ACCOUNTING SOCIETY MANCHESTER 2021/22 ANNUAL REPORT
We are more than just a society, Because we are Accounting Society Manchester
CONTENTS STRATEGY 09 11 12 14 Our Purpose Partner Appreciation Partner Remarks Your Committee 18 19 21 23 25 ASM x ACE Collaboration Committee Social Careers PQAwards 2022 YEAR IN PICTURES PERFORMANCE 29 31 Society wide Review Social Media Metrics IMPROVEMENTS 34 35 36 37 Organisational Marketing Eventing Careers NO.1 SOCIETY FOR ACCOUNTANCY 320 INDIVIDUAL OPPORTUNITIES 16 COMMITTEE MEMBERS PROSPECTS 01 05 Outgoing Committee Incoming Committee
"Every team member has demonstrated excellent resilience, leadership and agility to the dynamic 2021/22 was a year of challenge and uncertainty for the society Initiating COVID 19 recovery for the society, formulating new events and preparing opportunities both virtually and in person while retaining engagement gave ASM new goals to reach like never before. This was one of the most successful years for ASM. We streamlined accessibility through LinkTree, re launched our website, launched WhatsApp and restructured the team for better operations for the current and future years. As the year ends, so does my role as President for 2021/22 I would like to express my appreciation to AMBS for making events possible and allowing us to become the best of ourselves I would like to say a uge thank you to our team this year for your incredible ard work, engagement and support. Special thanks to Mingjia (SVP), Yihang (CVP), Hoi Kwan (Finance) and Rudi (Secretary) for all their support on the management committee After three years with ASM, s an emotional departure, but one where I have fond memories of the best team i've worked with so far wish our incoming 2022/23 committee all the very est for the upcoming academic year. I have strong onfidence that the society is in safe hands with new eadership and will continue to strive for ASM to iscover accounting beyond the numbers hank you for ac counting on us. Hoi Kit Cheung Outgoing President (2021/22)
PROSPECTS
OUTGOING COMMITTEE
This year our society has made great progress in getting things back to normal from the impact of the pandemic We held various on campus career and social events and achieved outstanding results. These achievements would not have been possible without our excellent committee members Therefore, I want to take this chance to express my appreciation to all our members Special thanks to our Social team members! A huge thank you to Lu Wei and Raja for successfully holding the Spring dinner, which attracted over 45 attendees!
Also, much thanks to Scarlett and Monica for making our final social event Trampoline possible Moreover, I would like to say thank you to Haowen and Sunny for helping out onsite in every event and making sure everything goes smoothly I would also like to express my huge thank to Hoi Kit
Mingjia took on her role as Vice President of Social in 2021 with pride. Her previous experience as a Social Executive led perfectly to her first team leader role at the Accounting Society Manchester In 2021/22 the Social Team has provided over 170 opportunities to individual students to achieve a work life balance, network and forming lifelong friendships Seeing Mingjia grow into a leader has been incredible! Her management, communication and leadership skills have flourished which I am incredibly proud of seeing an excellent achievement which will serve her well for the future Hoi Kit Cheung, President
"Always learn and grow with your team"
VICE PRESIDENTS 1 2 (President), Helen (VP of Career), Rudi (Secretary) and Hoi Kwan (Finance). The management committee is very supportive throughout the year I'm glad that through ASM, we all learned and grew together Finally, all the best to our new committee members and I believe they can take ASM to new heights. Thank you Mingjia (Rosie) Hu Outgoing Vice President - Social (2021/22)
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
PROSPECTS
"I’ll always remember every minute I spent with ASM, with my best friends, and with all the other cute people." This is my third year in the Accounting Society Manchester, and I really enjoyed the time spent with ASM This year has been excellent, and now it’s proud to say that we overcame all difficulties brought by COVID disruptions and showed our best WE DID IT! Our career team has done a very successful job this year, and everyone has made great contributions: A career speech was well organised with CIMA and Bright Future Society in 1st semester. A CV competition with CPA Australia was well organised by Lan Wei in 1st semester. A mock interview with Mazars was well organised by Mark in 2nd semester. A professional networking event with ACCA, CPA Austrilia, and ICAEW was well organised by Jique and Janita in 2nd semester. Yifan contributed a lot on contacting firms and organisations to seek for cooperation opportunities All of them showed strong communication, teamwork, organisation, and time management skills We couldn’t achieve this year ’ s success without any of them, so I really appreciate all the contributes my team made, and it’s my pleasure to work with these brilliant people Besides, I’d like to say thank you to our management team: Thanks Hoikit for supporting everyone all the time. Thanks Mingjia and her team for helping us prepare marketing materials and promote for career events. Thanks Rudi for helping us organising every event, and thanks Hoi Kwan for providing us with financial support Now I’m graduated from the University of Manchester and from the Accounting Society Manchester, but I’ll always remember every minute I spent with ASM, with my best friends, and with all the other cute people I believe our new team will definitely lead ASM to a new success, and I wish everyone all the best! :) Yihang (Helen) Men Outgoing Vice President - Careers (2021/22) 3
