The old interns are back for round two! After a summer away from the office they are back in the swing of things; juggling school, work, interning and perhaps a social life!! 
 

As Kurt departed from the office to return to his studies, this week marked my first week back in the office for over a month. Getting back into things was an easy transition, it was almost as if I never left. With the September 15th deadline right around the corner, there’s a push in the office to get the second batch of returns out the door.

The first piece of work I was assigned since returning was a math check for a tax return previously prepared. I went through the K-1 entries to check for common input mistakes like transposing numbers. Transposing is a common mistake everyone makes which is why it’s always important to have a second set of eyes review the work.

This past week I also took care of some administrative work where I had to synchronize the audit binders to a more uniformed reference number system. I also had to add worksheets and documents prepared by Kurt and released by CCH to the existing binders. This brought our system up to speed with the new updates. The purpose of this was to reduce the time it takes for the auditor to put the finishing touches on their work. Prior to this, there were several different numbers given to the same worksheets beings referenced depending on the type of entity being audited.

This was my first time using our auditing system since training. The task given to me was a great opportunity to familiarize myself with the system and the procedure used during an audit. All in all, it was a good first week back. I am constantly working on different aspects of accounting and trying my hand at new things here at Stephano Slack which is often not the case for many interns at majority of accounting firms.

——Kevin

The very first project I had upon my return at Stephano Slack was a math check for balance sheet. I was a little anxious about doing a  math check because I have had no previous experience on the task, and also because it has been three months since last time I worked in public accounting. Sitting at my desk with the balance sheet in front of me, I felt like I was brain washed by the accounting intern I had over the summer, and did not know where to begin.. The Math Check Instruction in accounting resources the firm provides was really helpful to get me started on the project. The instruction is written in a way that is very easy for a person like me – who has no experience in audit – to understand and follow. It was so detailed that I found myself checking and comparing my work with the instruction constantly while I was working on the project to make sure I was doing it the right way. It was definitely a good start of my coming back since I learned something really important on the first day!

I have worked on preparing information for Tax this past week. I’ve worked on making statements for trust funds, as well as creating Trial Balances. Working on the Trial Balance was really fun for me. It was my first time creating TB on Engagement. Though during the training I learned how to use Engagement, but I never really had a chance to work on it. I also used Dynalink to link the Trial Balance with Tax Return, and this really got me excited because all the data entries will be imported into tax return automatically through dynalink, which could really reduce the mistake of entries I would make.

With all the school works, classes, and interning going on at the same time, time management could be hard. But I find myself rather having fun here at Stephano Slack because it is the only time that I can escape from school work, and learn something I can apply to my future goal. I also find my experience here is also helping me with my school work, especially with accounting classes. Real life work experience really helps me understand the accounting classes better, because I can relate textbook contents to projects I’ve worked on before.

—–Jing

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