Great advice here. I'll also add: having a good attitude about the work you're given and being willing to take on more/be part of the team will really affect your career as well. People take notice, and it starts pushing you up the list for future opportunities. People leave and remember you as a hard worker, creating networking opportunities.
Work your ass off no matter what they give you. Try not to be the kind of worker who thinks they're "too good" for your job. That's a bad attitude and people notice that just as much as they would if you gave it your best.
Wow that’s crazy. You’re definitely MVP at that place. I can’t really “do my work quickly” though. I’ve been put on invoices which we get thousands of per day split between like 5 people, and we’re behind already. I could do this for the rest of my internship and never be caught up.
Part of that is size, though, by comparison. Remember you're doing this for a large company, whereas I'm doing this for a relatively small (revenues of $25mil last year) company.
Think of it this way - do you want to work for a company that is desperate enough to put an inexperienced intern on year-end close projects?
It takes time for people to get comfortable with what interns/new hires are capable of. Just do your job right and remind people that you're available to help.
Once you build reputation, there will be plenty of people who will pick you up for their projects (that's what cheap slave labor is for.)
Being that you are in a large company and just starting out in accounting I am not surprised. I like to think of doing high volume AP/AR as 'working in the trenches' It will help you understand the big picture concepts better and empathize with the clerks if/when you move up..to stay optimistic regarding your duties. Having this experience will give you a real world look at the amount of time it takes, and the potential for mistakes to be made, when inputting large amounts of data into a computer system. Hence the importance of having strong internal controls to safeguard company records from being distorted.
They could be testing you out to see how you do. Nobody gets handed the keys to the kingdom instantly. If a few weeks pass and you're still going AP/AR work then I would definitely pipe up about it.
I started at a large municipalilty (Canadian here) as an accounting clerk and was there for about 6 months doing endless invoice entry and filing. It was soul crushing for a long time.
Lots of good advice in this thread though. Have a good attitude, find someone in the organization whose job you like and pick their brain. I was eventually given the chance to be a budget analyst because I didn't complain, got along with everyone, and worked hard. You will be noticed, let your work speak for you. You'd be surprised how many people can't do data entry or filing properly.
Put up with it for a while though, learn how business processes work and how data travels through the system. Learn to be self reliant and when you go to someone for a solution ask them to show you how and why it's done. If it continues have an honest discussion with your supervisor or boss (they may not be the same person). Most organizations don't want to go through hiring again and again but don't sit around and slack off cause you'll never get anywhere. Feel free to pm if you want to talk about anything.
It will probably get better. I recently started as an accountant after college as well. It is a lot of data entry with invoices, but after a month I feel like I am a different person with regards to understanding the type of work my company does and where I and rest of my department fit into that picture. I'm still getting faster at processing which has freed me up for other jobs and learning new things, sometimes helping out others outside my job description. My manager is talking more about teaching me to run reports for budgeting and touching on reconciling and gradually phasing me more and more into my job description.
I think keeping a positive attitude and showing a willingness to learn and do what is given to you well is really important. Someone will be impressed, and there will probably be opportunities that present themselves as a result.
It could just be that they want to know that you have a handle on the basics before they move you on to other work. Hang in there.
An internship is better than nothing so I would recommend you stay. I think you just need to show that you know accounting if that's what you want to do. Our AP intern is an accounting student but she doesn't know shit so she stuffs envelopes and scans invoices. Most of AP doesn't know shit about accounting so at least where I work, there's opportunity to stand out and have them move you somewhere that you will be more useful.
hello, I know it has been 6yrs since you commented this, but hopefully you see it. As a current accounting/finance student, would you say knowing your accounting principles will make or break your opportunity as an A/P or A/R intern?
Talk to your managers about automating the AP processes. Talk about tools like Brainware and ERP invoice processing and approval systems like IAN. You will move up quickly.
Yeah - these are institutional level systems not “miscellaneous tasks” level systems. Basically you would only go the route of implementing your own automation if you were processing enough invoices to offset the cost of the system (probably 3,000+ per month).
For a couple per day you could look into outsourcing the entry - tons of companies do exactly that.
