Interview

                I decided to interview my performance coach at Wipfli LLP.  Her name is Kelly Annen.  She is currently a senior associate at Wipfli.  I am very interested in the progressing in the accounting industry and wanted to get the opinion of someone who is close to my age it.  I created my own questions to ask her that I wanted to know the answer to.  I first wanted to know why she chose accounting in general.  I feel like this is a common question accounting majors are asked because some people think it would be a bore.  She said “I took an accounting course in high school and really enjoyed it.  When I got to college, I had enough credits to start taking business courses early on.  That allowed me to continue to take the accounting courses right out of high school.  After hearing about all of the opportunities that a career in accounting offered, I decided that it was the right path to start my career with.”  I totally agree with what she said.  There are so many things that you can do with an accounting degree after school.  It really opens up a lot of doors for you. 

                Taking your CPA after college though is very controversial.  Some people will tell you that you have to.  Why would you get an accounting degree and then not take it they say.  Then others say you are just fine without it.  It is just another title.  So I wanted to know what Kelly’s opinion was on the subject.  She said, “I knew I wanted to go into public accounting after my internship with Wipfli.  In order to be promoted past the manager position, you are required to have your CPA license.  I took the exam while still finishing grad school and working part-time at Wipfli.  Becker offered a "Fast Pass" study course on campus at UW-Whitewater.  That allowed me to study and complete the exam in an accelerated time frame.”  I never knew that you needed it to be promoted.  I found this very interesting.  I knew then that I would want to take it because I want to be able to have the opportunity to advance in my career.  So she helped me decide that it would be a good idea for me to take the CPA after college.  She also said to take it right away when you are still in a studying mode.  If you wait too long it becomes very difficult.

                Then I just had some more general questions for her.  I know being an accountant you have to work a lot.  I asked her what advice she had about balancing your family and being a CPA.  She responded with, “Develop good working habits early on and find a personal passion outside of work/family.”  I was totally not expecting this as an answer.  I am very focused on family and I didn’t think she would say find a personal passion outside of them.  This was really interesting to me, but was a good point.  Sometimes you just need some sort of a stress-reliever and you can’t have it be your family every time.  I then asked what the best part of her job was and she said, “The people I work with.”  This did not surprise me one bit.  I have realized through this internship that the people at Wipfli LLP are great people.  Everyone is willing to help and is very friendly.  I did not feel like an intern there, I felt like an actual employee. 

                The last question I asked her is a question that I am struggling with.  I asked her what the deciding factor between tax and audit was for her.  She said, “I enjoyed traveling for audit at the beginning, but it quickly got to be too much.  Tax allowed me to have more structure and routine outside of work.  I also enjoy the routine of the tax projects I work on in the financial institutions area.”  Right now I feel like tax is not for me.  I think it is a little boring.  I think traveling for audit would be awesome.  I mean who wouldn’t want to travel for free, but she really got me thinking.  Audit would be fun for a while, but if I ever wanted to have a family and a life outside of work it would be really difficult.  Audit is so sporadic that it is hard to plan.  You might be in Milwaukee one week, but then be in Alabama the next.  I am really struggling with what direction I want to go in.  It was very beneficial doing an interview with Kelly because now I have the input of someone who can relate to me.  She is recently out of college and wants to be successful in her career.  This is exactly what I want in my future.  I learned a lot from her.

News Article Week 3

http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/Tax-Fraud-Promoter-Convicted-69383-1.html

                The article I found this week was from Accounting Today.  This article is about a real estate agent in Southern California who was promoting a tax fraud scheme.  She was convicted on Wednesday of filing false claims against the U.S.  She would submit false 1099-OID for clients.  This would result in a larger tax return.  She would charge each client $1,000 and then take a percentage of the return too.  The fake returns that she filed totaled to $1,331,576 in refunds.  After there was investigation she also went and told her clients to lie about the entire situation to the grand jury.  She is now being charged for this too.  In the end this whole scheme could result in up to 15 years in prison for her.

                This is heavily connected to accounting because one of the main purposes of accountants is to do taxes for either individuals or for businesses.  There are many opportunities for accountants to be deceiving, and it is a question of ethics.  We learn a lot about ethical decision making during accounting courses.  This is a situation where someone did not make an ethical decision and now she could face prison time for it.  Accounting is one industry where the people who are involved need to be honest.  Even though some of the results of your job may not make people very happy like having to pay a large sum into the government, but we still have to do that.  That is something that we sign-up for when we choose this career path.  Some people forget that after working in the field for a while and it could result like this situation.  Accountants really have to think and analyze information and their decisions before committing to them.

