Senior Completes Accounting Internship in Connecticut
Deloitte internship opens future doors for Ashley Piechota.
11/05/2014 1:45 PM
By Brandon Wallace ‘17
Ashley Piechota ’15, an accounting 3:2 major from Hardwick, Massachusetts, spent last summer gaining valuable experience as an audit intern for Deloitte & Touche, LLP, in Hartford, Connecticut.
On a day-to-day basis, Piechota reported to her clients and worked with a team to perform financial statement audits. She worked with two clients throughout the eight-week internship, helping with setting up spreadsheets, tying financial statements, and performing testing of the client’s journal entries.
Piechota and the company also dedicated a week to community service, where they helped out at the local YMCA daycare. She also attended a conference at the company’s leadership development campus in Texas.
“Our conference in Texas was definitely a highlight of my internship,” Piechota said. “We were able to network with professionals and other interns as well as learn more about auditing, Deloitte, and ourselves. It was a unique and fun experience, and I was able to take a lot away from the conference about how I respond in work environments, how other people respond in work environments, and more.”
Piechota said that the biggest challenge was stepping out of her comfort zone and not being afraid to ask questions.
“In the first day of training, we were told that we weren’t expected to know anything, and that this internship would be a learning experience,” Piechota said. “Once I took that to heart I became less afraid to ask questions when I didn’t understand something, and once I got there I was able to learn a lot more about my tasks, my clients, and their industries.”
Accounting Department Chair Dr. Simon Petravick was Piechota’s main link to land the internship.
At the end of the internship, Piechota was offered a full-time job with Deloitte. She had some advice for future business students.
“Use your resources, whether they are the SCC, your college, an advisor, a professor, or an alum, reach out to them,” she said, “And network, network, network!”