Introduction

     Welcome to my online portfolio or e-portfolio, this will be the platform as to where I shall share my internship experience as a vocational trainee (VT) at one of the top accounting firms in the world, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

     The brief span of 11 weeks in the audit line proved to be quite fruitful since I not only enjoyed my time there whilst learning new skills and audit knowledge but it also reaffirmed my stance as to purse audit as my career. I believe the best part of the experience was that even though it was short-lived but I was exposed to as many as six different clients in two separate industries. PwC is quite known for its extensive list of huge clients and this was proven true when I had the chance to work for the likes of Genting Berhad and Taisho Pharmaceuticals or better known for its Livita energy drinks. 

     Not only that, I was exposed to businesses in different states where some where semi-active or dormant to the ones in highly competitive markets with some leading their industry sectors to the ones whom were making losses. Furthermore, there were the low-risk clients and then there were the high-risk clients that required me to be more alert and detailed in doing my part of the work to ensure that the quality PwC puts out was not jeopardized. 

     Since I had no previous experience learning audit, everything was quite new and interesting to me. Additionally, most of my time was spent at the clients' premises so to those who say audit is mundane work, they are definitely mistaken in my opinion. Overall, the experience has trained me to be more meticulous in my work and has sharpened my focus. 

     The rest of the e-portfolio would have more detailed documentation as well as graphics so do proceed.

Selection of Company

     With the commencement of my fourth semester, I knew I had to start planning my internship to get a head start on the rest of the applicants. I have always yearned to work for one of the "Big 4" companies ever since I knew about them but the question at the time was "Which Big 4 company to go to?" Thus began my exploration for information through the colossal source of just about anything and everything that is Google to find out which firm would be best fitted for me. The first thing I looked at were rankings and I found that PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Ernst & Young (EY) were close competitors for the top spot.

     I have known about EY ever since I was little from when they were called Ernst & Whinney because that was where my mother did her internship and my father started out working followed by where they first met but that is a whole other story. So EY had always been a familiar name to my ears however PwC has quite an impressive track record as the leading graduate employer for five years (with three in a row might I add). They are also number one in the accounting and professional services sector as well as the consulting sector. Henceforth, I decided to apply for both firms.

     The first to contact me was PwC and by the time EY called after the first phone interview, I had already been accepted into PwC and I was ecstatic. 

Workshops & Training

     In preparation for my 11 week-long Internship at PwC, I have attended several workshops organized by Taylor's University. The earlier workshops given by Taylor's Career Services had briefed me on the whole internship process and the guidelines to be followed so my application process went off without a hitch. I remember sending out my resumes through self placement right after the very first workshop to give myself a head start (and it worked!). The first workshop had prepared me sufficiently on how to write my curriculum vitae, cover letter and how to get references. One of the most useful advice they gave was to make sure my resume was not too crowded because it would not give the reader the impact desired. 

     The Ethic and Etiquette at Work workshop also provided tips on how to conduct oneself in an interview and at work. Sooner than I thought I had to use the knowledge obtained from this session and apply it in my phone interview with Ernst & Young. I have to admit, the interview was not as flawless as a perfectionist like myself would have wanted it to be. I regretted not practicing a mock interview with the Career Services Center but I can always learn from my mistakes. In between the workshops I also took the initiative to learn some skills on my own through YouTube for example. I observed and studied the proper body language as well as "Googling" for images of proper work attire. 

     The final workshop by BDO and the program director herself Miss Malar was extremely informative. First off, the presentation by BDO although was quite repetitive of what the previous workshops had presented, was different in a sense that it was very interactive. The speaker allowed us to ask as many questions as we liked. I took this as an opportunity to ask him what motivates him to get up and go to work everyday and his answer was to support his family. This was definitely an answer from a different perspective that I did not really consider much about as I am still under the care of my parents. This was followed by an in-depth explanation of how the internship will be evaluated. Her lecture was explained really well so I started the internship being well prepared.

