Question

shadow work Accounting taxes, payroll, bookkeeping, Check cash position, Record transactions, Document and file receipts, Review unpaid bills from vendors and much more

The following report must be submitted as a well written business essay (or report). Use the correct structure, i.e., double space, cover page, one inch margins, etc.

• Final Report must be submitted as follows:
  • A minimum of three typed pages (cover page does not count), with one inch margins and Calibri or Times New Roman size 12 font.
  • Final report must specifically address each of the following:
    • i.              What you achieved during the internship
    • ii.             What you did well
    • iii.            What you could have done better
    • iv.           Any conflicts that arose during the internship; how you dealt with them
    • v.            How you will apply what you learned to your desired career
    • vi.           Your next career steps

Answer 1

The question requires the student to write an essay on accounting and bookkeeping work done during an internship. I am providing the guidelines on how the essay or report is to be structured, key points that are to be included and also giving examples of the same.

Structure of the essay and key points to be included

1. A brief note about the organization(s) covered like name, industry to which it belongs, major products or services, its turnover, areas in which it operates, etc.
2. What bookkeeping and accounting activities were performed by you? For example, you prepared sales invoices, posted journal entries, maintained inventory records, passed entries for payroll processing and income taxes, followed up with customers for pending bills, handled petty cash, verified fixed assets, inventory and stock at the year-end, etc.
3. What were your major achievements during the internship? For example, you can mention the activities which you performed extremely well and added value to the organization or improved the processes involved in the activity or reduced the time taken for the activity, etc.
4. What are the activities or areas where you couldn't perform as well as you would have liked to? What were the reasons for the same? Did you not get enough support from the employees or management of the organization? Here care should be taken not to specifically name any particular person but only refer to their designation if required.
5. Did you face any conflict of opinion from anyone in the organization? Here also name should not be disclosed. How did you deal with the situation? Did you get angry and react violently or handled it calmly?
6. From your experiences with the organization(s), what have you learnt? Like you would have had to interact with various kinds of people, worked with a multinational company, handled complex transactions, learnt taxation and labour laws, interacted with auditors, etc.
7. Your next career steps - do you feel interested in taking up the accountancy profession? Are you interested in practising as a professional accountant or taxation specialist? What are the particular areas that you want to focus on in your future career?