Discipline Investigation Assignment

Son Huynh

LLD-100A

Oct 21, 2016

Mr. Scott Alkire

Discipline Investigation Assignment

Introduction

A discipline investigation is an essay in which writers search information about a discourse community (e.g. religious groups, student association groups, or pop music fans) they want to join and to learn about kinds of genres that that community uses. According to the LLD100A course reader, a discourse community is a group of people involved in creating a community in a profession and setting the rules; anyone who wants to join the community must learn the rules. In this assignment, students will have a chance to learn the unique style of communication of their future career. By interviewing a professional and doing outside research, students can have a broader view of their future occupations. My readers are my instructor, my classmates, and other faculty members on the 100A portfolio committee.

I chose Accounting Information Systems (AIS) as my major because I enjoy dealing with numbers and it is a relatively stable profession. We live in a modern world where money and computers play the main role in every business function. An accountant must provide accurate information in accounting records and financial statements. However, it is not enough to be able to find a good job. Most companies require accountants to know and are able to use computers, to collect various data from departments and to upload financial files into the company database. Typically, AIS is a combination of the accounting and management information systems majors. It prepares students for future occupations in accounting, auditing, and consulting.

Being careless is my serious problem. When I am excited about a project, I do it very fast without proofreading and this often leads me to get wrong answers. For example, the common problem I usually meet is misplaced position number – 10100 vs 10010. When I came to the U.S four years ago, I never thought I would choose a major that focuses primarily on numbers. This is a good opportunity for me to enhance my skills and reduce my carelessness regarding accounting. In addition, working well with numbers does not fulfill me. I want to use my accounting knowledge to support my personal life besides my career, such as filing my own taxes and creating my own business.

For this essay, I chose a former auditor who is currently working at San Jose State University as an instructor in the accounting department. Her name is Helen Brubeck. She used to work at PricewaterhouseCoopers (known as PwC) for years before she decided to go back to school. PwC is the second largest professional services firm in the world. It provides many opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to interact with the reality of business, such as audits, assurances, taxes, and consulting services. From the interview, I learned much interesting information about Ms. Brubeck's background and her career path. She shared many experiences about communication skills, roles, and responsibilities that she got when she worked at PwC. I think this interview will provide me with a good view of accounting.

INTERVIEW SUMMARY

Background and Career Path

Ms. Brubeck was born and attended a small high school in Toronto, Canada. She took mostly math and science courses during her high school years because the school did not offer any business courses. When she went to a university, she took more advanced science courses to get her undergraduate degree in science. She also took one economics class, which was unrelated to her major, because she was interested in learning about business. It later turned out that she loved studying business more than science, so she decided to change her major in her second year. However, she still had not decided her specific career yet, such as becoming a tax preparer, an auditor, or a public accountant. Her goal at the time was just studying and passing the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam – a requirement for every accounting major. She thought the certificate would help her to get an idea about what position she wanted to apply for (an auditor, a private accountant, a consultant, etc.)

Ms. Brubeck states that she was very lucky to get her first job as an auditor in her junior year. She got an interview from PwC not so long after the year started. The person who interviewed her later turned out to be the head of the auditing department, and he was very impressed by her interest in auditing and how she managed others. He invited her to get an intern job (auditor clerk) at the company so she could improve her accounting knowledge. She had a three-month internship at the company. After a few months, they offered her a permanent job, which meant she would have a guaranteed job in her pocket when she graduated. From three years of working as an auditor, she finally gained enough experiences to get a CPA certificate (she had already passed the CPA exam) and got promoted to a manager position. As she moved to a higher position, the company expected her to bring in new clients every day to help the company grow. This made her feel uncomfortable because dealing with strangers daily was not her strength. After a few months, she left the company.

In her opinion, accounting is an easy to find job compared to others. People need accountants in every time and in every industry. She said whenever the economy expands, companies need accountants to record everything. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage of accountants and auditors may grow up to 11% from 2014 to 2024, which is faster than the average for all occupations (7%); at least 142,400 accounting jobs will be added in the next few years.

As Ms. Brubeck recommended, students should participate in many events related to their fields as much as they can, such as a student association for accounting students, an organization, or an internship. These would give students extra knowledge and experience for their careers. In addition, getting an undergraduate degree is not enough. To be more competitive, graduate degree is necessary in some cases. In addition, getting a CPA requires students to have 150 college credit hours, to pass the CPA exam, and to have at least one-year of accounting experience.

Roles & Responsibilities

Ms. Brubeck became an auditor at PwC after several years of working at the company. In general usage, an auditor is a person who gives his/or her opinion on a company's financial statements. Statements must present fairly all the source documents in the financial reports. At the end of a certain period (e.g., annually, semi-annually), checking procedures are required by an auditor to make sure that the financial statements are free from error (no fraud). As an auditor, Ms. Brubeck had to collect, observe, check, compare, and confirm all the appropriate and sufficient evidence to maximize accuracy. First, she did the physical inventory count and then recorded and compared the results with the account balances, journal transactions, and bank reconciliations. Understanding and evaluating a company's internal control system is another function of the internal audit. Beyond reviewing documents, Ms. Brubeck and her group had to check the system's weaknesses and gave out solutions to provide a better safeguard of the company's assets.