SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

STUDENT DETAILS

Student name: Nguyen Nhat Tu My Student ID number: 20449722

UNIT AND TUTORIAL DETAILS

Unit name: Economics and Finance Engagement Project Unit number: ECON3007
Saturday, 3:30 – 6:45
Tutorial group: Group 3 Tutorial day and time: PM
Lecturer or Tutor name: Dr. Doan Anh Tuan

ASSIGNMENT DETAILS

Title: Assessment 3: Reflective learning journal

Length: 2268 words Due date: April 9, 2022 Date submitted: April 9, 2022
Home campus (where you are enrolled): University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City

DECLARATION

I hold a copy of this assignment if the original is lost or damaged.

I hereby certify that no part of this assignment or product has been copied from any other student’s work or from
any other source except where due acknowledgement is made in the assignment.
I hereby certify that no part of this assignment or product has been submitted by me in another (previous or
current) assessment, except where appropriately referenced, and with prior permission from the Lecturer /
Tutor / Unit Coordinator for this unit.
No part of the assignment/product has been written/produced for me by any other person except where
collaboration has been authorised by the Lecturer / Tutor /Unit Coordinator concerned.
I am aware that this work will be reproduced and submitted to plagiarism detection software programs for the
purpose of detecting possible plagiarism (which may retain a copy on its database for future plagiarism
checking).

Student’s signature: Nguyen Nhat Tu My

Note: An examiner or lecturer / tutor has the right to not mark this assignment if the above declaration has not been
signed.

ARO 00380 08/15

20449722_Relective Learning Journal Page | 1

Introduction

My 3-year journey as a Western Sydney University student majoring in Applied

Finance is nearing completion with 24 challenging yet heuristic work-integrated courses.
These courses embrace multifaceted fields of business not only in terms of critical theories
but also incorporating constructive activities and practical applications. Most importantly, the
unit Economics and Finance Engagement Project (EFEP) synthesizes the assembled
knowledge to solve practical problems I would be confronted in the future, representing the
most accurate portrayal of working as a real-life finance professional. My last semester began
with a lot of struggles due to my unclear career path, yet is ending with positive changes,
especially in my self-efficacy and determination of what I would love to pursue in the future,
mostly thanks to this course.

Learning form Service

As much an art as a science, the general term “financial modelling” represents the
single most crucial and comprehensive skill-set that any aspiring finance professional must
acquire (Samonas, 2015). The aftermath of recent financial and global crises has amplified
the emphasis upon experienced Financial Modelling experts to sheer organizations towards
being more initiative-taking instead of reactive. By incorporating Economics and Finance
Engagement Project into the curriculum, we as students have practical encounters with real-
life problems, especially in this time of peak uncertainty, and can leverage our current skills
into the project as well as gain new knowledge in conducting complete financial forecasting,
analysis, and modelling. Financial modelling requires intensive decision-making and
forecasting skills (Samonas, 2015), along with a broad spectrum of finance fields’ disciplines,
such as an understanding of GAAP, which must be gained through prior courses. I could not
have completed this course without the thorough guidance provided by Dr. Tuan Doan, the
informative resources and recommendations by Ms. Nhung Nguyen, and finally my excellent
teammates.
We were first presented with a Glass & Aluminium Joint-Stock Company’s case
study, by Ms. Nhung Nguyen, in which it has been suffering from financial issues, thus
requiring a financial re-modelling. She clearly defined the concept of financial modelling – “a
tool used to forecast financial performance based on historical data” and why it is important,
which helps simplify a complicated process for our better understanding. I also learned that
Vietnamese companies, especially SMEs, mostly do not have the correct method for financial