Overview Week 3

                This week I focused a lot on my project.  My project was comparing the effectiveness and efficiency of doing a tax return at a client vs going to the client, getting all of their information, then coming to the office and preparing it.  I went out to two clients this week and got to prepare their returns in the field.  I got a better grasp of what I thought was better.  It was a lot of fun being able to go out to clients because I felt like an actual associate at Wipfli LLP, not just an intern.  I have learned now this week how to do a bank return and all the parts of them.  I did not realize that most banks are made up of three parts, a holding company, the bank, and a subsidiary.  This was very interesting to me because you had to prepare separate returns for each part of the overall bank.  When you finished each part you then created a consolidated return.  This is the part that was actually reviewed and is sent to the IRS.  I also learned this week how much I enjoy the people I work with.  I had to spend a lot of time with people outside of the office and it was great to get to know them.  I think this would be a great company to work for in the future because a lot of their staff is younger.  It makes it easier for me to get to know people when they are closer to my age.  I really enjoyed this week at Wipfli LLP.

Friday Jan. 24

              Today was my final day at my internship for this J-Term class.  I got to spend it at another client.  This time it was just me and a senior manager.  We met at the office because we were leaving a little later in the morning.  So I got to do some administrative items before we left.  We left around 8:30.  This time it was a little shorter ride.  We only had about an hour to go.  This time it was a lot more casual during our ride because we had gotten to know each other better through our previous interactions with clients.  When we arrived at the client we were again escorted to our own private room and offered food and beverages.  We began working that morning on their accounting work.  This time I did more tasks on my own since I knew what I was doing better this time.  We left the client around noon for lunch and went to a café that was across the street.   The senior manager and I sat and talked over lunch about our weekend plans and just things in general.  After lunch we walked back and finished up the accounting work for the client.  We left around 4:30.  When we got back to the office everyone from my department was going to socialize at a restaurant downstairs so I went down for about an hour and got to see everyone out of a work environment.  It was a lot of fun; I really enjoy the people I get to work with.

                My name is Abby Maier and I am from Waunakee, Wisconsin.  I am currently a junior and am majoring in Marketing and Accounting.  I completed my J-Term at Wipfli LLP in Madison, Wisconsin.  Throughout my internship I learned how important work relationships are.  When you have to spend a great amount of your week with people at work you want to be able to enjoy your time.  The relationships you build during work will be the relationships that you endure doing a large part of your life.  Either you can make then enjoyable or you can be on your own throughout your career.  I also learned the importance of professionalism.  Being in an industry where you frequently see clients face to face, how you present yourself determines a lot.  Maintaining a professional manner portrays a good image for the company you are representing and for yourself.  These were the two biggest lessons I learned while interning at Wipfli LLP.  This internship will give me the experience I need to continue my career in accounting.  When applying for accounting positions after school, the first thing someone looks for is experience.  I now have that on my resume.  I have learned a lot about accounting and how a firm works.  I will be a great asset to a firm after college.

Thursday Jan. 23

                Today was just a normal day in the office for me.  I was finishing up a returning I had been working on all week.  We started off with bank returns and those are the some of the hardest ones.  We have been told by multiple people that if we can get these down any other tax will be a breeze.  There is no other Wipfli LLP location that starts their interns with these.  It is neat that they have the confidence in us though to give us such a challenge.  There is not a day I go to work and think it is going to be an easy day.  At noon I went out to lunch with my peer advisor.  Every intern gets assigned a peer advisor.  This is a staff level associate.  They are supposed to be the person you can go to with any general simple questions like what to wear to something or where paper clips are.  Just someone you should feel very comfortable with.  It was a lot of fun going to lunch with her and just talking.  We talked about how my internship was going and about life in general.  After about an hour lunch we headed back to work.  I did more returns in the afternoon.  They never get repetitive though since every client is different.  I stayed at work until about 6:30 today and then headed home.  

                I had an internship at a company called Wipfli LLP.  They are an accounting and consulting firm that is international.  They are mainly focused in the Midwest though currently.  I was at their Madison location and was an accounting intern.  I did both tax and audit while at this internship.  For the tax side I did both individual and corporate tax.  I audited nonprofit companies and manufacturing companies while there as well.  I really enjoyed my experience.  I was very focused while interning.  There were many deadlines that were required to be met during my time there.  I developed exquisite time management skills throughout the internship.  There were multiple times where I would have more than one project assigned to me at a time.  I would have to prioritize them and make sure they were all finished when they were supposed to be.  I also paid attention to detail.  Accounting is a field where flipping one number could make a huge difference.  I was very attentive and made sure my work was done to the best of my ability.  That internship prepared me to be a great accountant after school.