Setting Expectations

Some of the expectations and goals I had set for myself going into the internship:

1. To confirm whether audit would be the most suitable career choice for me in the future
2. To learn as much as I can about audit so I can later apply the knowledge gained to my Audit and Corporate Governance module in Semester 5
3. To learn how to conduct myself in a professional working environment as this is something that can only be learned in the real working world
4. To see how a multinational audit firm works and whether it lived up to the hype of being one of the Big Four
5. To create connections and to expand my networks
6. And my most hopeful aim would have to be impressing my seniors so I can obtain a job offer in the future

Company Profile

     

     PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is one of the Big Four auditors that provides professional services globally. They have a presence in 157 countries with a staff force of 195,400 people. Their services include Assurance, Tax and Advisory with Assurance being the most profitable practice among the three.  Their clientele ranges from major anchor banks and multinational companies to small-to-medium enterprises. 

     Formed through the merger of Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse in 1998, PwC has evolved into the second best Accounting and Professional Services Provider in Malaysia and in the world as at the year 2014. Below is a brief timeline of how PwC came about:

      With 80% of their workforce being the Generation Ys, it is no surprise that they won Malaysia's Top Graduate Employer three years in a row. What makes them the first choice for fresh graduates would have to be their modern working environment that jives well with the Generation Xs, Generation Ys and us millennials. They also have a very diversified workforce with people of varied race and religion. 

     PwC upholds values like diversity and gender equality within their workforce as well as building good relationships with their customers by providing value-added services. Other factors that make them stand out would have to be their impressive social media footprint and charity work.

About My Department

     PwC offers us interns three departments to choose from namely Assurance, Tax and Advisory. Within those departments are more specific areas grouped based on the client's industry such as:

1) Construction, Leisure/Logistics, Automotive/Agriculture & Services (CLAS)

2) Energy, Utilities, Media & InfoComm (EUMI)

3) Financial Services (FS)

4) Middle Market & Growing (MMG)

The illustration below (based on PwC Malaysia's website) might provide a clearer overview of the departments:

    Since I intend on pursuing audit in the future, I chose the Assurance department where I was then assigned to both MMG and CLAS clients. PwC's Assurance services are not just all about numbers but also to understand the client's business in order to offer better advice. It allows you to deal from the first-line workers to the top management of a company.

    Both industries are quite different from each other with MMG jobs being quite fast paced in nature while CLAS jobs have a slightly longer life span. However, MMG jobs are said to be quite repetitive so by doing a couple of MMG jobs, one can already get the gist of it.

Department Structure

Job Description

My role as an audit intern involved:

1) Vouching Documents

     The bulk of my work as an intern revolved around documents like invoices, payment vouchers, delivery orders and shipping bills. I would go through files and files of these documents especially when substantive testing was needed. Apart from having gained quite some muscle from all the heavy lifting as well as some paper cuts, I did become more familiar with the documents involved in a business' daily transactions, which is not something that is exposed enough of in a class room. As most of my seniors would say, vouching is an integral part of audit especially for interns like me who need to start from the bottom and understand the basic transactions to be able to do more challenging work. Vouching has required me to practice on exercising caution and professional judgement as to whether a document had been tampered with. Vouching is important because it tests audit assertions as well as how true and fair a company's books are. If any type of fraud goes undetected by me it would affect the trueness and accuracy of work of my colleagues.

2) Contacting Debtors 

     I was entrusted with the task of completing the whole debtors' confirmation process. Firstly, I would prepare the templates accordingly followed by mailing them out to our clients' debtors. Once they have replied or even if they did not, I was required to do a follow up by calling them up. This task is particularly important to ensure whether the balance the debtors claim they owe ties to the balance recorded in our clients' books. Any differences would warrant me to inquire further as to why it is so. Another reason why this task is significant is to make sure that these debtors do in fact exist. Additionally, it has helped me improve on my people and communication skills.

3) Physical Asset Sighting

     This starts off with me selecting the sample of assets to sight to which is done through two methods. The first method being list-to-floor and then there is the floor-to-list method. The sample size would be calculated by my seniors so the larger the amount of assets a client has, the larger the sample size. This is also to ensure existence and if the assets are not labelled properly, an issue will be raised to the management. Also, if an asset did not seem to be in proper working conditions I would point it out to my seniors.

4) Casting Financial Statements

     Usually towards the end of an engagement I would cast the financial statements which applies the techniques I learned during the first week of training. Casting includes checking the totals of each column followed by cross-casting which is where all of the column totals are added together. Also, it involves writing down the sources' page numbers next to the figures so the end users of the financial statements can easily refer to them.

