POA - All You Need to Know, from Real-Life Perspective

POA is an abbreviation for Principles of Accounts. It is one of the subjects offered in 'N' and 'O' Level examinations to secondary school students in Singapore. In this article, Mr. Wong will elaborate 3 key aspects that you need to know about 'N' and 'O' Level POA (Principles of Accounts). Whether you are still considering whether to take up POA in Secondary 3 or already pursuing the subject now, Mr. Wong is confident that you will find the relevant information that you are looking for in this article.

This article will be written not just from the academic point of view, but wherever appropriate will also incorporate real-life perspective based on Mr. Wong's personal experience as an Accounting Practitioner in the real world accounting industry. 

What Is POA All About?

POA is the study of accounting – the language of business. It is probably the most practical subject that is offered to Singapore secondary school students. Based on Mr. Wong’s professional experience, it is safe to conclude that up to 95% of what you learn in POA syllabus can be applied to real-life accounting. 

1. POA Syllabus

POA syllabus has recently been updated. The most significant change involves the conversion from T-account to columnar format in the preparation of ledger accounts. While this change creates a certain level of anxiety among POA educators, Mr. Wong strongly supports this long-overdue syllabus update. For a simple reason, there is hardly any company which is still using a T-account format in the real-life out there!

2. Fundamental Knowledge for Further Study

The importance of accounting knowledge can be clearly observed from Polytechnic Joint Admission Exercise. For Singapore Polytechnic (SP) 2018 JAE, the cut-off point for Accountancy course is one of the most competitive among all the courses offered at 13 points, despite having one of the highest numbers of intakes as compared to other courses! This phenomenon is not exclusive to SP, but also reflected in other polytechnics as well.

Why Learn POA?

Whether you have deliberately chosen or been assigned to learn Principles of Accounts (POA) as one of your GCE ‘O’ Level subjects, congratulations to you! You have the opportunity to acquire one of the most important and practical knowledge made available to you in secondary school.

Personally, Mr. Wong was not that fortunate to have been introduced to Principles of Accounts (POA) during his secondary school education. Mr. Wong was from ‘pure science’ class. On hindsight and being an accounting practitioner now, Mr. Wong would have taken Principles of Accounts (POA) as one of the subjects for ‘O’ Level if he could turn back the time – for sure!

There are a number of reasons why you should choose POA as one of the subjects for GCE ‘O’ Level examination. They consist of both academic and professional reasons. Some of the reasons are as follows:

1. One of the easiest subjects to master in ‘O’ Level

2. Highly practical nature of the subject

3. Freedom to choose any industry to work in

4. Fundamental knowledge for further study in Finance.

1. One of the Easiest Subjects to Master in 'O' Level

Let’s face the reality. There is a cut-off point for most schools and courses you wish to enter, whether it is for junior college (JC) or Polytechnic (Poly). Some subjects like English may not be that easy (though not impossible) to obtain distinctions (A1 or A2). English is quite subjective, unlike mathematics whereby an addition of 1 to 1 is equal to 2.

There is very little subjectivity involved in Principles of Accounts (POA). In addition, unlike mathematics where there are dozens of formulas to learn, there is only one main equation in Principles of Accounts (POA), i.e. Assets = Liabilities + Equity.

Pursuing and doing well in Principles of Accounts (POA) will mean that your chance of getting into the school and course of your choice will be higher!

2. Highly Practical Nature of the Subject

Mr. Wong has completed ‘pure’ Physics and Chemistry at both GCE ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level. Nevertheless, Mr. Wong stands little or no chance to be a scientist. In the real world, it takes a significant amount of further study to be a scientist.

As a matter of fact, you do have a good chance to land an entry-level accounting job as soon as you have completed ‘O’ Level Principles of Accounts. Mr. Wong for sure does not mind to hire ‘O’ Level POA graduate to assist in basic accounting tasks.

Mr. Wong has written a separate article on how relevant 'O' Level Principles of Accounts is the to the real-life accounting. You may wish to check it out.

3. Freedom to Choose any Industry to work in

Accounting knowledge allows you to work in any industry you wish to! Whether your goal is to work in technology, banking, hospitality, airlines or any other industry, you can do so. While there are certain industry-specific accounting treatments, but in general they are based on accounting equation and the concept of double entry – which you will be learning in Principles of Accounts (POA).

4. Principles of Accounts as a Fundamental Knowledge for Further Study in Finance

Mr. Wong could go on for another thousand of words to share with you the relationship between Accounting and Finance. However, we will only go through the basic linkage in this article.

