Introduction

​​My name is Shannon Lan and I graduated from UW’s Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) and Master of Accounting program in 2019. I am a Chartered Business Valuator (CBV) and pursuing my CPA designation (pending work experience approval). I am currently a Senior Valuations Analyst at Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS). I have completed my final co-op term at OMERS within the Investment Finance & Valuations team and had the opportunity to return full-time after graduating. I am in the office two to three days a week and will walk you through what a typical day at the office looks like.

Morning Routine

​On the days I go into the office, usually Tuesdays to Thursdays, I wake up at 6:45 am to get ready for work. I am usually out of the house by 7:30 am to drive to the GO station and take the 7:50 am train to Union Station. During my commute, I usually listen to some accounting and finance related podcasts on my LumIQ app, which allows me to fulfil my annual professional development hours requirements for my designations. I usually arrive at the office at 8:45 am and grab some coffee and snacks in the kitchen so that I am energized and ready to start the day.  

​Beginning of Work Day

​​At 9:00 am, I have a team meeting where we provide progress updates on our valuations for the investments we are responsible for. I have 8 infrastructure and 3 private equity investments that I value each quarter for OMERS’ financial statements. We also discuss any portfolio level analyses and ad-hoc projects we are working on.  After the team meeting, I read and respond to new emails in my inbox and make note of new tasks I need to do.

Each day is different depending on the time of year. Quarter end is where I am the busiest. I am usually working on discounted cashflow models for infrastructure investments and using a capitalized multiple approach for private equity investments. I analyze large operating models and perform sensitivity analyses on various valuation inputs and assumptions. I also spend some time reading through board materials for each investment to understand the operational and financial performance, forecasts, and other significant developments since the last quarter end.

Lunchtime 

At noon, I usually grab free lunch provided by the company with my team. We try to eat together on the café floor whenever we can and use the time to catch up with each other and decompress from a busy morning. 

Early Afternoon

​​​​After lunch, I continue to work through my valuations and prep for meetings. I spend some time looking for precedent transactions on Capital IQ and assess how comparable companies’ metrics have been trending compared to our investments. After I’ve completed my own analysis, I usually meet with the deal team/asset management teams of the various investments to discuss value creation initiatives that the asset management team is working on and further elaborate on significant changes in the investment and their value impact. We also have discussions around significant judgement areas (i.e. discount rates, terminal multiples, and various forecast inputs for infrastructure investments; precedent transaction/comparable company multiples and EBITDA normalization adjustments for private equity investments).  Based on my discussions with the deal teams, I will make changes to the valuations with new information obtained. Depending on the complexity of the investment, I may have to have several meetings with the deal team over the course of the quarter before arriving at the fair value. During my busiest days, I may have up to three meetings in a day with different deal teams. 

Outside of the busy quarter ends, I may be working on quarterly reporting requests for accounting teams, risk teams and deal teams. As well, when I have free time, I’ll take on process improvement projects.

Late Afternoon​

​At 4 pm, I usually take a break and grab a coffee or bubble tea with coworkers in the PATH. My go-to spots are either Mos Mos, Starbucks, or The Alley. After getting my caffeine fix, I get back to working on my valuations. At the end of the day, I would read news articles/press releases relating to my investments and relevant industries and keep track of relevant articles in a database for future reference. 

However, today we have a monthly event at OMERS called ‘Thirsty Thursday’ where we have free food and drinks (and sometimes karaoke) at these company-wide events to destress, catch up with coworkers or have the opportunity to meet others within the organization. 

End of Workday

​At 5:30, I start wrapping up my work for the day and get ready to head home. I normally keep track of the tasks I completed today and make my to-do list for the next day. On my commute home, I usually listen to music or take a nap on the train. ​

Unwinding

​Once I’m back home from work, I eat dinner around 7:00 pm with my family. After dinner, I head to my local rock-climbing gym for some indoor bouldering for a couple of hours after a long day of sitting at my desk. After rock-climbing, I take a shower and get ready for bed. I usually watch some shows on Netflix or watch TikToks to relax until I’m tired enough to go to bed.

On weekends, I normally sleep in to catch up on some much-needed sleep, and then hang out with my family and friends. I would spend the weekend playing board games or doing an escape room, as well as trying out new restaurants and bubble tea cafés. ​

 To close off...

​A word of advice I have for students is to get involved in various extracurriculars, participate in case competitions, and attend conferences and other networking events to help differentiate yourself from others. Even if you don’t have relevant work experience for a role you want, the skills and knowledge you gain through your extracurriculars can open doors for you.  As well, taking every opportunity to network whether it’s in person or online will help you discover or reaffirm what roles you may want to pursue in your career. Don’t forget to network with those across your organization once you have landed a role and maintain these connections as they may lead to new opportunities in the future. ​