Universum, a global leader in employer branding and helps employers attract, recruit and retain ideal talent while helping talent learn about ideal employers, released, last September 29, the global talent attraction index or the “World’s Most Attractive Employers 2011“. This index shows the current level of attractiveness that companies have as employers. Google ranked first in both categories.

The survey was participated by 160,000 career seekers with business or engineering background from the world’s 12 largest economies, such as Brazil, Canada,China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, U.K., and U.S.

But wait, this is a good news to my students in BS Accountancy. Just behind Google in no. 1 spot are well-known auditing and accounting firms (the BIG Three is here): KPMG, PwC, Ernst & Young and Deloitte. As I always advise to my accounting students when they pass the CPA board exam, aim to be hired in one of the big auditing or accounting firms here in the Philippines because the accounting profession is now global.

The survey also reveals that American companies appear very attractive to prospective employees – 28 of the top 50 companies in the survey are based in the US. Among the companies in the engineering category, 26 are based in the US. Germany is the second most represented country.

I think of writing a blog while I’m waiting for the reports from my staff here in our office.  I only want to share that today, March 2, I already received the first payment from my online job.  As I shared in First Day on My New Online Job, a US$5 per hour is not bad for an online job.

When I got this job, my “employer” told me that the work could be finished in six hours. So I was expecting a US$30 “salary” for this project. However, as we go along with the bookkeeping, he realized that the job requires more than 6 hours to finish. It was indeed true, 6 hours was not enough to get the job done.

I remembered when my “employer” asked me how many hours I worked for this project I told him that I didn’t log. He said “silly boy”. Hehehe. He also said that he was charging the client for 12 hours. So apparently that’s the no. of hours he is willing to pay me. I told him that we could settle on the budget.

Last Monday, I was able to submit the final books to my “employer” and he promised to process the payment within this week. And then this afternoon, I received an email telling me that a fund was transferred to my paypal account. Guess how much? My “employer” transferred US$75 to my paypal account! That means he paid me for 15 hours. Wow! I said. I was only expecting US$60 dollars for 12 hours work. I just thank my “employer” for the pay and, of course, my Lord for this blessing. Thank God cause this employer of mine is considerate.

For now, I am waiting for a new project lined up for me.

During our training with my new online job in Dusit Thani Hotel, I heard from our trainer various accounting software that they are using in their office in Australia. There are Quickbooks, MYOB, Quicken and online accounting software like Saasu and Xero. I am familiar with the first three programs but never heard about online accounting software before.

With my first assignment with this Australian accounting firm, luckily enough, the client assigned to me would be using Saasu in their July 2010-June 2011 fiscal year, previously they were using MYOB.

Saasu Homepage

I have actually opened my free account with Saasu and Xero but I haven’t explored the two that much. And since I would be using Saasu first in my first assignment, Xero will be discussed in another post. By the way, the free account with Saasu, gives you the liberty to enter 20 transactions per month. Very limited in numbers but enough for those who are testing the product as you can use features that is available to the paid plans.

I forgot to mention that the main market of Saasu is Australia and New Zealand. However, Philippines and other countries’ accounting set-up like sales tax, is already programmed in Saasu. Actually, when you create an account with Saasu, one of the options that you need to set up is the Tax Zone. I chose Philippine, of course, as my Tax Zone and when I looked onto the tax code inside my account, I saw 2 types of VAT options – the Vat (12%) and Vat free (0%). The equivalent of Value-Added Tax (VAT) in Australia is Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Today, what I did with Saasu of our new client was importing of Chart of Accounts and setting up GST tax code to each relevant account. You can import chart of accounts in different format: Banklink (CSV), Spreadsheet (CSV), MYOB and Xero (CSV). I used Spreadsheet (CSV) format. My first try was unsuccessful because the structure of the file is not in accordance with Saasu. So to avoid this, you need to export the spreadsheet CSV structure from Saasu.

I cannot discuss everything about Saasu in this post so I decided to make succeeding posts of my experiences with this accounting software. But you can take Saasu’s Online Accounting tour to have an overview of its features and specifications.