As a society, we are more than just an aggregation of accounting students
It's been a phenomenal year working with the 2021/22 committee While I may no longer be able to call you my colleagues, I leave with friends, memories, and lessons learned from each of you Thank you for sharing the wins and losses, the triumphs and the tribulations. It’s been a pleasure getting to know and working with you all at ASM Best of luck to you all. Congratulations to the incoming 2022/23 committee on attaining your new positions! Our team is like a family where each member’s strength is the team and the team’s strength is every individual member of it. Consistency and persistence are two main things that build a strong team And we ’ re lucky to have a team of greats, to be great! Believe in yourself, look out for your team members and give your best effort every day! Let’s thrive for the best outcome! Janita Altaf Incoming President (2022/23) INCOMING COMMITTEE
Mu-Mei (Monica) Chou Incoming Vice President - Careers (2022/23) 5 6
It has been an incredible experience to work under our President Hoi Kit and social vice president Rosie Being a social executive for 2021/22, I learned a lot from working under our president Hoi Kit and social vice president Rosie They provide sufficient support and advice to help us organise the events, and this is a message to express my gratitude to them ASM would not have been where it is today without the whole committee members, especially the management teams! They are incredible leaders with patience and kindness
It’s my honour to be the career vice president of ASM this year As we enter 2022 and add new people to our teams, I am excited for what is ahead of us Last year through various career events like MAZARS Experience, CV Competition and Networking Fair, ASM recognised that Manchester’s students are not only interested in future working opportunities in accountancy firms but also desire to achieve higher accounting qualifications like ACCA and ICAEW. We will try to manage more relevant events for 2022/23, especially inviting these associations to share information and some tips to pass the exams and gain better experiences We hope with our events, students can enhance their employability and have more insight into accounting.
As a society, we formulate life-long friendships and memories
STRATEGY
VISION To create a community first society for our members to build lifelong friendships, unforgettable memories and impactful experiences which enhance their university journey. To create impact beyond Manchester. As leaders in the making, commitment is to provide leadership development opportunities. To formulate a committee of resilience with aspiring transformational and creative leaders
OUR ACCOUNTING SOCIETY
Introduce a WeChat equivalent group chat for our UK, US and EU members Achieve an overall minimum average of 30 attendees per event Grow membership by +10% YoY in comparison to academic year 2020/21 Increase our event holdings by a minimum +5% YoY across all departments
OUR PURPOSE
This year, we strived to bring Accounting Society Manchester (ASM) back on the map for students with the return of in-person events and accelerating our portfolio of events to provide students with opportunities to enhance their employability and network with likeminded students. 9 MISSION To be the number one society destination for like minded students in accounting and finance related fields at the University of Manchester We aspire to develop our members' employability, provide a work life balance through socials and connect students with the professional services industry GOALS Retain our position as No 1 society for accounting and finance in Manchester Re introduce in person social events and careers workshops Launch LinkTree restructuring our links for ease of access for our members Maintain a positive growth (min 10%) on all social media platforms
As a society, we prepare you for an employable future
STRATEGY PARTNER APPRECIATION We would like to express appreciation to our partners who have supported us in providing opportunities to Manchester talents CPA AUSTRALIA Offical Partner ALLIANCE MBS Official Partner MAZARS Event Partner ICAEW Event Partner ACCA Event Partner CIMA Event Partner
PARTNER REMARKS
CPA Australia would like to take the opportunity to thank all the committee members of Accounting Society Manchester for their hard work and support It has been a pleasure collaborating with the society and helping to inform students about careers in accountancy The committee members have been so fantastic to work with and we have really enjoyed attending all the events put on by the society Thank you once again for a fantastic year and we look forward to continuing to support your members throughout their studies and beyond Moon Uddin Senior Business Development Manager CPA Australia
OUR ACCOUNTING SOCIETY Huge congratulations to ASM for your PQ award this year. You should be so proud of yourselves It is wonderful to get this outside recognition of the important role you have in cultivating meaningful connections between students as well as increasing student confidence in themselves to prepare for the world of professional accounting Over the last year you have worked tirelessly to help students make friendships which will last a lifetime and connections to employers which will be the start of brilliant careers Take a moment to look back on all you have achieved and the difference you ’ ve made.
