Internship at Accounting Firm X: A Personal Reflection

As the first accounting employee at a start-up technology company, success presented itself as an endless opportunity and involved an array of subject matter. Tasks ranged from establishing an accounting system, implementing processes and hiring staff, to developing reports, performing operational analysis and preparing budgets/forecasts. After six years of dedicated effort, there is now a functioning Finance department

Internships are extraordinary opportunities to learn and grow. Internships are mostly designed to expand the depth and the breadth of the academic learning in the particular areas of the study. Internship is an opportunity to receive experience in applying all formulas, methods, theories in the classroom to specific experiences in the real world and to see how it actually works.

Internship is a period of work experience offered by an employer to give people (usually college students and graduates) exposure to the working environment. It gives them an opportunity to get first-hand experience. The growing need for practical learning led to the emergence of internship. It helps to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience. Internships in any form- paid, unpaid or co-operative learning has now become a standard practice for college students. It has

My internship placement is at Positive Living Niagara, which is non-for profit organization located in Downtown, St Catharines. The focus of this organization is to offer a band of innovative and proactive tactics to harm reduction, prevention and a person- centered focus on support and education for those at risk and affected by HIV, HCV and STBBIs in the region. The organization is comprised of 3 major departments, which are Support and Education, Street works, and Case Management. I work in the office while generally overseeing these departments every Friday from 9:00am – 5:00pm. My supervisor is the Executive Director of the organization and his name is Glen Walker. I have been given a main task that is to redesign the organization’s annual report. Along with this task I was given others such as succession planning, analyzing, and revising existing polices.

An internship is an excellent way to gain valuable work experience while studying at the same time. For example, many companies offer internships that allows students to work while earning money and college credits at the same time. This is a much better solution that simply working random, multiple part-time jobs with poor pay and stability.

Google defines an intern as a student or trainee who works, sometimes without pay, at a trade or occupation in order to gain work experience. An intern uses this opportunity to gain knowledge beyond the classroom. By gaining the real-world experience needed to succeed in the job market, interns make for more competitive and capable employees. Knowledge and excellence in the classroom can only take one so far, the internship is where an prospective employee is separated from the pack.

I am expressing my interest in the Staff Accountant position at Campbell Lawless Professional Corporation. As individual with the belief that exposure to new opportunity allows me to grow, I have a passion for exploring -different learning opportunities. I believe that Campbell Lawless, a well-established accounting firm in Canada that encourages employees’ excellence, is a precious environment for me in pursuing a CPA designation as well as my personal development. Simultaneously, I am confident that I can apply my interpersonal, teamwork and organizational skills along with my strong academic knowledge in accounting courses in contributing to the success of Campbell Lawless as a part of the team.

An internship can turn into a job is one of the best and rewarding outcomes of an internship. Not every, but many internships have the possibility of developing into full-time employment.

Have you ever wanted to work with a lot of money or even work in the front offices of sports team? Well, then accounting could be a great career choice for you. Accounting is defined as the action of keeping financial accounts. Accounting is a very misconceptive career path as many believe it to be people siting in a cubicle crunching numbers. As there are some people who do partake in this side of accounting, accounting is not merely this concept, however, it is for people who work well in a group together and work to solve peoples problems that have to do with money. Accounting is the career I chose because it involves sociable, detailed-oriented people, who work with numbers, coming together to solve problems money related. In this paper, I will cover the history of my field, some educational requirements, what actually is accounting, some common misconceptions about accounting, some famous accountants, and other careers one can achieve with an accounting degree.

“An internship can offer a career-building experience and be a stepping stone to your dream profession”.

The Accounting profession is distinguished by the heavy demand placed upon its practitioner to adhere to laws, standards, regulations and best practices. Any failure to do so may result in financial loss, economic oversights and even legal penalties. As a result, it is incumbent upon the accounting professional to recognize and abide the external influences that help to define the field. Distinct political, economic and cultural factors converge to define practice within the accounting profession.

At the beginning of the internship, each intern was required to make a list of goals they hoped to accomplish throughout the internship. We were given four categories to consider. The first area was Leadership Effectiveness. My goals here were: be focused and committed to the engagement and willing to overcome obstacles; maintain a professional approach, especially when representing the organization; and keep a positive attitude and respect others. The second area was Management Effectiveness, and my related goals were: stay within the constraints of time budgets when managing responsibilities; continually seek feedback, formal and informal, to know how/what to improve; and communicate clearly and often to keep team updated on progress of project. Service Excellence was the third area, and my related goals were: understand the why, not just the how, of assignments; learn team expectations and client’s business; and maintain high-quality services using knowledge gained from team. The last area was Marketing, Sales, and Communication. My goals here

“Competing on Analytics” defines an analytical competitor “as an organization that uses analytics extensively and systematically to outthink and out execute the competition.”(1) Business analytics is a new way for companies to separate themselves from their competitors. I recently completed an internship at the firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and will work there full-time upon completion of this program. PwC uses analytics to help solve complex business issues and to identify opportunities across different industries. PwC is the largest professional service company in the world and is part of the Big Four accounting firms. PwC operates in over 157 countries with more than 750 offices throughout the world.(2) PwC is structured into three service lines, which are Assurance, Advisory and Tax. The assurance practice audits almost 30% of the global fortune 500 companies.(2) The advisory practice is mainly consulting activities that cover strategy, cyber security and privacy, human resources, deals and forensics. (2) These three practices generated $35.4 billion in revenue in 2015. (2)

If you're looking at the top 20 internships in the country, most will involve programs that require the participants to take on real responsibility. If you're simply getting coffee or making copies, you're not going to take much away from the experience. If you're given real responsibility and tasks important to the company or organization, you'll likely find that you have a better feel for the industry and the real world upon completing the program. When you're checking out the top 20 internships like those at law enforcement agencies, at legal offices, at big companies, make sure you choose one that offers the opportunity to grow as a person, a student and as a potential employee. You may even find some of the top 20 internships are those at smaller companies you've never heard of.

An internship is a temporary position with an emphasis on on-the-job training rather than merely employment, and it can be paid or unpaid. If you want to go into publishing, you might have to take an internship before you are qualified for an actual job. (www.vocabulary.com)