• Current students
      • Student centre
        Enrol on a course/exam
        My enrolments
        Exam results
        Mock exams
        Learning Hub data privacy policy
      • Course information
        Students FAQs
        Student induction
        Course enrolment information
        F2f student events
        Key dates
        Book distribution
        Timetables
        FAE elective information
      • Exams
        Exam Info: CAP1
        E-assessment information
        Exam info: CAP2
        Exam info: FAE
        Access support/reasonable accommodation
        Extenuating circumstances
        Timetables for exams & interim assessments
        Interim assessments past papers & E-Assessment mock solutions
        Committee reports & sample papers
        Information and appeals scheme
        JIEB: NI Insolvency Qualification
      • CA Diary resources
        Mentors: Getting started on the CA Diary
        CA Diary for Flexible Route FAQs
      • Admission to membership
        Joining as a reciprocal member
        Conferring dates
        Admissions FAQs
      • Support & services
        Recruitment to and transferring of training contracts
        CASSI
        Student supports and wellbeing
        Audit qualification
        Diversity and Inclusion Committee
    • Students

      View all the services available for students of the Institute

      Read More
  • Becoming a student
      • About Chartered Accountancy
        The Chartered difference
        What do Chartered Accountants do?
        5 Reasons to become a Chartered Accountant
        Student benefits
        School Bootcamp
        Third Level Hub
        Study in Northern Ireland
        Events
        Blogs
        Member testimonials 2022
        Become a Chartered Accountant podcast series
      • Entry routes
        College
        Working
        Accounting Technicians
        School leavers
        Member of another body
        International student
        Flexible Route
        Training Contract
      • Course description
        CAP1
        CAP2
        FAE
        Our education offering
      • Apply
        How to apply
        Exemptions guide
        Fees & payment options
        External students
      • Training vacancies
        Training vacancies search
        Training firms list
        Large training firms
        Milkround
        Recruitment to and transferring of training contract
        Interview preparation and advice
        The rewards on qualification
        Tailoring your CV for each application
        Securing a trainee Chartered Accountant role
      • Support & services
        Becoming a student FAQs
        Who to contact for employers
        Register for a school visit
    • Becoming a
      student

      Study with us

      Read More
  • Members
      • Members Hub
        My account
        Member subscriptions
        Annual returns
        Application forms
        CPD/events
        Member services A-Z
        District societies
        Professional Standards
        Young Professionals
        Careers development
        Diversity and Inclusion Committee
      • Members in practice
        Going into practice
        Managing your practice FAQs
        Practice compliance FAQs
        Toolkits and resources
        Audit FAQs
        Other client services
        Practice Consulting services
        What's new
      • In business
        Networking and special interest groups
        Articles
      • Overseas members
        Home
        Key supports
        Tax for returning Irish members
        Networks and people
      • Public sector
        Public sector news
        Public sector presentations
      • Member benefits
        Member benefits
      • Support & services
        Letters of good standing form
        Member FAQs
        AML confidential disclosure form
        Institute Technical content
        TaxSource Total
        The Educational Requirements for the Audit Qualification
        Pocket diaries
        Thrive Hub
    • Members

      View member services

      Read More
  • Employers
      • Training organisations
        Authorise to train
        Training in business
        Manage my students
        Incentive Scheme
        Recruitment to and transferring of training contracts
        Securing and retaining the best talent
        Tips on writing a job specification
      • Training
        In-house training
        Training tickets
      • Recruitment services
        Hire a qualified Chartered Accountant
        Hire a trainee student
      • Non executive directors recruitment service
      • Support & services
        Hire members: log a job vacancy
        Firm/employers FAQs
        Training ticket FAQs
        Authorisations
        Hire a room
        Who to contact for employers
    • Employers

      Services to support your business

      Read More
☰
  • The Institute
☰
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Students
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Archive
  • Podcasts
  • Contact us
Search
View Cart 0 Item
  • Home/
  • Accountancy Ireland/
  • Articles/
  • Comment/
  • Latest News

Comment

Read more, faster

Apr 01, 2020
Cormac Lucey helps you turbo-charge your ability to identify and absorb relevant information in three easy steps.