5) Rolling Forward Data

     Perhaps the simplest task there is to do would have to be updating the templates of workings to the current year for my team to later fill up. However, it also requires me to match the previous year data to the previous financial reports so that the variances in the workings will not be miscalculated. Any miscalculations could lead to the wrong performance evaluation of the company. 

     At the end of the day, my work did add value to my respective teams and I was not just given pointless tasks to pass the time. This made me feel like I belonged and my presence had somewhat of a significance overall. 

Reporting Line

     As I shifted from one client to the next, the team that I worked with also changed. Hence over the course of 11 weeks, I have reported to quite a number of people from the Associates to the Engagement Leaders. A bigger client would have a bigger team. I worked very closely with the Senior Managers like Selene and Alvin or Executive Senior like Li Shan. On the rare occasion that the Engagement Leaders joined the team at the client's place, I would also help them out. When my Seniors are busy or in a meeting, I would work under and report to the Associates. As a result of having so many mentors I have learned so much more and through the various leadership styles they each have I grasped the idea of how the working world is like. 

Week 1 - 2

Tuesday

     Early in the morning I made my way to Malaysia's very own concrete jungle as PwC's headquarters is located smack dabbed in the city, to be more precise in Kuala Lumpur Sentral. I walked into the lobby to see some familiar faces alongside some not so familiar faces of the interns from other universities. I could tell that it was going to be a very eventful first day and I was right. The whole day consisted of making new friends and meeting some of the staff as well as an office tour where we saw Dato' Faiz (PwC's Executive Chairman) in action in his office. I received my very own key card and laptop to use for the entire internship period. This was followed by several tutorials by the PwC staff on how to use them. 

     After that there was an ice breaking/team building session which required us to be split into teams to then build the tallest tower out of spaghetti. To our dismay, the tower collapsed but my team still had fun together and we learned that a team should be more organized for a task to be completed properly. As explained by one of the staff, this was to represent the work ethics I should have where team work is crucial in getting something done on time. This was followed by a brief lecture on the dos and don'ts at the office relating to aspects like the proper work attire and behavior. 

Wednesday - Thursday

     These two days were made up of workshops where I learned how to use the audit software system. The workshops were located at PwC's training facility in Sheraton Hotel. First I learned how and where to check the engagements and supervisors I was assigned to. Afterwards, we were put into groups to do an activity to test our knowledge on audit assertions. This was the first time I learned about Audit but I could fortunately keep up. Plus, I learned how to cast financial statements. Learning how to use Aura, PwC's audit system, proved to be complex as most of the interns could not understand but after the staff showed an example on how to use Aura to test an invoice sample, it became clearer to me. There were other complex things I learned for the first time like testing a targeted sample of Property, Plant & Equipment (PPE) additions but looking back now, once I practiced it on the job, it was actually not all that hard. Last but not least, in teams, we had to conduct a mock interview with a "client" as an opportunity to practice our approach with actual clients in the future. An important lesson was that an auditor should not aggressively approach the client as if they had committed fraud. The training PwC had given was really informative and had prepared me sufficiently for the upcoming weeks, which just goes to show how amazing their standards are. 

Friday

     Met my first ever senior in charge, Li Shan an Executive Senior. In retrospect, Li Shan was easily the strictest senior I had worked with but she would constantly give me instant feedback which I had really appreciated. Her criticism was constructive and at first it was hard for me to accept but after a while it helped me better myself. Since the engagement technically started next Monday, there was not much to do so I only ran errands. On the bright side, I did get to learn the basics like how to request for documents from the filing room and how to use the printer. Lunch was slightly more eventful when I ran into Mona, the Head of Resourcing, followed by Dato' Faiz. I began to notice that the working environment in PwC is quite relaxed and most of the employees were really friendly which is exactly why I can call any one of them just by their first names. On top of that, Dato' Faiz just randomly struck up a conversation with me about his wife's amazing cooking skills. On a more serious note, he gave me great advice when I told him I was a new intern. He told me to ask a lot of questions so I can learn as much as I can and to never shy away from opportunities.

                                                                                                                                  

Monday

     Arrived at IPDecor's office in Nilai and the finance department was right above its factory. IPDecor is in the MMG industry and their previous year's performance was really good. Besides Li Shan, the team consisted of Melissa, an Associate, who just so happened to be an ex-Taylorian. She was a lot like me, quiet but still friendly. We were both then briefed on the client's business nature.