Tuesday Jan. 21

                Today was my first day that I actually got to go out to a client site.  I met a senior manager and managing partner at a place near my house.  This way I didn’t have to drive all the way into Madison since I was on the way to our client.  We had an hour and a half drive.  It was really cool because I got to spend time with my superiors.  When you get them out of the work environment they really open up.  When we got to the client’s office we were escorted to a back private room.  It was very nice and they offered us something to drink and eat.  We then worked at the client all day on their accounting information.  We worked for about four hours then left to get lunch.  After lunch we came back to the client and finished up the accounting work all afternoon.  I was assigned my own projects at the office and helped with as much as I could.  It was a great experience because I got to meet actual clients of the company.  At about 4:30 we packed all of our stuff up and got on the road to come back to Madison because we had over an hour drive.  We talked the whole way back and I learned more about my co-workers and Wipfli LLP itself.  Once we got back to the office I headed home for the day.

                During this project I have strengthened my communication skills and my work ethic.  This entire J-Term I have had to communicate with my co-workers.  Wipfli LLP is very team oriented and you have to be able to communicate well in these situations.  I had to use many different forms of communication.  The most obvious was simple verbal communication.  We also communicated through email.  This is how I would get a lot of my assignments during the week.  If I just had a quick question for someone I would have to use our messaging system.  There were many different instances where I had to communicate in a professional manner.  I also developed a better work ethic.  Being busy season, the hours I put in are very long.  I had to be focused and determined to finish all my projects in a timely manner.  I would still like to develop my knowledge before I enter into my career.  There are a lot of accounting classes I have not taken yet that I could benefit from greatly.  I want to expand my knowledge and learn more about what my career could revolve around.

News Article Week 2

The article that I read was from the New York Times.  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/16/business/abraham-briloff-accounting-professor-dies-at-96.html?ref=accountingandaccountants&_r=0

                This article was about a man named Abraham J. Briloff.  He is an accounting expert.  He would look into companies financial records and write for Barron’s about his findings.  His findings were always very influential.  He usually caused company’s stock prices to fall.  He died this past Thursday.  With the articles that he wrote for Barron’s, he became a celebrity in the business community.  Briloff was legally blind and had to have his students or his daughter read the financial statements that he was reviewing to him.  One main article that he wrote was about Waste Management and Arthur Andersen.  He questioned their statements and the chief financial officer denied everything.  Ten years later the Securities and Exchange Commission accused them of fraud and said it started the year that Briloff wrote his article.  He was a wonderful accountant that had a huge impact on many businesses.

                This relates to my field of accounting because Briloff was a huge part of the accounting world.  He was a very influential man that could tear apart accounting firms.  It was men like these that could shut down firms.  He said that he was always making sure that companies were following the “generally accepted accounting principles.”  This is what Wipfli LLP strives to do.  This is what every accounting firm strives to do.  I am taught that we have to follow these principles because this is the way things have to be done.  During my orientation week with Wipfli LLP, we discussed these principles.  We discussed the importance of these as well.  We talked about how companies have to follow these principles to make sure that everyone is being fair and there is no fraud that is going on.  I think it is really cool that this was Briloff’s goal as well.  He wanted to make sure there was no fraud going on and that everyone was following the rules.  That is just what Wipfli LLP does when they audit companies.  They check their financial statements like Briloff, and report their findings.  Overall in the business world, it was big news that Briloff died.

Overview Week 2

Overall I would say I have had another very successful week at Wipfli LLP.  I am learning a lot.  Like I mentioned in one of my posts, I have not taken a lot of accounting courses through Loras yet.  Since I was in Chicago last semester doing a marketing internship I could only take one accounting course throughout that semester.  All the other interns have already taken a tax and an audit class.  This makes me feel like I a little farther behind than them or that they may grasp concepts quicker than I do since this is my first time seeing the information.  I am trying to soak up as much as I can and ask questions.  I am slowly getting more confident in the work I do when we work on live projects.  It is really nice though having people always there to help.  I feel very comfortable asking anyone for help if I have a question.  I also am becoming good friends with the other interns.  We have kind of an unspoken rule that if we have a question we first come to each other.  We try to solve the problem on our own and if all four of us cannot figure out an answer we then go to one of our superiors and ask for help.  This has worked out great so far.  I now have different perspectives and different ways of saying things due to the other interns.  We all get along great too which I think helps with out with the corporate culture part of Wipfli LLP.  We all are a team and want each other to succeed.  I really think this would be a great place to work in the future.  It is my style of environment.  It is teamwork, welcoming, and intense.  Everyone likes to have a good time, but everyone works hard.  I think this will be a very rewarding experience for me.  

