Throughout the last week of winter break, I had the opportunity to attend our school’s Future Leaders’ Program as an internship at 2 accounting firms. The first firm that I attended was 喬治亞聯合會計師事務所, and the second firm was 眾智聯合會計師事務所.
Prior to the internship, I wanted to focus on the two learning goals. They were (1) to apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products or processes (thinking) and (2) to collaborate with professionals (social and communication). I accomplished the first learning goal through building connections between my tasks at the internship to some Business and Economics concepts. It was really interesting to converse with my friends who also attended this internship. We definitely saw things that we learned in a real-life context. As for the second learning goal, I felt much more comfortable in doing this in the second firm as they engaged with me more. Sometimes it was not about the work I was given, but more about my daily life. I believe these discussions helped create more amicable relationships and a friendlier atmosphere.
One important skill that I applied was problem-solving. Through repetitive tasks, I developed a few systems to help me. A particular one I was quite proud of was how I helped a colleague calculate the sum of 250+ receipts at the second firm. I remember seeing the stack and just wondering how long it would take me to find the accurate answer. I asked to use the computer and use Excel spreadsheet. From the first firm, I practiced how to input data; I used the same general idea to calculate. I entered all the receipt number in the first column, the original amount of money in the second, the tax in the third, and the sum in the fourth. When I highlighted the columns, there were large differences. To effectively check my work, I input a formula in the fifth column which added the original amount of money and tax together. Then, I input yet another formula in the sixth column that calculated the differences between the fourth and fifth column to see which rows were wrong. If the difference was 0, there were no problems; if there is difference, I can easily go back to the receipt and re-enter the incorrect numbers since I have numbered the rows.
The overall experience was impactful as it demonstrates to me what it is like as an accountant. Through this, I learned that I do not necessarily enjoy being in an office the whole day, so this is something I want to think about when choosing my future career path. As for other similar opportunities provided by the Future Leaders’ Program, I would definitely like to apply to them.