Internship

Portfolio
Summer 2017
One or two Credits

Name ____Robert Hovey __

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Center for Experiential Learning Internship Experience,
L. EXP-294 Loras College
One Credit Portfolio

Internship Portfolios provide students with a summation of their experience. They allow the
student to take a reflective view of where they started, how their internship helped them to learn
& develop new skills, and provide a launching into the next steps in their educational &
professional careers.

The one credit internship covers 50 hours of on-site work experience and is designed to guide the
student through an introduction into career readiness & exploration. The Portfolio is the
culmination of those experiences with an emphasis on learning and expanding the professional
skill set.

In order to receive a Passing grade for the One Credit Internship*, students must complete the
following documents/assignments and submit them within this portfolio in the following order:

1. Title Page – Name, Loras College, Semester of Internship, Name of Internship Site
2. Copy of Job Description as provided by the supervising site
3. Copy of Cover Letter/Letter of Application from student to Site Supervisor
4. Completed Learning Plan (Template is included)
5. Reflective Journal Questions & Responses – As submitted weekly on eLearn
6. 2 Page Final Essay – Answering, expanding, and reflecting on the questions:
a. What did you do?
b. What did you learn?
c. Why did it matter?
7. Updated Resume including your internship experience

*In addition, your Final Evaluation template is available on eLearn & must be submitted
via eLearn by August 27th.

Completed Portfolios are due on eLearn by 11:00pm ______August 27, 2017

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NAME

LORAS COLLEGE

ACADEMIC INTERNSHIP FOR __Summer 2017___ SEMESTER

INTERNSHIP SITE

Desmond & Ahern, LTD.

10827 S. Western Ave.
Chicago, IL 60643
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JOB DESCRIPTION

I was assigned to the auditing department within Desmond and Ahern, Ltd. I worked under the

auditing partner, Dave Rambo, and alongside the auditing managers and staff: Jason, Kevin, Adam, and

Tom. I also did some updating work with the tax professionals within the firm, but that was only on a few

occasions. He firm that has existed since 1952 recently went through their third term of a partner buyout.

The most recent buyout occurred earlier in the year and these new partners are the ones who hired me as

an intern. Alongside, the transition of personal and clientel, the adjustment of technology platforms and

programs that were being introduced to the firm’s employess lead to a great opportunity for me as their

summer intern. I worked with forwarded new auditing information from the old system to the new while

also performing various audit functions under the guidance of the audit staff. I also had the great

opportunity to go on four separate client-site audits where I got to meet and talk to clients while learning

the audit procedures their companies or businesses needed.

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COVER LETTER

Robert Hovey
10715 S. Washetnaw Chicago, IL | 773- 546-8656 | [email protected]

June 1, 2017

To Whom It May Concern:

I am currently pursuing a degree in accounting from Loras College. As part of my education and growth in
accounting I am actively pursuing an internship position for the summer of 2017 to further my knowledge and
experience. For almost three years now, I have taken various courses in accounting including advanced
courses such as Intermediate Financial Accounting I and II, Advanced Cost Accounting, and Advanced Financial
Accounting. Also, I completed Accounting Research and Analysis over the summer of 2016 pertaining to FASB
and IASB standards to meet the Illinois CPA requirement.

Since high school, I have always had a passion for accounting and I continue to enjoy the process of learning
more about the subject every day. I believe it is necessary to further my growth in accounting through an
internship. My goal for the future is to earn a CPA license and work for either a public or private firm
performing various tasks such as tax consulting with clients, auditing, or payroll services.

I hope we can come into contact about the open internship position. I am very excited to learn more about
this opportunity and share how I will be a great fit for the position. Please feel free to contact me at any time.
Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Robert Hovey
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LEARNING PLAN
This should be a revisited &/or revised Learning Plan based on your initial plan submitted at the
beginning of your internship.

Please answer the following questions:

 *Identify two job/career objectives or skills this internship will help the student develop.
1. Goal/Objective: Become more comfortable with the audit software.

Means: Take my time in learning the steps and functions of the software.

Assessment: Made good progress over this experience and will need to take that
knowledge into the future.

2. Goal/Objective: Become a CPA.

Means: Get to my 150 credit as soon as possible and purchase the study materials.

Assessment: Have great time management and meet the goals of studying.

 Supervisor goals (What does the supervisor want the intern to learn/accomplish?)

My supervisor wanted me to get to know the software for next year and meet the clients that I will be
working with, also learn the nature of the firm business and how to perform to my best ability.

 Supervisor expectations (What does the supervisor expect from the student?)

My supervisor expects me to work alongside the audit managers and staff assisnting with different
aduting functions and procedures.

