Well, tomorrow at 5:00 pm I’ll be on a plane to Milan! I will be back in 2 weeks on April 9th, so this blog will be silent until then. I will be able to check in with comments at internet cafes, but since I (probably) won’t be doing any accounting-related activities, there won’t be any new posts!

Here is everything I’m taking with me. Yes! I fit it all into one carry-on bag! (Almost. I still have some rearranging to do in the morning.)

I have been relaxing this week, but working on getting started on my internship essays. I have changed my mind about a hundred times about the topic for my paper. I think I have settled on writing about XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) because it just sounds so useful.

My paper is supposed to address a technical accounting issue I encountered during my internship and a solution. I’m not sure that I really encountered this issue, but it certainly seems that some of the large consolidated audits could benefit from XBRL.

I will have more opinions on this after I get further into my research, I’m sure. It seems like there must be a more efficient way to transfer financial data between companies than what we used during my internship, but at the same time, I think that a lot of the issues may not be remedied with XBRL alone.

I’m interested to read more and see what’s going on with this, as it has been in the works for a few years now, but I never heard anyone at my internship even mention it.

So I had a long chat with one of my favorite professors today about what kind of firm I should be looking for. I didn’t tell her that I didn’t get an offer from my internship, but I told her that I felt like I didn’t fit in at my internship and I was considering looking at smaller, regional accounting firms.

Her opinion was that if one Big 4 wasn’t the right fit for me, there was still a good chance that I would like one of the others. I had been thinking that they might have some differences in culture, but would otherwise be about the same to work for. What I got from our conversation is that there are differences, and that there are also differences within any one of the big firms depending on which part of the country they’re located in.

The main selling point of Big 4 seems to be the “opportunities” you get from them. I think that people are referring to opportunities to move to a good job when they say “opportunity,” and are not necessarily referring to opportunities within the firm.

Then again, Big 4 does offer opportunities to re-locate while still working for the same company. That can make life easier if your spouse has to move for work, as you can hope for a transfer, rather than having to quit and find a new job entirely. Also, you can move to a different job within the firm, such as from audit to tax or forensics if you aren’t happy with your job. I don’t think a smaller firm could be so flexible.

Another good point that my professor made was that since there are fewer people at a small firm, then it could be even harder to fit in because there would be less diversity.

I’m not sure what to conclude here. I think a smaller firm could be nicer, but you would need to be pretty clear on what you want. For example, I know there is at least one regional firm that does a lot of forensic accounting, so if you knew that’s what you wanted to focus on, you could go for a job there.

I think I have to really define what I’m looking for before I fling myself into the job search again, so that I can explain to a potential employer exactly why it is I would love to work for their firm.

The “corporate America” image Zappos wants to avoid is basically what most CPA firms are stereotyped as being. I found this video interesting because their goals of providing high quality service and having enthusiastic, well-trained employees is essentially the same as what those CPA firms are aiming for.

Of course, your average corporate customer perhaps doesn’t appreciate the “little bit weird” core value, the same way your average individual consumer does, but it is interesting to think about!

Also, I wonder if the way they treat their employees is something that we’re going to see more or less of in the future. They provide free food and snacks, and encourage employees to decorate their offices to express themselves. The CEO has a desk/cube that’s just the same as everyone elses’.

So I was just looking at Cisco Systems’s website, when I saw a big link on their main page to a comic book drama they have posted. While it’s hard to avoid cheesy lines about fighting spam, I am super impressed by the comic!

The art and music definitely set the dramatic mood, even if lines like “I hate malware!” make you remember you’re watching an elaborate ad. It’s certainly a captivating and entertaining ad.

There are only two (I think of four?) episodes posted so far. I think it is a really thoughtful way for them to connect with customers.

sxc.hu/chappy14

My last couple of posts about the end of my internship have gotten quite a bit of attention, Thank you as well to everyone who links to me!

The reviews and comments on the posts sparked a lot of discussion about how recruiters and potential employers view blogging, as apparently not many interns out there are interested in sharing their experiences the way I have!

I’ve been involved with social media for a long time now, starting with Livejournal and DeviantArt at the beginning of high school. In fact, I still stay in touch with some people that I first got to know through DeviantArt.

There is something that appeals to me about blogging and connecting to so many other people just by searching for shared interests. It is very rewarding to know that even one person got something valuable out of my experiences (besides myself of course!)

I Can't Hide. sxc.hu/sande2

I know that I can’t rely on anonomity in this blog, as much as I can go out of my way not to link to my full name, etc on here, so I do have to pay attention to what I write. However, from the recent responses I’ve gotten, I know that there are people and firms out there who are just as excited about blogging and social networking as I am.

