, Towers Perrin).

• Investment and Retail Banks: varied work such as financial modeling

(e.g. Macquarie Group, Westpac).

• Public Sector: projects are generally focused on actuarial and risk regulation (e.g. Australian Prudential Regulation Authority)

• Academic Fields: university employment in teaching and research.

The UNSW Actuarial Society (ASOC)


Some common career-related questions, answered by currently-working members of the industry

Advice for first year students:

“The transition from high school to university can be challenging and from my experience, it took time to figure out how much effort was required. My advice would be to stay on top of your work during the semester.”

- Richard Maunder; Finity.

“Don’t get too wrapped up in life balance until you have reached a point where you have choices. Be inquisitive, work and play hard.”

“There’s no substitute for hard work and long hours. You can’t get through the courses without taking the time out preparing. It could be a couple of hours, a weekend, or the whole weekend.”

Advice from the Actuaries

- Richard Maunder; Finity.

- Robert Sorbello; Trowbridge Deloitte.

Advice for students applying for graduate

jobs

“Your marks are the first thing that get you in the door. From there in, it’s all about personality, communication skills, team work, leadership potential and how well you fit in with the existing team.” - Mathew Ayoub; PwC.

“Get specific about where you want to go and find out everything you possibly can about your future employer before the interview. Impress them not so much with your knowledge but the effort you have expended in getting it.” - Richard Maunder; Finity.

Question and Answer

Q: How do you balance work and life? A: “I’ve heard this can be a bit of a problem for all those popular actuarial students trying to fit in work with their demanding social lives. I try not to lose sight of the fact that we work to live, not the other way around.” - Tim Spiteri; Finity.

Q: How do employers value exemptions? A: “Hmm, I’d say it helps, but only to an extent. We have a guy here who doesn’t have any exemptions but works in our field. It’s also about hard work and a good attitude. It might not directly impact the employer but let’s face it; if you’ve got someone with the exemptions and another without and they’re very similar, you’ll go with the exemptions. It helps the firm to have qualified people.” - Robert Sorbello; Trowbridge Deloitte.

Q: Advice for actuaries aspiring to be management consultants?A #1: “My advice would be to build up your communication skills as well as your analytical skills. A HD average alone is unlikely to get you into consulting. We look for students who have demonstrated exceptional academic performance and strong analytical, interpersonal and leadership skills, often through extracurricular activities.” – Matt Robinson; Bain & Co.A #2: “First of all, actuaries are really respected but be aware that you need to be doing other stuff. It’s handy to keep up to date in the business press. In management consulting they want the top students who need to settle in by day 1.” – Christian Sutherland; Bain & Co.

A UNSW BUSINESS SOCIETY PUBLICATION

Commerce•Universi

ty•Economics

download at:

http://www.unswbsoc.com/comunieco

Want to know

what your missing out on?

EconomicsThe concept of economics has existed since the dawn of time, because resources have always been limited. Now in its modern form, it deals with a variety of important issues, such as:

• Economic growth and development• Causes and effects of unemployment and inflation• Income distribution• Industrial organization• Management of the environment• Ways to improve overall efficiency and living standards

What are the Fields of Economics?

Unlike other Commerce graduates who are mostly demanded within the private sector, Economics graduate positions are readily available both in the private and public sector.

Being an economist requires good research and analytical skills along with being able to communicate effectively. Economists provide advisory services and forecasts for governments and businesses on issues such as unemployment, inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, etc. Within the private sector, economists observe the impact of domestic and international market movements on businesses and industries.

Job Titles

Econometrician – Economic theories, statistical methods and forecasting techniques are used to model and predict the results and implications of possible future economic situations.

Environmental Economist – Studies the environmental impact of projects and advises on environmental and natural resource management regulations.

Financial Economist – Advises on investment and lending policies by studying economic trends and policy. Financial models and budget plans are used to evaluate the economic and financial aspects of investment projects.

Labour Market Economist – Studies the economic aspects of proposed government policy and its possible effects on the labour market. They study matters such as labour legislation, unemployment benefits, industrial accident provisions, education, collective bargaining, trade unions and industrial factors, and their impact on the labour market.

Resource Economist – Analyses policies and issues related to natural resource industries such as minerals, fisheries and forestry.

Taxation Economist – Studies sources of government income, the methods of expenditure and the effect of taxation and fiscal policy upon national income and overall business activity.

Quantitative Analyst – Works in the financial markets developing and implementing mathematical models to assist the activities of traders and risk managers within investment banks, hedge funds and other financial institutions. They often implement methods derived from econometrics, game theory, probability theory and time series analysis to achieve their outcomes.



Major Employers

Management and economic consulting firms employing Economics graduates include:

• Allen Consulting Group (www.allenconsult.com.au)• NERA Economic Consulting (www.nera.com)• BIS Shrapnel (www.bis.com.au)• CRA International (www.crai.com.au)• Access Economics (www.accesseconomics.com.au)• Accenture (www.accenture.com)

Within the public sector, economists may assist in developing government economic policies. Proposals are put forward on how governments should regulate markets. Financial and policy organisations and various government departments employ economists and policy advisors within the public sector, which include:

• Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) (www.rba.gov.au) • NSW Treasury (www.treasury.nsw.gov.au)• NSW Department of Environmental & Climate Change (www.environment.nsw.gov.au)• Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (www.dpmc.gov.au)


A reputable degree in economics is excellent preparation for a range of careers. Some graduates may choose to pursue careers in the financial sector, for example in banking and financial services, analysis and trading, mergers and acquisitions. Others choose to join international organisations; become professional accountants and auditors, or to take up positions as economic or management consultants. A significant number choose to go on to academia, not only in economics but also in finance, management and development.

Opportunities within government organisations include:

The Australian Government Treasury: Graduates are responsible for providing advice for sound macroeconomic policy, including monetary and fiscal policy, labour market issues, taxation, retirement income policies, and promoting competition in markets for financial services and other goods and services.

• The Reserve Bank of Australia: Graduates contribute to formulating and implementing monetary policy, maintaining financial system stability and promoting a safe, efficient payments system.

• The Productivity Commission: Graduates undertake research on economic and social infrastructure, competition policy and regulation, trade, environmental matters, and general economic policy.

• The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics: Graduates undertake research and analysis into Australia’s agricultural, fishing, forestry, energy and minerals industries.

• The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission: Graduates are responsible for monitoring and enforcing the Trade Practices Act 1974 and regulating national infrastructure services to promote competition and fair trade.

• The Australian Fair Pay Commission: Graduates undertake research to set and adjust federal minimum wages.

There are also international opportunities for Economics graduates. Economists can gain employment overseas throughout the world in a number of prestigious organisations such as:

• International Monetary Fund: IMF is an organization of 185 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure currency stability.

• The World Bank: WB is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world.

• Asian Development Bank: Headquartered in Manila, ADB is an international development finance institution whose mission is to help its developing member countries reduce poverty and improve the quality of life for their people.

• Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development: OECD brings together the governments of countries committed to support sustainable economic growth, boost employment, raise living standards, maintain financial stability, assist other countries’ economic development and contribute to growth in world trade

Further InformationUNSW Handbook: www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/programs/2010/3543.html


UNSW EcoSoc has developed a proud history since its inception in 2005/2006. We regularly hold the mantle of being Australia’s largest and most respected Economics Student Society. We have also achieved many accolades within our campus, winning the Arc Constituent Club of the Year award in 2008, as well as receiving many Dean’s awards for our services to the ASB.

EcoSoc holds a variety of educational/networking/social events, such as information sessions, dinners, sports days and social drinks nights, to strengthen interest in the field of economics amongst our peers. Our two flagship projects are the UNSW Economics Careers Day and the RBA Economics Competition.

EVENTS

• UNSW Economics Careers Day: annual careers fair geared towards students of economics with information stalls and individual sponsor firm presentations.

• RBA Economics Competition: an annual national essay competition sponsored by the Reserve Bank of Australia.

• Central Bank Visit: EcoSoc organises a visit to the Reserve Bank of Australia in Sydney for first-year macroeconomics students, giving students the exclusive opportunity to learn about monetary policy from the experts!

• Social Networking Party: more than merely a drinks night, this event provides students the opportune moment to kick back, relax and converse with peers, postgraduates, academics/staff and industry partners.

• Economics & Development Information Session: with speakers and representatives from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, AusAid, NGOs, academia and more, this is the premier event for those interested in economics and its application to development.

• Economist Evening: is a networking event. It is a session where students and industry representatives partake in facilitated discussion about economic issues. The focus for the evening is ‘Economics in the Public Life’ and will include representatives from different forms of media, whether it is radio, television or print media.

The UNSW Economics Society (EcoSoc)

http://ecosoc.digeratisolutions.com.au/

What are the Requirements for an Economics Major?

For BCom students, the following core course are required for a Business Economics major: • ECON1102 Macroeconomics 1 • ECON1202 Quantitative Analysis

Another 5 courses are required from the Options Course List to satisfy both the single major and double major requirements with Business Economics.

