Fulfilling Units Requirement for Graduation Via Internship - Essay Example

Summer Midterm Internship Paper The School of business at the university gives an option to undertake an internship or research project to graduate or elective in some certificates programs. I am pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration (accounting option). Besides, I am taking a couple certificate courses such as Business Information System accounting elective, and CAFÉ program. These are aimed at fulfilling my unit's requirement for graduation and also sitting for the Certified Public Accounts (CPA) exam. In this regard, I preferred the internship over the research project. I was convinced that that it is more reliable to get to know more about real world job and work environment. According to the requirements of the midterm paper on how the internship went on, there are some main points that I need to discuss: I. How did you go about getting your internship and what did you learn about job-hunting in the process? One day, I was sitting with my friend while discussing about how hard it has become to get a job in this competitive world. As an Audit Associate in Sacramento office of KPMG, he told me that recruiters in big companies and organizations prefer to hire fresh graduates. One of their hiring criteria is to determine whether a potential candidate took an internship program or research project. Upon hearing that, I requested him to search for an internship position in his organization. All along, I had been longing to be employed in big accounting organizations such as KPMG. He discussed my interest with the compass recruiter of Sacramento section of his company. Although the recruiter gave us an outline of a cover letter and resume, I was not lucky to succeed because we realized that the company had already recruited interns for the summer period. However, he suggested that we explored the availability of internship positions in other accounting firms as we wait for September when full-time hiring positions would be available at KPMG. I went back home and started looking for an internship position. Meanwhile, I handed over my resume and cover letter to my accounting course professors with an aim of getting their feedback, and probably their suggestions on how it could be made better. Just before the midterm of spring 2014, Susan, an accounting professor, and my counselor posted internship information about Ashland Partners and Company, LLC on Facebook page of Accounting Student Association Group. I talked to her about it and got a green signal from her. I sent my resume and cover letter to Ashland Partners and Company, LLC. After two days, I received an interview call from a company with my interview scheduled in two weeks’ time. I prepared promptly for an interview. Indeed, it was a very successful process. After three days, I received an invitation letter that I had been awarded an internship position at the company. II. Describe the organizational culture of your host business. How have you fit the culture? How does the organizational culture affect the way work gets done? Ashland Partners is an accounting firm which deals with clients on a global platform. The company has several service lines such as GIPS verification, SSE 16 examinations, financial statements auditing, custody examination and strategy examination. The company is properly organized. In its structure, the management has instituted the culture of professionalism and team work. In other words, the company places much emphasis on teamwork where employees are expected to share ideas as they pursue a common goal of achieving the company’s goals and objectives. As a team player, I was comfortably accommodated in this company. My experiences in the company have been so encouraging. So far, I have learnt a lot of new things from my interaction with my colleagues some of whom have been at the company for quite a long time. For example, at the beginning, I had little knowledge in GIPS verification. This was mainly because I had not substantively covered this area during my undergraduate studies at the university. However, I developed a learning attitude by disclosing to my team at Ashland that I had very little knowledge pertaining to GIPS verification. As a result, the team members took me through the basic steps involved in verification until I grasped all the basic concepts required in this service line. I could not have learnt all these valuable tips if I had not exhibited a learning attitude upon joining Ashland partners as an intern. III. Identify and discuss the situation in which you learned something about you concerning: problem-solving abilities, or Decision-making style. On problem-solving abilities, I remember an instance when I was required to verify some client reports though I did not know how to go about it. It is only after I received some useful tips on the use of GIPS standards that I was able to fulfill the task with utmost perfection. My desire to learn coupled with my hard work has endeared me to many employees at Ashland. I have been able to employ almost all concepts that I learnt in college in real-time situations. I am currently working towards GIPS (Global Investment Performance Standards) in which I input client data into company system and verify client reports and strategies in line with GIPS guidelines. Due to my active participation in the team and ability to learn new concepts, I have learnt with joy that the management has decided to extend my internship by a further three months. On decision-making style, during my stay at Ashland, I have learnt that decision-making is a crucial management attribute that every prospective accountant must possess. However, one of my low moments at Ashland partners occurred when the task of verification went wrong. This lead to the uncompleted time wasted task. The major reason for the wrong results was because some crucial financial information had not been captured during the inputting the data. However, the senior members in my team were very helpful by doing a thorough review of my mistakes. I learnt that it was always advisable to counter-check for at least one time before presenting the results. It is plausible that a succinct decision-making style enables one to determine the best strategies to apply when performing a given task. IV. What are the objectives that you accomplished during your attachment? As an administration student, I am aware that I should always be focused on whatever I do. When proceeding for my attachments, I knew that it was a special opportunity for me to build my career. That explains why I dedicated my time to serve Ashland Partners and Company, LLC with all my energy. For this reason, I managed to learn a lot of skills. First, I got an opportunity to be exposed to the real working environment. It was a break through from my monotonous theoretical class work. Meaning, I learnt a lot of practical skills necessary for my success as an accountant. These include problem solving, decision making and general management. These are very important skills that can be of great contribution if applied during my career as an accountant. Had I not gotten such a chance, I would not have known how they are effectively done. Besides, my time at Ashland Partners and Company, LLC accorded me an opportunity to interact with mew people. In every work environment, there are always many people with whom people work. Among the most important requirements is team play. As an intern, I learnt about collaboration amongst the workers. For a very long time, I have believed that team player is a significant quality of an employee. Thus, by serving this organization, I realized that it is necessary for employees to work as a team. Had I not gone for attachment, I would not have realized how crucial collaboration is within an organization. Summarily, my time at Ashland Partners and Company, LLC was of much value to me. It was a right path for my career development. I was really happy with the organization of this firm. As an established organization, everything is properly done in a coordinated manner. All the workers are highly motivated and encouraged to work as a team. They are conscious about time management, interpersonal and corporate communication and team work. Thus, they inculcated in me a spirit of team play, time management and hard work which are of course the core pillars in accounting. V. What are some of the challenges you faced during your attachment? Although it was a very successful undertaking, I would like to point out that my attachment was just like any other. It had lots of challenges that I had to work so hard to overcome. In the first place, as a newbie, I found it quite difficult to integrate into the whole system. Most of my colleagues are experienced employees who have been in the field for quite some time now. Thus, as a new comer, I had to look for ways on how I could comfortably fit. Most of the duties were purely professional and practical. However, as a student, I still lack practical skills which I could apply while addressing them. The other challenge I faced during my attachment was lack of adequate time to perform all the duties. Since it was a practical session, I had to be given enough time. This would enable me to adjust into the system and get used to it. At the same time, it would grant me an opportunity to learn about the company, its organization structure, historical background, management, and workforce and future goals. On the other hand, having sufficient time would make it much easier for me to be mentored by my seniors as I learn about the prerequisite practical and management skills which are necessary for my career. VI. What lessons did you learn during your attachment? As an upcoming professional, I must acknowledge the management of Ashland Partners and Company, LLC for being in the fore front for establishment of a well structured organization. The manner in which everything is organized demonstrates that it is destined for success. Besides, it gives opportunity to the students to advance their professions. For this reason, I would like to point out that my attachment in this organization was a successful one. It enabled me to convert the theoretical class work into practice. Besides, I came to learn about the contributions of motivation, team work, industry and professionalism towards the success of individual employees and the organization at large. Read More