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forecasting and budgeting, leading to weak strategies and poor performances. For instance,
they do not know why they still can sell their products, yet the profit margins do not meet the
expectation. Next, she introduced us to the company in an industry I had never researched
before – designing, fabrications, and installations of architectural aluminium and glass
products, as well as the project scope of work in three stages and different requirements for
each team provided by the company’s management.
Although the first 2 to 3 weeks’ tasks did not involve intensive work, I barely had any
clue about what the overall process would include since every step was done separately on a
weekly basis. Nonetheless, because I was in charge of writing the preliminary results for our
proposal, which was due in week 4, I had to conduct research and revision as well as consult
with Dr. Tuan Doan to get a better understanding of what needed to be done to come up with
a logical solution to the company's problem and what outcome to expect. This task has laid
out a good general structure, making the workflow more transparent and fluid, which I should
be expecting for the upcoming undertakings. Moreover, during this time, we also conduct
research and data gathering for our proposed model, which required good research skills
gained in prior courses since everything collected information can be potential evidence on
which we base our forecasting (explained below) and a bargaining chip we can leverage into
our model’s reasoning when proposing to the managers. This is further collaborated in
learning about the critical thinking part.
The first stage was started with a double-approach Profit and Loss (P&L) statement
projection using the data provided by the company in week 2. I have already been aware of
the terms “Bottom-up” and “Top-down” approaches previously yet only after this project did
I understand the pros and cons of each method and how they complement each other to help
create a comprehensive P&L. Although the bottom-up approach can help reach a conclusion
much faster than the other one as it has its basis in facts, driving change with this method is
nearly impossible (Eremenko, K, 2020). Companies run not only on data but also on people
and relationships. Therefore, the top-down approach acts as a perfect complement to reach
reliable conclusions since it takes into consideration of stakeholder buy-in. This is evidently
seen in the project, in which by crunching only on the provided data, the overall financial
performance under the bottom-up method did not meet the manager’s target, thus requiring
further assumptions and adjustments under the top-down method that involve a lot of
consultant’s input and industry research. For example, sales are often prioritized to be
adjusted since it directly affects revenue, and consequently, EAT, by either increasing sales
volume or the selling prices yet given GAC’s business nature, in which it is centered on pre-

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determined contract terms with its clients, those components cannot be altered. I found this
part second most difficult since it must be done with meticulosity and logical reasonings so
that we could reach utmost reasonableness and avoid unnecessary technical mistakes.
Having the P&L statement projected, we moved on to the second stage, which
required the projection of 2 other financial statements – the Balance Sheet and the Cash Flow
statement. This stage necessitates a thorough understanding of financial statements and their
relationships. At first, I found this task quite easy since I had a good accounting base.
However, in week 5, I realized that I only knew the mathematical aspects of accounting but
did not understand the meaning behind those formulas and principles. For example, Dr. Tuan
Doan asked why increasing depreciation is considered to be cash inflows in the cash flow
statement despite being an expense, to which I had no answers in mind. To answer the
question, we must understand why assets are depreciated, which is to recover capital and
reinvest. Then, periodically depreciation expense is included in the product’s value for sales
and capital recovery. This truly equipped me with a deeper understanding of accounting
principles for further financial analysis and modelling.
The final stage involved creating and designing a dashboard summary for the board of
directors. At first, I did not understand the purpose of this stage and believed we could
directly adjust the financial statements for time savings. Later I found out that it came with
convenience for the executives to easily monitor and adjust key factors affecting the overall
cash flows, especially because they might not have time for minor detail reviews.
Throughout the project, each phase had a significant impact on another and involves a
lot of Excel work, so it requires a lot of attention to detail and accuracy. Since this requires
working with a large amount of data and complex formulas, I had to practice and carry out
each action with utmost diligence to make sure that there is barely room for mistakes, which
can lead to severe losses. Before delivering our final report on week 12, we spent the last
several weeks polishing our work and presenting it to everyone, notably Ms. Nhung Nguyen
– the consultant. This is where I honed my Microsoft office skills in terms of arranging and
revising our written report so that it appears professional and appealing and presenting skills
in front of professionals.

Learning about Learning

Thanks to my “The Complete Financial Analyst Course” on Udemy I took before

EFEP, I find it easy and comfortable working with Microsoft Excel. This course lays out the
detailed and easy-to-follow tutorials while the project serves as a perfect firsthand

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application, in which I can format spreadsheets in a professional way, carry out tasks with a
minimum amount of time, and build financial statements from scratch without much
difficulty, for instance. I am confident with mathematics and Excel skills and have assisted
my teammates when necessary. However, since this course reflects my knowledge in
previous courses, I realized that I still have knowledge gaps and have not been able to
synthesize everything I learned. Thanks to the thorough support of Dr. Tuan Doan, I was able
to close the gaps as well as incorporate what I have learned at university into real-life
problems.
Undoubtedly, teamwork often involves arguments and disagreements. Although we
barely had conflicts, intense moments still occurred. One of our members often missed the
group’s deadlines and lost track of the workflow. Since I was short-tempered and impulsively
scolded people when irritated, I almost overreacted and put pressure on him. Yet I still chose
to discuss with the leader first, and I was so impressed by and really did admire how she
managed this kind of situation. Instead of directly criticizing him, she tried to be gracious and
figure out why he was not punctual and still appreciated his work. However, she chose to
react differently when he repeatedly missed the deadlines, where she would apply serious
punishment, such as poor peer evaluation if he made the same mistake again. This will be a
particularly important and practical experience that I can learn from and apply in future
teamwork.
During the course, I also worked as a Finance Trainee for Central Retail and a
Stockbroker Trainee at Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation. Thanks to these
experiences, I found my future field of interest, which is investment consulting. One reason
attributing to this was I found accounting tasks and corporate finance’s back-end work boring
and unsuitable for me. I love freely showing and having my own ways to prosper instead of
following a standardized pattern of a corporation. Furthermore, I have a natural aptitude for
solving problems, especially using mathematics such as applying technical and quantitative
analysis in stock trading. Thanks to this period, I have a clearer picture of what I would want
to do in the future that is both fascinating and suitable for my abilities and interests.