Tuesday - Wednesday

     With the help of Melissa, I learned for the first time how to vouch a sales invoice and payment voucher. I started off rather slow but once I became more familiar with the documents, I managed to pick up the pace. At the same time I was learning how to adapt to the professional working environment as I had no previous working experience. I learned through observation mostly, I would mimic how Melissa interacts with Li Shan and the client. If I had any questions, Melissa told me not to hesitate asking so it was really easy to get along with her. 

Thursday - Friday

     Li Shan explained to me how to carry out a physical asset sighting just in case Melissa was not around to do it next week. I immediately pulled out a pen and paper and starting jotting down the key points such as acknowledging the tag, brand and condition of the asset. Afterwards I did a lot of data entry, 10,000 rows in Excel to be exact. I have to admit, I had to get a little creative in finding ways to stay awake during this time because the routine work was not exactly challenging my mind so after awhile it just became second nature as if I were a robot on autopilot. Nonetheless, I did learn many new Excel shortcuts which made me realize just how technically inadequate I was. Be that as it may, I did make up for my lack of IT skills by being a quick learner. I picked up the shortcuts after only a short while and I am quite a fast typer so that made me feel slightly better that I could compensate for one of my flaws.  

Week 3 - 4

Monday

     Met with the Engagement Manager for the first time, his name was Tony. I offered to help him so he asked me to extract the minutes of meeting.

Tuesday

     I learned that attention to detail was an important quality for an auditor to have because my task for that day involved testing a sample of unpaid liabilities. I had to check when the transaction was recorded as revenue and whether or not it was recorded in the appropriate year end in the system. This was the infamous way for fraudulent clients to tamper with their revenues. I took a slightly longer time than I had expected to finish my work because all the dates were quite confusing after awhile. Being the stubborn person that I am, most of the time I prefer figuring things out on my own but Ming Ju advised me that I should not be shy to ask for help. So here the key challenge was myself and how to slowly change my ways. I learned that I should adapt to PwC's work culture where there is a balance between asking for guidance and being independent. Learning how to ask for help was hard for me at first because I have always been a timid person but the more I tried the more my confidence grew. Looking back now, I think that with IPDecor I developed my soft skills the most which was a great achievement for me. 

Wednesday - Friday

     I used this newfound confidence of mine and applied it when dealing with the client to request for files. I did a lot of running around for this because at the moment the client was busy closing their accounts so it was hard for me to get my files back in time. This definitely taught me how to be more patient and understanding because I am not the only one with a deadline to beat. This goes hand in hand with one of PwC's values that it always important to understand and maintain a good relationship with the client. A better bond will not only encourage them to recur us for next year's audit job but it also facilitates the current job by creating a more conducive work environment for all. 

     I also got to improve on my decision making skills when Li Shan entrusted me with the whole physical asset sighting task. First, I would choose which assets to sight to from the asset listing to the floor for example, the company car and a laser printer. Then, the client would show me if the asset truly exists and if it was in working condition. Afterwards, I would do a floor to list sighting which is basically just the opposite. The importance of this task was that, again fraudulent clients could overstate their balance sheet to impress shareholders even when in actuality they do own any of the assets. This did made me quite anxious since I will be the one to blame for any mistakes. Nevertheless, I decided to look at it on a positive note as a chance to be more responsible and be more wary when making decisions.

                                                                                                                                  

Monday - Friday

Workload piling up

     A new Associate named Ming Ju joined the team and she taught me all about the materiality levels that I should base my testing on. On one of the days in this week I vouched 200 invoices and it helped me master vouching the sales side. However, vouching the overseas shipping documents was hands down the most difficult task I had to do throughout the whole internship and it was making me really frustrated. I assumed I would be able to do it quite easily because I had already learned about incoterms in Semester 4 for Credit Management but boy, was I wrong. I soon realized that I had only memorized the definitions of each incoterm but I did not understand it enough to apply to the real transactions. I tried figuring it out over and over again on my own but it was too time consuming hence I accepted defeat and asked Ming Ju to write me simpler notes on how to recognize the correct date of revenue recognition. At the end of the week, I did understand it better but I still had to refer to my notes once in awhile. This definitely tested my persistence in learning.