11
Jennifer Rose Senior Lecturer and Program Director of BSc Accounting Alliance Manchester Business School 12
As a society, we create networks for future collaborations
"Our management committee has seen immense development over the academic year It's been an honour to see the leadership of both Mingjia and Yihang flourish within their teams and pioneering our events Its been a proud moment to witness our society's growth, the leadership of our VPs and more Without a doubt, each member will thrive as successful leaders in the future Kit Cheung, President
" Hoi
1 HOI KIT CHEUNG President Management YOUR COMMITTEE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE 4 RUDI ZHU Secretary Management 2 MINGJIA HU Vice President Social 3 YIHANG MEN Vice President Careers 5 HOI KWAN CHEUNG Finance Officer Management 1 2 3 4 5 14
YOUR COMMITTEE CAREERS 1 YIFAN GAO Executive Careers 4 JANITA ALTAF Executive Careers 2 JIQUE YANG Executive Careers 3 MARK STEVENSON Executive Careers 5 LAN WEI Executive Careers DEPARTMENT "I have been extremely proud with the efforts of our careers team, especially in Semester Two You've demonstrated superb professionalism and pioneered the employability development aspect of ASM from your own creative ideas Thank you for all your efforts and commitment " Hoi Kit Cheung, President 1 2 3 4 5
15 16 YOUR COMMITTEE SOCIAL * *team separated to 'Marketing and Events' as of May 2022 **resigned as of 28 April 2022 1 SIQIANG LI Executive Social 4 HAOWEN FU Executive Social 2 RUNJIA CHEN** Executive Social 3 MU-MEI CHOU Executive Social 5 SUNYOUNG LEE Executive Social 6 LU WEI TAN Executive Social DEPARTMENT "For the first time in ASM history, Social outperformed Careers in event attendance and engagement This is a testament to all the hard work of the social team who has seen great leadership development Thank you for taking ownership of our social events, platforms and pioneering them with your creativity " Hoi Kit Cheung, President 1 2 3 4 5 6
YEAR IN PICTURES
17 18 YEAR IN PICTURES ASM X ACE COLLABORATION Our Vice Presidents, Mingjia Hu and Yihang Men introduced a new collaboration in 2021/22 with ACE Professional Advisory, a China based organisation specialising in improving the employability of Chinese speaking students looking to enter finance, investment banking and related fields. Through a variety of partnered talks, members were able to gain insights into organisations, tips for applications and CV advice.
