Johanna

Harcrow
INTE 391
Mr. Michael Blount
Summer 2015

Reflective Narrative

Over the course of my internship at McKonly & Asbury this summer, I

learned an incredible amount about public accounting, tax work and audit work,
McKonly & Asbury as a workplace, and most importantly, myself and what I want to
do with accounting.

Going into this internship, I knew that I wanted to work as a public

accountant, but I had not yet taken my tax or audit courses at Messiah College. This
meant that I very vaguely knew what tax and audit work was about, but other than
that, I knew nothing. During my weeks at McKonly & Asbury, I was able to perform
work similar to that of an entry-level staff accountant (rather than an intern that
just brings people coffee); I was able to do the work and learn in a hands-on way.
For tax, I assisted the tax team in preparing returns for various clients, and for audit,
I assisted the audit team in preparing financial statements and in assessing the
financial health and integrity of various clients. Beyond this, I completed various
projects for both tax and audit, all within the range of work that entry-level staff
would be completing.

As I wrote about in my narrative on tax work versus audit work, I also went

beyond learning about the fields via detailed work, but also interviewed several
employees in tax and in audit to get a more personal feel for the two fields. The
main differences that interviewees seemed to mention were that in tax, there is
more continuity because they generally come in to the office every day, while in
audit, they travel more and have much more client interaction.

Another thing I learned was that McKonly & Asbury has an amazing work

environment. When I initially heard about them, I recalled some fellow students
pointing out that M&As recruiters were extraordinarily friendly, and this proved to
be true. During my interviews to obtain my internship, my impression of them grew
even more positively when my interviewers spoke of how their culture and work-
life balances were priorities for them. When I began to actually work there, I had

the privilege of experiencing their culture for myself. They were kind, helpful,
positive, and encouraging. At the same time, they held high standards for their work
and integrity. On top of this, they always wanted to create breaks and fun activities
for their employees and encouraged us to take part in serving the community. Much
of their environment reminded me of my experiences at Messiah College, and
differed from what I had heard about many other accounting firms, the business
world, and working in the real world in general.

Finally, I learned a lot about myself during my internship this summer. I

learned that I enjoy both tax and audit work, yet would prefer to work in auditing
simply due to the fact that audit involves more travel and client interaction. I also
learned that I would rather work in a smaller, more personal firm with a great
work-life balance than a large firm where work is life and life is work. After I
received a full-time offer for next fall from McKonly & Asbury at the end of my
internship, I also learned that I would love to continue working at this wonderful
firm. I accepted their offer and am thrilled to be joining their audit team in 2016.