Step #1- Introduction and Chapter 1

This first week for me has been a roller-coaster of emotions. When I first got my acceptance letter into CQUniversity, I was shocked, scared and so excited! Considering I had never finished high school and never knew what I wanted to be when I “grew up”, I honestly did not think I had a chance at being a distance ed student at 34. I was a young mum at 17, raised 3 of my siblings then to have another child at 30, finally get married and buy our second home.

My husband and I have worked our butts off trying to and get ahead in this thing we call “life”, doing the best we can while he has worked as a FIFO truck driver in the mines while I have been working retail in our local shopping centre for the past 13 years. We have done everything back to front when it comes to the expectations of how we “should grow up” and have both had colourful childhoods, so the struggle was real trying to find our way and also take time to reflect and appreciate all the beautiful things we have made for ourselves.

I have always been that person that likes to help others and put everyone else before myself so when I was approached by my now employer to join her team at Catalyst Accounting & Tax (she was impressed on how I presented my husband tax work two years prior), I was flattered and terrified! I had no experience with numbers! Sure, I can talk my way out of anything but to sit and stare at numbers all day made we want to vomit. BUT I so like a challenge and figured out I actually LOVE my job! I love to be organised and have structure and I love numbers! I am a little OCD in the way I work, so I slipped into my role quite easily and thought “I think it’s time I started my career!” I finally figured out what I wanted to do and now I am on my way to achieving this goal.

So here I am! Putting myself first and struggling to know how and where to start. I have already learnt while I juggle a teenager, a 5-year-old going on 15, working fulltime and managing a household, I have had to cut back on a few social activities to make time. So, I was pleased to realise I had picked the best subject to start my studies! Its all about how to learn the right way and actually retain information by applying it to my life experiences and digging deeper into what I read, rather than just copying and pasting. I may be a little slow at submitting everything this week and I am nervous for people to read my work but I will do my absolute best and will continue to learn how to prioritise my work, family and studies so I can sleep a little more and enjoy myself!

My first initial thoughts on Peerwise was that I was a little nervous on whether my questions would be good enough or hard enough or will I even think of something to write! But after seeing
what a great tool for communication it was, I got onto the addicted bandwagon. I’m loving the questions, and some of them were questions I couldn’t answer, which then encouraged me to go
back and read something that I obviously hadn’t learnt the “right” way. I also was relieved that I wasn’t the only one, so that put my mind at ease. I think I put so much pressure on myself to succeed, thinking that my age was a barrier, but in reality, I am just as capable as anyone else and knowing that there is help there and having the ability to easily ask for it is comforting.

I have to admit, I read the introduction three times! This set off my alarm bells. The fact that I am reaching the end of the week and still have so much to do put me in the “people who do not do well” category, so this is definitely somewhere I need to work on. My time management. While I say that, I can then relate to the quote by Richard Branson, “You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing and falling over.” This quote was meant for me! I then go on to read about learning and Martin said, “things that we have ‘apparently’ learnt are quickly lost”, due to a habit I and many of us are guilty of – Rote Learning.

What do you think learning is?

When I first answered this question before reading the introduction and chapter 1, my answer was number one of the six ways we can think learning is. In my work and life experience, I have been ‘imitation learning’. My thoughts were that the quicker you read and implement, the quicker the job gets done, so I have always been a note writer. I literally have sticky notes all around my work desk at work, and after reading this chapter I realise I have formed this habit, so I don’t have to learn properly. I thought that I was saving myself time, but in reality, I have been making things more difficult. If I had just taken the time to learn the right way in the first place, I would never have to stop, find the right note and so on. I can already see myself implementing change in the way that I learn from now on, not only for my benefit in my work life but also to teach my children and to use in my personal life.

What is accounting?

I know that I still have a lot to learn and I am excited to learn more about how I can answer this question, but my thoughts on accounting after reading the chapter are that it’s not just about the numbers. To me accounting is about the business, communication, understanding how the business works and the fundamentals. In my current job, we are majority cloud-based accountants, so I am getting quite familiar with using Xero and Hubdoc as the main software and applications we use. I am still amazed at how far we have come with technology. The fact that we have clients that are on the road all the time in their jobs that can take photos of receipts and bills, which then get uploaded into an app that I have access to at work to re code to the accounts that they belong to. I can ensure the business and personal expenses are separated and also reconcile against their bank feed which uploads automatically in the software. It is so rewarding for me to know that my job helps these hard-working clients, that are away from their families, find more time now in their days to make plans, go on holidays and enjoy their lives. All because we can use technology. Wherever we are and whenever we get a spare moment.

