UNIVERSITY OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES,

ACCRA

(UPSA)

SURNAME: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

OTHER NAMES: xxxxxxxxxxxxx

ID NUMBER: xxxxxxxxxxxxx LEVEL: xxx

PROGRAMME OF STUDY: BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SESSION: MORNING

NAME OF ORGANISATION: E.K. OSEI CONSULT AND CHARTERED

ACCOUNTANTS

INTERNSHIP PERIOD: 1ST JUNE, 2016 TO 30TH AUGUST, 2016

REPORT SUBMISSION DATE: 21ST OCTOBER, 2016. SIGNATURE …………………

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UNIVERSITY OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES, ACCRA.

FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

A REPORT ON AN INDUSTRIAL ATTACHMENT/INTERNSHIP UNDERTAKEN AT E.K. OSEI CONSULT AND CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS FROM 1ST

JUNE, 2016 TO 30TH AUGUST 2016

BY

OPOKU-ACHEAMPONG THOMAS(10013081)

PRESENTED TO

THE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITY OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES ACCRA IN

PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF BUSINESS

ADMINISTRATION

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Table of ContentsACKNOWLEDGEMENT........................................................................................................iv

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY........................................................................................................v

1.0 INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................1

1.1 Background of Report................................................................................................1

1.2 Terms of Reference....................................................................................................1

1.3 Purpose of Attachment/ Expected Output..................................................................2

1.4 Profile of Organization...............................................................................................2

1.4.1 Background.........................................................................................................2

1.4.2 Mission................................................................................................................3

1.4.3 Vision...................................................................................................................3

1.4.4 Company Strategies............................................................................................3

1.4.5 Product/ Service..................................................................................................3

2.0 FIELD OF EXPERIENCE.............................................................................................5

2.1 Duties and Schedule...................................................................................................5

2.2 Contribution of Student to Organization....................................................................5

2.3 Application of Theories to Real Life Situation..........................................................6

3.0 LESSONS LEARNT......................................................................................................7

4.0 CHALLENGES..............................................................................................................8

5.0 CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................8

6.0 RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................8

7.0 REFERENCES...............................................................................................................9

8.0 APPENDIX..................................................................................................................10

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTThis is a matter of pleasure for me to acknowledge my deep sense of gratitude first and

foremost to the Almighty God for given me the strength and zeal to be able to accomplish the

task assigned to me.

I would also like to express my deepest appreciation to all the management team of the

University of Professional Studies, Accra who made it possible for me to gain the

fundamental skills and experience industrially.

Furthermore, I would like to simply put, I could not have done this work without the lots of

help I received cheerfully from whole E.K. Osei Consult and Chartered Accountants. The

work culture in E.K. Osei Consult and Chartered Accountants really motivates. Everyone is

such a cheerful and friendly companion. Working there was interesting. During these three

months of internship, I leant a lot on accounting and audit procedures.

I would specially like to thank Mr. Emmanuel Osei the C.E.O of E.K. Osei Consult and

Chartered Accountants and Mr. Emmanuel Boadi, my supervisor not only for the wonderful

opportunity given me to gain professional experience but also for the immense advice,

supervision and guidance both on and off the job to help shape my career path.

In a nutshell, I want to thank the entire staff and interns in E.K. Osei Consult and Chartered

Accountants who made this demanding time joyful but always efficient.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARYInternship programs have been a common trend instigated by many tertiary institutions. It has

been a great help to students to at least gain some professional skills and practical experience

in the real business world. The executive summary gives an overview of my three month

internship which consist of the duties performed and the experience gained during the period,

During the long vacation, I interned at E.K. Osei Consult and Chartered Accountants and

during those three months, I worked with the accounting and audit departments. The duties I

performed included preparing work papers for audit and conducting vouching on those

documents. I also helped make entries into relevant accounts of clients and prepared tax

schedules.

