MEETINGS WITH PROJECT

MENTOR, INCLUDING THE

PRESENTATION
WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THE MEETINGS WITH YOUR PROJECT MENTOR, INCLUDING
THE PRESENTATION THAT YOU GAVE TO YOUR PROJECT MENTOR?
Great meetings do not take place occasionally but they are designed. Building great meeting is
similar to producing a good product. You don't just build it. You go under a proper plan and design
process: What are the key components to make it successful? Real work takes place in a meeting.
(Gina Imperato, 1999)
After downloading all relevant information from ACCA website regarding the research and analysis
project my next step was to contact Mr. Asim Amin for my Mentor. He gave me appointment for the
day after. The details are as follows:
Before the 1st meeting (End-March 2010) I thoroughly read all the rules and regulations given in the
BSc information pack. I selected a topic of my interest and discussed its pros and cons with my
Mentor. I also identified the aims and objectives of the report. I discussed with my Mentor, my plan to
carry out research and the methods, I selected for information gathering. In this way I got well aware
about the work that I had to carry out.
The 2nd meeting (Mid-April 2010) was basically a problem solving meeting I would say. In this
meeting I presented my Mentor interim report, which I produced with the help of MS Word document
and Excel and also showed him the questionnaire that I prepared to ask from the Accounts officer
and Production manager of PCL. After making corrections in some areas he gave me green signal
for the final report and wished me good luck. In short, I learned how to convert an interim report into
final one.
Now I got three weeks for analysis and report writing, during this time, I had to prepare my
presentation in addition to the report, which was the most interesting and important part of my report.
My 3rd and the last meeting (Start-April 2010) even went well, in which I delivered presentation on
MS PowerPoint to my Mentor. I followed the guidelines of delivering a presentation which are given
below:
Know your material
Dont memorize
Rehearse your presentation
know the equipment
Have a
backup
plan (Wendy Russell, 2010)
I was confident enough to face audience without fear. This time not only my fellow students were
there but my Mentors colleagues were also present. It was now a bit confusing me to give
presentation to those who had more knowledge, but at least not in respect of PCL. I avoided eye
contact; my Mentor noticed and pointed it out just during my presentation. Another thing, the Mentor
pointed out, some of my answers to their questions were over explained. However, due to proper
structuring of my presentation it was quite comprehensive and was appreciated by every one.
I allocated separate time for questions so it helped me to be in time. I made PowerPoint slides to
present all my information, also attached here with. It was a very nice experience and I enjoyed my
confidence and knowledge during the presentation
HOW WELL DO YOU THINK THAT YOU
HAVE ACHIEVED YOUR RESEARCH
QUESTIONS?
Research questions are not like ordinary questions. They are somewhat inquisitorial in that they
expect an answer. A research question must be answerable. This means that it is not helpful in
research to have a question that is so all embracing that it would be impossible to answer it within
the confines of a research project, however large. A research question must have a potential for
being answered in the project to be undertaken. (Richard Andrews, 2003)
In order to be able to answer the research questions I had to ensure that I framed my questions in
such a way that they followed a logical pattern and I was able to answer them to myself
satisfactorily. I only stopped working on the project when I felt that I had acquired the desired level of
expertise and skill.
To increase clearness about the these questions, I gathered information from a range of sources
which included personal interviews of company personnel, discussion with the Mentor, annual
reports, newspapers, trade journal, magazines, books and internet. My plan was to obtain answers
for my research questions and the above sources helped me a lot in accomplishing it. To analyse
the performance of PCL, I used different accounting and business tools to answer my research
questions. I employed ratio analysis to examine the profitability, liquidity, capital and debt structure
and investment ratios of PCL. I used SWOT analysis to evaluate the internal strengths and
weaknesses of the company and the external opportunities and threats faced by it. The interviews
with the company personnel helped me a lot in identifying the above factors. I also identified different
factors to evaluate the macro economic environment for PCL in the country.
I used MS Office to complete my report and made a presentation to my Mentor regarding my project
which helped me a great deal to improve my IT skills. I used MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint while
working on the project. My interpersonal and communication skills were greatly improved by
interacting with professionals my while working on the project. Meetings with my Mentor also
increased my confidence level and enabled me to raise questions about any ambiguous point and
listen carefully to the responses made. Actually all the meetings supported me to answer my
research questions.
Generally, all the different sources of information aided me to effectively answer the research
questions. I believe that the main reason why I answered the research questions successfully was
that I knew the rationale and fully focused on the topic.