This took me two weeks before I post a blog on this. It’s because I am not sure if this is really coming.

Last January 19, I received an email from Odesk about an invitation to interview for the job entitled MANILA BASED – MYOB Experienced accountant. Since I consider myself as “almost-expert” MYOB user, I accepted the invitation.

By the way, for those who are not familiar with Odesk, it is an online job marketplace wherein you can get hired and be paid by providing services to the online employer. If you want to work home, either part-time or full-time, Odesk is the best place for you. Should you wish to sign up with Odesk, you may start it here now.

Actually this is my second online job/work-at-home with Odesk. And I am working now with a bookkeeping services firm based in Australia.

So to continue with my “pre-employment” story, the interview was held in Dusit Thani Hotel, a five-star hotel in Makati City (Philippines) last February 7. I was interviewed by one of the owners of the firm. That was exciting because the interview was conducted in person and not online. The interview with my first job in Odesk was conducted online. Through Skype to be specific.

February 11, I received an email again from this company (through Odesk of course) informing me of the training schedule. This made this journey more exciting as a training would be conducted before launching to the project. Well, I really need that because the accounting set up is Australian so I need to familiarize myself with the existing standards and a little bit taxation rules there. The training was held last February 15 at, still, Dusit Thani. There I met my 2 workmates who are full-time online professionals. One of whom have full-time work-at-home job based in the USA.

And then yesterday I got my first assignment. An eight-hour work rated at US$5 per hour. Not bad for the start-up. My paypal wallet will be filled up again.

Because my leg/knee is not in good shape, I informed my boss this concern of mine and thank God he understood my situation.  But since I am badly needed in our office due to never-ending works, my boss arranged with our CEO a laptop for me.  I wasn’t able to bring it last night because Virtual Private Network or VPN was still to be installed and no one was available to install it.  Good thing our CEO sent a driver to bring the laptop here in our house.  I heard it’s a DELL laptop.

This is not my first time to work at home but it’s my first time to work in a VPN-enabled computer.  By the way, working at home instead in your office is called telecommuting.

Ok, our company driver is coming in less than five minutes so work at home is about to start.

A day after his video was posted in YouTube and became viral, Ted Williams got a number of job offers and engagements and they’re not from small-time companies, the offers came from big companies as follows:

1. Cleveland Cavaliers of NBA offered him an announcing job.
2. Film production office of National Football League (NFL)sought him out and Kevin Mcloughlin said, “My boss said to me, ‘If you don’t get him hired, you’re fired.’”.
3. Ohio Credit Union League put a $10,000 offer for voice-over work.
4. MSNBC said that Ted was recording for its Lean Forward promotional campaign.
5. Voice-over spots for Ryan Seacrest’s radio show and TVs “Access Hollywood”.
6. Appearance on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”.
7. Voice-over work for a radio station in Honolulu, an all-expense paid trip.
8. Kraft Macaroni and Cheese offered him to be their official voice of their product.

Well, a good fresh start for Mr. Williams, cheers!  Can golden voice be learned?  If so, I want to have that voice.

Being an Accountant doesn’t require you to become a CPA. An Accountant just need passion for analyzing events and numbers. =)

Last December 1-3, I attended a training entitled “Accounting for non-accountants 1” at Ateneo Graduate School CCE, in Salcedo Village Makati City. It was a 3-day crashed course of Basic Accounting (basically taken up 1 semester in college). I need it because of the function I am doing at work. (I need to be refreshed, actually). The program was designed for individuals without an accounting background but who need to understand and appreciate how business transactions are recorded, summarized, and interpreted for commercial decision-making purposes. Through a series of exercises, participants get a hands-on experience on the practical application of theories and concepts in the “accounting cycle,” from transaction recognition to financial statement preparation, review, and appreciation.

Thanks to Larry Esguerra who patiently trained us. He is really a good and super effective trainer. We’ve learned so much from him. From the recognition of the events to reading of numbers that represents life of the business.

It was then a very productive learning and social life for me. I also met new friends: Marian, Jon, Karen and Chris and many more

I hope I could also be enrolled on the part 2 of this program. I just hope so…