Week Before Last

In wrapping up this whirlwind of an internship I have made certain that I spend my week communicating my thoughts and doing every last thing I had hoped to do during my time here at KPMG. The first three days of the week I spent working in the Mountain View office. I then learned this week that this office would be shutting down and relocating to Santa Clara, which was huge news for the company. It is great for me to work at the Mountain View office because it is fifteen minutes commute from my house as opposed to the hour and a half commute that it takes me into San Francisco. While on the subject of commute, the internship yearbook for the San Francisco office has superlatives that each intern votes for. Guess what I won... "Longest Commute."

Our internship has a program called the intern community service challenge (ICSC) in which teams nationwide compete against each other to see who can raise the most money and give the largest impact in an act of charity. I competed on my office's national team and we took children to the zoo, donated books to them and their families and also raised a lot of money. We found out this week that our team had won an all expenses paid trip to New Orleans to help refurbish homes that had been hurt in Katrina, and also to promote childhood literacy by reading to children!

After my three days in Mountain View I was back in the office in SF where it seemed crisis had struck. Every one was very busy and I was given a project to finish before I had to leave work early that afternoon. After crunching down and finishing my project I rushed off with the other interns down to Pier 3. We spent the evening eating, socializing and kareoke-ing on a boat that circled the bay. It was a great and fun event.




The last day of the work week was spent giving presentations to our office on what each of our community service teams had done. Then after that we all traveled to Ella Hill
Hutch elementary. There we sat and watched their talent show and interacted with the children.




One of the most key things I learned this week that will benefit my career are EXCEL Formatting tips!!

BUSY season

The office place has gotten quite hectic over the past week. With many companies having their year ends at July 31st, many people in my department have been putting in quite long hours wrapping up the final details of the year for many of our clients. This may not directly apply to me for they are doing highly advanced work that simply cannot be left to an intern to cover, however it affects me by creating a sense of urgency and I therefore have been subconsciously working harder and faster.

I jumped with a partner shadow of the partner in my practice Jennifer Petersen. I observed a morning of drafting memos and conference calls. Although she kept commenting that her tasks today were not to exciting I was just glad I was able to catch her for long enough to sit and speak for a while since partners are notoriously busy. We then were able to go to lunch with another partner (Martin Skrip), a fed tax intern (Olivia Schreader) and the VP Tax of Diamond foods! Diamond Foods is currently acquiring Pringles to add to their portfolio of food companies included Kettle Chips and Pop Secret. This was a great experience because we got a hands on look at how client interaction will and should go.

Tuesday I attended a meeting that covered building and maintaining relationships which is beneficial in and out of office on bringing in client work. This same day we had a lunch time State and Local Tax training session which covered a credit that I am working directly on a project about, so this was extremely convenient that this meeting occurred the day before I was to start my project!

Wednesday I attended an all day meeting in which partners and managers from all over the west coast flew in to attend. The meeting covered many of the services that Tax professionals may offer to their clients. Although many of the terms were far more advanced that I might see during my internship, it was extremely beneficial to hear industry professionals reflect on the work they are doing and also seek out areas where they might themselves improve.

Thursday consisted of a sit down meeting with my PML (Curtis Miyaji) for an engagement review and discussion of my progress as an intern. There are many fields that a good intern must be compliant in. Some of them include: Professionalism, self-review, communication and writing skills. It was extremely beneficial to be able to pinpoint the areas where I could use improvement since we only have such a short time of internship left. A very pressing fact of the time wrapping up is that many will get offers for full-time positions next fall and there will be a select few that don't. This is a major motivator to always perform at my best.

I then attended mock interviews that afternoon and was able to test my skills as an interviewee and also throw the interviewers some curveballs! We provided feedback to our managers about the interviewing habits and it was great practice to be able to comfortably speak in that sort of setting. The tax reception held this Thursday evening was a refreshing way to get to know people in tax in the San Francisco office. We all met after work at the Epic Roasthouse right under the bay bridge. We had oysters on the half shell and many other yummy treats. The venue was great, and I really enjoyed getting to know partners and associates alike outside of the office.

