Practicum Reflection

Name
Professor
Course
Date
Practicum reflection memo
TO: Program director
FROM: Student from Suffolk University
DATE: October 15, 2018
SUBJECT: Practicum reflection
Business description
Company Name: Nano-Ice
Company Industry: Apparel Industry
Products It Provides:  Cooling Necklace
Geographic Area That It Services: USA
Customer Base Served: Consumers
Industry demographic: Fashionable Necklace with a cooling effect, targeting all genders and age customers.
Market demographic: Apparel market in the USA was estimated to be around three hundred thousand dollars in 2017. The industry is expected to continue growing and expand globally, with cooling necklace being the dominant force in the apparel industry
Internship description and analysis.
Department In Which You Worked: Finance/Accounting
Name and Title of Supervisor: Sam White
Duties and Responsibilities: Generate reports, monitor the company’s performance and make a plan for future expansion.
Coursework at Suffolk University that informed or facilitated each duty/responsibility.
In the course of working at Nano-Ice I was able to learn a lot about real life experiences in accounting. Cost accounting was the most relevant concept in my internship. I had a chance to work on the cost of producing cooling necklace. Cost accounting knowledge proved to be vital in determining various types of cost the company was incurring in the course of producing their product.
I learned the importance of having the importance of effective communication skills: Oral and written communication skills.

Writing skills were essential when writing a financial report as the report was supposed to be concise, while oral skills proved to be vital when presenting my reports and communicating with my colleagues. I was able to interact with different parties on behalf of my organization. It requires one to have refined skills in writing in order to be able to communicate. For example, replying to debtor’s emails.
In the course of learning, I came to appreciate the need for high ethical standards in the accounting field. Dealing with company finance is a critical part of any organization. Some accountants failed to observe professionalism by embezzling funds and taking part in frauds. Accounting calls for an individual to have high integrity in all his dealings.
I also improved greatly in Microsoft Excel. Accounting involves keeping a financial record in a computer system. In Nano-Ice we stored our data in Microsoft Excel. This experience helped me in familiarizing with the software. With Excel one can be able to create a budget, prepare financial statements and create a balance sheet. This made me realize that Excel is such a powerful software that has the capability for complex calculations.
In the course of my practicum at Nano-Ice, critical thinking proved to be an essential skill as an accountant. This skill is essential problem solving in any career (Davis & Nicola, 2017). Having critical thinking, accountants are able to make better decisions, improve on time management which can improve their productivity in a firm.
3. How this internship has reinforced or altered my career plans.
Working in such a big company gave more confidence to interact with professional and equipped me the technical skills in accounting. For example, preparing a budget. With this experience I can be able to work in an accounting firm without feeling inadequate. This experience reinforced on me in the belief that accounting is a great career that requires; hard work and maintaining professionalism
Works Cited
Davis, Nicola. The selfish gene. Macat Library, 2017.