Leveraging the Internship: Integrating Theory with Experience

Claudel Brooks McKenzie & Linda L. Nelms

University of North Carolina Asheville

Abstract move into an accounting position and

Internships are a long-standing and contribute to the organization quickly. Such
worthwhile part of the accounting education an immediate contribution implies
experience, but there is an opportunity to knowledge of the mechanics of accounting
enhance the students’ understanding by and the procedures common in the field.
encouraging the interns to relate their work One of the challenges of curriculum design
to the objectives of their accounting is this tension between the long-term value
curriculum as they are participating in the of understanding solid accounting theory
internship. By meeting regularly with interns and the short-term payback of mastering
(individually, in a group, or by means of accounting procedures.
distance learning) and asking them to For programs whose graduates focus
provide thoughtful responses to questions, on larger CPA firms, a strong theoretical
the educator can encourage the students to background may be all that is necessary
reflect on their experience. Students can use because new graduates will be introduced to
journals to show their understanding and the practical aspects of accounting through
create brief papers and presentations to an extensive training program. For schools
summarize. that offer programs focusing their students
on employment that does not require
Designers of an accounting professional certification or responsibility
curriculum want graduates to have a firm for decision making, the curriculum can
grounding in accounting theory. Faculty focus on the mechanics of accounting. The
want students to be able to explain the great majority of programs, however, serve
concepts behind entries and to know when diverse groups of students. There are a
there are issues that might make it necessary variety of career aspirations present in each
to research whether one alternative or graduating class. This diversity of goals
another should be chosen. They want the results in a tension of balancing the need of
future accountants to know what choices the the profession for theoretically sound
Financial Accounting Standards Board had accountants and the need of employers for
to make before they issued a statement and employees who can make an immediate
what trade-offs were made among which contribution.
principles. They want students to understand The accounting internship has
the role accounting plays in business and historically been a way of addressing that
society. Professors want alumni to be tension. Students are provided an
accountants who can understand the changes opportunity for work experience during their
and the complexities of the financial world academic career. They apply the theories
and respond to each of those challenges with and procedures they have been learning in
wisdom and integrity. class to the workplace. They bring their
At the same time, both faculty and work experience back to the classroom and
students want graduates to be employable. it makes the material more understandable.
There is an expectation that the recipient of At least, all parties involved hope that the
an accounting degree should be able to benefits listed above will occur.

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 If the faculty designs an accounting given time, and some helpful hints, the
internship as a course allowing academic students remember that they were not born
credit, they may be able to consciously knowing the form and uses of a balance
integrate the objectives of the program into sheet, but learned this in intermediate
the course design. By deliberately relating accounting, and that their tax class(es)
students’ experience to academic theory, the prepared them to make some of the
experience can be enhanced and theory can decisions they must make to use the tax
be supported. This paper examines an software. But they don’t necessarily make
accounting internship course that these connections without prompting. They
specifically incorporates key curriculum are so overwhelmed by the newness of the
objectives. (See Appendix A for an work experience that they don’t immediately
extensive list of the assumptions used in the make the effort to relate it to their education.
design of the internship program. We Weekly meetings provide the opportunity to
provide it to enable readers to determine guide the experience.
which of the assumptions might be relevant These weekly meetings can be in a
to their own decisions regarding small group setting, in a one-to-one office
internships.) visit, or by phone and e-mail. The key has
been the capacity of the advisor to engage in
Focusing the Student on the Internship as a dialogue with the student. It is possible
a Learning Experience that the dialogue could go on in a classroom
setting, but that arrangement has not been
While internships provide valuable tested to this date. When meeting in small
practical experience, students do not groups, guidelines have to be set for the
necessarily make an immediate connection students to help them maintain appropriate
between their work experience and their confidentiality for employers and clients as
classroom experience. Accounting faculty at they discuss their experiences.
the University discussed in this case were Students are required to keep a
determined to tie the internship experience journal that combines a record of their daily
to the academic experience. The process activities with their observations on the
they created has multiple steps: students experience. They e-mail a copy of the
keep a journal to record their activities on journal to their advisor who reads it before
the job and to reflect on the experience; each weekly meeting. The meetings open
faculty interact with the interns once a week with a discussion of the journal. The faculty
during the internship to discuss the advisor uses the students’ observations as a
experience itself and to introduce new areas springboard for discussions of concepts.
to explore as they carry out their work Initially, many students make the
responsibilities; students summarize the journal a virtual time log. Some students are
experience in a brief paper; and students so detail oriented in their thought process
provide a short oral presentation to a group that the journals are essentially a list of daily
of faculty and/or students. activities. Other students take advantage of
It was initially quite surprising to ask the opportunity to reflect on the internship
students what accounting skills they were as a learning experience and to consider
using in their internship and have them what they are learning about accounting,
flounder for the answer. (Note that the firms what they are learning about the business,
hosting the internships praised the students and what they are learning about themselves
for their accounting knowledge.) When as it relates to their work life. It is very