In wrapping up my week, Friday was my day to conclude on the projects that I have been working on intertwined with all of these meetings and events. I got to work with nearly every one in my department this week! This was a great experience for I am starting to grasp everyone’s preferred work habits and communication styles.

Week #4

This was definitely the first week where I saw my ups and downs of the "working world".

The week started off on a high note when I had finally finished reviewing invoices for a large project. This was a relief because I was anxious to see what was next. However, maybe I should not have counted my chickens before they had hatched. This project kept me consistently busy when I had downtime in between all of my other busy work. Now without it I found myself actively pursuing work.

I did however have a few wonderful interactions. One day I was able to go out to Dim Sum (which was a new experience for me) at a great restaurant in the city named 'Yang Sing'. My performance manager (PML) and I were able to catch up and make sure that my internship was going down the right path. Though it was no formal review, it is always necessary and beneficial to stay in close communications with your superiors and make sure yours and their goals are aligned.

On the Wednesday of this week I was able to work out of the firm's Mountain View office rather than commuting all the way up to San Francisco. It was almost shocking to be able to get to work in fifteen minutes flat and then on top of it NOT have to pay for parking!! This day we had a lunch meeting for my department and I was able to meet and greet with the team at this office. These were many of the people I had interviewed for my position with so it was great to catch up. Also, there were two other Santa Clara students working in this office so it was a pleasure to be around them :)

This Wednesday was more focused around the networking aspect of my job rather than technicalities. My day was spent on office tours meeting different people in different departments, going to coffee with people from different offices and then our day ended with a fun team event playing Bocce ball. After work everyone from the San Francisco office and Silicon Valley office met in San Carlos at a place ironically named 'The Office'. It was here that we were able to not just talk business and let our guards down. We ordered drinks and appetizers, sat by the fire and even got involved in a few Bocce ball games. I feel that it was beneficial for I got to know my coworkers on a level outside of accounting only.

Week 3 & 4

Sorry for the late posts but the past two weeks have gone by too quickly to even count for two. Thus, I will be blogging for both as one!

I have come to find that I have chosen the best internship for me possible! Since I am the only intern in my department I get to interact with industry professionals more that I would be elsewhere. This consistently keeps me on my toes and give me much more learning opportunities than I would otherwise.

My tasks these weeks have included a multitude of projects and it has been my goal to juggle all my work and keep up with the deadlines being placed on me. I believe this is one of the tougher parts of the job because in switching off on my tasks I still have to keep focused on what is due the soonest, collect new incoming project and maintain open lines of communication to keep my supervisors informed of my progress.

KEY SKILLS:
Communication- Our handy email system within the KPMG office is sure enough to keep you in the know. I consistently feel like it is always dinging with scheduling reminders and new emails. It is so key to always be on the same page as your coworkers for it seems that every project I work on, so are five other people. Since I am doing a lot of research for projects it is necessary for me to convey my thoughts and findings in email and in a timely manner so that others may do their part of the project as well.

Office Etiquette- It is easy to see why the show 'The Office' is such a hit; It's so easily related to the actual workplace. There are many observable office routines. Me for instance:

1. Arrive at work shortly after 8


2. Power up computer


3. Power up Georgia (coffee break)


4. Check Emails


5. Work through to lunch


6. Talk to supervisor to get new tasks


7. Afternoon coffee break


8. Final Check-in with supervisor


9. Rush to catch evening train

My days typically flow that way, and being a very schedule oriented person, that is just the way I like it. There is a surprising amount of flexibility in this accounting firm's scheduling if you work in office. If people are morning people they simply come in the morning and leave whenever they are finished, I am surprisingly considered an early bird seeing as majority of my office arrives around nine and leaves later than I do.