TEAM HOODIES Responding to feedback regarding staff identification and improving society marketing, we re introduced ASM Committee Hoodies for the first time since 2017/18 Designed by Mu Mei Chou and Lu Wei Tan, we kitted out the teams with the latest ASM fashion YEAR IN PICTURES COMMITTEE Our committee has worked very hard this year in providing events for our members and organising the most successful year of Accounting Society Manchester to date. Some events and activities tailored for our team help formulate better team bonds and reward their hard work. COMMITTEE PHOTOSHOOT In March, our committee held a photoshoot in preparation for our annual report and social media Additionally, our teams were able to have individual headshot photos taken for their LinkedIn profiles This forms our commitment to enhancing the employability of our members and committee A 'behind the scenes' snapshot at Alliance MBS, Manchester A group photo taken at Pleasure Beach, MBlackpool o d e l l i n g o u r A S M H o o d i e s f r o m l e f t : H a o w e n F u L a n W e i a n d H o i K i t C h e u n g
19 20 YEAR IN PICTURES ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING To end a successful year of ASM the society held its Annual General Meeting in May 2022 as an opportunity to review the activities of the year wish a farewell to the graduating committee and welcome the new commitee of 2022/23 A p h o t o o f o u r o u t g o i n g 2 0 2 1 / 2 2 c o m m i t t e e a n d i n c o m i n g 2 0 2 2 / 2 3 t e a m a t S P A C E S , M a n c h e s t e r
BLACKPOOL TRIP Organised by Rudi Zhu our committee engaged in team bonding activities in April in Blackpool to enhance society collaborations, work cross divisionally and get to know each other informally A group photo of our Annual General Meeting Dinner at Ribeye Steakhouse, Deansgate
ICE SKATING Organised by our Vice President of Social Mingjia Hu enabled students to enjoy the most out of the festive offerings in Manchester with Ice Skating accompanied with Free Hot Chocolate, With over 65 attendees, this event was awarded the best attended event of 2021/22 WELCOME DINNER Our annual Welcome Dinner kick started Accounting Society Manchester's year by gathering together students from accounting, business and finance backgrounds This provided the perfect opportunity to introduce the society and upcoming opportunities. YEAR IN PICTURES SOCIAL Reuniting like minded students was our goal for 2021/22. Across four dedicated events, over 170 individual opportunities were offered for students to gather together for a study life balance. F r o m l e f t : Y i n g C a i , M i n g j i a H u , R u d i Z h u J i a y i L i a n d Y i h a n g M e n g a t h e r e d a t S K A T E M a n c h j e s t e r C a t h e d r a l G a r d e n s A group photo taken at TOPS Buffet Manchester
A g r o u p p h o t o t a k e n a t K I C K A I R , M a n c h e s t e
KICKAIR TRAMPOLINE PARK Organised by our social executives, Mu Mei Chou and Siqiang Li offered the opportunity for students to end the year with us on a jumping high through a trampoline and freestyle park social This provided students to support us in celebrating a successful year at Accounting Society Manchester and to get a balance between work, study and social life as we approach the exam season r
RE-WELCOME DINNER 21 22
RE-WELCOME DINNER We re introduced Accounting Society Manchester activities in Semester Two through our Re Welcome Dinner at COSMO Buffet as a chance for like minded students to network informally over food and drinks This event was organised by Runjia Chen and Lu Wei Tan, our social executives
A group photo taken at COSMO Buffet, Manchester
EMPLOYABILITY SESSION Organised by our Vice President of Careers Yihang Men offered students the opportunity to network with Sam Mathieson from CIMA and discover their future paths in Management Accounting Additionally, we gathered two Placement students (Nayel Prihi PWC and Hoi Kit Cheung L'Oreal) with industrial experience to share their application tips and advice for entering the workplace IN PICTURES
YEAR
This year, students expressed their challenges and difficulties in obtaining placements, internships and graduate schemes. The current climate provided the perfect opportunity for Accounting Society Manchester to offer support, guidance and more to our members.
ASM X CPA AUSTRALIA CV COMPETITION In February 2022, we commenced Semester Two with an opportunity for students to enhance their CV and gain valuable feedback on their CV Organised by Lan Wei in collaboration with Moon Uddin from CPA Australia, students had the opportunity to win a CPA Australia scholarship worth ~£900 GBP to kickstart their CPA journey.