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important that they reflect on the expectations and basic office skills. Some
experiences as they occur, that they write students have a background, either personal
their thoughts down regularly, and that they or professional, that makes this relatively
review them at the end of the internship to unimportant, but others are surprisingly
see if their perceptions have undergone any unaware of basic expectations. This is an
kind of change. (See Appendix B for an excellent time to remind the students of the
example of two journal entries.) confidentiality of the information they are
As the advisor discusses the journal handling, whether they are working in
with the student, a recurring question is public accounting or for another kind of
“What do you think is the most important organization.
thing you learned this past week?” The last lessons of the experience
Sometimes the answers will be humorous combine career planning with more
(“Don’t wear a good shirt when you are advanced interviewing skills. Students
helping move to a new location.”) and review the book What Color is Your
sometimes they will be very insightful Parachute (Bolles, 1990) and work at least
(“Some of the grunt work actually allows two of the exercises in the book. They relate
me to see the way things work in the the insights they gained from the book and
office.”). The question also gives the advisor from the internship both to the long term
insight into areas for future discussion. direction they desire in their career and to
the questions they can expect from
Introducing Ideas for Thoughtful interviewers.
Consideration Between these immediately relevant
lessons, the intern addresses, at minimum,
After the discussion of the journal, the following topics: the accounting skills
the advisor can introduce new ideas. As with the student is practicing, the value
any class, it is best to have a structure in accounting adds to a business, the uses to
mind and then be willing to adjust the which accounting is put by the host, the
structure when there are opportunities for ways the intern makes money for the host
learning that could not be anticipated. Each and the ways the intern costs the host
advisor may have a favorite sequence, but money, the importance of profit, how the
all cover the same concepts over the course host business competes in its field, why the
of the semester. The general means of organizational structure of the host is
introducing the ideas is through brief relevant to the employees, how employees
explanations of ideas and then questions that (especially interns) can make their
encourage the student to think about the supervisor look good or look bad, means of
issues. (See Appendix C for an example of a identifying and solving problems, the
series of questions used in a student importance of ethical conduct, and the
meeting.) reasons for and means of professional
In the case of at least one advisor, development.
the ideas begin and end with very concrete, The list above came from the formal
immediately practical considerations and objectives of our accounting program and
incorporate the more abstract ideas in from the learning opportunities that occurred
between. The meeting prior to the actual in earlier internships. At the end of the
internship reviews basic interview and meeting, the advisor may discover that he or
resume skills. Once the internship begins, she has not addressed all the questions but
the first lesson focuses on the host’s has had excellent discussion of areas that are

