Accounting Interns Wanted-Platinum Accounting Partners

Florianacct

Accounting Interns Wanted-Platinum Accounting Partners

2013年我们在原Level 1 Accounting Training 中 新加入 3门课程:

Inventory Processing and Year End Stock Take & Adjustment

Accounting System Comparison: Saasu& SAP

Individual Tax Return and Company Tax Return

在原有的课程基础新加入的课程可以让所有的学员在未来职位的选择中更加的灵活, 不论是Commercial Accounting Sector OR Public Accounting Firms, 您都可以有相关的Technical Skills胜任未来的任何职位.


Is it your dream to find your first accounting role?

Platinum Accounting Partners Training and internship programs are ideal for those wishing to make a career in the accounting field. The program will suit university students or those looking to get their first accounting role.

We are part of an accounting network under a CPA Accounting Practice that offers taxation and accounting services to the general public. We also run accounting training & internship programs to help candidates secure their ideal roles in the accounting field. Our programs are specifically tailored to people with the below background:

Migrants with overseas accounting work experience but lack local work experience
Accounting graduates working in non-related areas looking to move into accounting
University accounting students who would like to accumulate hands on experience to assist their job hunting
Bookkeepers who would like to move up to accountant roles

This is a 6 month part-time program. It can also be fast tracked if interns can arrange more time every week.
Please note that all work has already been done by Platinum Accounting Partners staff and the package is only designed to provide a chance for trainees to accumulate practical experience through handling Platinum Accounting internal accounts. Since interns are not creating value for the company through such work, it is an unpaid internship. You will be assigned a supervisor to report to and your performance will be evaluated by us in a written report to confirm your technical strengths and weaknesses. Upon the completion of this Internship, we will be able to provide an unpaid internship work experience reference. The tasks that you have to complete during the internship include:

1quarter Platinum Accounting Partners internal accounts - AP/AR; Bank Rec; Credit Card Rec, BAS, etc.


1quarter Platinum Accounting Partners complex internal accounts – Monthly Payroll; Quarterly BAS, Monthly Journal Postings, etc.


1annual company year-end tasks – Prepayments; FAR; Accruals; Inventory &Lease Accounting;


Preparation of Annual Statutory Accounts for Platinum Accounting.


1 quarter Platinum Accounting Partners General Ledger Reconciliation-Petty Cash



Internship over training

The prerequisite for starting the internship is to complete our level 1 training program. At Platinum, we believe the internship experience is more beneficial for candidates to achieve success in their accounting career. While training is important, your interview and work performance will benefit most from have a real understanding of the accounting process and holding a real set of accounts. The intern program gives you this hands-on experience.




Level 1Training


This program is suitable for those who have a strong accounting academic background, but lack Australian work experience in the accounting industry. It is also the prerequisite for trainees to move on to our unpaid internship program.


1) Induction– overview of Financial Accounting and Management Accounting


2) Excel Training


3) Accounts Payable/Accounts Receivable


4) Bank Reconciliations


5) Credit Card Reconciliations



6) Prepayments Schedule/Journals



7) Fixed Assets Register/Depreciation



8) Accruals(V-lookup function etc.


9) Inventory/Stock Processing & Year End Stock Take Adjustment



10) Cost Centre Analysis (V-lookup, PivotTable etc;)



11) Saasu and SAP Comparison


12) General Ledger Reconciliations



13) BAS (GST, PAYG Tax Withheld; PAYG Income Tax Instalments; FBT)



14) Payroll (PAYG Calculation and pay cheque process)



Duration: 2 months on a part time basis and can be fast tracked in 3 weeks. This can be counted as part of the 6 months internship period



If you would like more details about our programs, please feel free to give us a call if you have any further enquiry. We can be reached at 02 8889 4111 or 0412 624948. Also please feel free to send us an email at info@Platinumaccountingpartners.com.au, We would be happy to help in your accounting career. If you are interested in starting the program, please make an appointment with us for more detailed information.

[ 本帖最后由 Florianacct 于 7-3-2013 10:35 编辑 ]

Florianacct

Hi all,

First, please join me in congratulating both Samantha Xiao & Frances Zhou for getting their new accounting jobs last week. More importantly, they both have got 2 offers so they each had to turn one of them down. They are both permanent roles. Isn’t it great to be able to be picky and choosy? Thanks girls for giving the feedback so that everyone can share the successful experience.



