The Importance of Being Interns

By Simon Eskow

With the CPA exam looming on the horizon, and graduation soon to follow, one might think J.T. Scheriff already had enough on his plate to be clocking hours at the office.

“I’d be home studying, but right now it’s kind of busy here,” Scheriff said, speaking from his accounting firm’s office in Melville, Long Island. “It’s not a full-time position…but I think of myself as pretty much in a full-time job.”

The Hofstra University accounting major has put in as much as three solid days a week as an intern for BDO Seidman’s tax department since he began school more than three years ago. This unusually long-term internship has taken him from the copy machine to, on one assignment, riding a warehouse fork-lift helping CPAs conduct an inventory audit.

“The work I’ve done here is like what everyone else here does: estate taxes, personal income, corporate, partnerships, gift tax returns,” Scheriff said. “I’ve seen a little bit of everything.”

Whether it lasts four years or four weeks, internships, Scheriff and others agree, are de rigueur for accounting majors hoping to become CPAs. Interns glimpse their potential future working at a firm or in the accounting department of a company in a particular industry. They experience how text-book lessons apply to real-time business situations. And, they let possible employers get to know them better.

Overall, the internship gives the accounting student added dimension, interns and others say.

“I think it’s a big factor on the resume,” said Robert Kawa, accounting professor at Le Moyne College in Syracuse. “Recruiters look at grade-point averages, but since so many have good grades, it’s the work experience that should be the factor in candidate selection.”

No Mickey Mouse Operations

Prior work experience is compulsory to land more competitive internships, especially in larger firms and corporations that use internships to cultivate top-notch students for future employment.

That’s how Tony Gruia got to spend a week in Walt Disney World last summer. The senior at Baruch College in New York City was a journalist in his native Romania before coming to the United States to study, and he had taken internships in a hotel accounting office and at a nationally known firm. Unique though it might be, his background and work experience added enough heft to his resume to win Gruia a spot in Pricewaterhouse-Coopers’ eight-week summer internship program.

“Basically the internship was about training,” Gruia said. “We worked at various locations around New York City. I worked in financial services. What I did was I worked with various teams in that group, working for clients or doing research internally.”
Gruia said PwC expected more from him than his previous employers did. Much of his time was spent doing research in regard to an $8 billion hedge fund client.

But, PwC also offered more incentives: a sizeable stipend, meetings with partners, golf-outings, and a trip to Disney World, where he and 500 other interns from around the country participated in team-building exercises that had nothing directly to do with accounting.

The internship led to a job-offer, which will begin after Gruia graduates next year. Similarly, BDO Seidman’s long-time intern, Scheriff, will go directly to work when he graduates in December.

“Accounting firms like BDO benefit by developing talented individuals who are very likely to begin their careers with us,” said Randy Schwartzman of BDO Seidman. “These individuals generally enter the work force with both feet planted and immediately become a valuable contributing member of our firm.”

Industrial Strength Internships

With many CPAs going to work in industry, it is unsurprising that students find internships away from public accounting firms.
Baruch senior Maria Iwinska recalled her spring internship with Abbott Laboratories, the bio-technology corporation headquartered in Chicago, which she said has given her an edge and opened her eyes.

“What I did was work on hedging and treasury transactions,” Iwinska said. “And that’s what I’m learning now. So, I feel like I’m a step ahead of my classmates.”

Part of her responsibilities was to resolve differences between reports from affiliates around the world and with the corporation’s general ledger. Working closely with her supervisor, Iwinska discovered and helped to resolve a multi-million dollar discrepancy, she said.

Iwinska also received a job-offer, but hasn’t decided what to do yet. Whatever her decision is, she came away from the internship with greater perspective.

“Getting to know the culture, seeing how business is done, talking to senior management, that was probably the most valuable experience,” she said. “It was getting a feel for business.”