For BEco students, the following core courses are required for a pure Economics major:• ECON2101 Microeconomics 2• ECON2102 Macroeconomics 2 • ECON2206 Introductory Econometrics • ECON2207 Econometric Methods

Another 4 courses are required from the Options Course List to satisfy the single major requirement. Only 2 more courses are required to satisfy a double major with Economics.

Different Economics majors are available within different undergraduate programs.

The following majors can be obtained by BCom students:• Business Economics - deals with the use of economic data and trends to make effective business decisions.• Business Strategy and Economics Management - deals with issues relating to the strategic behaviours of firms and provides tools for

effective business decision-making.

The following majors can only be obtained by BEco students:• Economics – a specialist study in economics.• Econometrics - involves the development and application of statistical methods in order to model and understand economic

situations within markets. It requires strong mathematical skill.

The following majors can be obtained by both BCom and BEco students:• Financial Economics – involves understanding how financial instruments are priced in markets and how individuals and firms manage

financial risk.

CAREERS

Unparalleled Opportunities | Industry Mentoring Program | Business Buzz www.unswbsoc.com/careers

Westpac Institutional Bank Westpac Institutional Bank (WIB) delivers a broad range of financial services to commercial, corporate, institutional and government customers either based in, or with interests in, Australia and New Zealand. We operate through dedicated sales industry teams, supported by specialist knowledge in financial and debt capital markets, transactional banking, margin lending, broking and alternative investment solutions. Where could you be working? Corporate & Institutional Banking We are focused on understanding our clients and their industry better than anyone else. Our specialist relationship management teams have the expertise, insight and specialised research analysis to provide clients with solution-based approaches in a broad range of sectors; for example, Infrastructure & Utilities; Education & Government; Consumer, Retail & Technology; and more Debt Capital Markets As a leading provider of debt capital in the AUD/NZD market, we offer clients innovative solutions in the following: Syndicated loans Hybrid securities and structured finance Equipment finance Securitisation

Project & infrastructure finance Structured and portfolio asset finance Public debt securities Leveraged and acquisition finance

Financial Markets Our team of experts provide sound advice, precise execution and accurate derivatives settlement to meet our clients’ foreign exchange, interest rate and commodity exposure needs. Areas of expertise include foreign exchange; interest rate derivatives; commodities; fixed interest/debt securities Equities We provide a dedicated sales distribution and service offering for our business partners in the geared, structured, and alternate managed investments market. Our aim is to leverage off the capabilities of our wholesale banking arm to help us to focus on the needs of our clients’ business and, therefore, to provide a complete suite of financial solutions for the licensee, the adviser and the client. Westpac Equities is committed to facilitating client wealth solutions through an innovative range of new product developments, and continued superior service on current product offerings. Your opportunities You can join us in one of our above businesses on our graduate program, rotating through a number of different teams in a highly supportive environment. You will also be assigned a buddy and a senior mentor to assist you with your development and find the career path best suited to you. Or, you could start with us as an intern during our summer program, to get some practical experience while you’re still at university of what banking is really like.

Visit www.westpac.com.au/graduates or www.westpac.com.au/summerinternship

Westpac Institutional Bank Westpac Institutional Bank (WIB) delivers a broad range of financial services to commercial, corporate, institutional and government customers either based in, or with interests in, Australia and New Zealand. We operate through dedicated sales industry teams, supported by specialist knowledge in financial and debt capital markets, transactional banking, margin lending, broking and alternative investment solutions. Where could you be working? Corporate & Institutional Banking We are focused on understanding our clients and their industry better than anyone else. Our specialist relationship management teams have the expertise, insight and specialised research analysis to provide clients with solution-based approaches in a broad range of sectors; for example, Infrastructure & Utilities; Education & Government; Consumer, Retail & Technology; and more Debt Capital Markets As a leading provider of debt capital in the AUD/NZD market, we offer clients innovative solutions in the following: Syndicated loans Hybrid securities and structured finance Equipment finance Securitisation

Project & infrastructure finance Structured and portfolio asset finance Public debt securities Leveraged and acquisition finance

Financial Markets Our team of experts provide sound advice, precise execution and accurate derivatives settlement to meet our clients’ foreign exchange, interest rate and commodity exposure needs. Areas of expertise include foreign exchange; interest rate derivatives; commodities; fixed interest/debt securities Equities We provide a dedicated sales distribution and service offering for our business partners in the geared, structured, and alternate managed investments market. Our aim is to leverage off the capabilities of our wholesale banking arm to help us to focus on the needs of our clients’ business and, therefore, to provide a complete suite of financial solutions for the licensee, the adviser and the client. Westpac Equities is committed to facilitating client wealth solutions through an innovative range of new product developments, and continued superior service on current product offerings. Your opportunities You can join us in one of our above businesses on our graduate program, rotating through a number of different teams in a highly supportive environment. You will also be assigned a buddy and a senior mentor to assist you with your development and find the career path best suited to you. Or, you could start with us as an intern during our summer program, to get some practical experience while you’re still at university of what banking is really like.

Visit www.westpac.com.au/graduates or www.westpac.com.au/summerinternship

Interview with Daisy Correa Graduate, Financial Markets The Financial Markets Graduate Program involves… Six rotations through a wide range of areas on the Westpac dealing room floor. The program caters to a wide variety of interests and gives graduates the opportunity to experience sales, trading and research roles across Foreign Exchange, Fixed Interest, Commodities, Global Capital Markets and Treasury business units. I have so far completed rotations in... Commodities, Currency Strategy, Treasury and Corporate FX Sales ....and I’m scheduled to go to Credit Sales & Trading as well as Rates Trading.

A typical day in my current role in Corporate FX Sales includes... 7:30am Get into the office and catch up on what has happened overnight in London and New York. Write

the daily ‘Overnight Wrap’ report to send out to internal stakeholders from other teams. 8:45am Weekly team meeting with the bank’s chief economist for an update on economy wide happenings. 9:15am: Assist a salesperson with pricing various hedging strategies for a client. Strategies range from

simple forward and vanilla option scenarios to more structured solutions. Liaise with forwards and options desks to get relevant pricing and construct presentation.

12:30pm Step out for lunch and some fresh air. 1:00pm Work on an ongoing mini-project which involves doing some correlation analysis between different

asset classes. Liaise with currency strategists/economists/commodity traders to develop a macro perspective of different asset classes and their respective benefits.

2:30pm Head out with members of the sales team to present possible hedging strategies to a client. Watch

the experts in action! 4:30pm Get back to the office and run end of day procedures. Review material sent out by Strategy and

Economics teams to stay informed. Do some reading for accreditation exams that are coming up. 6:00pm Call it a night and catch the ferry home.

Describe a task that has defined your time in Financial Markets... A defining moment for me was when a research piece I had worked on was distributed by the currency strategy team. It involved analysing a momentum trading strategy and back testing it to see whether there was merit in the idea. It stretched my lateral thinking and analysis skills and I found it immensely rewarding.

What challenges have you faced...? Moving interstate for the grad program has brought with it unique challenges. Living in a new city has been both exciting and daunting. Westpac provided relocation assistance to help with the move which was great. Another challenge I have faced is getting out of the mindset that I am ‘just the grad’. I’ve been given the opportunity to work on meaningful tasks and have added-value to the teams I’ve been in. I’ve found that your attitude and how proactive you are really determine what kind of experience you have.

What is the best thing about working for Financial Markets in Westpac?

The dealing room floor is such a unique environment to work in. It is always bustling with activity and can get quite hectic. The best thing about starting your career at Westpac is that it has a very supportive culture. People are friendly and approachable and are willing to answer your questions. There is a steep learning curve and I’ve found that Westpac provides the ideal environment to be able to both learn and contribute. How is Westpac supporting your career aspirations...? Westpac provides its graduates with a great deal of support and opportunities. By the end of the program you have had the opportunity to meet people working right across the dealing floor as well as people from other areas within the institutional bank. This enables you to understand your strengths and aptitudes as well as what areas you’d like to work in. Working for such a large organisation you quickly find that there are a multitude of possibilities. It’s up to you to make the most of them.

FinanceIn the post Global Financial Crisis world a career in Finance might seem like a dangerous path - but fear not, stock market crashes and recessions have happened before and instead financial corporations grew larger and bonus compensation schemes became more lucrative.

A career in finance is usually quantitative. Positions revolve around financial markets and instruments, and the risk and strategies surrounding them. Even though financial positions usually suggest stressful long hours and no life behind the walls of the financial institution, most people working in the financial field find that these positions in the long run are extremely rewarding.

Requirementsfor a Finance MajorStudents must complete:

Required Course ListFINS1612 Capital Markets & Institution (6 UOC)

• FINS1613 Business Finance (6 UOC)

• FINS2624 Portfolio Mgmt (6 UOC) • FINS3616 International Business

Finance (6 UOC)

These courses must be taken to fulfil the requirements for a minor.

