Yesterday, the 3rd of October, I attended a workshop on public accounting hosted by Grant Thornton. I was pretty stoked to find out that an event like this was being held this week because I’m an accounting major and I’m interested in pursuing a career in this field. I figured this would be a great opportunity for me to learn about a couple aspects about the field.
When I came to the meeting, I was amazed to find that the majority of people in attendance were juniors and seniors, well as far as I was aware. I was also surprised to find out that Grant Thornton’s not an individual person, but it’s actually a public accounting firm. A number of professionals from the firm came to present that day and they all so happened to be Baruch alumni themselves too!
The meeting started off with free pizza and soda, which I was relieved to figure because I forgot to pack lunch and didn’t have much money on me. Afterwards, the professionals from Grant Thornton gave their presentation. It provided us with information about the kind of positions there are in a public accounting firm as well as specific timelines for different kinds of business evaluations.
At the conclusion of the presentation, the professionals from Grant Thornton had us complete an activity that would give an idea of what it’s like to work as an accountant. We were given a sheet that had a variety of numbers and had instructions on what we were supposed to find using them. The activity mostly involved the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division operation of numbers. But even with basic functions like those, the task was quite a challenge! While this activity might just have nearly gotten my brain cells fried, I had a pretty good time doing the calculations and filling in my results on that chart. Had I the opportunity to complete the task at my own pace, I probably would’ve done a better job at completing the thing.
Overall, this workshop on public accounting has truly been a pleasant experience for me. After the way I found enjoyment in the hands on experience from the task given to us, I’m feeling optimistic about my current decision to major in accounting.
-Francis Secoquian
Francis,
I’m so impressed you attended this event! Like you said, it’s mainly upperclassmen at these events but don’t let that intimidate you! Even if they’re not looking for first-year students, it’s always a good learning experience and leaves a great impression!
Baruch alumni are really successful and it’s great because they can really help you out when you’re applying for internships to specific firms by providing insider info.
I’m so glad you went to this event and hopefully, you’ll continue to attend professional events on campus.
Also, yeah that worksheet looks hard! 🙁
-Lea