What’s the Year of the Ox have in Store for Finance Professionals?
Given we’ve just moved from the Chinese Year of the Rat, and all the turbulence that we’ve just experienced during it, what might the Year of the Ox have for finance and accounting professionals?
In this bite-sized episode our #SITN co-host Wei Chien & I come together to share some thoughts on what the year of the Ox might hold in store and look like for finance professionals as well as sound out some good areas for us to focus on before we go into the year of the Tiger in 11 months’ time.
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Transcript
Andrew: [00:00:00] Hi everyone. Welcome to this. Week’s Monday memo, bit of a different one because also joined by our co-host Wei Chen you to say highway Chen.
[00:00:08] Wei Chien: [00:00:08] Hi everyone. This is the first Monday memo that I am doing right now. On the 15 days of the Chinese new year, where Andrew is wearing something of a very auspicious color for the Chinese.
[00:00:20] So it’s a very special day for me to do this Monday memo.
[00:00:24] Andrew: [00:00:24] Yeah, the light. And every thought we changed it up a bit because I think people are sick of hearing my voice, but also there’s some serious things, that it’s worth discussing together going on in finance. So I’m more considering.
[00:00:34] Particularly that we’re now in a new Chinese year year the Oxo. Would you mind maybe sharing what that might mean for our audience this year?
[00:00:41]Wei Chien: [00:00:41] Yes. I’m very happy to in fact, I’ve got this questions from different sense of mine. I’m on Chinese. There, there are actually 12 animals. For the lunar calendar year for the Chinese.
[00:00:53] So this year is a year of ox. Now last year was the year of rats. Now the year of ratshas always been a year. Traditionally the Chinese believed to be a little problematic with change and with disasters as well. It was then again, I think for some of the Chinese is not extremely like surprising to see what happened to COVID 19 and all the destruction of the economics and some of the local community as well.
[00:01:18]So in many ways the Chinese are happy that the year of rat. It’s very much over. So we are welcoming the year of ox, so true.
[00:01:27] Andrew: [00:01:27] Yeah. So we’ve gone from disruptive here, right? To walk. I it’s hard work. I imagine it’s something along those lines now, right?
[00:01:34] Wei Chien: [00:01:34] Yeah. The year of ox has been traditionally be a year of much more stable as you can imagine, stable and a year that rewards ha work.
[00:01:45]And that stability, I think is very important because that then leads to very much prosperity as well. That’s what we are hoping as well for different countries across the world and improvement in terms of a health and safety. Very much it’s looking into the, a good year for everybody.
[00:02:03] So that’s again from a Chinese belief. From a Zodiac, animal perspective. That’s something you don’t look like? Not that I am a fortune teller whatsoever.
[00:02:12]Andrew: [00:02:12] You never know. Let’s hope for a bit more stability as well, and I’m not, there’s a lot of craziness like we had last year.
[00:02:19] That’d be nice. Or if he can, even if we take away that, then we can regroup. Even next year and say, wait, Jen you’re, you should, you shouldn’t have become an accountant. You should have become a fortunate until they do it rather well, so let’s be hopeful. But I suppose there’s still things we probably should be doing anyway, and focus.
[00:02:34]What, what in your mind would be good? The thing for us to focus on the year ahead that, you’re talking with other finance agents out there, what are people saying we should be focusing on and in the Yardi ox.
[00:02:45] Wei Chien: [00:02:45] What I have been hearing it’s very much more towards versus on the softer side of the capabilities and skills that use resilience.
[00:02:54]I think not just the finance professional, regardless of what profession you’re in or whether you’re an entrepreneurial the year of that, and this year as well, your, a box is going to be a test for everybody’s resilience. Resilience of being able to, come out from COVID-19 the destruction that happened to all of us back in 2020.
[00:03:12] So there’ll be all a much stronger in 2021. So that’s more from a soccer softer side off all of us. Now the other angle is a bit more around our technical capabilities which we’ll be coming back to the first. Sit and show that you and I did the recording back in 2018 on sustainability.