See http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/plans/2010/FINSA13502.html for list of electives for Finance majors.

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What are the Fieldsof Finance and What Jobs Await Me?

INVESTMENT BANKING

Investment banking involves itself with the more traditional role of the investment bank which includes trading in securities and advising firms on transactions. Investment bankers experience intense work- hours whilst being exposed to clients and facilitating processes such as raising capital and mergers and acquisitions.Investment banking divisions are generally separated into industry sectors, such as resources, consumer products and energy, and product sectors such as mergers and acquisitions, equity and fixed-income (debt).

Skills & Abilities

• Ability to synthesize information. • Investment modelling skills. • Excellent ability to analyse material. • Strong communication skills.

Major Employers: Westpac Institutional Bank, Goldman Sachs JBWere, Morgan Stanley, Macquarie Bank

Starting Salary: approx. $78,000 – $94,000 + bonus.

Related Electives: FINS3625 Applied Corporate Finance, FINS3641 Security Analysis and Valuation, FINS3640 Investment Mgmt Modelling.

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CORPORATE BANKING

The role of a corporate banker involves managing the different banking services that large companies, governments or other institutions need in order to function daily. If you are good with numbers, treasury management may be a crucial and rewarding role as you will be helping companies cope with their cash flow. As well as front-line jobs dealing with clients, corporate banks also have an array of operational positions, including technology and human resources.

Skills & Abilities

• Combination of finance and accounting skills.• Strong numeracy skills – so make sure you attend and learn the basics during those

early math-intensive courses (QMA and QMB)!

Major Employers: The Big 4 Banks (CBA, NAB, ANZ, Westpac). Overseas institutions such as HBOS and HSBC would provide even more opportunities to work in the international market.

Starting Salary: approx. $70,000. After 3 to 5 years of experience – starting at $85,000. Management roles – around $160,000 with bonuses range 50%–100%.

Related Electives: FINS2622 Emerging Capital Markets, FINS3625 Applied Corporate Finance, FINS3630 Bank Financial Management, FINS3650 International Banking.

STOCKBROKING

Stockbrokers are regulated professional who buy and sell shares on behalf of clients for a fee. They may also offer investment advice regarding traditional investments such as shares, debentures, government bonds, listed property trusts, and even cash managements trusts and property and equity trusts. They can even plan, implement and monitor your entire portfolio.

Skills & Abilities

• Stockbroking is stress-intensive and involves working under pressure. • Good analytical skills. • Attention to detail.

Major Employers: Employed by financial institutions, stockbroking firms, and for investment and merchant banks (e.g. Macquarie Bank, ComSec).

Starting Salary: approx. $45,000.

Related Electives: FINS3641 Security Analysis & Valuation.

FINANCIAL PLANNING

This specialisation involves helping individuals plan their financial future – how much to save, spend, and invest. It takes into account their short-term and long-term goals (such as a comfortable retirement) in order to determine how to utilise their wealth efficiently.

Skills & Abilities

• Good interpersonal skills to build and maintain a relationship of trust with the client.• Moderate amount of maths involved. • Need a broad knowledge of the finance industry – taxes, insurance, investment,

superannuation, etc.

Job Titles: • Financial planner or wealth manager.

More Information: www.fpa.asn.au - the key organisation is the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) which offers professional recognition.

Major Employers: Banks (Westpac, CBA, ANZ, NAB, etc.), wealth management firms (e.g. MLC and AMP) insurance (e.g. GIO) and investment companies, accounting and legal firms, financial dealers and stockbrokers. There are also many self-employed financial planners but they need a large network of clients and extensive experience in the industry. It is not a good idea to start by yourself but this can be an option later on.

Starting Salary: approx. $40,000 but increases to over $150,000 for more experienced members of the profession. Self-employed planners can easily earn more.

Related Electives: FINS2643 Wealth Management, FINS3637 Wealth Management Advice.


FOREIGN EXCHANGE TRADING

A career in foreign exchange trading involves hedging or speculating upon changes in the exchange rate of currencies. It can be compared to that of equity trading where the strategies are based on the news outflow and future expectations. The markets are highly liquid and fast moving. If you are confident in your trading skills then this just might be the perfect career path for you.

Skills & Abilities

• Knowledge of the global economy. • Good understanding about the economic impacts of news on the market.

Major Employers: Westpac, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, CBA, ANZ, NAB.

Starting Salary: approx. $65,000 + bonus.

FUNDS MANAGEMENT

Funds (or investment) management involves managing an array of funds including mutual, pension, trust or hedge funds. Fund management consulting is a related occupation offered by some institutions and firms, mostly specialising in personal cash management.

Fund managers seek to help their clients maximise their returns and add to their wealth by providing investment recommendations, alternatives and advice. They oversee a fund’s investment scheme and portfolio trading plan.

Skills & Abilities

• High educational and professional credentials.• Suitable experience in this area to achieve consistent long term performance.

Australia (FPA) which offers professional recognition.

Major Employers: AXA Services, Suncorp- Metway, Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, ING Australia, Allianz, BT Investment Management.

Starting Salary: approx. $40,000

Related Electives: FINS2643 Wealth Management, FINS3635 Options, Futures & Risk Mgmt, FINS3640 Investment Mgmt Modelling.

GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS

Work in government departments includes important roles in budgeting and collecting data in different fields and which require the worker to respond well to changing economic conditions. Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) provides valuable working experience for those who are interested in playing a crucial role in the bank’s role of maintaining effective monetary policy, with an eight-week cadetship.

Employment at the RBA may include roles in: maintaining financial system stability, the safety and efficiency of the payments system, currency creation and distribution, managing Australia’s foreign exchange reserves and providing banking services to the Commonwealth Government. More exciting roles involve preparing briefing papers on daily market activity and meetings with business and community groups.

Skills & Abilities

• Strong numeracy skills. • Good knowledge of the state of the economy. • Understanding of the impacts of economic events. • Obtaining an Honours degree would be highly regarded, as roles are highly

competitive.

Major Employers: ARBA, State Treasury.


Related Electives: Most relevant: FINS3626 Int’l Corporate Governance, FINS3636 Interest Rate Risk Management.

Others: FINS3630 Bank Financial Management, FINS3631 Risk and Insurance, FINS3634 Credit Analysis and Lending, FINS3650 International Banking.


HEDGE FUNDS

Hedge funds activity was heavily blamed throughout 2008 and most people assume that a hedge fund’s main purpose is to hedge investments, thus decreasing volatility of the portfolio and its downside risk. However hedge funds actually do not have much to do with hedging nowadays. Instead they promise to provide a much higher return for the investor than typical wealth management institutions through effective management of portfolios and clever trading decisions.

Skills & Abilities

• Strong numeracy skills. • Good knowledge of the state of the economy. • Understanding of the impacts of economic events. • Obtaining an Honours degree would be highly regarded, as roles are highly

competitive.

Job Title: Hedge fund analyst.

Major Employers: Platinum Pacific Partners, Cantillon Capital Management, Barclays Capital, Cerberus Capital Management.


Related Electives: FINS3640 Investment Mgmt Modelling, FINS3625 Applied Corporate Finance.

PRIVATE EQUITY

Private Equity might be regarded as a type of strategy of a hedge fund, which means that a private equity acquires a company, restructures it and either re-sells it privately or sells it to the public through an Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Skills & Abilities

• Previous work experience in the business industry.

Major Employers: Lazard Carnegie Wylie, KKR, Castle Harlan, Pacific Equity Partners.


Related Electives: FINS3625 Applied Corporate Finance.

COMPLIANCE

Compliance officers implement policies for public and private corporations that comply with related laws and regulations and monitor adherence to these policies. They also identify risks, provide guidance on the management of these risks and actively seek to mitigate legal, reputation and regulatory risks through preventative measures. In Australia, regulatory bodies are the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and Australian Prudential and Regulatory Authority (APRA).

Skills & Abilities

• Interest in keeping up to date with relevant local legislation and practices.• Ability to communicate with staff at all levels, including members of the Board.• Attention to detail and ability to multitask.• Ability to write concisely for the purposes of reporting to the Board on compliance

matters

Major Employers: ING, AMP, UBS, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Colonial First State, State Street, JP Morgan.

Starting Salary: approx. $50,000.

Related Electives:FINS3626 Int’l Corporate GovernanceFINS3636 Interest Rate Risk Management.

INVESTMENT CONSULTING

Investment consultants advise the trustees of corporate and public retirement plans, pension funds, and other organisations with a sizeable investment capital, on what to do with their money. They have a similar goal to that of financial planners but on a completely different scale as they tend to deal with corporations more often than individuals.

Skills & Abilities

• Good interpersonal skills to build and maintain a relationship of trust with the client.• Moderate amount of maths involved. • Need a broad knowledge of the finance industry – taxes, insurance, investment,

superannuation, etc.

Major Employers: GMercer Investment Consulting, Watson Wyatt and Russell Investment Group.

Starting Salary: vary greatly depending on experience and quality of candidates. With 2-3 years of experience, an investment consultant can earn approx. $60,000.

