How are you? Is everything good with you? I do hope that you are doing well and enjoy your weekend.

Today is the 227th day that I am in the US and I have spent a quite tight week ? attended two closed book examinations of Managerial Accounting except having lessons.

After going out of the examination room, buying a new textbook and instructors' packet for the new course on next Monday, getting three cherish textbooks from professor Pace who is also an instructor of the Chinese campus of Missouri State University, visiting an“Angel Guardian” of our Chinese students, a lady whom I most respected -- Ms. Ann Brashers, I rewarded myself a long nap for three hours, then I ordered my “old” Managerial Accounting textbook, assignments, and the studying data in the golden lights in the midnight…

I hardly believe my eyes when I saw my thick textbook, about 800 pages’handouts, over 100 pages’homework, 6 article abstracts and the so much paper that I had used for calculating... I hardly believe that I have performed so much work and I have learned so many things on cost, budget, and decision making with an accounting style, not only on the theory, but also on the calculations in the so short several weeks.

Even though I feel my legs ache for sitting for too long time, even though I had to eat medicine to stop my headache before I entered the examination room frist time, even though, I could not control my tears for I could not understand something so strange... right now, I am smiling, I am happy for I have gone over another extremely hard, but full of the fresh knowledge, new inspirations and much delight feeling studying road...

Now my feeling is like that I have stood on a new step on the long and winding mountain road after a quite hard climbing. Finally, I can raise my head to have a long breath, to see how blue the sky is, how white the clouds are, how beautiful the landscape there and where my motherland far away... The first thing I want to do, is to paint, to sing and to write, to express the much happiness in my heart and the endless appreciation to the Missouri State University, the professors of us and my company in China…

If you asked me what is the biggest gain that I have gotten from the course of Managerial Accounting by Dr. Greer?

First of all, It is not only the new knowledge itself, it is not only to know how a manufacturing corporation to plan, to calculate, to allocate and to control its cost, to assess its profit and to do their decision making… But also, I have learned how to use some new, advanced, Westerners’ thinking style to see, to think, to judge, to analyze and to resolve a problem from different angels with different accounting, math and models, to manage a corporation with a more reasonable, logical and precise style.

I do feel that Dr. Greer is very good at leading us to learn those thinking styles. Very often, the same data that seems like very simple, could be calculated and changed to be many different numbers and many interesting results from different angels, to found many different topics that we should notice, study and to develop or avoided...

It will not only help me as a manger, but also, it will help me to live as an individual.

Secondly, it has helped me to know and to think why and how to develop the foundation of accounting department in a company, to change its position from passive bookkeeping to be positively participating. If saying that I had realized how surface and ignorant I was in the first lesson by Dr. Greer, right now, what I am thinking is -- if we are able to pay more attention to develop the foundation of the accounting department in the company, it will be not only a pure department of bookkeeping; it will become an important management department. The key is how the top management to think about it. After all, sometimes, an accounting department can decide a company’s live or die.

To be honest with you, if someone told me the word several weeks ago, I would not believe it at all, right now, especially after I have completed an assignment -- how a financial manager’s accounting job made the company in a high deficit situation so that the president thought of stopping its running and to sell it; and how the other accountant’s accounting made the same company in the profit situation, instead of selling it, the company was worth to be developed faster… :- )

Now, I am thinking is how to make the accounting department to participate in the running of a company, especially some big size project management from the initial phase ? maybe should from the product research, design, development, marketing, distribution until customer service, offer it bookkeeping plus management function, then to make the company’s management more efficiency...


Thirdly, once more, I have seen how an American professor worked by Dr. Greer’s extremely responsible work, especially by his wonderful handouts ? with its so detail direction step by step, I have really learned and understood so much new knowledge that I touched first time and have filled a lot of blanks of my knowledge structure. I am also touched by Dr. Greer's every teaching direction and question answer with emails or explained it face to face, to make many very complex problem change to be simply and easy to understand. He was very busy as a famous professor, but, he still directed us to do every thing, included how to buy a textbook here or there... a pity was that some accidents occured in my university email system. From May 4 to midnight May 16, I did not get any mails. I had only 7.5 hours to read the teaching and question answers that Dr. Greer had sent us before I entered the examination room at 9:30am Friday morning.

If saying the financial management by Dr. Rogan, helped me stronger and overcame my psychology block on mathematics learning; then, the course of managerial accounting by Dr. Greer, has helped me to learn and work in a more peaceful heart, have courage to admit my own weakness and shortage honestly, to learn something new from 0, to fill my knowledge blank with a harder working, but in a quite peaceful and calm psychology. Instead of a donkeywork, the studying in the US has become some enjoyment that is more helpful and meaningful...

Sincerely, I would really like to appreciate Missouri State Universityand our professors, for your great effort and hard working for our Chinese students indeed...

Do you have any experience as I have? Do you have any courage to admit your own weakness, then to overcome it?

I am just a learner on art of painting, music, English and Chinese language, to work on the web site in my free time. I would really like to do a few things with what I have learned to make this little web site to be an Electronic Bridge of Culture Exchange, Chinese Language Learning & Friendship making. To help the others while to improve myself.

I would like to appreciate your understanding, directions, supports and hope to get your friendly direction and help.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, you are welcome to write to shirley@ebridge.cn or Yiping007@MissouriState.edu, or to publish your opinions in the forum.

Shirley Yiping Zhang
Sunday, May 17, 2009 From USA