A close friend of mine is a retired journalist. We were in school together for several years in the 1970s. He went into journalism; I went into accountancy. In sixth year, our school won the Leinster Senior Schools cup in rugby for the first time in decades. My pal kept a copy of the following day’s Irish Independent, complete with match coverage. It disappeared under the mountain of detritus we are all at risk of gathering. Then it re-emerged after both parents had died, and the family home was put up for sale. What struck Peter, in the early part of this century, was just how thin that 1978 edition of the Independent was compared to the bulky newspapers we have today. Ironically, our newspapers are bigger and better than ever before, even as they face going down under the online onslaught.

In 1978, nobody was at real risk of information overload. If anything, we suffered from information poverty back then. Today, however, we are forced to deal with an abundance of information. Separating the informational wheat from the chaff is critically important today, as each of us could be submerged in the flow of information pouring our way. I read a lot – both online and in print – and have three key rules for managing the information flow I face.

Rule 1: Learn to speed read and put it into practice

The average best-seller we might take with us on holidays has about 400 words on each page. It is said that President John F. Kennedy could read 2,000 words per minute, equivalent to five pages per minute. I find that hard to believe. But with a disciplined approach, it should be possible to read at speeds of 500-600 words per minute regularly.

What are the core elements of speed-reading? Here is a speed speed-reading course:

a) Develop the good habit of reading in a smooth rhythm; abandon the bad habit of disrupting that rhythm by occasionally going back to reread a passage;
b) Instead of visually absorbing single words, get into the habit of absorbing several (three to five) words with each glance;
c) Measure your reading speed when you’re reading a book and focus on getting that speed up; and
d) Practice reading some trashy material at an incredibly fast pace. Then, when you read regular content, you’ll find yourself chomping at the bit speed-wise, just like when you come off the motorway and chomp at the bit at the outrageously slow speed limits then imposed.

Rule 2: Focus

When you read something, you are reading it for a purpose. Be deliberate about that purpose. If I’m reading a newspaper, I want useful information and I want entertainment. I also want to limit the amount of time I devote to reading the paper. I am certainly not going to read all of it. The paper owes you a duty – you owe the paper no duty.
Similarly, just because you have started to read a book does not mean you are duty-bound to complete it. Our time and attention are limited. If a book is boring, tedious or just getting you down, discard it and choose another. That book may deserve the dismissive review: “Once I put it down, I couldn’t pick it up!”

Rule 3: Discriminate among preferred providers

I follow several financial websites closely:
  • RTE.ie – click on “Business”, “Broker Reports” and “Goodbody” and you will be directed to a comprehensive review of the previous day’s business and economic news refracted through the prism of its implications for corporate value.
  • Google “McKinsey on finance” and you will be directed to the website of the management consultants’ quarterly report on corporate finance themes. Each quarter, five or six issues are considered in a succinct and intellectually well-founded manner with a focus on drawing actionable conclusions.
  • Google “Damodaran online”, and you will land at the website of Aswath Damodaran, Professor of Finance at the Stern School of New York University. This site features models, including lots of detailed valuation models; data, including important sectoral cost of capital data; and Damodaran’s blog, where he analytically considers important current financial topics.
Cormac Lucey FCA is an economic commentator and lecturer at Chartered Accountants Ireland.

The latest news to your inbox

Useful links

  • Current students
  • Becoming a student
  • Knowledge centre
  • Shop
  • District societies

Get in touch

Dublin HQ

Chartered Accountants
House, 47-49 Pearse St,
Dublin 2, Ireland

TEL: +353 1 637 7200
Belfast HQ

The Linenhall
32-38 Linenhall Street, Belfast
Antrim BT2 8BG, United Kingdom.

TEL: +44 28 9043 5840

Connect with us

CAW Footer Logo-min
GAA Footer Logo-min
CARB Footer Logo-min
CCAB-I Footer Logo-min

© Copyright Chartered Accountants Ireland 2020. All Rights Reserved.

☰
  • Terms & conditions
  • Privacy statement
  • Event privacy notice
LOADING...

Please wait while the page loads.