It's been almost 3 months since I started working for a regional public accounting firm as a part-time employee.  I work part-time as a Japanese translator to assist with communication between the prospective Japanese clients and the partners in this firm.  Whenever they need me as a translator, I get a call, and either I go work with them or work from home.    

Last month, I had a chance to visit a prospective client located in Eastern Indiana with two partners.  The company we visited was a Japanese-owned subsidiary of a manufacturing company.  So I thought I would be doing interpretation.  It turned out that there were no Japanese personnel at the meeting, and we all spoke in English.  Although I didn't do much this time (other than introducing myself, and sitting next to the lead partner), it was nice to observe the business.  On another occasion, I attended a seminar held by the Japan-America Society of Indiana in August.  The seminar was about the Japanese craftsmanship in the Japanese automotive industry, and focus of the event was learning the typical Japanese business style and networking with many mid-to-small size Japanese-owned companies in the Midwest.  It was nice.  I could see some of my ex-coworkers, friends, and acquaintances there, which was a bonus.   

It was somewhat a surprise to me, knowing local public accounting firms (like the firm I work) have connections to Japanese businesses in the Midwest.  I thought most (or all) of such businesses are in the Big 4's field.  I've never imagined a need of bilingual staff at a local public accounting firm until recently.  Maybe because of some unknown reason, or maybe because of an increasing pressure from Big 4s to the mid-to-small size companies for the quality standard strain (like we've learned in A514), some type of "distribution of business" within the public accounting field may be happening.  It looks like for the regional public accounting firms, this particular business segment is a growing potential.  I will report more, when I do more work. 

This is my first semester of college in the US I don't have a regular job.  Now, I have no work, other than the "as-needed" part-time job at a local public accounting firm.  I should have plenty of time to study, shouldn't I? Well, things aren't as easy as they seem.  Having more free time doesn't necessarily mean that free time is used for studying.  As I have more free time, I do goof off (a little, conservatively speaking).  And one month has passed just like that. 

To change this situation, I've recently started keeping my study time in a record.  Since I started, my study-time has dramatically increased.  This week, I studied ten hours more than the previous week.  This finding was quite shocking to me, realizing how many hours I would have been wasting.  What I am doing now for my time-keeping is I track how many hours I studied for one class subject every day, and add them at the end of the week to see how many hours I've studied in a week.  I guess this way, I am now more conscious about how to use my time.  So far, this little idea is working great, and I enjoy banking more study hours in my book of record, just like pinching pennies to save money.

I am not sure how long this simple idea keeps inspiring me for adding more time for study.  Maybe not that long.  There are only 24 hours a day, and I need a certain amount of time a day for my basic daily needs.  I just wonder…how many hours are enough for study?  And how many hours does a typical full-time student study a day (or a week)?       

Three months have past since I started working as a full-time intern at a local accounting firm in north-side.  So far I've made 8 trips (a week-long or longer) to GA since then, including one trip to Japan.  I am expecting one more trip to Japan (departing US this Friday!) for a fieldwork (testing).  This will be my last business trip, and my 1-year internship with this firm will end as I go back to school for a fall semester. 

This internship have been quite invaluable to me, not only gaining a real experience as an auditor, but also giving me the opportunities that I could apply a lot of bits and dots that I've learned in class to the real job.  I remember someone said something like this; Education that we gain at school is not necessarily helpful in a real life situation.  But it has certainly been "a lot" of help to me with this internship.  Let me tell you one example I just had today:

I was working on the audit steps related to the "other expenses" cycle.  I needed to perform an analysis for the two pension accounts; SERP Pension and Pension Expenses (Defined Benefit Plan).  There were work papers provided by the Company showing the actual pension fund amounts and the Company's general ledger prints.  When I first looked at these work papers, I immediately recalled the worksheets we've used so many times in A511; Defined Benefit Plan worksheet - showing the general journal entries and the memo indicating the actual fund status.  I cannot forget how much work I've done for the pension expense calculation; it was a complicated concept for me to understand at that time.  But because I've worked hard in class, it was somewhat easy for me to understand the overall process that the Company did for its pension fund recording, and I could complete the steps without confusion.  I do remember that Prof. Hassell said that we may even never encounter the company which uses Defined Benefit Plan - because nowadays the most of the companies are leaning toward Defined Contribution Plan - , and here I did see one real life example!