In Finance, there are generally two (2) schools of thought - fundamental analysis and technical analysis. There are more subscribers to fundamental analysis than technical analysis, including the investment legend of our time - Warren Buffett.

Fundamental analysis relies quite heavily on financial statements analysis (which you will also be learning in ‘O’ Level Principles of Accounts). Having an early exposure to accounting will definitely give you an edge over your non-accounting-trained schoolmates.

There are many more real-life stories that Mr. Wong would love to share with you. Come and join Mr. Wong at Orchard and Jurong East! 

How Can I Do Well in POA?

Everyone will surely want to do well in POA and other ‘O’ Level subjects as well. However, how can you ensure that you will be able achieve good results? Is hard work alone sufficient to secure an ‘A’ Grade? While it is important to put in a fair share of effort in learning the subject, you probably need more to achieve an ‘A’ Grade in POA. The good news is that with the proper application of the key success factors that will be discussed below, anyone will be able to achieve excellent results in POA and other ‘O’ Level subjects!

There are 3 key success factors that you will need to master to score well in POA. They are:

1. Precise understanding of the subject matter.

2. Effective study methods and exam strategies.

3. Intrinsic motivation and determination.

These 3 success factors are not exclusive to POA. You can always apply them to other ‘O’ Level subjects that you are learning as well.

1. Precise Understanding of The Subject Matter

You will need to understand the accounting mechanisms taught in POA. Not only you need to understand them, but you will also need to develop a mastery (in-depth understanding) of the concepts. There may be a limitation on how in-depth you can go as you have not had the chance to apply the theoretical concepts into a real-life working environment yet. However, most of those who are taking ‘O’ Level do not have an actual working experience in the accounting department as well! Therefore, what you will need to do is just to make sure that you understand the real-life application of the concepts better than the rest of the students in the cohort. The best option that you can take is to check with your teacher on how to apply the concepts into real-life accounting problems in each of the new concepts being taught in class.

POA is unlike Physics, Chemistry or Biology where you are learning about the nature of law which at times you may not have the answer on why certain things happen the way they are. In POA, you are studying man-made law. There is a reason on why certain things are done in certain manners, such as bank reconciliation. Always ask why do you have to do certain things. There is a reason for each of them in POA!

2. Effective Study Methods and Exam Strategies

Well, you can choose to conquer ‘O’ Level the hard way with less-than-ideal study methods and exam strategies. You may still make it. But why do you want to take 2 hours to learn a concept when you can do it say in 30 minutes when you apply the right study methods? You may notice that some of your friends spend lesser time studying, but he/she still does very well in the exams. We always try to tell ourselves that it is because he/she studies extremely hard at home. Mr. Wong used to subscribe to that idea as well. However, over time, Mr. Wong realizes that it is because they simply have better study methods and exam strategies that allow him/her to achieve maximum results with minimum possible effort! Effective study method is probably the single most important factor that allows Mr. Wong to emerge as ACCA Top 30 Graduate in Singapore while working full-time.

As you go on to higher education, effective study methods and exam strategies get more and more important. Why don’t master them now and start making your life easier? Anyway, at Mr. Wong POA Tuition, we do teach the study methods and exam strategies as well. They are the exact same methods and strategies that Mr. Wong personally used for NTU, ACCA and CFA exams. You can apply them to other subjects as well.

3. Intrinsic Motivation and Determination

You can have the highest level of understanding about POA and master the most sophisticated study methods and exam strategies, however if you are not willing to put them into practice, you will still score a mediocre result. Nevertheless, it should not be too difficult to motivate yourself to put in the effort to study POA. The knowledge taught in POA is one of the most practical knowledge that you can possibly pick up while you are still in secondary school.

Start applying the 3 key success factors described above and you are on track to achieve an excellent result for POA!

Final Words on POA

Mr. Wong was from science stream in both his secondary and JC school days. Mr. Wong even decided to pursue and eventually completed Bachelor of Engineering degree in NTU. However, Mr. Wong has come to realize that accounting is a pre-requisite knowledge to doing well in both real working life and personal business venture. It is just like English and Mathematics in school days. You may confirm this with your parents – whether you are an Engineer, Marketer or Scientist, you will need to be able to read basic financial figures. 

Whether your intention is simply to use POA as one of the subjects in your L1R4/L1R5 for entry into poly or JC due to its ease of scoring good result or you have a bigger goal of being a successful accounting practitioner, POA is certainly a subject you should never leave behind! 

Written by Mr. Wong – Principal POA Tutor of Mr. Wong POA Tuition