[00:03:33] I think COVID-19 again highlighted or heightened the urgency for all of us to look at, how can we continue to grow as a human race in a way that is sustainable and can last for generations to come. Now the, if you look at the three pillars of sustainability is very interesting, of course, the planet, and then ourselves.
[00:03:51] The people that are living on this planet. And the last thing is profit, the economics of it. And traditionally we as an accountant has been so good in terms of measuring, valuing, reporting profit in a very conventional way which is just, we always call it as a bottom line, but it it makes me think as in, in 2021, we need to continue to think about can be the catalyst for change as an accountant.
[00:04:15] When we look at profits, Can it be more inclusive and how can we influence our stakeholders to look at profit in a more inclusive manner? So that, that will be it. Is it open ended questions? I don’t have an answer, but it’s worthwhile for the community to think about.
[00:04:33]Andrew: [00:04:33] I’d have to think there’s much more focused on the planet, but I think the key role we do have Wei Chien is measure what matters.
[00:04:39] And I think, be a great way to to make the best of this. This year. The Oxys is maybe to just take some quiet time and figure out what truly matters, whether it is things like profit or revenue or groves, which do you know they’re important, but maybe we should be measuring what really matters and whether or not there will be businesses around it in five, 10 years time, because the environment is there to sustain it. In down to even down to relationships with people as well. If they matter, how many times are we reaching out to the people that matter to us most even there’s no excuse because a lot more people are comfortable with virtual technology.
[00:05:14] It’d be great to be meeting up again in person. We don’t know in some of our countries around the world, how long away that is but the fact is I do think it will happen someday. But until then I’ve got some days not a day to week, so we have to go and do some other stuff at the moment. And yeah, jumping on calls, keeping in touch with people, keeping relationships, because things are opened up again.
[00:05:33]Yeah, what’s interesting you jet is like when people take those moments to have those quiet moments is become a bit more aware. A lot of people are uncomfortable with that, this meditation and mindfulness, but maybe it’s something we should start doing.
[00:05:46] Wei Chien: [00:05:46] Yes. And in many ways I think COVID-19 directly or indirectly has given a lot of people that opportunity. It depends on how you. Then look at whether you can take the opportunity positively as a chance for you to reflect while you take the opportunity to start to worry about things.
[00:06:02]Again, coming back to that mindset and the resilience that we were talking about earlier I think that has to be something that we continue to focus on because we are expecting climate change and all this some of the disruption is going to come more often and therefore the ability to resilience,
[00:06:19]Andrew: [00:06:19] I suppose. Let’s say we’re having a similar conversation at the next Chinese new year on a Monday memo. Like I’m even looking back on the one just gone. What would a good year look like for us in your mind? For year just gone. If we were looking back,
[00:06:36] Wei Chien: [00:06:36] I would think health and safety. So everybody stay healthy and safe. And the to your point about people connection the community the relationship that we continue to build that connection and that bonding that is very important. And of course the stability as well with that stability, hopefully business can get back to some sort of normal.
[00:06:59]That to me will be a good year for everybody. And after Oxford looking into the year of tiger, that she’s going to be very aggressive. So hopefully once we get everything stabilized, we can then launch
[00:07:14]Andrew: [00:07:14] that’s it. Yeah. Yeah. Let’s get a bit more resilient this year and get ready for launch next year. I love that.
[00:07:22] That’s awesome. It was great catching up with you and yeah. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this week’s Monday memo.
[00:07:28] Wei Chien: [00:07:28] Likewise, always happy to talk to you and, or our audiences. And I promise I come on to the Monday memo a little more often, so that we bring that diversity to our show and to our audience as well.
[00:07:41] Andrew: [00:07:41] Love it. Brilliant. Nice, great, Wei Chien. So
[00:07:43]hope you enjoyed this week’s episode. If you did, please remember to share with your friends and colleagues when all the major platforms iTunes Stitcher, SoundCloud, YouTube, and Spotify, and as always, really appreciate investing your time with us today.
[00:07:54] So until next time, take care of yourselves and let’s keep on building our strength in the numbers.
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