Week II

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It was a short week. The office was closed on Friday as part of a 4th of July four day weekend.

Monday was more self-study training on the ins and outs of PwC. I received instruction on my first bit of client work, which will be a personal tax return for a high net worth individual.

Tuesday through Thursday consisted of PwC's Knowledge Sharing Experience. Using PwC information resources, my team was tasked to figure out what services we could offer to the IRS and our other clients in relation to the Obama healthcare bill. Then we were to create a presentation (a pitch) which we would present to the partners as part of a competition.

The teams were a mix of tax and audit interns, which not only increased the diversity of the group, but also help to build relationships across lines of service. With that being said, things got rough. In my previous experiences with group work (both in the military and college), I would find that my team mates weren't as capable as I was. This would inevitably make me the leader of these groups and ultimately make me responsible for the quality of the work we did. Here at PwC, I found that all of the people in my group were as capable, if not more so, as I was. This created a lot of friction as we were all used to smoothly taking the lead during group projects in our respective school. To put it simply, we were big fish in small ponds where we came from. Now were we in a pond populated entirely by big fish.

The first day was a complete waste. Everyone had different ideas on how to proceed and since our instructions were so vague, there was no framework for us to lean on in determining our operating procedure. I then realized that this was as much a lesson in group dynamics at PwC as it was about the IRS issue that was given to us. I reached out to my career coaches and got some advice on how to get the group on the same page. As the clock ran down on the first day, we finally called a truce and agreed on what direction we would steer our presentation in.

The second day of KSE was amazing. I was used to carrying my team. I'm sure everyone else was used to carrying their teams as well. When we were put together and on the same page big things happened. We divided the presentation into three specialty sections so that we wouldn't waste time researching a portion that someone else was covering. My team would tackle this issue on three fronts: 

1. The IRS would need to enhance its information systems and data management procedure to handle the increase in data responsibilities.
2. The IRS would need to increase and educate its current staff to process the new information as well as deal with new privacy issues.
3. Our clients would need to be educated on the new tax issues while making sure there would be no conflicts of interest by working on both the IRS and client sides.

The quality of work that was produced was amazing, as well as the speed that we cranked the work out at. It was one of my only true team experiences and I was very proud of the technical document and the presentation that we produced. Also amazing was the fact that PwC had the capability to service the IRS and our regular clients on all of the fronts that we addressed. It really emphasized why PwC provides "professional services" and not just an accounting firm.

However... despite our best efforts we came in 3rd place out of 11 groups. It was a testament to the quality of the interns we were in competition with.

Week I

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Earlier I mentioned that I was assigned to PCS (Private Company Services), which I now know offers tax services to private companies and certain high-net-worth-individuals. So although I won't be working on any big name clients, I will be working on certain engagements from beginning to end... but I'm really jumping the gun here. I spent most of this week in training.

Tax intern training was composed of two days worth of general corporate-tax instruction and another two days worth of PwC administrative housekeeping. We went over form 1120, 1120s and 1065 and the various working papers that are associated with corporate tax. (Mainly exciting things like K-1's and 1099's.) Additionally we engaged in self-study modules to learn about general PwC tasks with such highlights as office etiquette and properly accounting for time and expenses. All of the training was very standardized but tinged with a corny/campy PwC flair. I definitely give them credit for trying though.

On Wednesday I participated in a PAID after-work dinner and social event for the tax folks. Of the list of sports/games that I expected to play in the office atmosphere, I can honestly say that bocce ball was probably last. It was a "don't knock it till you've tried it" moment as I enjoyed myself and my intern team took the associate team to school.

After bocce ball some of the interns who hadn't had enough fun (myself included) went back downtown to have a few drinks. It turned out to be karaoke night and I decided to wow everyone with my rendition of "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. I'm hoping my prestige among the interns (which wasn't too high) got kicked up a notch... well maybe half a notch.

Free lunches: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thurs
Free dinners: Wed

Day I

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Today was the first official day of my summer internship. The majority of the day was spent on administrative housekeeping, such as going over the PwC ethos (which was basically a day-long version of the PwC mission statement), imprinting laptops and identifying resources for both help and professional development.