Related Electives: No specific finance electives will help – acquire a broad range of knowledge.

INSURANCE

Major fields are motor vehicle insurance, health insurance, life insurance and property & casualty insurance. The main tasks involve helping individuals protecting themselves by identifying and managing foreseeable life-threatening events. They also ensure that customers understand their requirements and clarify all choices available to help them come to decide on correct insurance policies.

Skills & Abilities

• Oral presentation skills. • High order analytical skills as they are applying statistical and mathematical

analysis.• Communication skills as they are liaising with workplace representatives or people

seeking insurance.

Job Title: Underwriter, agent and broker, asset manager and customer service representative.

Major Employers: AAMI, AMP, CGU, IAG, MBF and NRMA.


Related Electives: FINS3631 Risk and Insurance.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Mergers and acquisitions activity has been growing dramatically in the last 7 - 8 years due to the impact of globalization and heavily growing economies. Mergers and acquisitions is a part of corporate finance dealing with the analysis of company value in case of merger or acquisition. It has various sub-branches such as:

• Due diligence - calculating value of the company and assessing the M&A impact. • Transformation/implementation consulting - efficiency and economies of scope

analysis in order to increase the efficiency of the business. • Post merger integration analysis - strategic analysis of the integration and

assessment of implemented strategies.

Skills & Abilities

• Strong quantitative skills. • Strategic and creative thinking

Major Employers: BS, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, ANZ

Starting Salary: approx. $75,000 + bonus

Related Electives: FINS3625 Applied Corporate Finance.


RISK MANAGEMENT

Having a successful risk management sector within any firm is pivotal to its financial wellbeing. A role in this field would require assessing, quantifying and mitigating risks for the firm. You may work in the following areas within risk management: credit, prudential capital and markets operational risk, internal compliance. Your main responsibility is to take an independent view on all the material risk acceptance decisions for your company both within and outside Australia.

Skills & Abilities

• Risk modelling skills.• Strong analytical ability.

Job Titles• Risk analysts.

Major Employers: Big 4 Banks (CBA, ANZ, NAB, Westpac) and Macquarie Bank.


Related Electives: Provide strong mathematical and statistical knowledge: FINS3626 Int’l Corporate Governance, FINS3634 Credit Analysis and Lending, FINS3635 Options, Futures & Risk Mgmt.

OthersFINS3637 Wealth Mgmt AdviceFINS3640 Investment Mgmt Modeling, FINS3641 Security Analysis & Valuation.

VENTURE CAPITAL

Venture capital associates itself with private equity capital – that is, raising money for firms that are at an early stage of inception with high-growth potential but also associated with high-risk. The need for venture capitalists results from the inability of such firms to raise funds traditionally through an IPO on a listed stock-exchange. Venture capitalists play an integral role in facilitating economic development in various regions of the world, facilitating the financing process in situations where firms are unable to obtain bank loans – this is particularly true for small to medium sized firms.

Skills & Abilities

• Managerial and technical expertise. • Experience in the industry.

Related Electives: FINS3623 Small Business Finance, FINS3634 Credit Analysis and Lending, FINS3635 Options, Futures & Risk Mgmt


CORPORATE FINANCE

Corporate finance is about a firm’s decisions of capital budgeting, financing and dividend policy. It aims to harmoniously combine these decisions to achieve the greater goal of maximizing shareholder value whilst managing and minimizing the financial risks of the firm. Working within corporate finance involves the use of many forecasting, valuation, and modelling techniques and strategies that are initially taught within many finance courses at UNSW.

Skills & Abilities

• Able to work well under pressure. • Enjoy solving problems. • Strong grasp of Excel.

Major Employers: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Macquarie Bank, UBS.

Starting Salary: Analyst/Executive (Graduate entry) approx. $75,000 - $125,000.

Related Electives:FINS3625 Applied Corporate Finance, FINS3626 International Corporate Governance, FINS3641 Security Analysis and Valuation.

Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charterholder

The CFA Institute is the accreditor of this qualification and also awards the CIPM (Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement). Both of these accreditations are valued by the financial services industry.More information about membership for the CFA Society of Sydney can be found at www.cfas.org.au/membership/requirements/default.aspx.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and Chartered Financial Planner (CFP)

The UNSW BCom (Finance) program has been approved by ASIC authorised assessors as meeting the training requirements for the RG 146 Tier 1 qualification. The RG 146 qualification represents the minimum requirements for an individual to complete in order to provide financial planning advice regarding a range of financial products.

In order to meet the above training requirements, individuals must complete the following courses:

• FINS1612 Capital Markets & Institutions• FINS2643 Wealth Management• FINS2624 Portfolio Management• FINS3637 Wealth Management Advice

Accreditation of FINS courses with the RG146 and the Financial Planning Association will further assist graduates to find employment and begin the path to become a Certified Financial Planner (CFP). CFP certification represents the highest professional accreditation that can be achieved by a financial planner and is offered by the Financial Planning Association (FPA).

More details involving the CFP Certification process can be found here:www.fpa.asn.au/files/CFPGuideCFPCertification.pdf

Financial Services Institute of Australia (FINSIA)

FINSIA is the leading membership organisation for all individuals working within the financial services industry and is open to all individuals within the industry – accountants, bankers, economists and consultants alike. There are no specific academic requirements for membership, though it is advantageous to be undertaking, or holding, a Bachelor of Commerce or Economics which would facilitate employment within the financial services industry – this is a primary requirement for admission to membership.

More information about student membership can be found atwww.finsia.com/Content/NavigationMenu/Membership/Studentmembership/default.htm


Professional Recogition

There are a number of professionally recognised qualifications that can be obtained within the finance industry relevant to finance majors. Whilst professionally recognised qualifications are not absolutely necessary for employment, generally speaking they result in higher salaries and more positive employment outcomes.

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INFORMATION SYSTEMSThe Information Systems major is about the combination of people, processes, technology and data. It is a blend of business and computer science which requires understanding of both areas in order to communicate the strategic needs of management. With the growth in the use of technology in organisations, information systems majors are becoming more necessary to the point where there is yet again a skills shortage in the information technology sector.

What Jobs Awaits Me?

Possible OccupationsApplications Developer, Computer Programmer, Database Administrator, Internet Programmer, Network Administrator, Project Manager, Software Developer, Systems Analyst, Technical Sales Representative, Technical Support, Technical Writer, Web Master, or Web Security Administrator.

Possible EmployersAccenture, Atlassian, Canon, Campbell Arnotts, Coca-Cola Amatil, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, CSC Australia Pty Ltd, Deloitte, IBM, Investec, News Limited, NSW Department of Commerce, Oracle, Perpetual, QBE Insurance, Salmat, SAP, Zurich Financial Services, Unisys and Westpac Banking Corporation and Security.

Professional Recognition Why Obtain Professional Recognition with the Australian Computer Society?

• Although the Information Systems major will automatically meet the requirements of the recognised association for Information & Communications Technology (ICT), professionals attract a large and active membership from all levels of the ICT industry.

• Become a member of the Australian Council of Professions, the ACS is the public voice of the ICT profession and the guardian of professional ethics and standards in the ICT industry.

What are the Fields of an Information Systems Major?

Information systems majors are versatile in many different business sectors such as energy companies, hospitals, sports teams, government, consulting groups, and not-for-profits. You may also work in various functional areas such as marketing, sales, accounting, and finance. In all of these jobs, you can draw from your business and technical training to help firms operate and compete more effectively. This is achieved through the strategic use of information technology in team-based, project-oriented environments involving high degrees of personal interaction with various stakeholders.

The Good Universities Guide lists the Australian School of Business as having the highest starting salaries in Australia for Business & Management graduates ($55,005), Accounting graduates ($48,786) and Computing & IT graduates ($56,950).


What are the Requirements for an Information Systems Major?

There are FOUR core subjects that gives BCom students qualification with the Australian Computer Society (ACS) for its provisional membership at the professional level.

• INFS1602 Info Systems in Business • INFS1603 Business Data Management • INFS2603 Systems Analysis and Design 1 • INFS2848 Info Syst Project Management

For an Information Systems major there are several options you can do. You need 3 electives if it is a double major and 4 electives if you are doing a single major.

No prerequisites INFS1602 and/or INFS1603- INFS2603 and/or INFS2848

Supporting Business Management -INFS3604 (strategic, tactical and operational decision and business management issues and the information systems and applications that underpin them)

Infrastructure and Security - INFS2607(IT infrastructure in a business environment, including inter- networked data communications and distributed data processing)

Supporting Business Operations - INFS2685 (the management and application of business systems in the supply/ service chain as well as essential concepts and technologies which underpin business operations)

Systems Delivery and Implementation - INFS2609 (The delivery and implementation of any new business system involves significant change to an organisation and this course covers these techniques)

Data and Information Management - INFS3608 (understanding database application design/ management; practical experience using formal database design in systems development; and understanding technological issues of databases in modern IT infrastructure)

Business Systems Security - INFS3774 (developing critical thinking/awareness skills in the review of concepts and techniques, undertaking case study exercises to better understand computerised security techniques of a rapidly evolving field) Business Systems Auditing - INFS3805 (learn what business systems audit is and how it’s performed, computer forensics, and computer abuse/fraud auditing)

Systems Analysis & Design 2 - INFS2611 (refine analytical skills for the evaluation of business systems users needs and requirements)

Implementation Workshop - INFS3605 (Students conduct a project to implement an information system using a commercial object-oriented programming language eg. Java in a workshop environment.)