I had a great conversation with my father today about his views on blogging and online networking. I told him that I was a little nervous about the fact that I seem to be unique in blogging about my accounting internship, but that I really enjoyed being involved in this new world of networking.

My dad told me that when he was studying engineering, 40 years ago, the university got ahold of two Wang computers (think today’s TI-83 calculator). The students had the chance to use them, but you know what? None of them did. And look at where computing went from there.

Maybe some employers will shy away from the fact that I have a blog, but I hope that the ones that are pumped up about social networking will see it as a positive point about myself!

You learn some of the acronyms as you go through college business classes… but then you get into the real world and people start throwing these letters around like they know what they mean!

My last client was a software client that makes ERP and CRM software. I knew that these terms were familiar, but I had no idea what they stood for. And then when I figured out what they stood for, I still didn’t really understand what they meant. Those acronyms tend to stand for equally baffling words.

For example, ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. What kinds of resources? What kind of stuff does this do? CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, but again, with no direct experience I only have a vague idea of what that kind of software would do.

I didn’t really need to understand what the client’s software did, so I never looked it up, until now when I have downtime and they keep popping up in my e-learnings! Also, as a full-time worker, it is important to understand the client’s business, which means I need to be able to comprehend what it is their product does.

My approach to acronyms in the future will be to look them up as soon as I start hearing them tossed around on the job, or see them on a client’s website. However, I feel like I would really have a better picture if I could actually USE some ERP or CRM software for a bit to see what it looks like and how it works. I haven’t figured out how to do that yet. Any ideas for how to understand business-specific software without getting the chance to use it?

I am assigned to a client this week, but my orders are to “shadow” the senior and manager here, and not to charge any of my time to the client. And so far “shadowing” means, sitting here doing online training. Which is fine with me, because actually shadowing the senior sounds like I’d just sit and stare at her clearing open review notes. Instead, I’m learning about online branding!

I have been slowly working my way through the e-learnings related to the manufacturing sector. I guess I’m attracted to the industry because my dad works in manufacturing, but the more I learn, the more I think I should pick a different industry (perhaps one that is actually growing??).

Oh man, the e-learning is talking about “the internet is here!” and how we see brands on portals “such as Yahoo!, Lycos, and Excite!” Are Lycos and Excite still around? I feel like those are the search engines the librarians in elementary school taught us how to use…

Well, my paying internship will end in a week, and then I’ll have until August before I will have a steady source of money (hello, student loans!).  It can be tough to find a summer job around here in the best of times, as the area is filled with college students returning home for the summer. Add that to a recession, and there’s not much available.

Also, I have a part-time unpaid internship and a certain huge accounting exam to take this summer, so a job that requires a certain number of hours a week won’t fit into my plans. Instead, I’m going to see if I can get by on making some money online, and maybe sewing some costumes for people.

My goal is to try to make $15 a day, on average. That will at least cover my automatic investments each month, and hopefully a few trips to Starbucks!

Right now, I have an account with Associated Content, which pays okay money for writing. I make about $12 a month from them now without writing anything, just from receiving page view bonuses.

I also just signed up for this site called YouData. They let you put in information about yourself, and then you get paid to look at ads that are targeted at you. If you’re in a shopping mood anyway, it’s actually kind of fun. So far the ads I’ve gotten to see are actually for stuff I’m interested in. Right now it seems like the amount of ads they have available are pretty low, which is why you should sign up, because the more people they have looking at their ads, the more advertisers they can attract, haha. I do get a small referral bonus if you sign up using this link, but only if the people I refer actually make money on the site.

I’m interested to see how it goes, because advertisers won’t stick with it if people aren’t actually buying anything when they click through to their site. And if someone is sitting on their computer trying to make a few cents from clicking ads, they’re going to be hyperaware of spending any money. I’m going to give it a shot and see how it goes. It may be an extra dollar a day.

Well, I’m about to enter my last week of this internship. It’s been a fun ride, despite my days of stress. Most of the time, I am confident I can handle it.

The best part of this job is definitely the people. Every senior and manager is different to work with, but they were all great. And the staff I worked with were always helpful and great to talk to. I feel like I never had a ton of friends among other accounting majors, so it’s a nice surprise to me to suddenly be surrounded by people who are fun to be around, and also understand what COGS and EBITDA is if it comes up in conversation.

I’m sad that I have to leave the company now, but hopefully I will find out soon whether I have a full-time job waiting for me when I graduate!

I started working on an outline for the internship summary paper I have to turn in as part of my requirements to get course credit for the internship, so I might try and rewrite that as a blog post once my thoughts are more organized.