My STEP signature project was an accounting and finance internship with Resolvit Resources, LLC. Resolvit is an IT Management and Consulting company with offices in Cincinnati, Raleigh, New Orleans, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Ecuador, Canada, India, and remote workers stationed throughout the United States. I stepped in and worked as the Accounts Payable Specialist in Cincinnati. Effectively, I was responsible for any money leaving the United States bank accounts and the resulting bookkeeping.

My experience working at Resolvit this summer is responsible for an abundance of growth both professionally and personally. Professionally, I was given the responsibility to manage all transactions related to money leaving the bank account. This meant I was constantly processing invoices, communicating with vendors and intracompany departments, creating detailed spend reports, processing intracompany expenses, funding our foreign operations, and monitoring the cash levels in our bank account to ensure cash levels were sufficient for payroll and upcoming big-ticket items. Similarly, I was responsible for the bookkeeping and reconciliations for the previously mentioned tasks which reinforced a lot of accounting principles. Furthermore, I did a lot of work with the Human Resources department and our payroll provider to correctly register and file quarterly reports for the states we actively deal in.

Personally, this experience taught me how to foster relationships in the workplace with peers ranging in all ages, departments, and titles. I was at the bottom of the totem pole as far as title goes but got the opportunity to work daily with the CFO and Controller, sit in meetings with the CEO, and constantly coordinate with the CTO and head of Human Resources. I learned how to balance these relationships from a business and personal standpoint and both the enjoyment and quality of work benefitted. This job also gave me insight into the industry and set expectations for my future career. I have a much clearer image of what I envision for my future, and while I’m planning to shift from this line of work, I am very grateful for the relationships and all I learned. I’m confident that this internship gave me some of the best hands-on experience possible for a summer job.

The growth I experienced this summer can be summarized in three main relationships. The first and most important relationship that was pivotal in the success of this internship was with the Controller. The Controller was my immediate boss and was responsible for getting me up and running. He was able to take my prior knowledge about accounting, finance, and data analytics and apply it to the business. He showed me the systems, processes, and techniques to take book knowledge and make it applicable in the real world. It was from him that I learned a great deal about accounting principles and bookkeeping. He also did a great job of explaining how the business operated and the interactions between departments that made the wheel turn.

The second relationship that made this experience transformational was with the CFO. I would talk with the CFO through teams almost every day and would meet with him through Zoom twice a week to catch each other up and ensure things were on the same page. The relationship was transformative in the sense that he did a lot of what I wanted to do in the future. He took the daily reports I’d send, financial statements, and forecasted data from the United States and Foreign operations to make financial decisions about the future of the company. It was from him I learned a great deal about how to manage different operations as one and use numbers to tell a story and plan. Similarly, he was great about always looking for advice to give me. Almost anytime he thought of something that he was dealing with that could be a valuable lesson for me in the future he would shoot a team or bring it up in the next meeting. He did a great job of showcasing how he was using different reports from my day-to-day work to do his job.

The last relationship which contributed to the success of this experience was with all the other departments. I was coordinating with human resources for payroll, audits, and state filings. Meeting with IT to make sure all technological expenses were paid for and getting them reports on their spending. Talking with the sales and solutions teams to give them breakdowns of their spending activity and the necessary funds. I assisted the recruiters by ensuring their services and expenses were up to date. I was able to build connections with everyone in these departments as well as gain insight into what they do and how they do it by directly assisting or indirectly from the back end. Due to the nature of the job and being responsible for all payments out from the company, I got great insight into the tools and expenses each department utilized which painted a clear picture into what it is they do. It allowed me to understand all the functions of the business – an insight I’m not sure I would’ve gotten elsewhere this summer.

This transformation was significant to my future aspirations in the sense that it built a solid foundation upon which the rest of my career can be built. This internship gave me insights into a multitude of business departments and furthered my financial knowledge greatly. While I don’t want to continue working as an accountant, I think the hands-on accounting experience will prove critical as I continue with my finance journey. There’s no better way to understand financial statements than being the one crafting them. I have a much better understanding of what goes into the reports on which I will base business decisions in the future. Furthermore, I have dreams of starting my own business. I know the work I did this summer and the lessons I learned will be critical to my success as I get the business up and running. Understanding bookkeeping is an immensely valuable skill that will be useful for the rest of my life. In fact, I have a friend who is starting his own part-time production company and he has asked me to take act as the controller while the business is getting off the ground. Already, this serves as an example of how these past three months have opened doors to new opportunities not previously achievable.