I am happy to be already learning about the five elements of accounting. In my role, because I am still relatively new, I can already see the benefits of knowing what these elements are. Also knowing the difference between small businesses, partnerships, companies and trusts, can only help me to understand more at work and maybe stop me from annoying my boss Jane all the time with my questions. (just kidding! A silly question is a question you don’t ask!)

I thought that after all the years that have passed since I finished school, I had lost the excitement of learning, and I am pleased to say that even after a week of stress and worry (and maybe one dummy spit), I am so excited to be on this journey. Bring on the new week!

Step #2 – Moodle Profile and Blog

Step #3 – My Company

Australian Vintage Limited

To be honest I was a little reluctant to open up the ‘My Company’ tab last Friday afternoon, considering most of the blogs I had read had stated how disappointed they were to get a company from overseas. When I finally clicked the link and scrolled down the page to find my name, I was relieved to know that I had an Australian company! (Not that it really matters, as the more I looked around I realised the only difference is really just the currency.) I was even more excited to see that my company was ‘Australian Vintage Limited’ (AVL). Now, I’m not a big wine drinker, (a $5.00 bottle of ‘Gossips, Moscato’ and I’m happy), but most of my friends are, so I do know a little bit about nice wine. I started to flick through the AVL website and was quite impressed. So here is a little bit of background.

In 1992, the company’s name was originally ‘McGuigan Wines’ and was established by Brian McGuigan and his family. Between 1994 and 1999, Simeons Wine Limited was founded, ‘Tempus Two’ brand was launched and ‘Yaldara Barossa Valley’ was acquired. (I actually recognised this brand! McGuigan Wines then went on to merge with Simeons Wine in 2002, making them the 4^th largest wine group in Australia. Between 2003 and 2007, ‘Miranda Wines’ and ‘Nepenthe Wines’ were acquired, (Miranda Wines also created ‘Passion Pop’ in 1977-1978 and sold its rights to AVL when they were acquired), and shareholders voted to change the name to Australian Vintage Limited in 2008.

Below are some impressive awards they have won.

I did the good old fashioned ‘google search’ and found a really interesting video called “Vine to glass” and surprisingly realised I knew very little about the production of wine.

I had been going through the annual reports for the business and successfully found the financials that I needed to start my spreadsheet. I was feeling quietly confident about this task as I have been working with spreadsheets at work a little, but I never really knew or understood what I was actually doing so this part was exciting! And then I started! Holy Moly! How wrong was I to think I had this part in the bag! Basically, everything I thought I knew was wrong, all of the different names for the financial statements threw me off, and then I had to just knuckle down and get back to basics. I had to start from scratch. I surprised myself as to how little I knew about how businesses worked in general and it worried me that there wasn’t a lot that I did understand.

I really don’t know why things have been made to be so difficult! 

Why do we have so many different names for balance sheets, income statements and changes in equity? Wouldn’t it just be easier to all just be the same? I’m sure I will understand the different terms as I continue on. Slowly, as I was putting in the numbers and adding things up, I started to notice things piece together. I noticed I was using the accounting equations that I had just learnt about! I had actually learnt something the right way!

I felt then I was back on track. I agree with Maria Tyler from her video, that inputting every line individually helped me understand more about what I was entering. Just by having to double check spelling and the equations, I was picking up on what things were, easier. I am so used to just copying and pasting in my job it has made me lazy. I think this has a lot to do with why I don’t understand what I am doing a lot of the time. I have noticed I have been asking a lot more questions now at work and wanting to know more about what I am entering.

I feel i was a lucky one that had between 88 – 92 pages of financial Statements to go through. As I have been reading through other students’ financials, I noticed some of theirs were 200 pages plus! I still had difficulty finding the information I needed, until I found a handy little line at the bottom of the pages that referred me to notes! This made things a little easier, especially when I got stuck doing my 2016-2017 financials entering. I noticed things weren’t adding up and thought I was going a little crazy from my hectic week! (I had 2 sick kids for a week plus work, so not much sleep happening, then I ended up in hospital with a gall bladder attack.) So, after I watched Maria’s Company Statement video, (again), I realised I had missed the part where she said some companies have “adjustments for restated financials”.