PwC has a rather extensive digital knowledge base that I hope will end up being useful in practice and not just in theory. A SNAFU with the network they set up at the hotel conference room forced us to trek to the actual PwC office in order to complete the laptop imprinting process. I also found out that parking is going to cost me an arm and a leg.

I met up with several interesting people from all over the country and beyond. Some people were from as close as the local college and some were from as far away as Ghana (the country in Africa in case you failed geography). One of the ice-breaker exercises was to meet people that fit a list of criteria. For example, we were supposed to look for someone who had caught a foul ball at a baseball game or had been bungee jumping or sky diving. One of the tasks was to meet someone in the armed forces... Out of the 80 interns that were there, it seemed that I was the only veteran among them. The end result was my meeting EVERYONE. There were obviously some pretty bright folks but... there were also some folks that can only described as low watt bulbs. However, it's only the first day and far be it for me to judge a book by its cover.

Part of today's agenda included the breakdown of coaching groups and teams. Some of the teams have interesting names such as Gold Rush and Mavericks. My team is named PCS, which I can only assume means Private Company Services. I also happen to be the only intern assigned to that team (every other team has 3-6 interns). I have no idea what this means for me and can only hope it's an honor rather than a disgrace.

I've enjoyed the socializing I've done with the people I've met thus far and hope to create some long lasting professional relationships across the many disciplines of accounting.

Internship - Part II

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The second round interviews for the summer internship were held at the nearest PwC office, which was 120 miles away from my school. Part of the invitation that was extended to me included a per diem for gas/food and a stay at The Fairmont. My interview was scheduled for a Friday with a Thursday night mixer/dinner. I arrived at the hotel as early as possible on Thursday (and found out that PwC also sprung for valet parking) so that I could get ready for that evening. I had a feeling that the events of Thursday night would be just as important as the interviews on Friday.

THURSDAY
PwC has co-opted a banquet room in a restaurant that was within walking distance of my hotel. I arrived early so that I could introduce myself to everyone get my hands on. I was afraid that I might be under/overdressed in slacks, knit shirt and blazer but I soon saw that the range of clothing spanned loosened-tie business casual to evening wear. I noticed that some of the other intern candidates wore full business suits and they looked out of place and uncomfortable.

A buffet style dinner had been scheduled for 6:00 but wasn't actually served until 6:30, giving the intern candidates a chance to meet the PwC employees. I met for the first time H.H. that evening, who is a tax partner. There were many others that I met that night but I mention H.H. in particular because he ended up being my partner-interviewer the next day.

Seating was arranged at several tables with 3 intern candidates and 3 PwC employees at each. During dinner the employees would all get up and move to a different table at 20 minute intervals. I met some amazing people that night from all levels of PwC and had a great time sharing jokes and stories. It was a very low-stress environment and the PwCers were all very outgoing and approachable.

FRIDAY
Friday was divided into three periods. Two periods would consist of interviews and the remaining period would be allocated to an office tour by our interview "buddy." My buddy was M.B., who was a second year associate at PwC. He was tasked with showing me around the office and making sure that I made it to my interviews on time. I was scheduled to have the office tour first and then my two interviews.

M.B. took me around the office, introducing me to his friends in the different departments. Each of them took a few minutes to informally (very informally) tell me about their work. I must say that it was a bit intimidating to see a young Asian woman dual screening spreadsheets and tax forms in both English and Japanese. M.B. assured me that I would be fine and that if I really wanted the internship that he would make sure I got it.

(Random note: I noticed that a great majority of the employees at that PwC office were female.)

My first interview was with a managing director who greeted me with a smile in her office. I noticed that she had a picture of her and a golden retriever on her desk and I immediately got a good vibe from her. IMHO, dog lovers are usually very nice people. We got to know each other and talked about her dog as well as her duties at the office. Her work was actually a specific interest of mine and I was able to glean a lot of good information about the industry and the associated tax nuances.


Internship - The Beginning

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Let me talk about how I managed to convince PwC to give me a summer internship in the first place. It all started with an fraternity-like organization called Beta Alpha Psi (BAP, more info about them here: http://www.bap.org). It hooks up scholastically overachieving accounting, finance and information systems students with true blue professionals to teach them some of the tricks of the trade. BAP requires a minimum GPA (3.0 last I checked) and participation requirements for membership. But it was at a BAP sponsored semi-annual event called "Meet the Professionals" that I first met G.R., who would eventually be my first round interviewer for the summer internship I was going for.

