True to its mission of providing continuing professional education for its members, the Association of Certified Public Accountants in Commerce and Industry (ACPACI) held its 6th General Membership Meeting and seminars on the Securities & Exchange Commission’s ASEAN Integration Readiness, Professional Presence and Wealth Creation at the Bahia Room of Hotel Intercontinental Manila in Ayala, Makati City last October 16, 2014.
Atty. Emmanuel Y. Ariza, Officer-in-Charge, Office of the General Accountant of SEC, opened the conference proper and served as the Luncheon Meeting speaker of this half-day seminar organized by the Association. Atty. Ariza presented to the members and guests the SEC’s undertaking and preparations for the forthcoming ASEAN Integration. The ASEAN Integration seeks to create a single/integrated market where all the ASEAN countries can trade their bonds, debt/equity securities. He also talked about the domestic and regional challenges posed by the ASEAN + financial integration such as tax issues, lack of awareness, our country’s inability to hedge investments, lack of foreign participation in the domestic markets among others. He showed the SEC’s blue print of its strategies towards full financial integration from ASEAN to ASEAN +3(Japan, South Korea and China) to APEC, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation.
The highlight of the 6th GMM was the centrepiece talk of Bb. Pilipinas-Universe 1997 and Managing Partner of Personi-fi Image Studio, Inc., Ms. Abbygale Arenas-de Leon, about having a Professional Presence. Ms. Arenas-De Leon stood poised and majestic before the awed attendees. She shared her experiences and wisdom and provided them with helpful tips on how to acquire a professional image and on how to maximize their potentials, be it their professional and personal lives. Among her given pointers were:
- Understand the value of first impression. When you are meeting someone for the first time, you have 6-8 seconds to make a first impression.
- Smile. Ms. Arenas-de Leon taught the participants the steps in making a genuine smile by showing off their happy lines. The lines on the sides of the eyes are happy lines. Those are not wrinkles. Forget saying “Cheese”, and just say either “A” or “8” and holding it for two minutes.
- Proper posture.
- Proper handshake. A handshake improves the quality of the interaction, producing a higher degree of intimacy and trust within a matter of seconds.
- Mind the fidget like playing with hair, scratching, yawning indiscreetly, playing with pens and papers clips, etc.
- Poise. Poise is a Choice. If you choose it, you will have it.
- Having the right attitude. She quoted Mr. Winston Churchill, “the optimist sees opportunity in every danger and the pessimist sees danger in every opportunity.”
- Be on time, all the time. She emphasized that “being on time is the first indicator of professionalism.”
- Express the magic words – please, I’m sorry, thank you, may I, excuse me. Using these magic words is a shortcut on showing courtesy, politeness and consideration for others.
With her un-filtered beauty and flawless complexion, Ms. Arenas-de Leon wowed the captive audience and won them over with her charm, wit and her funny delivery. Her session was highly participative and interactive. Aside from being a former beauty queen, a model, a mother, a wife and an image consultant, she is also a published author. She has a book entitled, 88 Things Every Professional Should Know or Else... At the end of the session, a lot of ACPACIANs and guests bought a copy of her book. They could find more of Ms. Arenas- de Leon’s pieces of advice on professionalism in the book and they believed that the book could equip them in enhancing and advancing their professional lives. Truly, Ms. Arenas-de Leon the Queen of Cool. She rocked.
The final technical session of the GMM was dubbed, “Wealth Creation- Traders Apprentice Way” (The Art of Speculation, Trading and Investing). The talk was given by Mr. Tony Herbosa, Founder, Traders Apprentice Philippines. Mr. Herbosa shared his wealth of experiences on how trading stocks, stock speculation, real property trading, and tapping into one’s instinct could help create and accumulate wealth and could make one rich. He spoke about how he transformed from being an OFW in New York to founding his own company, Traders Apprentice Philippines, to create and accumulate his own wealth and help the others create and accumulate theirs. In his lecture, he expressed his belief that the “key to creating wealth is gut feel/instinct,” also, he opined that there are cosmic laws (law of Karma, law of Dharma and law of least effort) that govern our lives and we could apply these laws in wealth creation, in the same way that rainmakers like Jeny Lopez, Manny Pangilinan and Andrew Tan created and amassed theirs. He stressed that, “in the law of least effort, when something is for you – you don’t have to lift a finger.” He ended his talk with this forecast: to invest on the “it” stocks in 2015-- buy power and gaming stocks. It seemed like a sound advice.
At the end of each session, an open forum ensued. The open forum is essential and ideal for the exchange of ideas between the participants and the speaker. The 6th GMM attendees threw plenty of questions and points for clarification during the Q&A portion (especially in the Professional Presence seminar of Ms. Arenas-de Leon). Indeed, the GMM is a perfect venue for learning and disseminating information and timely updates to the members.
Other highlights of the program were the President’s Time, where Ms. Ning Santos, ACPACI President, discussed the Association’s achievements and future plans and other updates concerning the ACPACI and the Induction of new ACPACI members. The token of appreciation was awarded to each of the speakers by Ms. Ning Santos; Ms. Aida Apostol, 2003 ACPACI President; Ms. Connie Cadelina, 2013 ACPACI President and Ms. Arceli Sison, 2000 ACPACI President. The event was hosted by Ms. Nanette N. Tabuac, ACPACI Director for Publication and Website.