Friday, Jan. 17

Today was the first day that we had no training all day.  I showed up to work and got right to my stuff.  Today I started by entering my time in and then I had to work on 1099’s.  These were a high priority item because we had to get them to one of our other locations right away to be processed.  I was taught right at my desk how to do this process.  It was quite simple and seemed like data entry.   I was going through my list of 1099’s to do and came upon a large client.  They did not provide all the information that I needed.  I ended up having to email my partner in charge and let them know that there client does not have all their information in and we need it right away.  They then had me create a PDF with my findings and they sent it out to the client.  I had to wait to hear back from them.  So after that I moved on to creating a trial balance and importing it into the Caseware system that we use.  I had to get it to balance and was struggling.  I had someone come over to help me and they could not find the problem.  After about a half hour we realized that my performance coach had given me the wrong information.  I was not getting it to balance because I was entering in the wrong numbers.  After we realized this it was simple and I imported it right away.  By this time it was already four and we had happy hour to welcome the new interns.  We headed over to a bar that was close to our office and had drinks and appetizers.  It was a lot of fun because I finally got to meet people who were not just in the tax office.  I met people in audit and nonprofit.  Everyone was very friendly and welcoming.  We stayed there until six and then I headed home.

                My assumptions from last week were that Wipfli LLP is a great place that is striving to help their interns succeed.  It has still proven true throughout this week.  I think for this statement to be true throughout my internship they will have to remain as upbeat and helpful as they are.  Right now everyone is willing to help.  I have had partners come to my desk if I am working on their client to say hello and just let me know that if I have any questions feel free to come and ask them.  This was a great experience.  At most firms there is no interaction between interns and partners.  On my second week there, I already had a partner at my desk offering to help.  Wipfli LLP is just getting better and better.  I will now have to see if they were only helpful because it was my first week actually at the office or not.  It depends if they maintain this attitude or not.  I really hope they do because I have such a great image of them currently that I do not want it to be ruined.  That is what Wipfli LLP needs surpass my assumptions.

Wednesday, Jan. 15

Today at work we once again started off with more training.  We took the information that we created yesterday and moved it on to the next step in the process this morning.  We imported the information we used into another system called Caseware.  This was a lot more difficult to follow than yesterday was.  There were a lot of complicated steps and the training moved quickly.  All of us interns were falling behind and were not 100% sure of what was going on.  At the end of the importing they told us that a lot of the steps we just did were not going to be necessary for the company’s that we would be working on.  That was the process for setting up a new client.  It was a lot of work.  We then got lunch catered in again.  After lunch we had another training.  This training taught us how to do property taxes for businesses.  We spent about an hour doing training on this then went live again.  I really enjoyed this part of the day.  We all sat in a conference room again and listened to music while we worked.  We could ask each other when we had questions and help out if we could.  Time flew by again and I ended up working until seven that night.  It was a lot of fun though working on actual projects.  I really enjoyed feeling like I was accomplishing something and not just training.  I understand that they are going through a lot of training to make sure we are well prepared when busy season come, but it is information overload right now.  After a week of orientation last week and then more training this week I do not know how much of this information I am actually retaining.

                As of now the update on my project is that I will be going out to a client on Tuesday to do a portion of it.  The project I am completing is comparing the efficiency of preparing a tax return at the client vs gathering the information then bringing it back to the office and completing the return.  Tuesday will give me a better understanding of preparing the return at the client’s location.  After that is done then I can compare it to the returns that I have done at the office.  I have done some returns and know how it feels and how efficient it is to complete the return at the office with the information the client sent.  I feel like it will be easier to complete at the client because if we have any questions we can get an answer right away.  We do not have to wait for a response to an email or call.  So far I would not do anything differently though.  The way that I prepared the return in the office was the standard way.  You receive the information, and then you import it and create the return.  If I had any questions I asked the person in charge and had to wait for them to contact the client and receive an answer.  For the second half of the term I am going to go out to the client and think about the pros and cons of each situation.  I am then going to compare then and record my results.  That is the plan for the rest of my term.