Just would like to encourage all of you to conduct your job hunting more diligently. You hard work will be paid off. Also, Frances is still in her professional year study, which indicates that PR is not necessarily your stumbling block. You just have to stay positive and be persistent.



Here are some new feedback from their interview process:

Technical Questions:

What is the short cut on MYOB for Accounts? – Ctrl + 1;
What is the short cut on MYOB for Sales? – Ctrl + 2;
Samantha even took a typing test – Her performance is 40 wpm and the employer is very happy with it. Well done, Sam.
Frances went through numerous rounds of practical tests regarding Payroll tax, Super employer contributions, PAYG calculation and payment;

Behavioral Questions:

Similar to what we’ve updated before, such as why you wanted to leave Florian, How you met your deadlines, etc. According to Frances, all the behavioral questions she came across have been covered in Jeff’s interview class.



Important Points to Note:

1.                   I’ve been receiving employer reference phone calls very frequently recently. To those who have gone through second round interviews, please send me an sms to notify me so that I can look out for it; - Please help me to help you out;

2.                   For those who have changed their names on their resumes after Jeff’s interview course, please let me know the name that you quoted to your future employer so that I know how to respond to it.

3.                   For those trainees who still haven’t received any phone calls or interviews, I strongly recommended you to take Jeff’s interview course. All those trainees who were called for interviews or found jobs recently have totally done up their resumes to a professional level through the course. This course will focus on your own life experience and make your resumes more tailored. That is how it can make a difference. Resumes are your sales documents, please do not underestimate it importance.

4.                   For those who received the rejection letters, please do not give up or feel discouraged. Everyone receives rejection letters and it is silly to get emotional about it. Please learn to get over it and move on quickly. That is a winners’ attitude.



Keep the positive energy flowing.

Have a great week.



Coco Hou

Senior Accountant

Platinum Accounting Partners

Syd  02 8889 4111
Syd  0412 624 948
Bne 0430 827 666

[ 本帖最后由 Florianacct 于 7-3-2013 10:37 编辑 ]

Florianacct

Hi all,
Just a quick update about the interviews some of our trainees have had recently.

For the Westpac role, Frances has already gone through the first round interview. Similar to Samantha’s interview process that I updated before, a written test was also required. There were no technical questions asked, and the whole process was purely focused on behavioral questions. The details are listed below,
The written test is an apology email. Your staff or the system made a mistake which was spotted later. You are required to calm the clients and apologize for what happened;
Why did you relocate in Sydney?
Where do you see yourself in the next one year?
Are you currently proactively looking for jobs?

The above are just some new questions. For other behavioral questions, we’ve already discussed before during classes, emails and mostly interview classes.

Cat is going through quite a few interviews. They are all accounts clerk roles. She recommended going through private advertising rather than through agencies, as less commitment is often required through these roles.

Florianacct

Hello Coco

First of all I would like to say huge thank you for all your help. Secondly I would like to say that I am sorry that I did not make a write up straight after I got a job. However from today’s perspective I can say that this is good as I can give you a wider overview of my job and duties.

To start with, I was not expecting the company to get back to me as the seek.com advertisement I applied for was already removed at the time they contacted me. The company name is the***, the one that hosts various events in Queensland. Surprisingly I only had one interview with the HR manager and the financial controller. The position is the Finance Officer – 6 months contract with probability of being  extended.  During the interview I was mostly asked general accounting questions on AR and AP like invoice input speed, familiarity with accounting packages  as well as general  questions about previous company work experience, team and working environment, so that was really not a tough one I must admit. Another side of the interview was about personality and expectations. I said that I would like to work hard, gain as much experience as possible and bring value to the company. One tip on answering such questions is to tell how much you enjoy your team in the current company, that you are very friendly, sociable and helpful, and that you are looking forward to work in similar friendly and professional environment.

A few words about the position itself. Finance officer is more than just AR or AP as you are asked to do whatever needs to be done in both areas and beyond. So during first 2 months I was doing all payables procedures, banking and invoicing side of the receivables and was asked to do balance sheet and P&L reconciliations (that was quite difficult for me being in the company for only 1 month or so). Over last month I was concentrated only on accounts payable due to separation of duties in order to be more effective during the tough Ekka times and ENORMOUS amounts of invoices to be paid. I am handling the payables for the whole company myself with the casual person helping out during the Ekka. The level of reporting is quite extensive compared to any companies that use MYOB. We use Microsoft Dynamics Navision that has a lot of software issues and needs to be maintained and fixed quite often. Nonetheless it is an ERP piece of software which is very good for my personal experience.

