Speaking
Situation 3 Having a Job Interview with the HR Manager
Sample Dialogue 1
(Mr.Sun,the applicant,is having an interview with Mrs.Smith,the HR manager of a company.)
Mrs.Smith: Come in,please.
Mr.Sun: Good morning,Mrs.Smith.
Mrs.Smith: Good morning.You are Mr.Sun,aren't you?Take a seat,please.
Mr.Sun: Yes,thank you.
Mrs.Smith: I noticed from your resume that you majored in accounting at Peking University.Will you please tell me something about your related courses?
Mr.Sun: In the first academic year we learned Principles of Accounting,and in the following years we learned Cost Accounting,Commercial Accounting,Industrial Accounting,and Management Accounting.
Mrs.Smith: From your school report card,we can see you did well in every course.But our advertisement says we need an accountant with practical work experience.
Mr.Sun: I forgot to include my experience as an accountant in my resume.In fact,I took a part-time job as an accountant at the Atlantic Trading Company during my second and third school years.I worked three evenings a week there and I did quite well.Here is the recommendation.
Mrs.Smith: You can speak English fluently,but I wonder if you can deal with bookkeeping and accounting in English.
Mr.Sun: No problem.Our professional English course is just English for Accounting.
Moreover,as you know,the Atlantic Trading Company is a Sino-Australian joint venture.When I served part-time there,I became well acquainted with accounting operated in English.
Mrs.Smith: That sounds fine.Why did you choose to apply to our company?
Mr.Sun: I have a relative working as a manager in your sales department.She told me a lot about your company and I became quite interested.I believe I can have a promising career with the development of this company.
Mrs.Smith: Do you know something about the payment we give to our employees?
Mr.Sun: No,can you tell me about it?
Mrs.Smith: Of course.As for an entry-level accountant,we pay¥1,500 a month in the first half year.We have a grading system to evaluate your work.If you have made progress,we will certainly raise your salary.For beginners with a CPA certificate,they can earn at least¥2,000 a month.
Mr.Sun: I have passed the five courses required by the Chinese CPA Association,but the certificate won't come to hand until next month.How about that?
Mrs.Smith: I hope you can show me your CPA certificate before we reach a decision by the end of July.
Mr.Sun: Thank you,Mrs.Smith.It is really a pleasure talking with you.
Mrs.Smith: The same for me.We'll keep in touch with you.
Mr.Sun: Thank you.Goodbye.
Task 5
Pair work.Start a conversation with your partner according to the situation:
You've read about a job opening for an assistant accountant advertised by an accounting firm in China Daily and now you are calling the company to ask about it.
Situation 4 Talking about Financial Accounting
Sample Dialogue 2
(John and Tim are colleagues.Tim is explaining to John some concepts in financial accounting.)
John: What's financial accounting,Tim?I came across this term in David's report.
Tim: You're still new in this field.So there's a lot for you to learn.
John: Yes,I think so.
Tim: Financial accounting is about recording the day-to-day income and expenditure of the company: sales and purchase,wages and salaries,petty cash and expenses.It also deals with national insurance,credit control and so on.
John: What's credit control?
Tim: It's a system for making sure that customers won't have too much credit.
John: What shall we do if a customer doesn't pay up on the due date?
Tim: We send him a statement showing the amount that is overdue.If he doesn't pay,we send him a reminder with a red ticker on it.After that,we have a series of letters.
John: What's in the letters?
Tim: We might write,"We should appreciate early settlement…"or"Unless your check is received within a week we shall have no alternative…"and so on.
John: What if they still don't pay?
Tim: If it's a small amount we write it off as bad debt.For larger sums we take legal steps to recover the money.It's your department to look after that.
Task 6
Pair work.Start a conversation with your partner according to the situation:
You are an assistant accountant of a company.You are asking an experienced accountant some questions about the duties of an accountant in the company.
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