Hustle- Everyone in the city appreciates a brisk walk. Just as everyone working in a fast paced office such as this appreciates a quick turnover. Do not "dilly-dally" when it comes to projects. I enjoy powering through my tasks and checking for efficiency afterwards. DO NOT sacrifice quality of work for speed though!

M

So this week was San Francisco's first week housing 69 of its new interns! As you can imagine there were plenty of interns wandering around the first Monday searching for a specific cube number. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find my workspace right near the elevator, on the 8th floor with plenty of space to compute in!






The very first two days I was treated to lunch at some nearby eateries here in San Francisco. It was nice to get acquainted with my co-workers and our KPMG neighborhood of SOMA. In the State and Local Practice there are only a handful of us here in the SF office which makes for a convenient lunching group.

The first week was filled with me trying to communicate with as many of my co-workers as possible and to beef up my workload. I find that I am most efficient when I am busy. A lull in the workload leaves me unmotivated. The projects I have been given were not the stereotypical intern tasks of simply stapling and copying. I was actually able to work side by side with my superiors. This was intimidating at first for there is much to risk with even the simplest mistake in an accounting project! However, I found that my questions were not pestering but appreciated for everyone seems to collaborate and learn from each other in this office setting.

My main challenge this week was not even to do with my job (because it was a great week!), it was simply the commute. I spend at least an hour and a half commuting every day and with my usual schedule involving eating cereal and watching TV in the morning, I have not quite adjusted to people watching and eating Cliff bars at the wee hours of the morning on BART.

Week 1 (Orlando Intern Training)

This first week was quite the whirlwind. I officially started last week, yet it was only one day of in office SF training. I started the day after my finals a little later than the rest of the office had due to the fact that I was stuck in the library finishing out my Junior year. This placed a little more stress and nerves on myself that I already had!
Upon arriving at the office, I kept reminding myself that I was not at college anymore. I was in a professional setting where I needed to remember names, not crack jokes and sit up straight! Although I came in with a rigid set of guidelines to follow it was instantly refreshing to be paired up with a buddy who broke the ice by telling me he was more nervous about this than I was, because his manager was reviewing him. This was a great reminder to always put your best self forward for there are consistent and constant opportunities for evaluation.
After my day in office, I had one day off to pack catch up on sleep and prepare myself for the big trip to Orlando. All of KPMGs summer interns were all heading to the Hilton Orlando to hopefully get some clue of what was asked of us!



Adjusting to the new business casual lifestyle was exciting this first week. I attempted to make sure that I was always dressed and acting appropriately, for even if I was simply sitting on a couch in the lobby of the hotel I was still surrounded by my peers and superiors.
The week was spent with many morale boosting speeches from our company's head leaders and inspiring lectures from appropriate dress code to how to efficiently network. Since we spent a whole week in Orlando we typically had free evenings to adventure how we so chose. I felt it appropriate to spend the evenings enjoying Downtown Orlando Studios at dinner with friends one night and the others either outlet shopping or by the pool! However, some interns did not have the same judgement. There were a few tired faces at out 7 am wake up calls in the mornings.


May main take away lessons were this:
-Networking always be aware of the connections you are making, and do something to remember the person. Do this by asking for a business card and jotting memorable notes on it. Or repeating their name in conversation to ensure retention.
-Time Management Each day in the business world is going to be jam-packed. Although we may not have been doing our typical 9-5 days in Orlando, we were still on a rigid schedule. It could be very easy to get worn down and lose track of time, however it is necessary to adhere to schedules and stick with the program!
-Organization I learned this the hard way this week. We have these specific tools called "SecurID"s that allow us to log-on on our laptops to our company's system. I forgot to pack mine when going to Florida, and had to spend an hour and a half on hold with IT to obtain a temporary ID. This is a mistake that could have been easily avoided.
-Stay Positive!! One of our trainers in Florida reminded us that yes technical skills and great education are key to your career. However, you never know how far a smile and a positive attitude can take you.