In conclusion, I want to say that I am very glad I came across Florian and very thankful to Coco for the help and guidance. I do wish all the best to the company and current interns. Thank you a lot for helping out people like myself to get on track!

Kind regards

Paul Belan

Florianacct

Hi Coco,

Sorry to get back to you after a long time. Actually suddenly, I've found myself really busy and I remember you saying "Enjoy your last week" just before the week I started work. I am writing this email to acknowledge the cooperation, assistance and guidance provided by Florian team during my time at Florian.

During the month of September, I went through couple of interviews and luckily was able to secure a position of Junior Accountant with one company. Some of the questions asked during the interview were as follows:

1) Tell me something about yourself.

2) What are your strengths and weakness?

3) Describe your experience at Florian.

4) Do you want to commence CA studies?

5) Describe your level of technical skills?

All the interviews I had were really short ranging from 10 to 20 minutes. My boss told me that, me and one other guy were shortlisted for the second round interview. The guy was more experienced than me, but I was successful because of my communication skills. So, I think confidence and effective communication skills are must in an interview.

Coco, I would like to thank you especially for helping me to calm my nerves before each interview and guiding me to make the right decision as well as answering all my queries in no time. I wish Florian all the best for further success and growth.

Regards

Kate

Florianacct

Dear Coco,
Thank you very very much for doing a reference check for me really appreciate it, to be honest even i didnt know that they are going to do the reference check . I had an interview with recruitment consultant on 3rd of august and when i filled the form as per their requirement i request her to let me know if they are going to do reference check but she didnt. Anyway hopefully you didnt mind sorry again.
As i had a reference check today thats sign of good news and  all thanks to you and florian. I would like to share some of my experiences during my period in florian.
Decision of joining florian has proved one of the wisest decision that i have ever made . Both level one training and interview classes are very beneficial in searching for the job and getting job interviews done. Before joining florian i did had some interviews but all not that sucessful and i still remember that nervousness and scary feeling that i used to have but after training and interview classes all of those nervousness and scary feelings are replaced by positive attitute and confidence. Coco the way you explain the MYOB procedures in class is outstanding and interview classes are really very beneficial in building selfesteem and confidence. All thanks to you.
During my interview knowledge i gain from level one training helped me a lot. here is some of the questions they asked me,
Tell us something about yourself and florian
How do you do bank and credit card reconciliation and how often you do it.
What is the minimum KPI's
What are your strenght and weeknesses
What do you want to be in future
How do you cope with challenges and difficulties at work
what are your hobbies.
sorry its been more than a month i went for interview so i couldnt remember much of the questions but hopefully whatever i wrote here will help.      

Regards,
Alina Tuladhar

Florianacct

Hi Coco,

I would like to first thank you for the help you have provided me. Sorry for the late reply as I am stressed out with my time allocations. I'm literally going to have 9am~9pm monday to friday due to full time study and work.
The role I managed to secure is titled Account Executive Assistant.
The process that I went through to get my job was slightly different than to the average recruitment process.
I first applied to this company at the beginning of the year around March. I was interviewed by their HR who I have managed to leave a good impression with.
The HR person didn't ask alot of complicated questions besides;
Things regarding my CV
My career plans and how would I feel with a career in the insurance broking industry after having provided me with an overview of the company.
However I wasn't able to secure a position that time as the division manager made up his decision before the HR could recommend me.
Six months down the track, in late July I applied again as new vacancies became available.
The HR lady still remembered me and I had an interview with the division manager without having to go through HR again.
During that interview, they indicated they looked at my CV and noticed I am also still studying and asked how they might impact with the job if I was to work. I told them that I will prioritise work and adjust my study schedule to fight with work.
They also asked me why I wanted to be in the insurance industry and the usual "tell me about yourself?"
The interview it self was really relaxed and casual and went on for 40min with half the time myself asking about the division and how it sits in the company as a whole.
From what I have gathered, they were looking for someone with an open personality who is able to work well with others (lots of client based and team work) and possess a positiive attitude.
This isnt quite an accounting job but I hope it can still help with the interview aspect.

Thank you very much for your help Coco.