Week 5 - 6

Monday - Wednesday

My makeshift file trolley

     Monday and Tuesday were public holidays but I still worked on Monday to finish up the vouching work by the end of the week. It was quite stressful because I feared I could not complete the work allocated to me before the deadline because there were a lot of documents to search through. I was determined to leave with all my work done. I wanted to give my team the impression that I was a hard worker so I learned to effectively allocate my time by setting small goals to hit by the end of the day like vouching a certain amount of samples by 5.30 pm. It was also important to allocate my time because alongside the vouching I also had to do other small tasks like asking for certain documents from the client on behalf of my team. Hence, this also taught me to be more organized in multitasking my work. In the end, I had impressed my team with just how well I could cope with the pressure of the large workload and also the time constraints. Plus, it had improved my time management.

Thursday

L-R: Melissa & Ming Ju

     It was my last day working for IPDecor and I found it quite difficult to part ways with Melissa and Ming Ju because they were not only excellent teachers but they treated me like I was their friend and little sister. Working with them was a great example of proper team collaboration as they would constantly keep the morale high even when there was so much to do and everyone was drained. Another thing I learned from observing their work ethics is that accepting ownership and responsibility when a mistake has been made is important as it shows integrity. I hope to apply this in whatever I do. 

Friday

     Completed my work at IPDecor so I joined the Kawasaki (MMG) team for a day before my next engagement commenced. I mostly just looked through files for specific documents that the team needed for their part of the work. It is always important to refer to original documents to support the work done. However, photocopied documents can also be accepted but they do require more scrutiny on my part. This thought me to be more independent and apply critical thinking instead of bothering the team every time I was faced with a problem. For example, when I could not find the original copy of an important supporting document, I would myself look for the client in charge of that specific file for further enquiries. I believe that it also shows a good working attitude and an important quality for auditors to have so I wanted to sharpen this skill early on.  

                                                                                                                                  

Monday

Taisho's eerie workspace

     It was my first day with my next assigned engagement namely Taisho Pharmaceuticals or better known for their energy drinks called Livita. Taisho's office is right above its factory so everyday I would go there and smell an incredible sweet scent. Unfortunately, I had missed the factory tour during the planning week as I was still on my IPDecor job so my new senior in charge Selene, a Senior Manager, had briefed me about Taisho's current performance. For a better understanding, I learned that I needed to take my own initiative instead of always relying on my seniors to help me out. I think the difference between a good intern and an excellent intern is that the excellent intern does things without having to be told, is always prepared and looks for opportunities to shine. This became my new mantra for the rest of the internship. Henceforth, I decided to look through previous external files as well as Google the company's background. From this I discovered that Red Bull, their closest competitor, had just engaged Livita in a price war and it was all quite interesting to read about.  

Tuesday - Friday

     It was time to apply the mantra into my work habits. Whenever the Associates gave me instructions I would always come prepared with a note pad and pen. These were important tools to have because sometimes their instructions were of things I was unfamiliar with so writing them down ensured that I did not miss out anything important. Plus, writing things down allowed me to later Google the terms I do not understand and through this I did not have to waste any time asking my team. On the other hand, I would also be prepared to write down any new things my team would teach me as reference for my future engagements. Even now in my Audit class in Semester 5 I can refer to some of my notes for a better understanding because the way my seniors explained things to me are much easier to comprehend compared to the text book's style of writing. 

An auditor in its natural habitat 

     A lot of the week's work was vouching sales invoices because many of the debtors did not respond to the confirmations sent out. Hence, I wrote down the important areas to observe and document down in a sales invoice as an Associate, Nabilah, had taught me. This made it easier for me to vouch them without missing out anything important. Whenever I finished my work earlier than expected, I would ask another Associate, Sin Yee, if I could help her out with anything because I saw this as a great chance to learn something new instead of just routine vouching work. Sin Yee let me help her out with something I had never done before which was checking the stock listing to make sure the client had recorded their inventory accurately. Any inaccuracy could lead to the audited financial statements being far from true and fair as lawfully required by the accounting standards. As a result of taking that initiative I obtained new knowledge and experience.

     Another new experience I obtained was contacting Taisho's debtors through the phone. I had actually paid attention when Ming Ju from IPDecor was calling debtors so I knew the questions I had to ask and whom I had to ask them to. It was great practice for improving my communication and people skills too.  