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of immediate interest to the student. An decide whether their time permits them to
example of an unscheduled lesson came in a accept the responsibility of an intern.
small group meeting when two students Every effort is made to provide
expressed anguish at review notes. (Review students with at least two interviews, but no
notes are the notes that accountants receive interview is set up that does not involve a
from other accountants who review their realistic opportunity for the student to
work before it goes forward. Review notes acquire an internship. Further, the
are almost universally negative. They tell department asks the potential host to contact
how the tax form or other work fails to meet the advisor with a decision within four
standards.) Both of these were good weeks of the initial interview. The
students who had received a lot of positive department added this expectation because
feedback from their schoolwork. Their there was a situation where a student felt
respective hosts found them to be excellent that the host had promised her an internship
interns, but both interns anguished over the and the internship did not materialize. The
perceived criticism in the notes. This host, in turn, felt that the discussions were
provided an opportunity to discuss preliminary and that the student should have
professional feedback and resulted in a new understood that the internship was
question for future interns. contingent on business conditions. To avoid
misunderstandings, early and ongoing
Process communications between host and advisor
are important. The early call allows the
Getting Started internship advisor to establish timely contact
with the host. In the case of a host who is
Interested students apply for an new to the program, this first call is a very
internship midway through the semester important time to establish some of the
before they expect to enroll in it. They must expectations of the host.
have successfully completed Intermediate
Accounting as a prerequisite. Faculty then Expectations of the Host
contact organizations who have stated an
interest in having interns, organizations with Expectations of the host are
whom they have a professional relationship, deliberately kept to a minimum both to
and organizations that have had a prior encourage the hosts to value the interns as
involvement with the program. Additionally, employees and to allow the advisor to
students can make their own contacts. This concentrate on the more directly academic
is especially important when the student aspects of the course. Advisors discuss the
anticipates an internship geographically internship with the host in advance if there is
removed from the immediate area of the any question about the extent to which the
university. work will involve accounting. Hosts have an
Students may request any member of interaction with the internship advisor
the faculty whose primary responsibility is halfway through the internship to provide
to teach accounting to serve as the internship feedback on the overall performance of the
advisor, and faculty have the flexibility to intern. The advisor then incorporates the
accept the responsibility or to refuse it. This feedback into later meetings with the intern
ensures that the student has some rapport in a way that will be non-threatening and
with the advisor and allows the faculty to helpful.

Reaching Through Teaching 42

 At the end of the internship, the host for the meetings, asks questions, and follows
provides an assessment of the intern’s up on the intern’s answers. The advisor and
performance that the advisor considers in intern discuss the intern’s progress with the
assigning a grade for the internship. Some host once during the internship and once at
hosts prefer to make this assessment on a the end. The advisor grades the final paper
casual basis in the final interview. Other and arranges and grades the oral
hosts have provided detailed evaluative presentation. While incorporating the host’s
instruments to incorporate their views of the information, the faculty advisor is
intern’s strengths and weaknesses. responsible for the final grade for the
The host can contact the advisor at internship.
any time and for any reason relating to the
intern. That is a privilege that has only been Value of the Internship to the Department
exercised on one occasion.
This kind of internship program has
Expectations of the Student the benefits of more traditional internship
programs and extra value beyond that. It, of
The student is expected to work for course, encourages ties between the program
the host for a minimum of 320 hours. (See and the community. It provides potential
Appendix A.) As students work, they are employment opportunities for students and
required to keep a daily journal that records keeps faculty in touch with alumni. At the
activities, observations of items of interest to same time, it gives added opportunities for
the students, and items that relate to broader instruction that are not always available in a
objectives. Once an intern and the host classroom setting.
discuss a topic, the intern will often include A key skill that the advisor is able to
observations about that objective in the identify through this program is problem
journal. The student e-mails the journal to solving. As an objective, this skill is difficult
the advisor prior to the weekly meeting, so to measure. In a classroom setting, it is often
the advisor has an opportunity to review the difficult for faculty to determine whether or
journal and make notes. not students are exercising their capacity for
Additional evaluation comes from a solving problems. In this kind of internship,
short paper and an oral presentation. The advisors can ask students to identify
paper summarizes the most important things problems they have solved and problems
the intern has learned during the internship they have seen their hosts address. Similarly,
in four well-written pages or less. The oral meetings of advisors and students can be
presentation relates to the same ideas, but devoted to lessons on ethics in the
the intern presents it to students and/or workplace, which is quite different than
faculty. This gives the intern an opportunity discussing work ethics in the classroom.
to build on presentation skills covered in When faculty can ask questions
other courses. relating to more abstract objectives in a
face-to-face setting, they have a better
Expectations of the Faculty Advisor opportunity to evaluate whether students are
making appropriate connections between
The faculty advisor assists the theory and practice. If it becomes apparent
student in acquiring interviews, meets with that students cannot make the connections,
the intern weekly, reviews the journal and there is a problem with the intern, the
discusses the entries, introduces the topics experience, or the program.