Harry

Florianacct

Florian Partners
As a CPA Public Practice, Florian Partners致力于为客户提供最优质的服务。我们的专业人员均具备丰富的专业技能及行业知识，并具有多年的实际经验,是您事业成功的伙伴选择。我们拥有专业的会计团队，不论贵公司从事哪种行业，我们的专业人员都可为您及时提供意见。对不同的行业，我们切合贵公司在会计帐务, BAS，税务，工资管理，会计软件，公司创建，财务交易和咨询服务方面的需要提供周全的服务，帮助您合理避税，精确财务管理，提高贵公司的经营效益．

Florianacct

Hi Selina.

I was looking for a job I had 2 interview with different companies. The first one was a small Chartered Accounting firm and they were looking for a casual person to assist with the tax returns when the peak period starts. They did not ask me any technical questions as they expected to train me. The questions were mostly related to my studies, future plans (if I plan to do CA/CPA studies) and work experience including internship tasks in Florian. I am still actually waiting for them to get back to me as they advised that decision will be made around 10 March.
Anyway, I have already got a job as assistant accountant with a small manufacturing company. The interview process was very challenging there yet exciting. Apart from standard questions about qualification and experience I was asked to do journal entries for 6 different problems. They include: purchase of materials on credit, Payment for the purchase using Amex credit card with a surcharge 3%, sales on credit, receipt of deposit and partial payment, reimbursement of personal expenses, writing off a bad debt. And also I had to determine  the right GST amount. Though I have not done everything right, I showed the ability to think logically and when we discussed every step together it was not hard. The second task I was given a small table which I had to put in Excel and calculate the percentage change and perform What if Analysis. And the final test, I was given a customer account statement which I had to reconcile, determine the amount outstanding, and draft the email to the client explaining the situation and ask politely for money. And after it had been done, there was a short  role-play. I had to call to the next room where another person was playing the customer and explain professionally the situation, amount and ask for money. It was fun and probably the easiest task for me, as they tested my communication skills.
Florian training and internship helped me a lot with the technical part of the interview, but it turned out that people skills can play a vital part.
I was not asked any of the behavioural questions during this interview.


Kind regards,

Kay

Florianacct

Hi Coco,

thanks very much for the reference check. They offered me the job today and was happy to accept it. As promised below are details of my interview experience.

I had to go through a psych test before the interview (50 Questions). The interview was conducted by the HR Manager and the CFO. It lasted about 30 mins. Below are some of the questions they asked.

- Tell me about yourself
- What do you know about our company
- Describe your role in florian
- Describe the role in your previous company
- The Manager described the position & I told him how I fitted the role
- Are you a hands-on person?
- How do you prioritize tasks?
- Are you good in computers? (I told them my familiarity with software and systems)
- They also asked accounting packages I'm familiar with and do I know SAP. (I told them about my SAP experience in previous job)
- Have I had any experience in making improvements to accounting systems & was required to give an example.

I went over the job decription, resume and things that were covered in the interview class in florian before the actual interview which proved to be useful.

Thanks for the support and help.

Best Regards
Chandler

Florianacct

Hi Selina,

Firstly, I would like to thank Coco for my reference check. Now after a long wait I have joined Ernst & Young as an entry level Tax Analyst.
After graduating in 2009 I was finding it difficult to locate a good job in Australia. So I continued working in Retail, but whenever I got an opportunity to learn something new, just grabbed it. During these years I managed to join ITP(Income Tax Professionals) Tax training School for Tax consultant training, even though that was on personal taxation it has made it easy for me to understand the procedure followed for partnership and private-equity, this was early 2010. I did not continue with ITP as tax was seasonal work and I wanted something more permanent. Then kept applying for jobs but no response from the employers. I was almost giving-up on hopes, then i came across Florian's Assistant Accountant Training program but couldn't join straight away as i had no money. After 4 or 5 months i went back and joined Florian Training program in January 2011, and then I decided to come back to India and try for jobs. I then had thoughts that i have again wasted my money doing the training with Florian, but I was so wrong as that knowledge helped me with my SAP FICO training(again thanks to Coco for encouraging us to learn SAP), i was able to understand the customization much better and the reason why it was required. Then at interviews even without much preparation i was able to answer questions related to AP/AR and many others. I am now back to believing that no education goes waste, it will reflect at some point in your career.

Now about the interview process:

I applied for the same position in Deloitte first, that was in November last year where i qualified the first 4 rounds and had to go for the next two rounds of face to face interview which never happened.