Further Information

UNSW Handbook:www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/specialisations/2010/3502InformationSystemsInformation Technology.html

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESSInternational Business is a rapidly growing field dealing with the development, strategy and management of multinational organisations. People are no longer islands separated from the rest of the world, and doing business nowadays is becoming increasingly an international exercise. Business leaders and professionals of the future can almost inadvertently be expected to deal with the problems of doing business and managing organisations in a complex and uncertain global business environment. The International Business major provides you the opportunity to study:

• The globalisation of business. • Cross-cultural management. • The development and management of multinational enterprises. • International business strategy for both large and small organisations

operating internationally. • International entrepreneurship. • Business in the Asia-Pacific region. • International human resource management.

What Jobs Await Me?

Due to the versatile nature of the major, International Business graduates are employed across a spectrum of corporate activity ranging from manufacturing, through to financial and professional services and government agencies. Industries that have employed International Business graduates in the past include:

Industries Examples of Companies

Management consulting firms Accenture, Booz Allen Hamilton Inc, McKinsey & Company

Australian based companies Qantas Airways Ltd, Sydney Water

Foreign based multinational firms Procter & Gamble, American Express Company, Xstrata plc, Siemens AG

Telecommunication companies Telstra Corporation Ltd

Financial and professional services Citigroup Inc, Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Macquarie Bank Ltd, Towers Perrin

Government The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Trade Commission

Travel and tourism Hilton Hotels Corporation

Technology IBM Australia Ltd, Sony Australia Ltd


International Business graduates have gone on to take up various positions, both managerial and operational, in multinational or trans-national organisations. Graduate positions include:

Further Information

UNSW Handbook:www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/specialisations/2010/3502InternationalBusiness.html

www.international-business-careers.com

www.worldwidelearn.com/business/international-business

Note:Students may count relevant courses offered in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences as List B options with the prior approval of the Head of School.Electives include international law, international accounting and finance, and international marketing as well as modern language studies.All courses are worth 6 units of credit.

• Asset Management Trainee• Business Analyst• Cross-Cultural Advisor• Export and Import Officer• Global Product Coordinator• Government Official• International Business Strategist

• International Equity Officer• International Marketing Officer• International Trade Officer• Policy Advisor• Purchasing Officer• Purchasing Support Coordinator• Research Analyst


Sample program Electives

Bachelor of Commerce – double major(International Business and 2nd business major)

Year 1

• 4 core commerce courses in Semester 1 • 4 flexible core commerce courses

Year 2

Semester 1:• MGMT1101 Global Business Environment• 1 elective International Business course• 2 courses for 2nd business major

Semester 2:• MGMT2101 International Business and• Multinational Operations • MGMT2102 Managing Across Cultures• 1 elective International Business course• Courses for 2nd business major

At least one option must be chosen from List A

• MGMT1001 Fundamentals of Management• MGMT2105 East Asian Business Enterprise• MGMT2106 Comparative Management Systems• MGMT3702 International Hrm Practice

Options List B

• MGMT2002 Managing Business Communication• MGMT2703 International Employment Relations• MGMT2725 Career Planning & Management• MGMT3708 Research Methods in Empl& Mgmt• MGMT3721 Negotiation Skills

Year 3

• MGMT3101International Business Strategy• MGMT3102 Asia-Pacific Business• 3 courses for 2nd business major • 2 elective courses from the Australian School of Business• General Education course/s

Honours is optional and is done in Year 4.

ManagementManagement involves planning, delegating, monitoring, organising, and budgeting. This ensures that organisations are kept up to date in a dynamic business environment, and on track to achieve their goals. Management is multi-disciplinary, given that graduates are expected to solve problems and operate in a variety of environments, especially ones that are constantly changing.

What Jobs Await Me?

Management graduates can find positions in occupations such as Business Analyst, Client Service Officer, Corporate Planning Officer, Human Resources Officer, Management Consultant, Strategic Planning, Operations Manager, Operations Manager, and Project Manager.

Fields Management consulting Human Resources Operations Management Project Management

Tasks • Studying an organisation’s systems

• Assessing work methods

• Improving productivity and efficiency

• Interpreting information in reports & records

• Writing reports and making recommendations

• Introducing new systems and procedures

• Advertising job vacancies• Executing selection

processes • Determining any training

requirements• Maintaining a skilled

work force• Facilitating personal and

career development• Organising pay and super• Ensuring a fair and safe

workplace

• Directing a company’s operations

• Budgeting• Ensuring compliance with

regulations• Assessing a company’s• products• Maximising operational

efficiency• Seeking to lower costs of

production• Monitoring production &

distribution • Gathering sales

information• Researching customer

trends

• Planning, executing and closing projects

• Managing the cost, time and scope of projects

• Maintaining the mutual interaction of relevant parties

• Recruiting teams, and allocating tasks

Skills • Organisational• Comprehension of

business processes

• Interpersonal • Motivational• Confidentiality • Balancing competing

claims of stakeholders

• Leadership• Research• Numeracy

• Leadership

Skills in common: Problem-solving, Communication, and Negotiation.

Starting Salary $65,000- $75,00 + sign on $40 000 $35 000 (in the hotel industry) $56 000 (in the IT sector)

Main EmployersEemployers

• Consultancy firms such as Accenture, Bain & Company, McKinsey (see our separate Management Consulting section on the following pages for more information)

• Property and business services

• Government departments

• Health & community services

• Retail organisations

• Hotels• Commercial organisations

• IT organisations• Health services



Professional Recognition

The professional bodies that represent the management profession include the Institute of Management Consultants and the Australian Institute of Project Management.

NameInstitute of Management Consultants

(IMC)Australian Institute of Project Manage-

ment (AIPM)

Description The IMC is the professional body represent-ing management consultants in Australia. It provides professional development pro-grams and promotes the profession of man-agement consulting. It awards the Certified Management Consultant (CMC) designation.

The AIPM is the peak national body for the project management profession. It awards certification through the Registered Project Manager Program.

How does it help? A CMC designation gives the person interna-tional, formal, and independent recognition of their competency and experience for the profession of management consulting. Such a designation is highly respected by clients, since the person is presupposed to have a great level of professional competency.

Successful candidates receive recognition from AIPM and its organisations for their project management and technical capabili-ties. They are also included in the Register of Project Managers. Certification has three levels: Certified Practising Project Practitio-ner, Certified Practising Project Manager, and Certified Practising Project Director. These help the candidate focus their career goals.

How to become professionally recognised? To become a CMC, the candidate must have a relevant professional academic qualifica-tion, three years experience as a manage-ment consultant, experience in all elements of the consulting life cycle, clients that will endorse them, and membership of the Insti-tute of Management Consultants.The candidate then has to fill out an ap-plication and attend an interview. Finally reference checks with the candidates’ nominated clients will be conducted.

Candidates must have membership of AIPM, and evidence of experience in projects that satisfy the Competency Standard (PCSPM) statements. Candidates must complete the RegPM online application form, contact and work with an assessor, and complete an assessment.

What are the Requirements of a Management Major?

This major can be studied under the UNSW program ‘Management - MGMTA13502’ as part of the Commerce and Economics degrees.

Required Course List Options List

• MGMT1001 Fundamentals of Management

• MGMT1002 Manag. Organisat. Behaviour

• MGMT2001 Manag. Innovat. Organis. Chang

• MGMT2002 Managing Business Communication

• STRE3101 Intl Business Strategy

• MGMT2102 Managing Across Cultures • MGMT2106 Comparative Management

Systems• MGMT2718 Human Resource

Management • MGMT2725 Career Planning &

Management• MGMT3702 International Hrm Practice• MGMT3708 Research Methods in Empl

& Mgmt• MGMT3721 Negotiation Skills• MGMT3728 Managing Pay and

Performance• MGMT3729 Managing Workplace

Training


Management ConsultingManagement involves planning, delegating, monitoring, organising, and budgeting. This ensures that organisations are kept up to date in a dynamic business environment, and on track to achieve their goals. Management is multi-disciplinary, given that graduates are expected to solve problems and operate in a variety of environments, especially ones that are constantly changing.

What are firms looking for?

Firms take graduates from any background, including non-business backgrounds. This is good if you don’t want to be restricted by you major, but means that the application process is very competitive. The graduate attributes each firm seeks varies slightly, however the following are common to most firms:

• Strong problem solving skills – Management consultants are only called in when a company is not achieving the results it expects. As a result the central role of a management consultant is to solve problems for their clients.