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 Interactions with hosts enable the but, because many of the goals have
advisor to receive feedback on the program remained the same, and because we were
in general, even as they receive feedback on very intentional in our approach to the
the intern. In some cases, this had led to course design, students, faculty and host
adjustments in the curriculum. In other organizations have generally been well
cases, the changes have not been made, but pleased with the outcome of the early
there is, at minimum, an awareness of some investment of time. We feel strongly that
problem. An example is the knowledge that any internship would benefit from the
some students do not currently have intentional approach to design.
exposure to risk management techniques.
References
Conclusion Bolles, R. N. (1990). What color is your
parachute? (rev. ed.). Berkeley, CA:
The specifics of this internship are Ten Speed Press.
aimed directly at accounting programs, but Fink, L. D. (2003). Creating significant
the process we went through to make the learning experiences. San Francisco:
program more than we had seen in other Jossey-Bass.
internships can be applied to any internship
program. Some years after we instituted the Appendix A
internship program described in this article, Assumptions Used in the Decision-
we saw a version of the process we used Making Process
beautifully described in L. Dee. Fink’s
excellent book Creating Significant Any accounting internship program
Learning Experiences (2003). He suggests must establish some of its assumptions prior
the following initial steps. “Identify to course design. These are assumptions that
important situation factors.” These are faculty agreed upon before approving the
among the assumptions we reviewed. (See design of the course. An advantage of
Appendix A.) “Identify important learning stating the assumptions is that all interested
goals.” We looked at the benefits we most parties can examine them and discuss
wanted to acquire from the program. In whether they are appropriate. These are the
order to make this step successful, all the assumptions our faculty affirmed.
interested parties—faculty, students, and Assumption A
potential hosts—were given an opportunity The internship would be an elective
for input. rather than a required course. This
“Formulate appropriate feedback and assumption was the result of both practical
assessment procedures.” We made the considerations and conviction. The
decisions regarding the method we would university, in this case, permits only a given
use to identify success for the goals. “Select number of required courses in any major,
effective teaching and learning activities.” and accounting requirements already push
The meetings and the journals seemed the edge of this limit. It is not realistic to ask
appropriate. “Make sure the primary for permission to add courses without
components are integrated.” (p. 67) reducing the existing requirements, and the
Fink goes on with seven more steps faculty could see no area where they wanted
and notes that courses need to keep evolving to reduce courses. Perhaps more important,
as the circumstances change. That has the variety of prior work experience of the
certainly been the case with the internship, student body made it appropriate for

Reaching Through Teaching 44

students to self-select whether they might students’ academic career. It was easy to
benefit from an internship. make the assumption, but hard to define
Assumption B where that point should be. There was
Internships would involve pay. At considerable discussion on whether students
the university, many internships are benefit most if allowed to undertake an
traditionally unpaid in order for students to internship early in the academic process or
be able to focus on a project. The unpaid whether it was better for them and for the
internship does not encourage the intern to program if they did not intern until they
provide general assistance to the host. The were well along in the program. The current
accounting internship would involve general decision is that it is better to err on the side
accounting duties and the peripheral duties of allowing them an early start than in
performed as part of completing accounting delaying them. Interns must only have
tasks. Accounting interns would do successfully completed intermediate
accounting work and their hosts would pay accounting.
them for doing that work. A related Assumption F
assumption was that the hosts were less In order for a student to receive
likely to provide interns with challenging credit for an accounting internship, the focus
work if the work were a free good. of the work must be on accounting, but the
Assumption C work does not have to be in an accounting
Ultimate responsibility for obtaining firm. A member of the faculty evaluates the
an internship would be in the hands of the likelihood of the intern having an adequate
student. Faculty could set up interviews with opportunity to practice accounting skills
firms and businesses that had expressed prior to the student’s taking employment at
interest in an intern. Students could also set the firm. The advisor can make the
up interviews for themselves. Faculty would determination based on communication with
review student resumes and provide a the host or based on general knowledge of
reference when deemed appropriate. the host’s requirements. This assumption
Interviewers were under no obligation to makes it possible for students to have
hire the intern and the intern would be under accounting internships in venues other than
no obligation to take an offer from a firm. public accounting firms. Hospitals and
The intern and the host would negotiate publishing firms, as well as other
conditions of work such as days of the week, organizations, have accounting departments
hourly pay, and length of employment. The with the potential for providing the student
advisor would be informed only when one valuable understanding of accounting if the
of the parties thought it was appropriate. host is a knowledgeable accountant.
Assumption D Assumption G
Any full-time member of the faculty Students should work a minimum
whose primary responsibility was teaching number of hours in order to receive course
accounting could serve as an accounting credit. After discussion, a minimum was set
internship advisor. The advisor would meet at 320 hours. This number of hours was a
weekly with the advisee, but the meeting concession to the constraints of the regular
could be a virtual meeting using telephone semester and the summer program. A
or e-mail communications. student in the summer program can work
Assumption E full time and get these hours of experience.
The internship would not be A student in a regular semester can work
undertaken before a given point in the half time and get the experience.