     

Week 7 - 8

Monday - Tuesday

     Since I had finished vouching most of the sales invoices, it was then time to vouch the delivery orders (DOs) and shipping documents or Bill of Ladings (BOLs) stored at another floor. Vouching DOs required me to exercise professional judgement when comparing it with the Purchase Orders (POs)/sales invoices/packing list. For example, from what I learned at IPDecor is that the DOs of local deliveries should not be received too late from when the order was made but it is normal for overseas shipments took a longer time. Additionally, I had to check each sample's packing list whether the amount of goods received tallies with the amount actually ordered. If they do not, I would have to ask and document the client's reasoning. Usually, their reasoning would be that they got free samples hence no sense of fraud is evident. This gave me a chance to further practice my communication and people skills.

Wednesday

Clarins' Office Lobby

Amazing view of KL from the finance department

     Since the finance team of my current client were all on CNY leave, I went to help out the Clarins (CLAS) team at Berjaya Times Square. There I (unexpectedly) met Keet Mann, a friend of mine from Taylor's and we helped vouch after year end sales invoices for half a day. The vouching was necessary for substantive testing because some of Clarins' debtors have not replied their confirmation letters yet. It was time consuming and confusing because from my previous experience, clients would not yet have filed their after year end documents hence my vouching work would be affected in terms of efficiency. To complete the task as efficient as possible, an Associate and I worked together in a systematic manner where I would find all the invoices based on the sample selected and the Associate would then document them. From this we managed to get most of the work done in time. 

Thursday - Friday

    Chinese New Year holidays.

                                                                                                                                  

Monday - Thursday

     The third and final week at Taisho consisted of mostly finishing up all the work and I was in charge of the external files. I would have to make sure everything required in the external file had been printed, numbered and arranged correctly. This was where I could apply my organizing and multitasking skills. It was great that Selene would trust me with something important as it shows that she believes I can complete things independently and correctly.

Friday

View from the top of Skypark

     Since my previous engagement was completed a day early, I was borrowed for yet another CLAS job in Shah Alam. My supervisor for the day was Joan and she had briefed me before the client had arrived that they were not very cooperative (hence why I kept the client's name a secret) so I needed to be more assertive and firm in my approach. It was definitely a change in my usual work culture which I had tested out when asking the client for supportive documents. The client gave various excuses as to why she could not give me the documents thus I was unsure of what to do because if I pushed her too much she could get unhappy with not just me but also PwC's standards. I solved this by letting Joan know about the situation where she ended up getting into a slight argument but in the end managed to get the documents needed. I took this experience as a learning opportunity on how to handle difficult clients in the future. 

Week 9 - 10

Monday

     It was my first time in a long time to be back at PwC's KL office and it was also my first time meeting my new supervisor in charge, Alvin, who is a Senior Manager. Since we were both not feeling well that day and the client's documents were not yet ready, we took the time to get acquainted with one another to create a better bond. Next, I did some research on the client to better understand their business. Their product mix consists of:

- surgical products (machinery)

- over-the-counter products (eye drops)

- prescription products (contact lenses)

     Afterwards I learned how to do a Business Analysis Framework which is basically documenting down any recent changes in the company or the business environment in the audited year. I found it quite challenging to learn about the client as much as I can in such a short time span but my determination had impressed Alvin when I completed my work so quickly.

Tuesday - Thursday

     Have yet received the client's management accounts so I edited confirmation templates to be sent out and "roll forward" data from the previous year to the current year templates. It was quite tedious work albeit simple because I had to roll forward data from many sections like revenue, payroll and operating expenses just to name a few. Some challenges I faced in completing this task would be the time constraints and overlooking any errors made. However, being the perfectionist that I am, I would double check all the entries to make sure everything was accurately recorded.  

Friday

     Alvin had notified me that the client was not yet prepared henceforth our visit to the client's place would have to be postponed to next Tuesday. This made me realize that in the working world, whatever is planned will not always follow through so one must be prepared for whatever is thrown and just make the best of any situation. So instead I was assigned to help out another team in the mean time. 