 How can the supervisor and intern collaborate to help obtain these objectives?

We collaborated my discussing how different things went and asking me what I learned or took away
from different experiences.

.
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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRIES

Week 1 Date _______6/25______________ Total Hours ____32___________

This week respond to the following question regarding your experience to this point.
What are the key events and features of this experience?
Response:
The key events of this internship experience will be attending audits performed at various client offices.
Alongside the audit team within the firm I will be going along learning the audit process and how to
interact with clients during the process. Some key features is first learning the audit software and how to
update or maintain a client’s account within the software.

Week 2 Date ______7/2/_______________ Total Hours _____32__________

What connection does the experience have to your personal or professional goals?
Response:
This experience will connect to my personal goals by giving me the opportunity to interact and work with
other people in a professional setting. Being able to interact with people on a social setting is a lot
different than a professional setting. Professional settings require a lot more emphasis on efficient
communication especially when I am working with a co-worker on a similar project. Personally I wanted
to increase my skills on interacting with people in a professional setting. I feel like the way I have been
helping other co-workers I have been able to get the opportunity to communicate in an efficient manner
in the professional setting and will continue to do so into the future. Furthermore, this experience will
connect to my professional goals my giving me the practice and experience of what CPA’s do on a daily
basis and what the functions of an accounting firm consist of. Currently, the client material I have been
working on deal with credit unions and I have been able to read different documents and statements to
familiarize myself with the accounting standards and practices that go into credit unions. Professionally
it is beneficial to learn about the nature of the businesses that our clients are involved with.

Week 3 Date _____7/7/________________ Total Hours ____16___________

What does this experience point out to me about my own attitudes, biases, or preferences?
What am I learning about myself through this internship?
Response:
This experience has pointed out to me about my attitudes regarding how my mind-set is going into work.
Obviously, everyone deals with the sluggish Mondays or between the 3-5 pm range during the day. I often
hear people complain the most about work during those moments which affects my attitude and mind-
set. I have to maintain my hard work ethic especially during those times my attitude seems to be lazy or
sluggish. Regarding my attitude I always have to remember to stay “in-check” while working so I can be
a good worker and prove myself during this internship. This experience hasn’t really pointed out any
bias towards anything I do on a daily basis. This experience has pointed out that I definitely prefer to get
into the office early and start my work rather than show up later in the day and continue working into
the afternoon. I enjoy being one of the first ones in the office and starting my work on-time. I am learning
a lot about myself as regard to my communication confidence. I kind of talk weird due to my speech
impediment, people in the past always asked me to repeat myself. During this experience I have really
focused on taking my time while verbally talking and pronouncing words correctly. This has boosted my
confidence speaking to people and really caring about relaying my message to people in a clean efficient
way.
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Week 4 Date ____7/14_________________ Total Hours _____32__________

What emotions and thoughts does this experience trigger in me?
Response:
Some emotions this experience has triggered in me is the appreciation for all the hard work that I have
done at college. The way I can interact within this midsize firm reminds me a lot of the Loras campus
such as knowing most people by name, always giving a smile, and being helpful. Definitely some of those
emotions I would have had a harder time realizing if I went to a bigger school. I am also so appreciative
of the opportunity to go to college in the first place because I am a big believer that school isn’t for
everybody because people can make a living do other jobs that don’t require a college education.
Especially in Chicago, many friends and family chose to join the very strong union trades in the city
which are solid jobs, but I am happy I chose to go to college, especially Loras, so I could get an
opportunity to do work that I enjoy and choose a career path I am passionate about.

Week 5 Date______7/21_______________ Total Hours ______32_________

What are you observing about your work environment? If you could, what are two things you would keep and
two things you would change?
My work environment is very interesting. My desk is in the same area as the part-time accounting clerks.
All of the accounting clerks are women whose ages range from I would guess 45-60 years old. I have
never been in a type of environment with majority women for various reasons. Throughout my whole life
and into college the sports teams I’ve been on always consisted of all guys. Even in high school that was
co-ed the ratio from guys to girls was pretty high still, in a classroom of 25 students there were still only
5-7 girls, so it was dominated by guys. It is often a highly discussed topic on women in the work force
currently as more and more women choose to go to college. I have lived in a home with a working class
mom and I have always respected women and their abilities, I never had the idea that man are superior
at any pace in the workforce. I believe the balance of men and women go so well in a workforce and
definitely one gender should not dominate the other. But, even having those views I’ve still never had the
opportunity to really work among a large group of women. This experience has given me that
opportunity and I am so happy it did because I work so well with them and they are very hard and smart
workers, I have learned a lot from them. So I would definitely keep my work environment area and really
the only thing I would change is that I am not so far away from the auditing department, but its only like
a 1 minute walk to the other side of the building, so it’s not that bad.

