My STEP project was a public accounting internship this past summer. I worked for Plante Moran at their Columbus office, which is in downtown on High St. During my internship, I worked with their assurance department working on engagement letters, programs, testing, and wrap up for various audits. While I was working at Plante Moran, I learned more about audits and their benefits and importance to the community. This helped me associate the why my career and studies matter and the big picture of providing assurance services. I was tasked with working with R&D, senior living, financial, and higher education firms. This wide variety of experiences opened my eyes to the vast scope of clients that public accounting firms work with.

A large part of conducting audits is the preparation necessary prior to performing testing. I was able to assist on around a dozen audits with their preparation work. In assisting, I was updating risk assessments, creating engagement letters, updating programs and procedures, and selecting samples that we would use during the testing state of the audit.

This summer I worked on compliance audits where we assured that companies were using grants for the appropriate expenses, and I helped with an internal audit where we tested a bank’s internal controls and helped identify areas for improvement. On these audits I was mainly tasked with testing where I looked at audit evidence that we requested from the client and looked for various things to support the assertions being tested.

Working on different part of the audit from start to finish with a variety of companies helped me understand the audit process better and understand how assurance is provided and the importance. Management, investors, creditors, and the board of directors all rely on audit work provided by public accounting firms. There is great reliance from the public on audits and the integrity of the auditors is extremely important.

Through my internship I was able to get a strong grasp on what my after-graduation day-to-day would look like working in public accounting. I learned that I really enjoyed the variety of work and clients that public accounting has to offer. This opportunity was very insightful in allowing me to test out a career in public accounting. After my internship I can confidently say that I want to start my career in public accounting.

The picture I inserted below is from the Intern Summit that Plante Moran organized. It was an event that all the interns located at offices in Ohio attended.