KPMG Hong Kong
In July 2017, I participated in KPMG Hong Kong’s Elite Programme and worked under its Audit Department. KPMG is a global professional services company with departments in tax, audit, and advisory. KPMG is one of the Big Four auditors in the world, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The aim for the program was to give student interns an opportunity to combine their university studies with practical work experience in the industry. My summer internship lasted for one month and the program consisted of a one-week training period, hands-on financial auditing work, as well as a social event called Kids’ Day.
Training period
Because all the student interns came to the internship with different amount of knowledge in accounting and auditing, KPMG Hong Kong assigned one week of training to get everyone on the same level before putting us into the real working environment. During that week, I learned the basics of auditing as well as the audit process. For example, I learned concepts such as controls vs. substantive, the two types substantive testing: substantive analytical procedures (SAP) and test of details (TOD), risk of material misstatement (RoMM), and materiality, etc.
In addition to technical skills, I gained soft skills through various team building activities: the ability to handle conflicts, differentiate hearing vs. listening, effectively communicate, and work well as a team, to name a few. My most memorable team building activity was when we were asked to compete against other teams to build the tallest, free standing paper tower. My group built a tower that was so high it actually reached the ceiling, which actually helped us keep it standing. Although technically our tower was not free standing, we eventually won the game.
Financial audit
During audit engagements, I assisted in the preparation of financial audits for real KPMG clients. An overview of a typical audit engagement life cycle consists of 1) administrative work, 2) engagement set up, 3) planning, 4) testing (TOE, TOD, and SAP, etc.), 5) completion, and 6) finalization. I joined the team at the client’s site when they were still in the early stages of the audit engagement, thus I mainly contributed with the set up and planning work. As a student intern, I was in charge of all the basic supportive work. In addition, I was able to work with the client’s income statements and balance sheets, and assist in simple calculations and analyses.
Kids’ Day
KPMG Kids’ Day was an event designed to allow the kids of KPMG partners and employees to experience their parents’ workplace. The event was set up such that there were four booths, one for each of the four intern groups, and the kids could go around and play at the booths. Our job as student interns was to create a game that was suitable for the event, present our idea to the elite program directors and senior managers at the firm, and then organize and set up the booth. The game my group came up with was a matching game where kids would flip two cards at a time; if the cards were the same, they could continue, but if the cards were different, they would have to flip those cards over and try again. In order to attract more kids to play at our booth, we had prizes and a “Wall of Fame” board displayed. The name of our game was 「記憶麵包」which directly translates to “Memory Bread”.
KPMG internship takeaways
Participating in the Elite Programme with KPMG Hong Kong allowed me to gain hands-on experience of auditors’ work. I contributed in the process of composing financial audit reports for real KPMG clients. In addition, I learned KPMG Hong Kong’s corporate culture and gained soft skills such as the ability to handle conflicts, differentiate hearing vs. listening, effectively communicate, and work well as a team. During the month with KPMG Hong Kong, I had the opportunity to network with senior members of the firm and learn their personal stories and experiences. All in all, I gained more than just both hard and soft skills, I also gained valuable friendship among other student interns as well as employees at the firm.