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Practitioners had noted that interns who one thing that stuck out about the review
were working less than half time did not notes was the fact that the senior staff
have a real opportunity to be involved in the member said I needed to organize the
flow of the workday. client’s info within that year’s folder. The
Students can take an Incomplete thing is, I felt like I had organized the
Grade or an In Process grade if information in a reasonable manner.
circumstances make it impossible to However, this was the first return that I
complete the requisite number of hours. worked on for this staff member and I am
Further, the student can begin the experience not used to organizing things quite as
before the official start of a semester if they meticulously as they want. I guess I was
are in contact with an internship advisor and either getting sloppy or there are various
know the expectations. Students are ways to organize a file in an acceptable
expected to keep a record of the hours manner. Anyway, I think that learning my
worked. supervisors’ different personalities and
Assumption H preferences is something which can only be
Students would not attempt a full done with more time on the job.
semester’s worth of academic credit in the I talked to one of the partners today
semester they undertake an internship. as the day was winding down, and he talked
Faculty assumed that a student who was to me some about how I was doing, since he
working half time could not take more than is going to be gone the rest of my days at
two other courses in a regular semester (one work. He was very encouraging in what he
in the summer) and that only one of those said to me, and I’m glad to get some
courses could be an accounting course. This feedback other than the typical review notes.
is an assumption that has been difficult to My personality tends to start to wonder a bit
administer and subject to perhaps the about the quality of work I am doing if I do
greatest number of exceptions. A related not hear anything one way or another in the
assumption that has held true is that the way of feedback. I do not think this is so
majority of internships would take place in much me begging for recognition as it is a
the summer. way to judge how well I am doing and to see
where I need to improve in certain areas.
Appendix B
Journal Entry Examples Thursday, 7/29/04
I spent a few hours today working on
The following journal entries were some financial statements for a compilation
from the last week of the student’s which we are doing for a fairly large
internship. He has since entered graduate corporation. This was a pretty long process
school. for me, since it was very easy to miss a
number in the transfer from the client’s trial
Wednesday, 7/28/04 balance to the more consolidated financial
I received a reviewed return back statements. Also, I learned to appreciate the
from one of the senior accountants today, brief parts of our intermediate accounting
and there were a few things which needed to text which dealt with the note disclosure
be fixed. Some of these items I was not able requirements of financial statements. I found
to fix yet because the senior accountant today that the notes should be quite
needs to get more information from some important to users of financial statements,
third parties in order to finish the return. The since they tend to expound on the

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information in the statements and give the discussion leads to additional questions on
user a more developed picture of the the part of the intern and the advisor. This
company’s financial position. topic is so far ranging that it requires at least
With the same client, I started two meetings.
working on their tax return using the • What business is your host in?
information from the trial balance this • How do they make money?
afternoon. This was only the third or fourth • How does the accounting function help
C corporation return I have done, but its them make money?
similarity in design to the S corporation • How do you cost the host money?
return made it fairly easy to figure out where • How do you assist the host in making
everything went. However, the balance sheet money?
was off by over a million dollars, and I • How does accounting assist the business
looked long and hard without finding the process?
error. It turns out that the cost of goods sold • What would happen to the business if the
information I entered from the income accounting process were to cease?
statements has to be entered in a different • What would happen if the accounting
manner in the tax software in order to arrive process were to be significantly
at the correct figure. I was not able to figure inefficient?
this out myself, but I was able to figure out • What role do you play in the accounting
that the cost of goods sold item was causing function?
the imbalance, then Shon was able to show • Do you see any way to improve the
me how to fix it. function you perform?
• [Get the student to identify the business
Appendix C process…understand the importance of
Example Questions for a Weekly Session making a profit from the activities that
Focusing on the Host Business go on…understand the need to earn
more from the employee than they pay
One of the objectives of the program to the employee…cover the concepts of
is to have the students who graduate value added, whether or not the term is
understand the role and the importance of actively defined.]
accounting in any business. Note that these • How does the company compete?
are simply the base questions. Each

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