• High achievement – Management consultancy is a results-driven business, and so firms look for graduates who have demonstrated a drive to achieve results in their activities.

• Strong communication/interpersonal skills – Graduates will have a mix of independent workloads and team based work but will spend a majority of their time working with clients. Firms are looking for people who will work well in a team with other consultants and with clients.

• Leadership - Firms highly prize initiative and consultants even in lower levels of the firm will be given significant responsibility.

• Curiosity – Every client’s business is different, and consultants work in a broad range of industries, so firms are looking for graduates who are willing to re-learn everything each time they meet a new client.

Employers

The big names in Management Consulting firms are:

• Booz & Company• McKinsey & Company• The Boston Consulting Group

Starting salaries for these firms are approximately $60,000 + bonuses depending on firms and market conditions.


What are the differences between the firms?

There are several important differences between the approaches of different management consultancies.

Operational / strategic focusWhile there is always some overlap between these areas (strategic changes must be implemented in the firm’s operations, and operational changes can create new strategic opportunities), some firms will tend to focus more on the operations of their clients, while others will do more high level strategy work for their clients.

Client facing / office basedMost consultancy firms have adopted the 4 and 1 model. Their consultants spend 4 days per week at the client site, working closely with the client, and return to the office for a common ‘administrative’ day. In this type of firm, you will get to work in a team which includes several consultants as well as employees from the client. Other firms tend to do a majority of the work at the office, travelling to the client only when needed.

Government workFor some firms, one of their largest clients is the government. All government departments, at all levels of government, look to consultants to improve efficiency and streamline processes. Consultancy firms can also be actively involved in providing advice on restructuring and reform. For some, getting a chance to be actively involved in government policy is an attraction, but others may not wish to be so familiar with their Canberra hotel room. However some firms also have a policy of not accepting government work, feeling that it is too difficult to achieve lasting results in this area.

Career pathsAs a graduate you will start your career as an associate consultant or business analyst. You will be actively involved in client teams, and will generally get a chance to work across a broad range of industries. After about three years most firms may provide you with the option to take a sponsored MBA at one of the top business schools. Other firms also encourage their staff to undertake a secondment in another company. After graduate school you will likely return as an associate to lead areas of the engagement. However a large number of consultants also choose to go and work for other companies at this stage. There is significant demand for consultants to move back into commercial line management roles after several years experience.

Interview ProcessThe interview process for management consulting is quite unique. The interview process is based on a case, which you are required to work through in the interview. These cases are based on real world business problems, and will involve both qualitative and quantitative questions. Examples include calculating the revenue of a hotel, or working out the costs of a new line of beer.All firms will offer example case studies for you to try before your interview, some also offer practice days where you will have the opportunity to get some tips before the interview.

Further InformationUNSW Handbook:www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/specialisations/2010/3502Management.html

At Bain, our unique, results-driven culture has been continuously redefining strategy consulting. Our commitment to delivering real, measurable results that impact futures and bottom lines is unmatched in the industry—and so are our people. At Bain, you’ll find there are no limits to the personal impact your passion can have, and no end to the opportunities it can create.

At Bain, our unique, results-driven culture has been continuously redefining strategy consulting. Our commitment to delivering real, measurable results that impact futures and bottom lines is unmatched in the industry—and so are our people. At Bain, you’ll find there are no limits to the personal impact your passion can have, and no end to the opportunities it can create.

PEOPLE. PASSION. RESULTS.

Archana, Associate ConsultantSydney

David, Associate ConsultantSydney/San Francisco

Who we are

What we do

Your career opportunity Your training

Our recruiting contact

www.bain.com


MarketingAt UNSW a major in Marketing exemplifies the banner of energy and creativity that one word inspires. Marketing encapsulates diversity and this extends to the potential career paths that could be taken. Career paths can range from stopping traffic with billboards promoting the next designer fashion show, to stopping people in their tracks with the opening of the newest fast-food joint. It all comes under the one umbrella of ‘marketing.’

Being a marketer, your responsibilities can vary; examples including the managing public relations by handling the media frenzy in the face of major events and designing visual merchandise in retail outlets. Further examples include the delivering products such as nappies and dog food to the consumers and researching why exactly people prefer Starbucks over Gloria Jeans. The key aspects of marketing are understanding consumer needs and how to transform these into consumer satisfaction, value and profits to build lucrative relationships with customers, suppliers and distributors.

Marketing is offered to students who enrol in a Commerce, Economics, Services Marketing or Social Sciences degree. This proves its versatility in complementing your tertiary studies because marketing is applicable across all sectors in a global context, from telecommunications to the tourism industry. A major in marketing will particularly complement business studies in Finance, Management, International Business and Information Systems.

The UNSW School of Marketing offers the following undergraduate programs:• Bachelor of Commerce or Bachelor of Economics in Marketing. • A combined degree entails taking courses from two schools in different faculties,

which may be included in the following:

Course Typical Duration

Materials Science/Commerce 3136 5.5 yearsSocial Science 3420 3 yearsCommerce 3502 3 yearsCommerce/Economics 3521 4 yearsCommerce/Arts 3525 5 yearsEconomics/Arts 3526 5 yearsCommerce/Social Science 3527 5 yearsEconomics/Social Science 3528 5 yearsCommerce/Science 3529 4 yearsCommerce (International) 3538 4 yearsCommerce (Liberal Studies) 3539 4 yearsEconomics 3543 3 yearsServices Marketing- Tourismand Hospitality 3571

4 years

Software Engineering/Commerce 3653 5 yearsEngineering/Commerce 3715 5.5 yearsScience 3970 3 yearsComputer Science 3978 3 yearsCommerce/Law 4733 5 years


A major in Marketing is a multifaceted and resourceful asset across a diverse range of industries and professions, from managing airlines and international hotel chains to marketing consulting and development at different government levels.

One of the notable achievements from fellow marketing alumni took place back in 2005 when Hilton Hotels hosted the national “Elevator Graduate Program.” This was designed to recruit top graduates and fast-track these candidates to senior leadership and management roles within 6 years of graduation, cutting more than half the time it traditionally takes for graduates to work from the bottom. Of the four candidates that were selected, three were graduates from UNSW, which verifies the lucrative opportunities that a knowledge and experience in marketing can provide.


Bachelor of Commerce in Services Marketing – Tourism and Hospitality.This is a 4-year double major degree program, which allows you to undertake an optional 3rd major, which may be within the Australian School of Business or the School of Languages and Linguistics in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

What are the Requirements of my Major? Compulsory courses:• MARK1012 Marketing Fundamentals (6 UOC)• MARK2051 Consumer Behaviour (6 UOC)• MARK2052 Marketing Research (6 UOC)• MARK2054 Market Analysis (6 UOC)• MARK2055 Service Marketing & Management (6 UOC) • MARK3082 Strategic Marketing Management (6 UOC)

Note: Only students enrolled in BCom (Services Marketing in Tourism & Hospitality) are required to complete MARK2055 Service Marketing & Management. For all other students the course is an elective.

Electives:

List A• MARK2053: Mark. Comm. & Prom. Management (6 UOC)• MARK2055 Service Marketing & Management (6 UOC)• MARK3071 International & Global Marketing (6 UOC)• MARK3084 E-Marketing (6 UOC)

List B• MARK3072 Advanced Consumer Behaviour (6 UOC)• MARK3081 Distrib, Strat & Retail Channels (6 UOC)• MARK3091 New Product & New Service Dev (6 UOC)• MARK3092 Brand Management (6 UOC)

Note: Students enrolled in BCom (Services Marketing in Tourism & Hospitality) are required to complete one elective from List B only. For all other students one elective must be completed from each list.

Elective Topics and Skills Would complement with....

MARK2055Services Marketing and Management

Service encounter, failure and recovery Servicescape Customer serviceService quality Customer satisfaction Yield management

Services Marketing in Tourism and Hospitality major

MARK3071 International and Global Marketing

International marketing strategies Global branding Marketing management across borders

MARK3084 E-Marketing MARK3092 Brand Management

MARK3072Advanced Consumer Behaviour

Consumer choice Attitude formation Learning Consumption experience

MARK1014 Customer Relationship Management

MARK3084E- Marketing

Technology innovation Communication strategies Marketing positioning and segmentation

MARK3071 International and Global Marketing

MARK3091New Product and New Service Development

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Product Markets Market research techniques

MARK3092 Brand Management

MARK3092 Brand Management

Launching new brands Brand and line extensions Product life- cycle Brand alliances International branding Brand metrics/audits

MARK3091 New Product and New Service Development MARK3071 International and Global Marketing


Advertising and Public Relations

You are responsible for using your skills and innovation to create promotional campaigns that will get people excited about the product. We’re talking about the “WOW” factor – when you can’t seem to turn to the next page of a magazine and/or keep your eyes on the road when you’re driving past a billboard. On the PR side, you help to manage the perceptions of brands and their products, from arranging speeches to liaising with the media. Companies in this field include Saatchi & Saatchi, Ideaworks, BMF Advertising, Trendhaus and Vertical Leap Marketing.

