To broaden students' horizons and encourage them to seek an internship while preparing for their future career, the UIC Career Development Office (CDO) organised for students to participate in the KPMG winter internship programme. Nine UIC students received the offer and were assigned to work in the audit teams of KPMG's Guangzhou and Shenzhen offices.
Eight students are from UIC's Accounting programme from Division of Business Management (DBM), while the ninth student is from the Statistics programme of the Division of Science and Technology (DST). According to these students, during the internship in KPMG, they learned more about the accounting profession, improved their comprehensive ability and realised the significance of teamwork.
In October 2020, UIC Professor and Dean of DBM Professor Stella Cho invited Mr Zhong Qiming, a partner of the KPMG Guangzhou Office, as well as a managing partner of China Audit Business in South China. Together with several other senior staff, they shared their accounting profession experience during KPMG's seminar for UIC campus recruitment. This seminar attracted many students to seize the opportunity to apply for an internship. Afterwards, Prof Cho officially met the nine admitted students to know their working content and give suggestions for the internship.
Feedback from the students
Forth-year Accounting student, Liu Jiarui, explained that UIC's professional knowledge made her time go smoothly during the Hong Kong IPO project. She had a concept of the accounting profession and felt more clear about career development. Besides, with excellent coordination and cooperation in her group project, she generated responsibility and teamwork in work.
According to Lyu Zihan, a fourth-year Accounting student, working with seniors who attached importance to work efficiency kept her busy. Also, she had developed her teamwork skills with seniors' help and guidance, who always gave her a hand when she faced difficulties.
Third-year Accounting student, He Houyi, considered this internship as a tiring but meaningful journey. She could make use of the theoretical knowledge in practical working scenes and even learn something new. She used to travel to four provinces on business within 14 days, from which she experienced the rush of auditing work. She added that her communication skills improved, which will benefit her future career.
Zhou Yiyi, a third-year Accounting student, talked about how KPMG is like another university because she and her colleagues would help and learn from each other. She mentioned that she could cooperate reasonably with Hong Kong colleagues without a language barrier, thanks to UIC's English Teaching Environment. She also developed other soft skills, including sincereness, hard-working, and logical thinking.
Third-year Accounting student, Zhang Zihan, said as one of the "Big Four" Accounting Firms, KPMG implements a systematic work and service process and sophisticated techniques. She was able to develop different skills besides that taught in class. She also suggested that students look for an intern job if they do not plan to prepare for examinations during summer or winter vacations.
Ning Shuyang, a fourth-year Statistics student, told us that she had become familiar with the auditing process and learned how to make audit working papers. She was also impressed by seniors' seriousness, cooperation, and high efficiency towards work.
From MPRO
Reporter: Du Jiewen
Editors: Samuel Burgess, Deen He, Zhang Fan