Tuesday Jan. 14th

Today at work we focused on more training.  They trained us on a system called FAS.  This is a system that accounting firms use for their fixed assets.  It was really interesting to learn about.  Since I haven’t taken a lot of accounting classes yet I am learning a lot.  During the morning we had two associates teach us how to use the system.  Everyone that has helped teach us is super nice.  They are all more than willing to answer any questions we have.  We went into a large conference room and went through the process step by step and really got a good understanding of it.  We had lunch catered in and then got back to work.  In the afternoon we actually got to work on live projects.  I worked on a large client and entered into FAS any additions for 2013 and disposed of any items that were no longer in use.  It took a long time because you had to set-up the depreciation and everything that goes along with it.  I ended up working on the projects for about four hours.  I finally left work at seven that night.  When I was working I was so focused that I lost track of time.  It was actually fun though working on live projects instead of just training.  I felt more useful and confident after today. 

                The corporate culture at Wipfli LLP is great.  It used to be in the accounting industry that you worked alone.  You had your projects and completed them by yourself and then moved on to the next thing on your list.  At Wipfli LLP that is not how it is at all.  On the first day of my internship we went through a PowerPoint that was focused on the Wipfli LLP Way.  It described the corporate culture in depth.  They focus on teamwork.  They told us that if we were the type of person that did not talk and liked to be on our own, that was not how it was going to be during this internship.  They really want to include everyone and have a good relationship throughout their entire firm.  They also are having a Happy Hour for us interns on Friday.  This is a time to embrace teamwork.  We are going to meet associates at every level.  They have an open door police where any people who have actual offices keep their doors open.  This shows that anyone at any time is more than welcome to come in and ask questions.  It really makes me feel welcomed.  I love everything about their corporate culture.  They do not focus on what your level is.  They want everyone to feel the same and be involved with each other because during busy season you will spend up to 70 hours a week with these people.

News Article Week 1

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/target-says-70-million-customers-were-hit-by-dec-data-breach-more-than-first-reported/2014/01/10/0ada1026-79fe-11e3-8963-b4b654bcc9b2_story.html

During the holiday season Target had many of their debt and credit card information comprised.  Around 40 million customers had this information taken.  Also the personal information of over 70 million customers has now been placed in the hands of thieves.  Target expected sales are supposed to decline by 2.5 percent because of this mishaps.  They are trying to reconstruct their relationship with current customers by offering one year of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection.  They also have put a list of tips for their customers on their website that can be accessed for free.  Target is currently working with the Secret Service and Department of Justice to try and figure out who is responsible for this situation.  The article continues on to say that they do not know the full effect of this breach yet.  There are many possibilities for what the thieves could use the stolen information for.  It has also been reported that lawsuits are slowly starting to pop up across the nation against Target due to this situation.

                This relates to my field of accounting because it deals with credit and debit cards.  It also deals with money which is the basis for accounting practices.  There are many things that could have possibly prevented this from happening to Target.  Maybe if they were paying more attention to their accounting practices, things like how many items had been bought on target credits during that period they could have caught this earlier.  It also relates to accounting because Target’s sales have decreased due to this breach.  Will decreasing sales, targets bottom line will decrease which could cause a major problem for them.  This whole situation deals with money and that is what the focus of accounting is, making sure you have enough money and then trying to maximize it.  This is exactly the opposite of what target has just done.  They are going to have to look at their finances and figure out a way to deal with all the lawsuits.  They also have to get customers back in the store so they can increase their bottom line and get their profit back up.  That is how this article relates to accounting.

Overview Week 1

        Overall this week at Wipfli LLP has been great.  I really liked all of orientation even though it was intense.  I have learned a lot throughout this week.  I have had a previous accounting internship, and I think I have learned more in this week of orientation than I did during my entire other internship.  I have learned how to do some auditing.  Most internships in accounting do not give you the chance to see the audit side of the process.  You just focus on tax since their internships are during their busy seasons.  This has been a great opportunity to explore more of my major and help learn about what path I will want to take after college.  I also learned a lot about tax during this week.  I have not taken a tax class yet at Loras and the two days we spent on tax gave me a good overview of the process.

 I really have enjoyed everyone I have met through this week.  All of the other interns and full-time hires were very friendly.  Wipfli LLP seems like a flexible and warm company to work for.  I have heard from many current employees that the company is very flexible with your personal schedule.  I have also heard that they want all associates to succeed.  I have not heard a bad thing about Wipfli LLP yet.  It has all been very positive and motivating since I am coming in as an intern.  This seems like a company I would enjoy working for in the future after I finish college.