Market Research

You are to provide the means of an answer to a question. Market researchers strive to discover the reasons that drive our consumer choices, such as why we choose to satisfy our morning caffeine cravings from Starbucks over Gloria Jeans. They apply methods including surveys, mystery shopping, focus groups and new product demonstrations to help understand the behaviour of the target market. Market research companies and advertising agencies include Clemenger BBDO, Roy Morgan Research, Chieftain Marketing, Ninedots Marketing, Digital Cadet, Accenture and The Communications Group.

Product Management

Your role is to market and develop products from luxury goods to basic amenities. This occupation requires you to be both the tactical and strategic core of the business in order to strengthen the brands and build a connection with the customer’s mind. Consumer goods companies include Unilever, Arnott’s, Canon, Kellogg’s and Nintendo.

Retail and Customer Services

Do you thrive on interacting with people in a fast-paced environment? If you have ever shopped and/or worked in David Jones or Myer during the Christmas rush, then you will understand the importance of this service-oriented profession. When you walk into one of these stores, you are not just paying for the bag you’ve been eyeing for the past month; you are also expecting a pleasant service experience. Retailers and service organisations are ultimately responsible for fulfilling that ideal. Consumer services and retail organisations include Qantas, Coles-Myer, McDonalds, Tourism NSW and hotel chains like the Hilton and Novotel.

Non-Profit

Marketing is not restricted to working for companies to promote and sell their product. There are many non-profit organisations that require your skill and expertise as well. You are usually given the opportunity to perform all the responsibilities found in other marketing professions, allowing you to really make a difference and boost your marketing experience while you are at it. Companies include RSPCA, World Vision, Unicef Australia and The Smith Family.

What are the Different Fields of Marketing?


Advertising Managers create, plan and execute advertising strategies by communicating with agencies to develop a product or brand. They are also responsible for allocating budgets, managing specialist staff and developing sales support material.Brand/Product Managers administer the marketing of a company’s brand and products by creating new products, determining the types of suitable promotion, the price of the products and coordinate the brand image in the market against competitors.

Marketing Managers coordinate the activities across all departments of the company that are directed towards marketing. They are also in charge of creating corporate marketing plans to propose potential campaigns, as well as working with specialists such as production managers, accountants and technical experts.

Marketing Service Managers provide supervision and support to the team of sales specialists by supplying sales material, processing customer enquiries and planning promotional events.

Market Researchers try to unveil why customers buy the products they buy, by observing trends, products and the market in an attempt to increase sales or improve customer satisfaction. This is done by combining primary and secondary research to provide the means in providing answers to managerial questions.

Market Research Analysts organise, examine and interpret market research findings in order to answer the questions of who, what, how and why.

Sales Managers coordinate the activities and tasks of the company’s sales team, and responsibilities like in the product distribution, sales targets/budgets, training/rewarding staff and sales forecasting.

Electronic Commerce Managers coordinate the marketing activities that project the company’s image over the Internet and other electronic media. Tasks may include online advertisements and customer communication.

Tourist Information Officers/Tourism Managers are in charge of managing a tourism information centre, from training and developing staff members to the provision of tourist services. They may also communicate industry information and initiatives to the media and community groups, as well as implement tourism marketing strategies.

Media Planners/Publicity Officers plan, organise and purchase advertising space that strategically matches the company’s marketing objectives and reaches the intended target audience, such as placing ads on TV, magazines or on billboards.

Professional Recognition

Australian Marketing Institute Member benefits include:Professional development in the marketing profession through national and state programs. The Certified Practising Marketer (CPM) qualification, which is a professional industry benchmark and verifies that you are a professional marketer with extensive experience and formal qualifications. It defines excellence and promotes the profession of marketing by acknowledging qualified marketing practitioners.

• Exclusive access to industry marketing metric resources.• Annual AMI awards for marketing excellence, including the Sir Charles McGrath award, the highest honour bestowed by the

profession.• Comprehensive range of marketing events and government seminars.• The UNSW Master of Marketing program is an advanced program that matches a research-based approach to learning with

contemporary marketing issues, and fulfils the educational requirements in order to apply for the Certified Practising Marketer qualification.

What Sort of Jobs Awaits Me in My Major?

Further InformationUNSW School of Marketing:www.marketing.unsw.edu.au

UNSW Handbookwww.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/specialisations/2010/3502Marketing.html The Australian Institute of Marketing: www.ami.org.au

UNSW Marketing Societywww.unswmarksoc.com

Leadership Question

Who’s inthe Fast lane?


Thisarticlewasorignallypublishedonthe1stofJune2010,at:http://knowledge.asb.unsw.edu.au/article.cfm?articleid=1121

E mployees are the engine of any company; without staff an organisation cannot function effectively. But it’s that slice of the employee population

known as high-potential employees that provides the engine’s turbo booster. High-potential employees are an elite group of workers who are regarded as the future leaders of their firm. Variously called HIPOs or MVPs (most-valued employees), this small group of employees is characterised as well educated, flexible, adaptable, agile and resilient. They are hard workers, fast learners, good problem solvers and natural leaders.

“In any organisation, about five to 10% of people in the workforce deliver extraordinary value to the organisation – in many cases, two to three times more value than their less-gifted colleagues,” writes Margaret Butteris in her book, Coaching Corporate MVPs. “High-potential employees are the people who constantly seek to improve their own performance and that of the organisation, who aren’t afraid to challenge existing ways of thinking and acting, and who live by the values of the organisation and do all they can to achieve its vision.” Characteristically they are team players who become talent magnets, attracting other high-potential individuals from the outside, writes Butteris, because

Developing leaders is critical but choosing who should take the high-potential fast track is tricky. Strategies for identifying high-potential employees – HIPOs – include recruiting

bright, young things, monitoring long-term performance and cherry-picking smart outsiders to groom as the company’s next leaders. But what happens to the 90% of employees

who aren’t hit with the HIPO stick? Research suggests a broader approach may be more beneficial – and Australian companies are listening.

“everyone wants to work with a [HIPO]”.HIPOs also like to be “stretched” and to help them

achieve mastery in each new role, they are supported through company-sponsored training, mentoring and coaching; in return they’re expected to deliver superior performance.

“In most large organisations like ours, the matrix system is used to identify those people who are performing so well that they’re hitting the ball straight of the park,” says Karen Lonergan, executive manager, performance and culture at Australian airline, Qantas. “High-potential employees are the sort of people whose performance excels no matter how complex the project or how challenging the stakeholder relationships; they continually out-perform their peers. They have the ability to learn quickly and to take the lessons they’ve learned and apply them in other parts of the business. They also have the ability to be well connected through relationships throughout the business and have a reputation as being someone with whom people want to work again. “In short, high-potential employees are the people we identify as being the right sort of people to be groomed for leadership roles in the company.”

Identifying HIPOsThe ‘x-factor’ that makes one person a HIPO and another a technical specialist, a professional operative or a middle manager is often apparent at the recruitment stage. Companies such as Macquarie Group use exceptional educational achievements as one indicator of leadership potential. These employers make it clear that only job candidates who have achieved a high level in their secondary or tertiary education need apply for a position. A battery of psychometric tests and interviews further culls this highly specialised group of people into a shortlist of candidates with clear potential to lead.

Other companies, such as Australian airline Qantas – employer of 34,000-plus people – continually search their employee populations for high-potential candidates. “Our managers are looking for performance over a period of time,” says Lonergan. “They seek out people who achieve success by fighting to meet the challenges of a situation or who have been able to garner results where others haven’t before.” This means the search is conducted company-wide. “The easiest place to look for talent is in the corporate functions, but our focus on identifying emerging leaders is across the business, including functions where employees are working with customers, or in technical roles working in our aircraft.”

Qantas also uses its graduate recruitment program as another pool for identifying high-potential employees. “Historically, the graduates program has been fertile ground for identifying emerging talent,” says Lonergan. “A number of our senior people today came through that pipeline.”

Traditionally employees who have been identified as having the potential to be future leaders are developed through on-the-job training, especially through job or project rotation. According to one academic study 84% of firms reported job rotation as the primary strategy used to develop HIPOs. “Even though a high-potential employee has a lot in common with like-minded employees in the same group, it’s still very important to look at each person individually,” says Qantas’s Lonergan. “Each individual person will have different development needs and so their development is either through formal training or education, or rotation through different projects, or mentoring and coaching.”

Increasingly, companies such as Qantas, Amcor, insurance group IAG, the ANZ Bank and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation send their high-potential employees back to school. All five have

engaged the Australian School of Business to provide tailored, high-level and intensive programs designed for small cohorts of 15 senior employees who have been earmarked for key leadership roles. Programs such as those offered through the Accelerated Learning Laboratory effectively ‘hothouse’ these select employee groups over a period of two years of part-time study. The program combines theoretical and practical components with mentoring and self-directed learning. “The students come from a diverse range of business units and functions within the company – it’s never a homogenous group of people,” says Accelerated Learning Laboratory research director Professor Jens Beckmann. “By keeping the students to their own company group, their employers can expose them to different insights within their own company.”