My understanding is that a restated financial is when something has had to be changed and documented. From what I can see, it is documented in the next financial year, which could cause impact on the next year’s profits and losses. This could be due to an accounting error, a misinterpretation or even a policy change. I do believe we will be working on this more in our next assignment, but I thought I would have a look and see if I could figure this one out on my own. I eventually found the adjustments in a note. (shown below).

I still don’t comprehend it completely, but my understanding is that there was a change in accounting policies where the grape vines, (bearer plants), have been reclassified from ‘agricultural assets’ to ‘property, plant and equipment’. So, they are simply treated as a similar item to machinery and these were accounted for under the AASB as they are solely used to grow the produce. This means they are measured at fair value less costs to sell. This led me to understand that if it is classed as machinery, it then would have a depreciation, (a reduction in the value of an asset over time, due in particular to wear and tear), thus having an impact on its tax. Please correct me if I am wrong or if I am way off track!

I noticed that Australian Vintage Limited (AVL), had a massive loss in 2016 due to the ‘Brexit Impact’. (British Exit Impact). Bulk wine sales were down 77% ($6.8 million) due to the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, resulting in the British Pound to fall to its lowest dollar value in 30 years. On the other hand, cash flow from operating activities improved by $4.4 million. By 2017, cash flow improved by $7.5 million to $14.0 million, so AVL is definitely on the climb in its success. One thing I really like about my company is that it is energy efficient. It plans to install 1,640Kw solar panels at its Buronga Hill Winery, a 300Kw solar panel system at its Merbein packing facility and it is planning to develop a new vineyard across from the Buronga Hill Winery that will use all of the waste water from the winery. It is great to see that non-alcohol and reduced alcoholic wine is becoming a trend. Australian Vintage Limited has taken this concept on board and is proving it to be quite popular. In 2013 it installed a ‘spinning cone column’, which gives them an advantage over other wine producers as they have the only one in Australia that produces low alcoholic wine. The column allows the alcohol to be reduced at 42 degrees, rather than the standard 60 degrees, allowing the alcohol to be reduced ‘slower’ and ‘gentler’ allowing it to retain its flavour. I thought this was pretty cool.I have found doing this part of the assessment a bit difficult. I am still trying to understand all the numbers, but as I read other people’s drafts and interpretations, I get a better understanding every day. My next goal is to ask for more help. I am finding it easy to write down my thoughts but stepping out of my comfort zone and asking those ‘silly’ questions is proving to be more difficult than I thought.

References

https://www.mcguiganwines.com.au/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Vintage https://www.australianvintage.com.au/our-company/historyhttps://www.conetech.com/pages/process_SCCprocess.html
https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+depreciation&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBAU809AU809&oq=what+is+depreciation&aqs=chrome.0.0l6.5152j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Step #4 – Financial Statements

Please click on the link below to see my Company Statement: https://becatuni.home.blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/australian-vintage-limited-company-spreadsheet.xls

Step #5 – Chapters 2 & 3

Chapter 2

Reading chapters was essentially the last thing on my list of to do’s when I approached this assessment. Mainly because when I opened the study guide for the first time, all the words overwhelmed me, and I swear I read the same sentence at least 3 times before I understood it. Now that I am a little bit more comfortable, I have come to realise I should have been doing this part first! All of the information I have been reading has been helpful in how I have read my companies financial reports and changed the way I look at the company as a whole. My journey so far has been exciting as not only am I learning but I am beginning to put the pieces of the puzzle together in relation to my employment and understanding the companies that we work for.

One thing that stood out to me in the beginning of this chapter was that the rules are similar throughout NZ UK, Canada and Europe but again is baffles me as to why the rules cannot just be the same everywhere? I hope to understand this a lot more, and maybe bit more extensive research is on the cards.

I see that there are two aspects of accounting – Financial Accounting and Management Accounting. Financial provides its accounts to people outside the firm and Management provides to inside the firm. I understand that this information is usually the same, but it is presented a bit differently. I had a giggle to read the words ‘illusion of numbers’ or to ‘shuffle numbers around to conform with the accounting standard requirements. I see this quite often at work, things get changed and moved around constantly, whether it be to prepare reports for a business that is applying for a loan of some sort or to re-mortgage a home loan. It has never crossed my mind to ever request information on our financials from my employer. I would feel like I was being intrusive and disrespectful, so I was interested to read that as an office manager I actually have the right to do so. Not that I ever would, Jane (my employer) has basically said once I am qualified, she wants me to become a director of the business along with another accountant that works with us, so she basically shares everything with me as it is.

