Graham Gibbs - Reflective Cycle
Description
For this task, on two separate audit engagements, I was required to read and translate financial documents in Mandarin and Japanese language into English for my colleagues. The firm had clients in China, and hence it was required of me to assist my colleagues in the preparation of the audit working papers by extracting information from the financial statements. On another audit engagement which I was assigned to, the client had a subsidiary in Japan, and hence it was required of me to extract information from official documents to allow my colleagues to complete their audit working papers.
What sense can you make of the situation?
One of the challenges I faced was difficulty in reading the official documents and financial statements. Despite learning Mandarin as a second language and Japanese language as a third language, it was difficult to learn accounting terms in these languages. To resolve this, I studied up on accounting and business terms in Mandarin and Japanese Language using the internet. After building on my knowledge on business and accounting technical terms in these languages, I was able to read and understand the financial statements and official documents in these languages.
Another challenge I faced whilst attempting to read the official documents was the differing presentation of the financial statements as compared to financial statements in English. The financial statements in English, Japanese and Mandarin all had differing
presentation. For instance, the financial statements in Japanese had their subheadings written vertically, as compared to financial statements in English with their subheadings written horizontally. As I was not used to the presentation of the financial statements, this resulted in a longer time needed for me to understand the financial statements.
Conclusion
Personally, I gained hard skills as I had to read up on business and accounting terminology in Mandarin and Japanese Language. Thus, resulting in a gain in knowledge of business and accounting technical terminology in other languages. This would be useful in the future when I am required to translate financial documents in these languages.
For this task, my strength was being sufficiently fluent in various languages. This allowed me to complete the task with ease, despite some minor challenges. Another strength of mine would be enjoying challenges. Despite it being my first time studying accounting and business terms in Mandarin and Japanese, I took up the task and challenged my limits.
Reflection
This would value add to my self-development as both China and Japan are large markets and existing large Chinese and Japanese companies in the global economy. Being able to read financial statements in Mandarin and Japanese language would be advantageous and would be a competitive advantage for me.