Last spring, I discussed what I gained from my internship search, so it seems only fitting that I should begin this semester with a reflection on the internship I actually conducted this past summer. I worked for eight weeks at the accounting firm Carr, Riggs, and Ingram (CRI), rotating through the CAAS (Client Accounting and Advisory Services), Audit, and Tax departments. This was my first time performing an accounting internship (which is my major), and it was incredibly fascinating to actually see how CAAS, audit, and tax operate in the “real” world and to work on client projects. I learned a lot about the work that I will be doing after I graduate and the internship experience, more broadly speaking. (I’ve drawn everything in this article from my internship experience, and I realize, of course, that not every place is the same; however, from speaking with friends, there does seem to be consistency in the internship experience.)
What I Learned about accounting
Everything is totally different from what you do in school
This may be different if you intern/work at a different firm, but my internship experience was almost nothing like my classroom experience. In school, we spend a lot of time on creating journal entries, and I did not write a single journal entry during my internship. My experience with the tax department was also very different from my tax class, in which we did a lot of manual calculations. Of course, I only saw a tiny slice of each of these departments, and I’ve only worked at this one firm, so this is likely a hasty conclusion; regardless, actually performing services for real clients is exceedingly different from what one can accomplish in a classroom.
You work with a lot of different software platforms
This internship undoubtedly improved my computer skills. I was actually surprised at how many software platforms I used throughout the course of two months. I would never have thought there would be so many platforms to navigate for accounting!
There are a lot of documents
Wow, how many pdfs did I sort through during this internship? (And I mean chunky pdfs.) During my stints in audit and tax, I did a lot of reviewing and digging, which was both really interesting and frustrating, as there are oftentimes missing pieces or odd aberrations (which also makes learning how to do this work a bit more difficult, as there isn’t a stable pattern).
There’s more reading and writing than you’d expect
People constantly ask me why I am double majoring in Accounting and English, remarking on the ostensible peculiarity of the combination. But I’m here to tell you that there is a lot more reading and writing in accounting (especially audit) than you might think! And this is something that I’ve been hearing for a long time from people who are experienced professionals!
There are a lot of judgement calls
As I mentioned, you might discover that you are missing information or that the information provided is somehow oddly presented, and in these instances, you often have to make a judgement call. Do you need to ask the client to supply more documentation or to clarify a particular situation? Is there other information that provides sufficient evidence? Is there some sort of extenuating circumstance that impacted the person/business? In other words, a lot of accounting (especially audit) is not as cut and dry as you may expect (or want).
What I learned about the Internship Experience
Don’t hesitate to ask questions
I exhort you to ask all of your questions. Do NOT worry about people thinking that you’re stupid or inept: no one is going to think that! Everyone will understand that everything is new to you and that you don’t have the same knowledge and experience as someone who has been working in that industry for years. You will learn a lot by just asking someone about whatever is causing your uncertainty (and you might even be looking at an abnormality!), and it will take you a lot less time to resolve problems if you seek guidance from someone with greater knowledge.
A lot of people work remotely
One thing that really surprised me was how many people worked remotely (and this is something my friends at other companies have also experienced). Most of the time, there weren’t a lot of people in the office, and on some days, I was the only person actually in the office. Of course, for accounting, the summer is a slower time of year, so it makes sense that people take advantage of remote work when being in-person isn’t vital.
You’ll see a lot
Looking back, I am honestly surprised at how much I was able to experience within an eight-week period. Rotating through each department, I got to work with a lot of different clients and to execute a multitude of tasks on various platforms.