Friday Jan. 10

Today was my last day of orientation and we were onto tax.  I started off just like I started every day with breakfast at 7:30 am.  Right at 8:00 am we jumped into our morning tax session of four hours.  We had a professor from UW Milwaukee come in on Thursday and Friday to teach us tax.  Today he went through a packet of information that he had brought for us on taxes.  Throughout the packet there were breaks for “cases”.  This would go over what he had just talked about with a problem.  We usually had 30-45 minutes to work on these with our tables depending on the difficulty level.  We did two cases during the morning and then broke for lunch.  After lunch we got back together and finished the packets and cases.  We went through things like a Schedule A, K-1, and how everything flows to your 1040.  It was very informational, but it was also a lot to take in during a short period of time.   After we finished the packet and the cases we had our closing remarks and everyone could leave.  This was the last day of our orientation. 

                I still do not have much information on my project because I have not been in the office this whole week.  I do know though after this week that Wipfli LLC is a place that encourages teamwork.  I think I will have a lot of resources for my project, and would not be surprised if I was working with a group of people on this project during my J-Term.

Wednesday Jan.8

Today was our third day of orientation at the Concourse Hotel in Madison, Wisconsin.  My day started off with breakfast at 7:30 am.  After that we went right into audit cases.  During our four hour morning session we focused on auditing cash.  We first had an example by our speakers.  After we went through the example we had a case to practice on ourselves.  This whole process took up the morning session.  We broke for lunch and then continued on with an afternoon four hour session.  We once again focused on audit during this session.  Our main focus was how to audit accounts payable.  We had our speakers go over an example again and then did one on our own.  After this we did not have much time left, and we over quickly how to audit other sections of a company’s accounting process.  That wrapped up our audit training for the day.  That night we had dinner on our own.  I went out with other interns to make connections with people in other offices.  After that we came back to the hotel and went to bed.  This day was very intense, but yet fun.

                My impressions of the company so far are all positive.  I know that this internship is going to be a lot of work, but everyone seems to be fun.  All the employees I have met so far have been very nice and welcoming.  They all also seem like they want to help us interns in any way possible, to make sure we have a successful internship.  So as a company based on employees I think Wipfli LLP is great.  When I look at the company in general it gets me very excited.  They showed us a culture presentation and they told us about their visions for the future.  They have an encouraging path ahead and said that they will need a lot of employees to get where they want to go.  This made me think that there was a chance for many of us interns to have an opportunity possibly after school to come back to Wipfli LLP and continue our careers.  I do not have much information on my project yet since we have mainly focused on orientation and just learning more about what Wipfli LLP does. 

Monday Jan. 6

Monday Jan. 6th

This week at Wipfli LLP it is orientation.  Today is my first day and we have started off at our home office locations.  Wipfli LLP is a company that spreads over the Midwest.  All offices send interns and new hires to this orientation week.  I have been lucky enough to have it be located here in Madison.  It is the most central location for everyone.  We met at 10:30 am.  When we started off there were ten people at my home office.  There were five interns from Madison, two interns from Spokane WA, two from St. Paul, and one from Eau Claire.  We started off with introductions.  After that we had a culture presentation done by the head of HR in the Madison office.  It was a great presentation and really got me motivated to intern at Wipfli LLP.  We then had Panera catered in and had lunch with some current associates.  After that we did some final paper work and headed off to our hotels.  We stayed at the Concourse Hotel in downtown Madison.  We each had our own room and could check-in.  Then we waited until 5:00 pm to go to dinner because we were waiting for all the other offices to arrive.  We went out to Cooper’s Tavern for dinner.  It was a quick walk and there were a total of about 65 of us.  We ate and mingled until about 10:00 pm.  Now we have to be up for our training that starts at 8:00 am tomorrow morning.

                Wipfli LLP is an Accounting and Consulting firm.  They are ranked 23^rd national.  They have offices throughout Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Washington, and India.  They are looking to expand as well in the near future.  They do many types of tax including cooperate, financial institutions, and individuals.  They also are in audit.  There are other consulting sections of the company, but these are the two that I will be focusing on during my internship.  My project that I will be completing while here at Wipfli LLP is going to be involving the effectiveness of taxes.  I will be going out to clients and do the taxes right there on site and then I will have the partner or manager go on site and bring the information back to me.  I would then use the information and do the return at the office.  I will have to evaluate and recommend which method I think is more efficient and effective.  I will then go and present my recommendations to people at Wipfli LLP that it could possibly help.  That is going to be my project and participation in the company over this J-Term.