                                                                                                                                  

Monday

     It was yet another slow day hence Alvin suggested I do some reading on Test of Controls (TOC) because it was something I have never done before. TOC is an audit procedure that tests the effectiveness of the client's internal controls. Weak internal controls would require auditors to rely less on the client's system and more on substantive testing, which consumes a lot more time and energy. Once I understood what TOC is all about, I read up on the client's payroll related controls that cover the hiring and firing processes. From what I observed, the client had no issues with control in payroll. This represents one of the things I like most about Alvin as a supervisor, he likes to challenge me and encourage me to always learn about new things which helped me achieve Objective No. 2. It also shows the standards and work culture of a Big 4 firm (Objective No. 4).

Tuesday  

     I was borrowed by the Genting team and to my surprise the team was absolutely huge compared to my previous engagements. If I am not mistaken, they have a huge audit team because Genting has as many as 90 subsidiaries and they are classified as a CLAS job. The key challenge I had to face was fitting in with the already established team and my introverted nature made it quite hard. 

Wednesday

     Celebrated one of the team member's birthday at Pavilion so I took this as an opportunity to get to know the huge team better. This went in line with Objective No. 5. After lunch, I headed back to headquarters for a meeting with Taylor's Career Services, PwC's Human Capital and the other interns from Taylor's. Each of us interns gave a summary of our experience so far at PwC with what we enjoyed, disliked and what could be improved. Syerra, a recruiter, said she liked my answer where I said I would make the best of any situation even when I had to do mundane tasks or constantly change locations.

Thursday

     My work for Genting involved keying in the adjustments for the consolidation worksheet, typing the minutes and casting the financial statements. I casted three different subsidiaries and although it seemed like a lot of work at first, I slowly got the hang of it and I believe it is now something I have mastered. One task that was familiar to me would be the Risk Assessment Analytics where I would compare the previous year data to the current year data similar to what I had learned in Semester 4 for Corporate Reporting 1. It felt really satisfying for once I get to apply the knowledge I gained in university to my work. It just goes to show how important it is to not just memorize what I learned in class just for the sake of spitting it back out in finals and then forgetting it completely.  

Friday

     In preparation of heading into the client's place the following week, there was a Kick Off Meeting between the audit teams from my company and its parent company. They are both considered CLAS jobs. The meeting was for the planning stage which I came to learn is a very important part before auditing any company. It was also my first time being invited to a meeting and usually interns do not get to come along due to fear of sensitive information being leaked. I was honored that Alvin allowed me to come along because I could then learn what goes on in a formal meeting plus how to conduct myself in such situations (Objective No. 2 & 3). In this meeting I discovered that my client had made a loss previously and changed a lot of its staff force while the parent company had face a fraudulent case which is why I have kept the names of both companies private. It would be highly unprofessional if I were to release such sensitive information.

     I also got to meet the Engagement Leader, Executive Director and Manager and they gave us an audit timeline to follow as well as a reminder especially to us interns to be more meticulous when vouching since this is a higher risk company. Some of the tips the Engagement Leader gave was to pay more attention for transactions closer to the cut off date and that the supplier invoice should preferably be original instead of photocopied. At that moment, I could sense that this client would test how good a judgement I have as well as my attention to detail. 

Week 11

Monday   

     It was my last week of internship but only my first day at the last client's place in Kelana Jaya. As usual I arrived on time and was given the task of documenting the previous meeting's minutes. Alvin had recorded the hour-long meeting for me to listen to and fill in la template based on last year's minutes template. I learned which information was material and to be included and which should be left out as it was private and confidential (P&C) or immaterial. It also sharpened my listening skills and I practiced writing concisely. 

Tuesday

     Alvin had a meeting to attend so I was under the supervision of Yi Chong, an Associate. I did some vouching work where I had to make sure a sample of purchases were authorised and signed by the appropriate employee because each employee had a certain limit that they are allowed to authorise. Larger sums would require the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to approve. At first it was quite a challenge to recognise all of the signatures involved because there were quite a number of them but after awhile I could recognise them easily. Hence, this task helped develop better attention to detail as well as common sense in judging the compatibility of the authoriser and the amount authorised by them.

