The Right Place to Start

By Jessi Cole

Photo by Megan Bean

Internships are advantageous for students of any field, but for accounting students in particular, the connections and the real world experience that internships provide can have very direct impacts on the start of their careers.

Moreover, obtaining an internship in a desired location is vital, as often an accounting student who proves to be knowledgeable and hard working is offered a position by the employer at the end of his or her term.

Adkerson School of Accountancy graduate student Maggie Wheeler had the invaluable opportunity to intern at KPMG in New York, NY, as a senior this past spring. Wheeler knew she wanted to live in New York after college, so the internship seemed an ideal fit for her career plans.

The College of Business’ Richard C. Adkerson School of Accountancy has a curriculum designed to permit students to complete internships, typically during the spring semester of their senior years, without getting behind in coursework. Internships are 40-hour-perweek paid positions that also earn students six credit hours. Most take place from January through March, and undergraduates can then take two concentrated three-hour courses upon their return to campus.

Taking advantage of this program, Wheeler was able to complete her KPMG internship and her bachelor’s degree in the same semester.

Wheeler’s time in “the city that never sleeps” enabled her to become accustomed to living in a new place and develop a level of comfort in the New York environment.

“I had three roommates who were also accounting interns in the city,” she recalls. “We shared a three bedroom apartment that was below street level. We lived on West 47th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues in Hell’s Kitchen. It was about a twenty minute walk to the office.”

Asked about the biggest difference between life in Mississippi and New York City, Wheeler replies, “The fast pace. The attitude of people. I liked being in a ‘get up, get going’ kind of lifestyle. I like to always be moving. I enjoyed that there was always something going on.”

During her free time, she and her fellow KPMG interns took advantage of being in the city, visiting comedy clubs, hanging out in Central Park and exploring the city’s restaurant scene.

Living in her chosen city, Wheeler propelled her professional prospects forward. She established a number of contacts in accounting spheres there. Most importantly, she gained first-hand experience in tax accounting, her area of focus.

As one of the Big Four accounting firms, KPMG employs more than 3,500 people in its New York City office alone. The company has a reputation for premier service and quality work, and its internship program is widely known as one of the best in the country.

Interns work on client projects, develop technical skills and experience the culture of a large accounting firm. Client projects can span many sectors and industries, giving interns insight into new worlds. A balance of on-the-job training, mentoring, classroom training and professional networking opportunities is provided, so the internship experience is one of meaning and relevance.

Wheeler’s path to this coveted program began in January 2016, when she flew to New York to attend the firm’s “Why Tax” Conference. There, she networked with KPMG professionals and interviewed for the firm’s summer student leadership program, Discover KPMG. After interviewing for an internship at Discover KPMG, she was offered a slot with the New York office’s asset management tax group.

Before her work began, Wheeler was flown to Orlando, FL, where she took part in a weeklong training program with the company’s other interns from across the country. Once settled in New York, she and 11 peers were assigned to assist several senior associates. With her training from Mississippi State University and from the company itself, Wheeler was able to work successfully with some 20 to 30 clients during the course of the internship.

When asked about working with the KPMG associates, Wheeler says, “They would give me assignments and talk them over with me until I felt comfortable. Then they reviewed my work. It was a great learning experience, and I always felt like the professionals were happy to help me.”

The practical application of what she had learned at Mississippi State was, she says, “incredible, because I had the opportunity to perform real work that mattered. I was able to take things that I had learned in my undergraduate career and apply them to real life.”

The Adkerson School of Accountancy (ASAC) boasts a near 100 percent job placement rate for its graduate level students. Both the undergraduate and master’s programs are listed among the top 25 in the country for schools with fewer than 17 full-time faculty by the Commerce Clearing House (CCH) Public Accounting Report. CCH also ranks both programs among the top 25 in the region regardless of size.

Fortune 500 companies such as FedEx and International Paper repeatedly return to MSU to recruit its accounting students. At the Big Four accounting firms of Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, and KPMG – which have been reported to serve 99 percent of the companies in the Financial Stock Exchange 100 Index – ASAC interns and graduates are in demand as well.

There is a reason for this, Wheeler says.

“The Adkerson School of Accountancy has continually encouraged and fostered my interest in accounting,” she remarks. “My academic training prepared me to effectively compete with peers from much larger and more well-known accounting programs during my internship. I am confident that my education in this program has prepared me to be decidedly successful in my career.”

The time and work Wheeler put into her education and her internship have rewarded her with success. Upon leaving the program, she was offered a full-time position with KPMG in New York, which she was happy to accept.

Currently, Wheeler is working on her Master’s in Taxation degree at Mississippi State, and she plans to graduate this May. She can rest assured that the job she has long looked toward in New York City awaits. She will begin her career with KPMG in October 2018.

“I am really looking forward to taking the next big step in my future,” states Wheeler. “Thanks to the Adkerson School of Accountancy, my dreams of moving to New York City are becoming a reality!”