Networking with G.R. didn't happen with just one meeting. I introduced myself to him in the Fall semester of 2009, just getting a feel for what kind of person he was. When the Spring semester of 2010 rolled around I was ready to engage him semi-intelligently. Thanks to a particularly evil accounting instructor, I had researched some of the current issues that the accounting industry is facing and had a few ideas (not good ideas, just ideas) about what to do with them. I don't know whether or not he was impressed, but we discussed the nuances of the situation until the conclusion of the event and I had inadvertently boxed out all the other students who had wanted to talk with him (sorry, but it's a dog eat dog world out there).

What can I really say about networking with professionals? I don't "work rooms" or have lists of names in my address book, but I've enjoyed some success at creating professional relationships. It requires a certain modicum of social grace that I believe everyone can achieve. The key for me was to act like myself and keep the conversation rolling. My older sister (who is a lawyer) informed me that 80% of her job success stemmed from communication and stated that the same would be true of me as well, no matter which profession I found myself in. I have to agree with her as I have seen firsthand, brilliant people perceived as lackluster because they could not articulate their thoughts properly. It isn't just about expanding vocabulary and learning "big words"... it is about adjusting the communication style and message to who you are trying to reach.

Anyways, back to the story... During the beginning of the Spring semester I submitted my resume for consideration for PwC's summer internship program. My GPA was slightly above a 3.5 but I had a lot of other items to flesh out my resume, the main highlights being a foreign language, military experience and leadership roles. My resume got me past the first hurdle and secured a first-round, on-campus interview with PWC.

As I noted before, G.R. was my first round interviewer. Since I was already acquainted with G.R., I didn't feel nervous about sitting across that desk from him. In a 30 minute interview, we spent 20 minutes talking about his family, house and daily commute. The remaining 10 minutes were softball questions about items I had put down on my resume, specifically, he wanted a couple of "war stories." The HR guru, M.C. knocked on the door and informed us that we had run over time and I thanked G.R. and left.

Two days later M.C. called to tell me that I had impressed PwC enough to be invited to a second round interview at their office.

Internship - WHY???

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Why bother with an internship at PWC? Why not just worry about getting hired after graduation?

Well, idealistic reasons aside (workplace fit, experience, learning, etc) , according to a 2008 PWC profile by Businessweek (yes, them again) 90% of their summer interns were given full-time jobs offers. Also, in 2008, 69% of their entry level hires were undergrad interns.

http://www.businessweek.com/careers/first_jobs/2008/3.htm

Does this mean that you absolutely must have an internship with PWC in order to be hired? Of course not! You may be part of the remaining 31% that gets hired without internship experience. On the other hand, being chosen for a summer internship can save you a lot of sleepless nights when you get closer to the end of your senior year. In a sense, the internship process can be the real Superbowl of employment.




I've decided to try and chronicle my PWC adventure. Hopefully this blog will help future generations decide whether or not public accounting with PWC is for them. This is going to be painfully candid and I'm praying that this blog isn't going to get me fired... assuming I get hired.

Why Did I Choose Public Accounting with PriceWaterhouseCoopers?

Let's start by taking a look at Bloomberg Businessweek's 2009 list of "Best Places to Launch a Career."



Notice that PWC is ranked #3 and that the Big 4 are the Top 4. The training opportunities and benefits are great and I thought that it would be much easier to move from a larger company to a smaller one than vice-versa should I decide to make the transition. I could go on and on about the salary, bonuses, healthcare, education assistance, mortgage assistance, yadda, yadda, yadda, but I'm sure that PWC will make me work for every penny.

If I had a million dollars would I still want to be an accountant? No! However, I found early on in my college career than accounting was one of the more productive areas of study that I found interesting and was pretty good at. The salary isn't bad either.

On the flip side, some cynical hires I've spoken with claim that once all their work hours have been totaled, they make an equivalent hourly rate of $10 to $25... which is slightly worse than what a UPS driver makes. (Speaking of UPS drivers, check out this income analysis comparing their pay with doctors' pay. http://www.er-doctor.com/doctor_income.html Long story short, UPS drivers come out on top.)