Week 6 Date _____7/28________________ Total Hours _______32________

What insights have you gained about yourself?
What conclusions have you come to about your gifts and values?
Response:
Some insights I have gained about myself is that I am more comfortable with learning computer
programs that I originally thought. I was nervous about trying to learn the company audit software, but I
have taken the time to really be patient with it. It has gone a lot better than I expected in the beginning.
Some conclusions I have come too based off my gifts and values is the establishment of personal
relationships with other people as a top priority. I have taken the time to learn everybody’s name in the
office and connect with them on an individual basis.
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Week 7 Date ______8/4_______________ Total Hours _______32________

What gaps do I recognize in my knowledge and/or skills related to this experience?
What is a challenge you have been presented with? How did you handle it? What, if anything, would you do
differently if presented with the challenge again?
Response:
Some gaps I have recognized in my skills is Microsoft excel. I thought I would be able to heandle that
program better that I have and I need to keep practicing and using excel. A challenge I have been
presented with might sound simple, but it is typos. In auditing it’s all about the fine details and if you
type an extra zero in a number on accident it can mess some things up. Also, words that are relevant to
information that I might leave out or forget to include can cause a problem. It’s really about paying
attention to detail and re-checking over the work I did which can be time consuming, but I often find
little typos or mistake that I end up fixing so it works out. I handles this challenge too by really taking
time with my work and being focused. I can’t do much different about that challenge because I am often
learning or doing something I have not done before so in the midst of that it can lead to little mistake. By
rechecking over my work that is the best solution to the challenge.

Week 8 Date _______8/11______________ Total Hours ________32_______

As you reflect on the totality of your experience, what skills do you hope to further develop?
How will you continue to develop these skills?
As I reflect on the totality of my experience I hope to further my skills in the understanding of auditing.
To really not only know how to do things, but why I am doing them. Being a critical thinker. I will get
more comfortable with computer programs as time goes on I believe. I also want to start getting more
understanding in tax consulting which I enjoy. I will continue to develop these skills by furthering my
education and remembering what I already know. There are various educational certificates I can obtain
in audit and tax to further my development also. All in all studying and getting the CPA license will be
the best thing to obtain and I will learn the most studying for that too.
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FINAL ESSAY

My summer internship experience was full of great experience and learning. The firm I

was given an opportunity to work at was filled with great people and my bosses really let me

have freedom while I worked. Desmond and Ahern has been an accounting firm located on the

soutside of Chicago since 1958, it currently employees 30 people with 19 being CPA’s. Most

recently, the firm has undergone a change of partner ownership a few months ago with the three

old partners, whome were only second generation partners, bought out by three new partners.

The three new partners are only in their late 30’s and have bought in a new young outlook for

the firm. One of the partners, Dave Rambo, is a CPA in charge of the audits for clients who was

the partner who hired me as their summer intern. I worked mainly with the audit department

learning their audit software and different client’s nature of business. Mainly, I was given small

client accounts that were non-for profits such as credit unions with minimum asset valuation of

$3 million dollars. These clients require less extensive accounting and audit procedures, so it was

a great way to start. One of the best parts of my experience was actually going out to client

offices to perform audits. There I was able to meet the client and even got the chance on a few

occasions to sit down with them one on one and talk about different procedural protocols relating

to the audit. There would have been no other accounting firm in m scope that would have

allowed me to do that as an intern and I am forever grateful that my boss let me do that as an

intern at such a young age. This past week, during my summer end meeting with Dave he

expressed how my hard work and dedication the firm did not go unnoticed and the partners and

him agreed to extend an offer of employment to me starting tentative June 2018. Going into my

senior year with a job is a great relief, but the experience I gained from just one summer there is

something that can’t be measured.