Deloitte/ EY Interview process(online):

1. Basics of finance & Accounting :
Questions like Golden rules of Accounting/Principles of Accounting, when to debit when to credit, methods of Depreciation, cash/accrual basis  
- all together there were 20 questions

2. Financial statement Analysis:
Questions were some what related to capital markets - 5 questions

3. Logical Reasoning and Numerical Ability: one can find samples and practice online

4. English Reading & letter writing(e-mail)

5. Communication skills/verbal ability : Listening test over the phone in a separate closed cubicle where you have to listen and repeat the same words or sentences.

The above rounds of interview were same for both, the only other round was an introduction round with EY, where we had to talk about ourselves for 2 minutes. After these rounds I was called the next day by EY HR personnel  for the next two rounds, which happened after 2 days of the online test.

HR round went for around 10 minutes,
I was asked about my expected salary for which I answered - as per company standards.
why have you chosen to work in Taxation - Taxation has always interested me for its variety, no two cases can be similar.
I enjoy applying different legislation to a cases and decided solution that best favor a client.
why I came back from Australia? and few other general questions.

Technical round(Panel of 2 Senior Managers) for around 30 minutes,
Panel: Introduce yourself, Tell us something about your previous company and how did the company benefit from you?
Panel: Have you applied for any other job and do you have any other offer in hand -
Me: I have applied for Deloitte too and have cleared the online test but haven't received any call for the next rounds.
Panel: Deloitte processing takes longer and then asked, now that you have cleared Deloitte rounds too who would you join if u get an offer letter from both the companies?
Me: I have not come across such an event in my life and that would be difficult to answer.
Panel: Do you know Deloitte pays better that what we do?
Me: Yes
Panel: Ok, if you get offer letter the same time and they have offered you better package who would you choose?
Me: Deloitte, as i need the money to pay back my education loan.
Panel: Thanks for being honest with us.
Panel: forwarding a paper and pen, show us how a balance sheet looks?
Panel: after my sketch, how would it look otherwise?
before i answered they started asking me two three questions to stress me. I was actually confused which one to answer first. I just returned a smile.
Panel: what are the sub-divisions of Assets & Liabilities in a balance sheet?
Me:current Assets, property Plant and Equipment, Investments.....current liabilities, long term liabilities......was stopped in-between and was put with the next questions.

Panel:
When you will be working on two to three client engagements at the same time how would you manage your time?
what will you do when 2 managers have given u a task that has the same deadline but one engagement is very time consuming and would take-up all the time?
Our client is based in US when you leave for the day they come to work, how will you manage to communicate your work with them?

There were many other questions that I can't recollect now. But my belief is just to be myself in an interview, as the panel is much experienced and has been through the same process during his career and if one fakes he would know it easily. So my suggestion is to just be yourself when you think the question is to trick you.

http://www.accountingcoach.com thats one website I followed to keep in touch with Accountig.

I again thank the whole Florian team.

Thanking You & Kind Regards,

Florianacct

Dear Coco:

My 2nd round interview is mainly about MYOB test and accounting skill, there are three interviewers, two from acc team, one is managing director. the question they ask:

1. what's your daily routine?

2. please show me how to issue an invoice?

3. How to make purchase for stationary you bought from Officework, please also code this under right GL code

4. Please run A/R Aging report, once you got this report, what will you do?

5. If there is amount due over 90 days, what should you do?

6, If you have already chased up the overdue amount for many times, but they still not make payment to you, what will you do?

7. Then they pass me a paper, ask me to recognise it is a sales order or invoice?-------- it is sales order actually

8. Can you tell me is there any thing we need to pay attention on this sales order?-----------2 things I noticed, first one, this sales order bill to XXX (which is a distributor), but the end user is another company call XXenterprise, because they ask me who is the end user.
2ndly, the amount is in US dollar, not in australian dollar.

Then they start to ask me the job responsibilities I listed on the resume in Florian, especially for FAR, Accruals, prepayment., cost center analysis. Obviously, those two ladies from acc team don't know anything      g about FAR, Accrual, Prepayment, So they keep chanlleaging me
with a lot of questions, even i have already explained to them again and again. questions like why you need to do accrual, why you reverse that accrual journal entry etc... It seems like they still don't understand, probably because their role do not require those part. But I feel very awful at that time, because the managing director was there looking at three of us keep arguing... that is bad thing...i think..
anyway, i suggest that all the trainees should be fully prepared, then nobody can chanllege you...

Good Luck!

Samantha