Wednesday

     Deloitte, who does the client's taxes, came by to give a seminar on the upcoming Goods and Services Tax (GST) that would be implemented on the 1st of April and how it would specifically affect the client. As I have only done some light reading on how GST affects consumers like me, I decided to join in on the talk to learn about the effects of GST from a company standpoint. Since the client is involved in surgical and pharmaceutical products, I learned which types of product would be taxed at the standard rate and which would be zero rated. The second half of the talk was slightly more complex for me to understand but what I could remember was that there were specific codes for the client to implement in their system as failure to do so could result in a heavy fine or worse. Despite the client's worries, Deloitte assured them that they were headed in the right direction. 

Thursday

     Thursday was my last day at the client's place so Alvin evaluated my performance thus far and I am pleased to say the evaluation was not only constructive but also motivating since he mentioned that he would definitely recommend me for reemployment which hits Objective No. 6. I took what Alvin said about challenging myself more as motivation to expand my knowledge and I did not let his criticism discourage me or to be taken too personally. Afterwards, he took the whole team out for a farewell lunch.

Alvin, Kim Chern, Yi Chong, me

Friday

     It was finally the inevitable last day of my internship at PwC and I had to be back at headquarters for the clearance process. The morning started off pretty slow with minor errands to do for Yi Chong such as mailing out a debtor's confirmation and scanning some documents. This made it my first time learning PwC's process of mailing out a letter. This was followed by slipping thank you cards into the lockers of my seniors as a little surprise for them. After lunch I met up with a couple of my friends to do the clearance together. Below is what the clearance form looks like before all the signatures were collected: 

Clearance Form    

     Handing over the laptop was the second last step before having to return our access cards so I took this as a chance to meet up with some of my previous seniors who were in office that day to say my good byes and in hopes of creating long lasting connections (Objective No. 5). Afterwards, we went to various floors to take pictures as keepsakes of our time spent at PwC.

With Keet Mann, Helmi, Wei Khit

     Lastly, it was time to hand over our access cards at the Human Capital Department where I finally met with Mona, the head of resourcing, and she gave me some great advice as I have already mentioned under Further Development. Again this helped me obtain Objective No. 5 as well as Objective No. 1 which is confirming where and what I would like to pursue after passing my professional papers. 

     All in all I could not have asked for a better experience because PwC definitely trained us interns well and I have achieved nearly all of the goals I had set at the very beginning. I can later re-enter the working world knowing just how to conduct myself amongst my colleagues and superiors (Objective No. 3) as well as having some basic knowledge on the audit process, which is a key learning experience to me. On top of that I have developed better soft skills like communication and technical skills like Excel shortcuts. For a reserved person like myself, I take the communication skills I improved on as a key achievement for myself. Plus, I got to visit so many different places, places where only audit jobs could take you as Alvin would say.

Career Plans

     To be frank, I have had my career laid out in front of me ever since I was 12 years old with both my parents being in the accounting/audit field. None of the decisions I have made concerning my internship were frightening to me but I still had some doubts as to whether I would like to make a career out of audit. I am relieved to say that my experience in PwC has solidify my childhood plans.

     After I graduate from Taylor's in Accounting and Finance which should be by the end of this year, I plan on doing my professional exams specifically ACCA. I do not plan on studying while working as I have seen how my seniors in PwC had to juggle between work and studies from six to seven days a week. After ACCA I do plan on rejoining PwC in the Assurance department once again. PwC has a special program for new hires called Industry Exploration whereby I can choose any two industries to try out before choosing a permanent industry to specify in. Under this program I plan on picking CLAS and MMG clients just as I had during my internship.

     Hopefully the connections I have made will vouch for me in the future and my job search will be much smoother.

Further Development

     On the last day of my internship I met with the head of resourcing, Ms. Mona, whom gave me great advice on rejoining PwC. Although the course I am currently enrolled in is very much in line with my career path, Ms. Mona mentioned that it will not be enough to compete with the thousands of applicants in a highly competitive job market we are currently in. She advised me to complete my professional papers as quick as possible to be in demand and the choice of professional paper should suit my learning style. On top of that she reminded me that while I am still in university I should try my best to keep my grades up.

     Aside from the knowledge I will need, I should also improve on my soft skills like communication and people skills. This is obviously something that cannot be learned by reading a text book or sitting for a lecture on it. No, it is something that I must constantly improve on through practice and experience. It is crucial for me to master these two aspects especially when dealing with clients or working with a team. My experience at PwC has definitely helped me come out of the shell I usually take shelter upon but I believe there is always room for improvement.

Resume

Cover Letter