GAAP – “Generally accepted accounting principles”

I understand this to be rules that accountants need to follow when they are preparing financial statements. Sure, that sounds pretty simple? Nope! These are just rules that apply to financials that are being presented to people outside the firm. (External Financial Reporting) Ok, so not only can these rules be different from country to country, but they change all the time! How confusing!!

AASB – These are our accounting standards in Australia, which coincide with IFRS – which in turn create legally binding accounting standards. Have I got that right? ASIC are responsible for enforcement on companies that don’t abide by these rules and ASX are the ones to expect companies to produce financial statements that comply with these standards. What a mouthful. This was the part that I read over and over to try and understand ha-ha. Then to add more confusion to me I read on and it states that some companies have to provide Financial Statements, and some don’t!

So, at this point I am completely confused and lost, and I possibly am still confused. I am hoping things will just continue to become clearer as I read on. Only companies that issue general purpose financial statements need to comply with the standards. I am still figuring out how to determine what companies have to do this as I read that it is a matter of judgement whether a firm is a reporting entity or not. I think I will come back to this question later.

To understand the game, I believe that you have to understand the framework that is set out by the AASB and IASB. This is in place to help guide accountants to understand how to prepare financial statements. As there obviously cannot be a rule for everything, we have to rely on our judgements and because the standards are always changing, we have to rely on assumptions and principles. A Going Concern Assumption is the assumption that a business will not cease to continue its activities in the future. A business would have to make judgements on when to input or include expenses, how and when to apply the standards and concepts and what assumptions to make.

A Quality of Information is what the customer or client may get out of the statements. It has to be ‘information that is used to them and gives them value’. (‘Peter Drucker’) The Financial reports should include relevance, a piece of information that helps me make decisions and the information that people care about, so that they can do something with that information. Faithful representation is information that they can depend on. The truth, not just what companies want you to hear. (To help connect the economic and business realities).

What is accrual accounting?

My understanding of accrual accounting is when an expense has been recorded, regardless of whether money had been exchanged there and then. It gives a firm the opportunity to create reports periodically to see what is going on within the business and give us the ability to assess performance as we need it, or when it has been requested. Our family electrician would be practicing this type of accounting as he is always on time to do any work we require at home, but we rarely receive a bill straight away. In fact, I am usually chasing up an invoice months later! Does this mean it would be more of an advantage to the firm, as it may foresee any issues before they may arise?

After reading the passage about Ansett going into liquidation after the September 11 attacks, I honestly never put any thought into why! We have a business at work that has recently gone into liquidation. They were a caravan sales business, and the company that provided the parts for the caravans also provided the insurance and they had gone bankrupt. So, I watched and listened to phone calls back and forth in the office, not knowing what was really going on, and now come to realise that they were trying to quickly sell some of the caravans at a ridiculous price and get their affairs into place before they were taken over. I am still learning a lot at work but as I continue to read and learn and listen in this module, a lot of information is starting to make more sense. Which is great! That is why I am here!

Comparability – ‘the sense of changes in a firm’s financial statements. This would be why we have notes in a financial report? As Financial Statements change so much over time, these changes would in turn reduce the comparability. Information on a financial statement/report has to have Verifiability. (I swear this wasn’t a word. I even googled it! *facepalm!) This gives us the confidence to use the information provided in the report. Timeliness and Understandability – It was quite obvious to me that the timeliness has to be relevant, as information from years ago would change so much over time that its basically useless. In saying that, it’s necessary to have, for if its regarding property or an asset in increases in its value, it may be requested. And understandability is basically in its name. To ensure the information produced is actually useful and understandable.

Chapter 3 – Introducing Financial Statements

In all honesty, this chapter was by far the most confusing read yet. I think I understood the first half but once I got to trying to understand dividends and ratios, I think my brain shut down and packed its bags and left! I think things will become clearer to me once I begin to apply them as I continue through this module. This is what I have managed to understand so far.