The students are taught systems thinking, project management, change management and how to form, manage and motivate teams, as well as intensive personal development. “The main objective of the program is to accelerate their leadership capabilities and to accelerate their development in order for them to become an expert in their field,” says Beckmann. “We don’t employ a one-size-fits-all approach because we can afford the luxury of accommodating individual differences. We teach students to understand certain drivers of performance and what are the reasons not only for failure, but also for success, and the conceptual relationships between the two.”

What Happens to the Other 90%?It goes without saying that talented leaders cannot operate without followers. In any organisation, high-potential employees will account for only a small proportion of the population – so what about the rest?

“A well-designed, employee development program will provide opportunities for all staff to maximise their potential,” says Amcor’s Jones. “Your people are everything – they are your value proposition and your competitive advantage. So there is an obligation to develop everyone. Nevertheless, when we introduced the program and hired outside for the first cohort, we were concerned about how our other employees would feel. But we’ve now just had the third cohort complete their program and because of the success, the program is seen broadly within the company as a real opportunity and something to aspire to.”

At Qantas, one of the company’s values, “professionalism” underlines all of its development programs. “Our biggest and most important group of


The Australian School of Business has recently launched a new website called Knowledge@Australian School of Business. This online information portal is a very valuable tool for students; it will help you in the lead up to your first step on the career ladder and it will be very

valuable throughout your career.

Student Benefits of Knowledge@Australian School of Business

leaders are our staff who work on the frontline with our customers,” says Lonergan. “One of the reasons why we opened our Qantas Centre of Service Excellence was because it’s important that our in-flight crews continue to be able to develop their existing skills and to acquire new ones.” One initiative is Sommelier training for cabin crew in order to understand wine and to converse intelligently and informatively with passengers.

This egalitarian approach to employee development is supported by the findings of a World Bank policy research paper, ‘Do better schools lead to more growth’ by Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann, recently presented at an Australian School of Business conference. “Our data … allows us … to illuminate one important issue: whether to concentrate attention at the lowest or at the highest achievers.Some argue in favour of elitist school systems that focus on the top performers as potential future managers of the economy and drivers of innovation. Others favour more egalitarian school systems to ensure well-educated masses that will be capable of implementing established technologies. In other words, should education policy focus on forming a small group of ‘rocket scientists’ or are approaches such as the Education for All initiative (UNESCO 2005) more promising in spurring growth?”

The paper raises the point that focusing solely on gifted and talented stvudents and employees is important, but not organisationally sustainable unless coupled with a development focus on the whole employee population.“Many countries have focused

on either basic skills or engineers and scientists. In terms of growth, our estimates suggest that developing basic skills and highly talented people reinforce each other. Moreover, achieving basic literacy for all may well be a precondition for identifying those who can reach ‘rocket scientist’ status. In other words, tournaments among a large pool of students with basic skills may be an efficient way to obtain a large share of high-performers.”

Adopting a more open approach to staff development – and one that allows for the unexpected to occur – is often witnessed in microcosm in the Accelerated Learning Laboratory. “We’ve had occasions when some people who have been sent here by their company were not expected to be quite up to the challenge but have instead excelled,” says Beckmann. “It’s not uncommon for us to find, to use an analogy, a ‘diamond in the rough’. But in the main the people who gain the most from development programs for high-potential employees are the high-potential employees themselves.”

Which raises that old chestnut: is past performance a predictor of future performance? The trend in organisations today tends to be to take a bet each way; to continue to identify and develop HIPOs while simultaneously searching for the unexpected. “I think it’s a dangerous thing to limit yourself only to those people who have performed well in the past,” says Beckmann. “What you should also look for is consistencies and inconsistencies in performance over time. It’s important to find a balance.”

• Get a career head start: Employers look favourably upon interviewees who can demonstrate an understanding of current, real-world issues. You only need to spend a few minutes every fortnight reading the Knowledge@Australian School of Business bulletin and you will ingest information about important global issues. By the time you sit your first career interview you will have a wealth of relevant knowledge that will give you the edge over your peers.

• Fortnightly bulletins: You will receive the latest business knowledge and research delivered straight to your inbox.

• Access to the archive: You will receive access to the back catalogue of articles, interviews, podcasts and videos.

Student Benefits of Knowledge@Australian School of Business


• Networking opportunities: You will be able to tap into the large network and engage in discussions with a great number of business minds globally.

• Information to help shape your career choices: Discover new career opportunities.

• Networking opportunities: You will be able to tap into the large network and engage in discussions with a great number of business minds globally.

• Gain insight into topical and important issues: Knowledge@Australian School of Business is a source of easy to read, enjoyable and topical information. Knowledge provides you with digestible information on the issues that matter (issues that aren’t covered in your textbooks).

Membership is a 100% free!Don’t miss out on this opportunity, subscribe now for FREE at http://knowledge.asb.unsw.edu.au/signup.cfm

Learning and Development

How to discover diamonds in the roughIntelligence is not always a pre-requisite for success in the business world. Problem-solving is an important skill, as well as mental flexibility, the ability to adapt to change and to break out of routine ways of thinking. Jens Beckmann of the Accelerated Learning Laboratory (ALL) at the Australian School of Business heads a program that’s helping employees from leading Australian corporations to meet those challenges. In an interview with Knowledge@Australian School of Business, he says a one-size-fits-all approach to training and development, oddly enough, won’t suit everyone.

An edited transcript of the interview follows.

Knowledge@Australian School of Business: Jens, what is the most common attribute of a high potential employee?

Jens Beckmann: That’s not easy to answer because often what is discussed is the notion of talent – whether someone has talent to accelerate or to develop – and the problem is that notion often comes with the connotation that it’s an innate trait or skill, either you have or you don’t. I would rather focus on potential. We could probably keep up the optimism that there is much more potential out there than we actually utilise. That puts the ball back in the employer’s court, making it his or her responsibility to identify this potential. This is what we are trying to help to facilitate. We’re helping industries to get a better perspective on the identification of potential so that they can use it in a much more efficient way.

Thisarticlewasorignallypublishedonthe18thifApril2010,at:http://knowledge.asb.unsw.edu.au/article.cfm?articleid=1114

Knowledge@Australian School of Business: How do you accelerate leadership capabilities?

Jens Beckmann: There are two main ways to identify potential or to accelerate development. One way is to look for high potentials within your company’s criteria – it’s often called the competency framework. You select people and send them to a development program. Those high potentials, or already highly skilled people, wouldn’t be expected to accelerate at a very high speed – you tend to make more of what’s already there.

The other way is to focus on ‘the diamonds in the rough’. You should not only focus on your selection criteria [for high potential employees when choosing people for development], because they might just be inappropriate. Some employees may not excel because the learning environment provided does not suit them. But, if you send those employees to a training program that tries different approaches and


methodologies of learning, you might be surprised by the outcome.

What we are doing at the Accelerated Learning Laboratory is a compromise between both. Firstly, we are not involved in the selection process of the employees who are sent to us, and this is intentional. We want to try to establish the notion of a learning environment, and if the first contact with them is through a selection procedure this would send mixed messages. So we leave the decision about who to send to us to our industry partners. Then the wide variety of learning methodologies and approaches we employ can help to further accelerate these talented individuals – and to unleash potential that has not been identified before.

[The ALL] is not just about providing a learning and development training program, mostly importantly, it is a research program. We conduct research as we go, and constantly refine and validate our approach so that we learn from our participants. On the way, we find out what actually works with whom. This puts the focus on individual differences in learning, and means we can avoid a one-size-fits-all approach. What’s good about it is that we have a lot of small groups of highly motivated people, so that we can actually afford to do that.

Knowledge@Australian School of Business: From your years of research into the study and assessment of intellectual abilities, how crucial is intelligence to business success?

Jens Beckmann: It’s necessary, but not a sufficient pre-condition. You need a certain level of information processing capacity, which may sound a little bit technical but it probably avoids the connotation that comes often with IQ (intelligence quotient). You have to have a certain level of capacity to process information because the challenges in the workplace, such as decision-making and problem-solving, involve information processing.

What’s more crucial though is how this capacity is used. When it comes to the development of your employees, there are three main ways: one is you have a certain proportion of formal teaching or training programs within companies; then there is often a mentoring program, and; there is learning by experience. I believe the focus on learning by experience is too strong, and the reason why it doesn’t work well comes back to the capacity for processing information. This is actually limited. We know this from lots of different research in this domain, and we have to find ways to overcome it. When we are exposed to situations in the workplace, often this is linked to the demand to solve a problem or to make a decision. All our cognitive resources might be absorbed by this task...

To read the rest of the interview

visit

Knowledge @

Australian School of Business

0110

-35

UK

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