Learning about Critical thinking

Critical thinking is the analysis of available facts, evidence, observations, and

arguments to form a judgment (Edward, M. G., 2017). In order to build the most logical
forecasting that works most closely to reality, we must incorporate and critically interpret
various types of facts and use data most effectively. Therefore, each of our assumptions was

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based on careful revision with selective rationale before finalizing any decision, which was
reflected clearly in phase 1 when conducting the top-down approach and phase 3 when
designing the dashboard. Furthermore, another example was when we learned through our
research into the industry, we realized that it had capital-intensive operations nature and
illiquid products, hence saving time when deciding which type of loans GAC needed. Finally,
in the era of industrial revolution 4.0, data is an incredibly powerful tool to help support
decision-making. However, the company GAC had problems with how to use the data
effectively. GAC’s forecasting failure is attributed by its shallow research and poor data
utilization, where its forecasting involved mostly intuitive and qualitative analysis. The
evidence was the heavy reliance on Excel and basic models. The company should explore
new tools as well as predictive models that are suitable for existing data (e.g., XGBoost
model). I not only learned about the nature of a new industry because of this project, but I
also learned to innovate myself by effectively utilizing data and evidence for a multi-faceted
view to be able to evaluate objectively a certain subject.

Learning from Diversity

Diversity has been proven to have a great impact on group performance, the outcomes
of which are highly improved by cultural diversity (Rock & Grant, 2016), task-related
diversity (Horwitz & Horwitz, 2007), and cognitive diversity (DiPillo, 2019). Regardless of
the same background of demography, there are differences in skills, perception, values, and
beliefs which particularly benefit the group’s overall performance. The difference, in fact, is
also a good learning environment where our self-reflections are enhanced a lot. Our group, in
this case, is a good example to strengthen the benefit of diversity. The leader possesses
excellent English skills that notably facilitate our written assignment and presentation. She
excels in running the team discussion efficiently, updating information, and supporting each
individual member. On the other hand, the other two specialize in information assembly
vastly supporting our assumptions and recommendations. They have a knack for designing
hence in charge of mostly the slide design and report formatting. Regarding my role in the
group, I see myself as a detailed-oriented and meticulous person, as well as possessing
outstanding technical skills, I am consequently entrusted to be in charge of calculating,
revising, and refining our Excel results. Working in such a competent group helps me learn
what I am lacking and enhance what I am good at.

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Concluding thoughts

Working on a project requires a lot of skills, work, and time, but the payoff is
incredible when you reach your accomplishments. Without my excellent teammates, my
instructor Dr. Tuan Doan, and the industry consultant Ms. Nhung Nguyen, this project could
not be conducted successfully. Every single individual not only helped me complete my
assignment, but they also taught me valuable lessons that helped me improve myself and find
out my dream professional path in investment consulting. The 12-week period helped me
develop both technical and soft skills to better prepare for my future job. This course truly
served as a work-integrated learning and doing experience, which is highly beneficial to me
as an undergraduate who is preparing to enter the workforce.

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Reference list

DiPillo, K. (2019). Diversity, cohesion, and groupthink in higher education group

characteristics and groupthink symptoms in student groups.

Edward, M. G. (1941). An Experiment in the Development of Critical Thinking. Retrieved

from https://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766

Eremenko, K. (2020). Confident data skills: How to work with data and futureproof your
career (2nd ed.). Kogan Page.

Horwitz, S., & Horwitz, I. (2007). The Effects of Team Diversity on Team Outcomes: A
Meta-Analytic Review of Team Demography. Journal of Management - J MANAGE,
33. doi:10.1177/0149206307308587

Rock, D., & Grant, H. (2016). Why diverse teams are smarter. Harvard Business Review,
4(4), 2-5.

Samonas, M. (2015). Financial forecasting, analysis, and modelling: a framework for long-
term forecasting: John Wiley & Sons.

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