It was noted that there were four general purpose financial statements that businesses are required to provide. (Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Statement of equity and Statement of cash flow) I am curious to know why we didn’t provide the statement of cashflow in our financial statements? I’m guessing this will be done as we move along. I am still confused as to why there are so many different names for different items in our financial statements? This is something that frustrates me at work. I see so many financials pass my desk and I’ve always wondered why some look different to theirs. My boss, Jane, has made a conscious effort to try and keep everything relatively similar in her financial statements to avoid confusion and in my honest opinion, this saves us so much time as we aren’t searching for what they all mean, and we are not bothering anyone with our questions. I have been working for Catalyst Accounting and Tax for just under a year now and I am only now just starting to recognise the similarities and remembering what goes where. I really hope to continue to gain a better understanding throughout this module to assist with this.

Basically, when I first looked at my companies’ annual reports, I did pick up that the first half of the report is all fancy, with its smiling directors and impressive numbers, but I have learnt over time that is all part in parcel of playing that game! I like how Martin related introducing financial statements to meeting new people. I agree completely with this. Its all about first impressions, looking presentable, and speaking politely to appeal to the other person/s. The footnotes in our statements to me are generally the baggage we carry, debts and struggles. The things you have to look for or get to know. The fine print.

One thing that was raised in my feedback rom another student was that I didn’t have a 2018 financial report. I am unsure as to why? I did have a half yearly report but couldn’t find any particular reason as to why I didn’t have a complete 2018 year.

I do understand that we may need to run reports at specific times that they may be requested (by banks or investors etc), but I am unsure as to why a lot of the companies have such different start or end dates for their financial statements?

As I was entering my financials, for my company, I did notice the three elements of accounting in the balance sheets. (assets, liabilities and equities) I realised then that I have actually been retaining some information as that led me to look for the other two elements. (Revenue and Expenses) I was quite impressed with myself. I found these in the income statements. I also noticed that there wasn’t a lot of information on the revenue and expenses, and I was a bit confused about that, but then I read that there is no actual requirement for these to be included n the statement. That was strange to me, as at work, we may not enter every single expense or income, but we do have a group of categories that we allocate these to. (fuel, travel, food, wages etc) As most of our clients are remote and rural, we encourage them to use an app called ‘Hubdoc’. This allows them to take a photo of any receipts they may have, (expenses) and these automatically upload to their account that we have access to. We can then code them into their pre-set categories which then syncs with our accounting software, Xero. It makes life so much easier, saving us time so we can then analyse the information we have and move things around as needed.

There were a few things that stood out to me in this chapter that once again confused me. I could not find any information in my annual report relating to ‘non-controlling interests’ or ‘minority interests.’ I did find some information about ‘subsidiaries’ in my annual report, but it is not clear to me where this was put in my financial statements? I did also note that It was called ‘Consolidates Statement of Comprehensive Income – Closed Group’. I am unsure what this means. (This is another moment my brain left me)

For me to understand what I was entering into my Financial Statement, I did use the Fundamental Accounting Equation. This helped me so much! The five elements all stood out to me, and I can honestly say I have a much better understanding of these after physically entering all of the details one by one.

Statement of Cash Flows. We didn’t have to enter these into our financial statements as yet and I assume this I yet to come, but I have a basic understanding that the cash flows statement records the incoming and outgoing cash that we have on hand. I read that the opening cash balance is actually the cash balance at the previous year and the closing balance is the latest report in the balance sheets. After I read it, it made sense to me, but I found it so interesting to read that as long as you have cash, not matter how big a loss you may have, you will not go broke and can keep trading. The reason this made sense is the obvious, you have to pay your employees, bills, suppliers etc.

To be honest, I really didn’t understand much more going forward in the chapter. The ratios and dividends had me puzzled. I didn’t understand how companies work out what percentage to pay shareholders? It sort of threw me off as I interpret most of this as a guessing game and clearly this is not the case. I will look into this a bit more, to try and understand it better. I will pick some brains tomorrow at work too. I did get the concept though that basically the higher the percentage you offer, the more appealing you are to shareholders, in turn creates more shareholders and more money to pay the higher rate. (It makes sense to me, that’s all that matters, right?)

Well, it looks like I have a bit of research to do, to try and wrap my head around this one. I am definitely reading the next chapter first before I do anything else, as if I had done this from the beginning, I may have found things a little easier. But its all about learning and I am certainly doing that!

Step #6 – Feedback & Top 3 Blogs!

Studiosity

What a great service! We are pretty lucky to have this available to us, I have spoken to a couple of my friends that are studying at different Universities and they don’t have access to anything like Studiosity, so I had fun rubbing it in. ha-ha.