CAREERS
RE-WELCOME DINNER 23 24 ASM NETWORKING FAIR
In March 2022, Careers Executive Mark Stevenson enabled students to gain valuable insights into the world of audit and professional services in collaboration with Mazars Students were offered the opportunity to obtain insights, participate in a Q&A on top of a mock interview with a Mazars member of staff
MAZARS EXPERIENCE
In April 2022, we held our largest careers event of 2022 in collaboration with ACCA, CPA Australia and ICAEW. Coordinated by Jique Yang and Janita Altaf, this provided the perfect opportunity for students to discover their future paths into accountancy compare accrediation bodies and the options open to them post graduation
A group photo taken at Alliance MBS, Manchester
WINNERS VIDEO A video has been released showcasing the winners and evening at Proud Embankment, London The video can be found at: https://vimeo com/705710847 YEAR IN PICTURES BECOMING A UK'S LEADING STUDENT BODY A major achievement of 2021/22 is Accounting Society Manchester becoming a National Award Winning Society across the UK. The society was ranked best 'Student Body of the Year' for 2022, showcasing our excellence in providing to our members and the wider university community. AN AWARD WINNING SOCIETY Accounting Society Manchester was awarded best 'Student Body of the Year 2022' by PQMagazine on Monday 25th April, 2022
FEATURED ON THE FRONT PAGE Accounting Society Manchester was featured as a winner of the PQAwards on the front page of the June 2022 issue of the PQMagazine The magazine may be viewed online at: https://issuu com/pqpublishing/docs/pq jun22 mult 25 26 STAFFNET FEATURE The University of Manchester has praised the Accounting Society Manchester for its hard work, efforts and success in becoming a national award winning society Full article can be found at: https://www staffnet manchester ac uk/a mbs/news/display/?id=281 Downloadable versions of all PQAwards Coverage is available
As a society, we socially connect you with like-minded students
PERFORMANCE REVIEW
ACCOUNTING SOCIETY MANCHESTER 2021/22 SU MEMBERSHIP Officially Registered Members through the University of Manchester Students Union 103 NEWSLETTER RECIPIENTS Representing our overall Accounting Society Manchester member network 644 SOCIETY-WIDE REVIEW
INSTAGRAM GROWTH +68% In 2021/22, we saw an impressive growth on our Instagram channel with increase usage of stories and post frequency LINKEDIN GROWTH +59% Our significant efforts to improve our professional outlook of ASM was rewarded with exceptional growth in 2021/22 WHATSAPP PERFORMANCE 47 Launched in February 2022, WhatsApp aimed to connect members and enhance communications, accumulating 47 members as of May 2022 ACCOUNTING SOCIETY MANCHESTER 2021/22 SOCIAL MEDIA METRICS Celebrating our growth as a society, our Social Team has demonstrated positive YoY growth across all platforms compared to 2021/22.
3 1 3 2 PERFORMANCE REVIEW WECHAT GROWTH +13% Our Social Team expanded our connections and opportunities to reach international students from Asia, greeted with a strong positive growth NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTIONS +29% Through personal engagement, our social department saw strong growth YoY for our newsletter LINKTREE PERFORMANCE 1.33K Launch in October 2021, LinkTree simplified our digital operations through a one link access. Throughout the year, we saw 1,330 views and 1,060 clicks FACEBOOK GROWTH +5% In response to the decline in Facebook usage among the student population, our Facebook achieved single digit figures in 2021/22 From left: Haowen Fu, Ani Phongratanadechachai Aisyah Aziz Ming Hui Siew,, Yan Kang and Hidayah Nizam gathered at SKATE Manchjester, Cathedral Gardens
As a society, we become communities, families and growth incubators
IMPROVEMENTS
GENERAL Consistently communicate with key stakeholders to ensure timeliness Collaborations with other societies are challenging, often with different missions, goals and capabilities communicate your intentions clearly Large scale events (e.g. MBCC) should be planned a few months in advance
Due to workload, we recommend Social Team into Marketing and Eventing Teams
When contacting firms, please plan for time to allow for discussion or responses as firms do not prioritise society collaborations Room bookings, student union requests should be done 2 4 weeks in advance
Rebranding of 'Social' to alternatives to avoid confusion Roles descriptions and responsibilities should be clearly defined Cross divisional collaboration should be further encouraged for team cooperation Appoint individuals as points of contact for various stakeholders for clarification This year, our team consisted of 16 volunteers across 3 departments Both Vice Presidents worked cross divisionally to facilitate the work of Management and their respective teams.
OUR ACCOUNTING SOCIETY
ORGANISATION
When collaborating with other stakeholders, a few precautions should be considered prior to initiating or negotiating plans.
Throughout 2021/22, organisation was critical to the success of Accounting Society Manchester. We've taken onboard multiple improvements over the year in addition to some suggestions for our 2022/23 committee.