This is just a small example that I had with my internship.  But there have been many, many small situations where I could actually apply the concepts I've learned in class (especially the concepts from the intermediate accounting).  Honestly speaking, the intermediate accounting classes were such a pain for me to get through, although, it has been a joy for me to reinforcing what I've leaned through a real life situation.  I guess this "is" the value of education!

It’s been a while since I posted my blog last time.  I've been in Japan for two weeks, and came back beg. of this month.  Since then, I've made week long trips to Columbus, GA every week.  Weekend is the only time I can come home and let my hair down for a while, and then, go back to do some house-keeping things (they are piling up!), and work for my summer class. 

The trip to Japan was part of my internship I’ve been doing since last September.  I’ve been working as an intern for a firm in north-side Indianapolis.  This firm does financial examination (kind of auditing) for insurance companies nationwide.  One of its clients has a Japan branch, and that's why I was in part of this.  We conducted some interviews at Japan, and met some key persons at Financial Management Department.  My major task was to assist and help with staff both US side and Japan side, including translation and interpretation. 
 

The Japan branch of the client was located in Shinjuku, Tokyo, in the middle of the business district.  Every morning, we walked to the building where its office is located (the office building was only 3 minutes away from the hotel we stayed). Typically, we had one or two meetings (interviews) with different people in a day.  I learned how interview should be conducted, what kind of questions need to be asked, and how the overall process goes for the examination, etc.  The most important thing I learned was, being bilingual (or understanding two languages) is not enough!  You really have to know more than just the language!  Knowing language and knowing business is different!  I thought I did good amount of prep before going Japan by translating lots of financial/IS documents and by looking some documents that the firm did last examination.  But it was certainly not enough.  One of the things I could have done before going was reading the client’s last year’s Annual Statement, and maybe knowing their main products and their features.   
 

I am expecting to visit Japan again in August for the same client, so this time, I should be fully prepared!

On Monday, I attended a meeting of the Accounting Club.  The topic was about the accounting recruiting cycle and how to get an internship or a permanent job.  The information was beneficial very much to me, and I was kind of shocked that I missed information like this, when I was an undergrad student looking for a new job.   

I didn’t know about the Accounting Club until recently.  There was a Dinner Etiquette event held by CPO a few weeks ago, and it was when I got to know about this club.  I sat a same table with Jessica, who is an accounting major student and also a representative of the Club. She talked a bit about the club at that time.     

At the etiquette dinner, the guests of our table were representatives from a CPA firm, S&H.  I was excited about having a table with them.  There was a reason for that.  Last summer, just after I enrolled MPA (at that time) program, I attended a local toastmasters meeting as a guest, and met a lady who recently graduated from IUPUI MPA program.  She was working for S&H.  What made this incidental acquaintance with this lady memorable to me was, as soon as I said to her that I just enrolled MPA, she immediately brought up a name of an accounting professor who’s been teaching classes in the MPA program.  She told me how wonderful this professor was, and I felt that I should take his class ASAP and find out how true that is.  I also wanted to ask about the firm for which she was working, but the chance was missed.  The toastmasters meeting started. I could barely get her business card, and I hadn’t made any move on that since then. On the day of dinner event, I was able to sit with the representatives of this firm, and could ask what I wanted to ask almost a year earlier.  

Now, let me quickly review what I had: A lady at toastmasters meeting left me two names, a name of the firm for which she was working and a name of an accounting professor at IUPUI.  I soon afterword took one of his classes, and I felt that it was one of the most exciting classes I’ve ever taken (Ok, let me be honest here.  I have two classes so far that I most enjoyed.  Those were F402: Corporate Finance Strategy/Governance, taught by Prof. S, and A515: Federal Income Taxation taught by Dr. K). 

Going back to my quick review: I attended the dinner event and met S&H representatives.  I met Jessica at the dinner, and learned about the Accounting Club.  The club meeting was beneficial, and I was thankful that I could attend.  One another thing: at the meeting, I met an accounting graduate student.  She is from China.  We exchanged contact info, so we may keep in touch.  I realized how interconnected people can be across situations, and how easy it is to start networking.  