I didn’t really have my hopes up too much though, as I didn’t submit a lot of my work until the last few days before assessments were due, but the feedback I got was great! I really didn’t expect such a fast turnaround, considering I am sure a lot of students were waiting on feedback. I have taken it all on positively and implemented a few changes. The main feedback I focused on that helped a lot were really simple things, like forgetting where to place commas, brackets and spacing etc. I did have a lot of feedback on how professional my wording should be. I did expect this as I find it hard to write my thoughts in a professional way. I am who I am, I live in the country and have a truckie as a husband, so I will continue to struggle with that part, but I chose to leave this part as it was, as I believe we are expected for it to be relatable and in our own words. I will definitely take advantage of this service throughout my assessments. 

 

My Top 3 Blogs!

Firstly, I have to say how fantastic it is to have feedback as a part of this assessment process. It has really helped me take a step back and refocus on what’s at task and to connect with other students, making this a more relatable experience. It’s so comforting to know and feel like we are all one big family, all in this together, helping each other achieve our goals and be successful. This is not at all what I was expecting when I signed up for University, if anything I was scared I would be that ‘lone ranger’ that Martin spoke of, too scared to ask silly questions and isolate myself to my own thoughts and just ‘wing it’ in areas I didn’t understand. I can confidently say this is not the case and that I have finally relaxed and let go of the pressure I place of myself. So, thanks to everyone that didn’t make the top 3! Each and every comment and bit of feedback has been taken on board and has helped me.

Blog 1 – Paul Feasey – https://beingheldtoaccount.home.blog/

Paul seems to be popular in the top 3 favourite blogs I have seen, and for good reason. I met Paul along with group other awesome people in the PASS sessions with Danielle, (whom is also awesome!) and Paul has been such a great help, not only to myself, but to many other students, offering guidance and assistance to anyone that may ask. I find him knowledgeable, easy to approach and ask questions (asking for help is one of my weaknesses), and he explains things in the easiest ways to understand. He shows great leadership skills, life experience, patience and a genuine interest in helping others succeed. His blog is well set out, easy to navigate and also has a lot of personality in it, which makes it an easy read. Thanks Paul!

Blog 2 – Sonia Elizabeth Gomez Lopez – https://cafecocolo.wordpress.com/

Elizabeth has been a godsend to me! Her ability to find everything that is set out for our assessments and break them down into check points for people like me to understand is amazing. I was so confused, lost and overwhelmed by all the different tasks, that I was forgetting bits and pieces and Sonia managed to lay it out simply for me and I appreciate that so much. It also made me feel relieved as I found I wasn’t the only one struggling to remember all of the steps, so I know she has helped many students. Great job Sonia! Her blog is so inviting, friendly, laid out nicely and also so easy to navigate around, and her kind bubbly appearance online is appealing and refreshing. I read Martins post on the Facebook group that he may add this checklist into the assessment too which is fantastic!

Blog 3 – Melissa Sergiacomi – https://melsergiacomi.home.blog/

‘Mel’s Blog‘ has been one of my ‘go to’ pages when i need reassurance that i am on track. I love the layout of her blogs, the inviting colours and the fact that i can relate to her on a personal level is comforting to me. I also met Mel in my first PASS session with Danielle. I find it easier to communicate with people you can put a face to. Especially when they are friendly and happy to help wherever they can. I like all her little encouraging quotes and pictures too. Thanks Mel!

Feedback

I managed to provide some feedback for Travis Caruana, Mel Sergiacomi and Amelia horrocks. I thought I would find this one of the quick parts of the assessment but actually was so intrigued by the depth and effort that had gone into their assessments, it actually took me the longest. I found it also helped me with my drafts also, seeing the different way we all interpret our learning fascinates me and helps to point out lots of little things I may have missed. It’s also nice to receive feedback too, when I have a deadline, I tend to not have the ability to take a step back and analyse my work the way someone else could. So, this I found was and is a very effective process and I enjoyed it all thoroughly. I received feedback back from Melissa, Travis and Kellie McDonaugh. I realised afterwards, that i forgot to hit publish on my assessment and Mel only got part of my assessment, but all of the feedback i received was honest, relevant and so helpful. Travis had asked why i never included the 2018 Financial Statements, this was because i only had access to half yearly reports and we were asked to submit only the annual reports. I too thought it was strange that the 2018 Annual Reports weren’t available yet. The most common feedback i have received so far is to work more on my KCQ’s. So, I think I have done this. Still not greatly confident in this area, but I am sure it will improve with time.

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My feedback given

Feedback received