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What I did over the summer range differently day-to-day. My intern desk was actually

right outside the auditing department wing alongside the book keeping department. Most audits

had to be performed post 6/30/17 year end. So prior to the year end I worked on preparing a lot of

audits. Each audit has the same outline as far as procedures go, but every audit was different as

in what procedures required additional steps or material. So prior to the year end audit I would

have to rollofoward the prior year audit to set up the steps. That I would have to change the

information to be relevant to the current year end. Also, new documents would have to be

obtained from both the client and their bank pertaining to the audit. I would send out emails to

the client and the bank sometimes to get documents. Once the client of the bank sent over the

documents via client portal I would have to retrieve them and add the attachment into the audit

binder. The audit binder was kept on an audit software called Engagement. Everything was in

unirform and organized on the software so it was pretty easy to navigate. The challenging part of

the audit binder was following the procedures created by SmartDocs PBC which are audit

regulations and steps that aling in accordance with legal laws and standards. They are very

detail oriented and can requires a lot of steps if the client or bank records don’t match up, or

even if our records don’t match up with something. Once the 6/30 year end passed that’s when I

started going on a lot of audits at the clients locations. There we would work through various

documents for the audit and discuss with the client things that was discovered as material or

inmaterial. Some clients were very organized and some clients were not while others were in the

process of changing over material form paper to online files, so some documents could have been

lost in that process. In the end though we would always work through the problems and finish

the audit on-time and within the budget. The actual work I did during my summer experience

has taught me a lot and I am grateful I got to do so much as just an intern.

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I learned a lot during my experience related to audit functions and how to give

your client the best work as an auditor. First, I learned a lot about the firm’s softwares and how

they all intertwine with each other. I learned how audits are budgeted with clients needs and

how important it is to stay under budget to satisfy both the firm’s and client’s expectations. I also

learned how important it will be to get my CPA license done early in my life and career. Some of

my co-workers were trying to study for the exam while have a wife and babies at home and they

said how much they wished they did it right away. I also with getting the license early-one you

can start making more money early-on and creating your own book of clients. Also, there is a

certain essence one must present themselves with in the business world that I learned. It seems

petty, but really there are little things you pick-up on that are required to make yourself a

respectable workers. Starting with the clothes you wear to work, everyone was always

presentable with clean shoes and shirts, no torn belts, socks that aren’t mismatched, not facial

hair or chest hair that a client could see. Its stuff like that seems obvious, but sometimes its an

easy accident to go into work without looking totally presentable especially early in the morning.

I would eliminate that risk by always laying my clothes out the night before and making sure

they were clean. Along with looking presentable, the way you talk and what words you use are

important, there was never room for accidental swears along with always standing up to shake

peoples hands and looking them in the eye. Its sometimes the little things that go a long way.

The information I learned and experience I gained matters a lot to my career. Because learning

the things I like or don’t like is nice to know early in my career. It also mattered to learn the

clients business to get an idea of what their business is like in the future. The audit software was

important to learn before I start using it constansly at work. My experience at my internship was

really great and Loras prepared me for a lot of it because the environment of both the firm and

school are similar.

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UPDATED RESUME

Robert J. Hovey
10715 S. Washtenaw  Chicago, IL 60655  [email protected]
773-546-8656

EDUCATION

Loras College, Dubuque, IA May 2018

Working towards a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and Minor in Politics (3.3 GPA)
Four-year member of the baseball program

Marist High School, Chicago, IL May 2014

Student Ambassador
Four-year member of the baseball program
Two-year member of the basketball program

CAREER GOAL AND OBJECTIVE

Become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and work for a public or private firm performing various
tasks such as auditing or tax consulting with clients.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Desmond & Ahern, Ltd. - Auditing Department, Chicago, IL – Accounting Intern

June-Aug 2017
 Working with the head partner and auditors performing audit reviews.
 Updating audit software to be compliant with new information.
 Editing client’s audit binders to be in accordance with similar platforms and layouts.
 Entering quarter-end journal entries.
 Rolling forward trial balances from previous years to current year.
 Recalculating ratios and account balances to ensure accurate representation on financial
statements.

Loras College Marketing Department- Print Center, Dubuque, IA- Institutional Marketing Student
Worker
Aug. 2015-Jan. 2017
 Worked with the marketing department printing out their projects using different styles and
details.
 Talked to the department directors on formatting and outlining their projects.
 Troubleshoot tech issues for office printers and machines.
 Coordinated with other school faculty members for restocking paper and supplies
 Counted and reported inventory of paper and supplies.
 Answered faculty members’ questions about their projects.
 Calculated and filed billing information for faculty finished projects.

Chicago Archdiocese- Catholic Cemeteries, Chicago, IL- Laborer May-Aug. 2016

 Worked alongside a crew of six men performing various hands-on duties.
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 Duties were mainly, but not limited, to mowing, trimming, and clearing grass.
 Unloaded and loaded supply trucks on delivery days and pick-up days.
 Directed traffic for special events.

ACTIVITIES AND SKILLS

- Varsity Baseball Player -Microsoft Excel

- Student Athlete Advisory Committee -Microsoft Word
- Intramurals -Microsoft PowerPoint
- Volunteer at Loras Winter Baseball Camp -Microsoft Dynamics GP