I’m writing this blog post about a week after I said my final goodbyes to both my colleagues and Berlin. I’ve had time to reflect on my experience and share my thoughts and feelings to my friends and family.

The last week of my internship was bittersweet, as I was excited to go home because I missed my friends and family, but I was also sad to say goodbye. My supervisor was nice enough to give me a gift and take me out to lunch. I wasn’t expecting it, but I shed a few tears when it was time to say goodbye. On Friday, a couple of us went out to dinner to say our final goodbyes, and it made me realize how close I grew with the Pitt students that were in the Berlin program. 

In my Internship, I worked in the finance department, specifically the accounts receivable team. The amount receivable team is responsible for booking the payments from tenants, and clearing out the outstanding charges that have been paid. If they are not paid, then the team is responsible for determining why that is, whether that’s through speaking directly to the tenants, or speaking to the other teams in the finance department. 

My day to day tasks included booking bank transactions in SAP, which then matches up with the open charges so that we can clear the accounts and not have open items, which is an important task. It’s important for a number of reasons, but mainly so that the tenant doesn’t get notified that they have an outstanding charge, as well as on the month end statement, it’s important to show the CFO and our investors that we are collecting payments and generating revenue. Additionally, I went through a list that showed all open items in each tenant account, and determined whether there was an overpayment, or underpayment and the reasoning behind them. For example, some tenant contracts have step rents, which means the rent increases by a certain percentage annually. So, if a tenant underpaid their rent, it was my job to determine whether it was because of their step rent, and then clarify it on their account. I also assisted in refunding deposits and service charges. I would either input the necessary information into an excel sheet, or I would check the accuracy of the excel sheet which was necessary due to the four-eyes principle. 

I also worked on the accounts payable side of the operations. I would go through a list of invoices, and either send them out to another department to approve, or I would book the invoices into SAP. This included fingering out the clearing account, and with the profit center to book the invoice into. 

Along with these daily tasks, I also had specific tasks asked of me by my supervisors. At the beginning of my internship, Sirius Facilities was undergoing an audit. Therefore, I was asked to find specific bank confirmations, and organize them into an excel file. I was also asked to find tenant numbers, so that other departments could open their accounts. Lastly, I was asked to input outstanding payments into an excel file to assist my supervisor in his month end reports. 

I have seen so much growth in myself, not only professionally but also personally and academically. Being able to work in a big company like Sirius Facilities, I have a much better grasp on what to expect in my future career. My confidence has grown tremendously and I’m so much more sure of myself than I was previously. I believe this because I was repeatedly put in uncomfortable or unfamiliar situations, and I continuously held my own and succeeded, and so now I know more of what I’m capable of. I’ve become a much better communicator, as I had to work on my communication skills so that I was actively listening and also clear in my responses. I believe that I picked up on my daily tasks very quickly, which taught me that I am a fast learner and I’m adaptable. I got into the routine in my internship very quickly, and I created meaningful relationships with my colleagues. 

I also gained many technical skills. I learned how to use SAP which is a common software in the accounting field. Along with SAP, I worked with excel, S-Firm, and Sugar every day. I believe these are valuable skills to have when applying for jobs after I graduate. I also got to see accounting concepts I learned in my courses being applied, which I believe will help me in my future accounting courses, because I feel I will have a deeper understanding of what an accountant does.