After resumption into the MBA programme in the Lagos Business School in January 2023, we got introduced to the brush-up sessions which were estimated to last for about two weeks from the date of resumption into the first semester. I had been enrolled in the Senior Management Programme (SMP 74) at the Lagos Business School between September 2019 and February 2020 and have been introduced to some of the programmes featured on the EMBA 28 first semester course list.
This time around I came into the brush-up sessions with a high level of confidence due to the fact that I had been introduced to these subjects in the past within the same institution in the SMP classes. For example, we were introduced to Analysis of Business Problems, Management Communication and a little bit of Financial Accounting and from past experiences – I felt it was safe to assume that nothing should really appear new to me. I thought that I should be able to leverage my past classroom experiences in LBS to ace this set of repeated courses.
Alas, I was wrong. The dimension and extent of depth introduced in the EMBA programme is second to none. The courses this time around are very intense and require a serious academic approach that tests learning at the micro level and ensures optimum class participation.
One of the courses that I had dreaded the most from my undergraduate and early career days is Corporate Accounting. I have a science background and have always been grateful that I have little or no interactions with Accounting related courses. During the SMP class, we were also introduced to Corporate Accounting but at the very basic and peripheral level. The EMBA programme this time however has Corporate Financial Accounting (CFA) as one of the courses for the first-semester program. This implies that whether I like it or not, CFA and I must find pleasure in each other.
During my SMP days at LBS, I was told about a professor in the school faculty that teaches Accounting like no other. Though, he never taught us throughout our six-month SMP programme. A lot of great things had been said about his patient and methodical teaching style that will ensure that any individual with no finance or accounting background can learn effectively.
I was indeed pleased and will forever remain grateful for my encounter with Professor Akintola Owolabi and for the opportunity to learn CFA under his tutelage. He started with very simple illustrations of the account of a company he named EMBA 28 LBS LTD. He then went on to break down the financial activities of that sample company in a bid to use the records as his first teaching aid for the class.
It was a successful one for me as I understood every single thing said in that lecture. I am sure it was the same experience for every other member of the class as the feedback from the questions and comments indicated so. He went on and on, repeating himself where necessary and ensuring that no one was left behind.
I have learnt a lot from my CFA sessions and it has made me develop a new love for business financial statement interpretations that will last for many more years to come. The classes of Professor Owolabi are still very progressive and I will be writing more about what I have gained from the course in detail. Watch out for my subsequent posts on CFA.
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