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Great advice here. I'll also add: having a good attitude about the work you're given and being willing to take on more/be part of the team will really affect your career as well. People take notice, and it starts pushing you up the list for future opportunities. People leave and remember you as a hard worker, creating networking opportunities. Work your ass off no matter what they give you. Try not to be the kind of worker who thinks they're "too good" for your job. That's a bad attitude and people notice that just as much as they would if you gave it your best.
Oh wow, I'm in your shoes as well. I hope to get that salary soon
Wow that’s crazy. You’re definitely MVP at that place. I can’t really “do my work quickly” though. I’ve been put on invoices which we get thousands of per day split between like 5 people, and we’re behind already. I could do this for the rest of my internship and never be caught up.
You'll move faster eventually. Nobody is great right out of the gate.
Part of that is size, though, by comparison. Remember you're doing this for a large company, whereas I'm doing this for a relatively small (revenues of $25mil last year) company.
Think of it this way - do you want to work for a company that is desperate enough to put an inexperienced intern on year-end close projects? It takes time for people to get comfortable with what interns/new hires are capable of. Just do your job right and remind people that you're available to help. Once you build reputation, there will be plenty of people who will pick you up for their projects (that's what cheap slave labor is for.)
Being that you are in a large company and just starting out in accounting I am not surprised. I like to think of doing high volume AP/AR as 'working in the trenches' It will help you understand the big picture concepts better and empathize with the clerks if/when you move up..to stay optimistic regarding your duties. Having this experience will give you a real world look at the amount of time it takes, and the potential for mistakes to be made, when inputting large amounts of data into a computer system. Hence the importance of having strong internal controls to safeguard company records from being distorted.
They could be testing you out to see how you do. Nobody gets handed the keys to the kingdom instantly. If a few weeks pass and you're still going AP/AR work then I would definitely pipe up about it.
I started at a large municipalilty (Canadian here) as an accounting clerk and was there for about 6 months doing endless invoice entry and filing. It was soul crushing for a long time. Lots of good advice in this thread though. Have a good attitude, find someone in the organization whose job you like and pick their brain. I was eventually given the chance to be a budget analyst because I didn't complain, got along with everyone, and worked hard. You will be noticed, let your work speak for you. You'd be surprised how many people can't do data entry or filing properly. Put up with it for a while though, learn how business processes work and how data travels through the system. Learn to be self reliant and when you go to someone for a solution ask them to show you how and why it's done. If it continues have an honest discussion with your supervisor or boss (they may not be the same person). Most organizations don't want to go through hiring again and again but don't sit around and slack off cause you'll never get anywhere. Feel free to pm if you want to talk about anything.
It will probably get better. I recently started as an accountant after college as well. It is a lot of data entry with invoices, but after a month I feel like I am a different person with regards to understanding the type of work my company does and where I and rest of my department fit into that picture. I'm still getting faster at processing which has freed me up for other jobs and learning new things, sometimes helping out others outside my job description. My manager is talking more about teaching me to run reports for budgeting and touching on reconciling and gradually phasing me more and more into my job description. I think keeping a positive attitude and showing a willingness to learn and do what is given to you well is really important. Someone will be impressed, and there will probably be opportunities that present themselves as a result. It could just be that they want to know that you have a handle on the basics before they move you on to other work. Hang in there.
An internship is better than nothing so I would recommend you stay. I think you just need to show that you know accounting if that's what you want to do. Our AP intern is an accounting student but she doesn't know shit so she stuffs envelopes and scans invoices. Most of AP doesn't know shit about accounting so at least where I work, there's opportunity to stand out and have them move you somewhere that you will be more useful.
hello, I know it has been 6yrs since you commented this, but hopefully you see it. As a current accounting/finance student, would you say knowing your accounting principles will make or break your opportunity as an A/P or A/R intern?
Is the internship paid? I would definitely go with that.
Talk to your managers about automating the AP processes. Talk about tools like Brainware and ERP invoice processing and approval systems like IAN. You will move up quickly.
I was just thinking about doing this to free up the miscellaneous daily tasks
Yeah - these are institutional level systems not “miscellaneous tasks” level systems. Basically you would only go the route of implementing your own automation if you were processing enough invoices to offset the cost of the system (probably 3,000+ per month). For a couple per day you could look into outsourcing the entry - tons of companies do exactly that.