Experience
Technology Consulting Internship:
This past summer I worked with the technology consulting department at RSM, Philadelphia. RSM is an audit, tax, and consulting company that provides services to firms in the middle market. The team that I worked with with was responsible for implementing Oracle’s NetSuite ERP system for their clients. The NetSuite team at RSM consists of both accounting and technology professionals. As an accounting and MIS major at Temple University, I was excited to put what I had learned in class to work.
ORIENTATION-
During the first week of my internship I successfully completed the RSM company-wide intern training. I attended two full days of general orientation. During general orientation I learned about RSM’s policies, and the company’s goal to be the first-choice adviser to middle market firms. In addition to this I was responsible for watching new-hire training videos. These videos covered topics including security awareness, time entry, expense reporting, talent development and independence requirements.
PROJECTS-
As my internship progressed I was asked to create automated financial statements within NetSuite. A client of RSM requested to customize the presentation of their balance sheet. It was my responsibility to assess which accounts the client wanted to see under each balance sheet heading. I then created statements using “and” and “or” to assign each account to the correct balance sheet heading. I learned that It is important to keep these assignment statements broad- this allows new account to be assigned to the correct heading with out being specifically called out. I later did this for a few more clients with income statements as well.
In addition to this, I had the opportunity to create inter-company allocation schedules within NetSuite. These schedules help to automate journal entries for companies that operate with subsidiaries. These entries will eliminate revenue from the parent company and allocate them to the correct subsidiary. The client we did this for has many subsidiaries that have recently merged to be sold under the parent company’s name. The parent collects the revenues but must then allocate them correctly to the subsidiary that provided the goods or services.
MEETINGS-
I had the opportunity to sit in a fiscal year-end meeting with the NetSuite team. RSM’s fiscal year ended in June, and we sat with the regional leader of the Technology Consulting practice. I listened as they spoke about growth and the goals that they had met during the past year. They spoke about they direction they hoped to be going in the future years. I was excited to hear that RSM’s consulting practice was growing at a greater rate than the Tax and Audit practices. This made me feel I have chosen an exciting career path that is at the forefront of a changing industry.
I had also been given an opportunity to attend a NetSuite training session. A client of RSM’s had recently acquired a new subsidiary. This new subsidiary is in the process of migrating their data over from QuickBooks to NetSuite. The NetSuite team provided a two day training to the finance/accounting manager of this subsidiary. We went over revenue recognition and other basic processes. I was able to hear the struggles the manager was facing with changing her accounting system.
You can find more information about my internship with RSM in the status reports below.