TEAM ORGANISATION
MARKETING Marketing our events has been a weakness in ASM in prior years. During 2021/22, our Mingjia (Rosie) Hu (VPS) has significantly improved our marketing efforts with some key takeaways for future teams. 35 36 TEAMS Manage Weekly/Bi Weekly content for our members (e g Top Tips Thursday and Newsletter) Manage Event Promotions We recommend managing the marketing team dependant on main role based teams: GENERAL Marketing should be run a minimum of two weeks prior to the event In the countdown to events, marketing efforts should be increased from 'passive' to 'aggressive' where all channels and mediums are used for promotion Posters are to be placed strategically across AMBS with permission from the AMBS UG services printing is available but please comply with the rules Utilise the AMBS Undergraduate Social channels (Facebook and Instagram) Promote via Newsletter and Students Union Communications Systems Social Media posts across platforms should be limited to two per week An agenda for posts and social media would be useful for organisation WORKLOAD Ensure all members are trained on Canva Utilise templates from Canva for ease All roles in Marketing to be easily operated Workload can be strenuous on marketing resulting from multiple factors IMPROVEMENTS
Contingency planning, delays and more should be forecasted ahead of an event Be considerate of semester timings, including exam seasons and holidays as this will impact engagement and event registrations From experience, events post break do not perform as expected.
Vice President of Events should be present at most events to ensure the event is operationally sound Vice President of Careers should be present at all careers events
President should be present at all events for any adjustments, approval, purchases etc
EVENT TIMINGS September is a key engagement peak December events should conclude one week prior to break commencement Events should be avoided during Christmas Break until Semester Two All member events should be held prior to Easter Break committee events can be ran up until the first week of May
OUR ACCOUNTING SOCIETY EVENTING Events are time-consuming to organise sand success is measured by attendance.
PERSONNEL
All
IMPROVEMENTS CAREERS Employability enhancement is at the heart of activities here at the Accounting Society Manchester. PLANNING Prepare a calendar of proposed events for the upcoming academic year Approach relevant or appropriate partners you would like to collaborate with for a particular event Always have a backup in mind for event partnerships with organisations Propose an event to an organisation through an 'event proposal' to demonstrate your ideas and preparedness Be sure to align plans with all relevant stakeholders and emphasise the schedule Career events require careful planning to be executed successfully, here are some tips 37 38 GENERAL You may have catering at events but please check the rules of the venue (e g AMBS does not allow for external catering) We recommend a trial with some off site events to a firms' location (e g office)
Societies are more than just an aggregation of accounting students Societies, Formulate life long friendships and memories Societies, Prepare you for an employable future Societies, Create networks for future collaborations Societies, Socially connect you with like minded students Societies become communities, families and growth incubators We are more than just a society Because we are Accounting Society Manchester Hoi Kit Cheung Outgoing President, 2021/22
YOUR 2022/23 CONTACTS Asour2021/22committeestepdown fromtheirrolesorprogresswithinthe society,wewouldliketotakethis opportunitytoinformyouofourupdated keycontacts President JanitaAltaf janitaaltaf@acctsocmanchestercouk VicePresident Careers MuMei(Monica)Chou mumei.chou@acctsocmanchester.co.uk Vice-President-Marketing NinadKulkarni ninadkulkarni@acctsocmanchestercouk Vice-President-Events SimarArora simararora@acctsocmanchestercouk Finance LanWei lanwei@acctsocmanchestercouk Secretary XuanLi xuan.li@acctsocmanchester.co.uk This report was produced and published by Hoi Kit Cheung in July 2022 All rights belong to the Accounting Society Manchester. All data is accurate as of June 2022 unless otherwise stated The brands and the logos appearing in this report are registered trademarks Photographs courtesy of our ASM Internal Social Department, all rights reserved Accounting Society Manchester is an affiliated society with the Alliance Manchester Business School CPA Australia proudly sponsors Accounting Society Manchester This report has not been subject to review by Alliance MBS nor CPA Australia. Accounting Society Manchester Affiliated with Alliance MBS Accounting Society Manchester, 2 091 Alliance Manchester Business School Booth Street West Manchester M15 9PB 40
