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.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
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.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
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.
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.
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