A little thing that I keep in mind when I do my small networking effort is that I keep the things going forward.  I pass the information to the next person (or simply anyone), hoping someone at the end of this network-web may be feeling “I got connected!”.

Since I started my graduate school work last fall, I’ve taken the courses of taxation, financial accounting, and business law.  I particularly enjoyed tax courses, since they are so practical that I can immediately take advantage of the knowledge and information I got (I love saving money on taxes just like everyone else!).  “Estate and Gift Taxation and Income Taxation of Estates and Trust” was another class that gave me useful information.  I was aware some of the disadvantages of not being a US citizen and keeping my status as a permanent resident.  The quickest example of such disadvantage is the right to vote.  I, as a permanent resident, obviously have no rights to vote.  From this estate and trust course, I learned that disadvantages exist in the area of taxation, too.  The course taught me the importance of being proactive as to estate planning.  Maybe I should think twice what I want to do about my nationality. 

As the spring semester is almost half over, it’s time to pick classes for summer and fall.  Believe it or not, the day of my graduation will come quickly, and I will soon start working full-time.  But, before that happens, there is still plenty of stuff that has to be done.  Choosing the right classes, keeping up with the classes, researching for my career, networking, studying for CPA exams, passing the exams, and so forth...  I am still not sure, after a couple of major career changes and years of education (and for that matter, it’s still ongoing), whether I will be able to finally get “my dream job”.  Or does such thing really exist?  Or do I deserve to earn it?  

Someone said to me that we all are doing soul searching no matter what we are looking for.  She said that all the efforts you’ve made (and speaking myself, I am still making) will someday get you where you feel it’s a good fit for you.  It may not be something you dreamed of, or even thought of.  That’s fine.  Satisfaction comes in a variety of ways, and it can change over time.  While worrying about what will happen later, I just do what I can do now, and enjoy my endeavor.  The important thing is having fun while doing.  I know that’s the key to making the magic happen. 

Hello everyone!  I am a new member to the Kelley Bloggers, and this is my very first blog!  First of all, I want to say "thank you" to the Kelley staff to have me here.  I am so excited!

Well, as a starter, let me just tell you a bit about myself...I am from Japan, and been here for...7 years by now (Wow!  Time flies...I've never felt it's been this long!).  Almost 6 years out of 7, I have been a student of IUPUI, the first 5 years as an undergraduate student with finance major, and now as a graduate student in MSA program.  I do remember my first year at IUPUI, I was so overwhelmed by the new environment...the classes, people, different language, different cultures...and so forth.  I was so excited about my new challenge, but also was so nervous whether I could catch up with all the study I needed to do. Every beginning of the semester, I felt "Oh no...I will not be able to make it...It is just...too much to me!".  My anxiety reached the maximum level, when I started reading the class syllabuses.  You know, the syllabus is the scariest thing!  It tells you all about how hard students have to work (and it's always not enough!), how difficult the class will be, how many assignments students have to do within a limited time, how students may fail from the course, and how soon the last date of withdrawal is coming, etc...  Reading the syllabus, for me, almost feels like watching a preview of a horror movie.  I know I am gonna enjoy the movie, and I know there will be a lot of shocks and screams (that I tend to have after the exams or getting my exams back), but since I've already watched the preview, I got to watch the movie anyway.  It's a mixture of scary feeling and curiosity that I feel when I read a syllabus.  I hope you understand if you are a student. 

Well, frankly speaking, after the 6 years of repetition, I still feel this way when I start a new semester.  The good thing is, from my experience, I pretty much know that I will make it through the semester after all, and syllabuses don't scare me too much any more.  Well, it's pretty scary still, but I know that feeling will go away as I walk though the classes every week (and study!). 

...and here I am.  This is my second semester as a graduate student. 

I hope now you got a sense of who I am.  This is me, Kayoko, or please call me Kay, if it's a bit different for you to pronounce (or read) my name.  Thank you for reading my first blog, and nice meeting with all of you.  I hope I have a chance to get to know you better, too!

Kay