Reflecting on my experiences, the internship program shaped me to become a team player as

I always performed my duties in a team. Also, this opportunity has helped broaden my

knowledge base and be able to combine studies with work. These experiences have given me

the confidence in myself and my abilities that was lacking beforehand.

In a nutshell, it has been a splendid experience these past three months and I would

encourage the university to continue to instigate such internship programs.

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of ReportYou would like to think that three years of tertiary education and a number of accounting

classes and other business courses would prepare someone adequately for practice in the field

of accounting and auditing. In today’s world, that is not enough to help a student compete

with confidence and reach their goal but rather having an experience with the outside world

regarding ones chosen profession is a great help. So in order to gain enough practical

knowledge, all students proceeding from level 100 to 200 at the diploma, 300 to 400 at the

degree level and professional level as well at the University of Professional Studies are

required to undertake at least two month industrial attachment during the long vacation at any

organization as partial fulfillment of our respective degree, diploma or professional programs.

This internship program gave me an opportunity to gain experience on auditing and

accounting procedures. To expand my theoretical base, this practical knowledge was essential

to help me face more complex and challenging business areas. This learning process gave me

an opportunity to observe and perform real world knowledge about accounting and auditing

procedures while relating the theoretical knowledge to practical exposure.

1.2 Terms of ReferenceThe scope of this report is to provide a detailed but concise report of about seven to fifteen

pages regarding the internship program undertaken during the long vacation of a period of at

least two months. In my case I had the opportunity to intern at E.K. Osei Consult and

Chartered Accountants. The report is also subject to other specific requirement as per the

University of Professional Studies’ “Guideline for Internship Report”.

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Some major parts of the requirement include:

a) Background of the host organization.

b) Products/services offered by the organization.

c) Mission and objectives of the organization.

1.3 Purpose of Attachment/ Expected OutputInternship is a learning process and for this reason I had a few objectives which I expected to

have answers to at the end of the period. These objectives are:

To gain practical knowledge and experience on how E.K. Osei Consult and Chartered

Accountants perform their auditing and accounting functions.

To learn how my theoretical knowledge relates to the practical exposure.

To identify the processes involved in gathering and executing accounting functions

using computerized systems and accounting software packages.

1.4 Profile of Organization

1.4.1 BackgroundE.K. Osei Consult and Chartered Accountants as the name suggests, is an accounting firm

which provides auditing, account outsourcing, tax management and consulting services. The

consulting services the organization specializes in include Internal Systems Development and

Tax Management Consulting.

E.K. Osei Consult and Chartered Accountants can be located on the First Floor, Block B of

Shaaba Mall, near the Achimota Shell Filling Station and Stanbic Bank, Achimota Branch.

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1.4.2 MissionE.K. Osei Consult and Chartered Accountants is established to ensure client satisfaction,

prompt delivery of information to client, dedication to duty and effective collaboration with

client to achieve desired results.

1.4.3 VisionTo become the most effective and efficient professional accountancy support establishment

and therefore the preferred accountancy support service firm for the small and medium

enterprises wishing to outsource their all or some of their accounting functions.

1.4.4 Company Strategies Staff quality in the process

Equipment always in good condition

Time usage

Collaboration among staff to achieve internal communication

Effective usage of equipment

1.4.5 Product/ ServiceE.K. Osei Consult and Chartered Accountants offer a wide range of services which include

auditing, account outsourcing, tax management and consultancy which are as follows:

Audit: It is the systematic examination of accounting records undertaken with the aim of

coming to a conclusion whether they correctly and completely correspond to the transaction

which they purport to relate. The organization offers a few of the common types of audit such

as operational audit, financial audit, statutory audit, compliance audit and internal audit.

Account Outsourcing: This has to do with organizations transferring the preparation of their

financial statements to accounting organizations as they see such activities as non-core

functions. In this case E.K. Osei Consult and Chartered Accountants prepare the financial

statements of some other companies.

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Tax Management: The organization also helps its clients in the calculation of their income

tax, Value Added Tax (VAT) management including withholding tax components and also

the payment of tax to the Ghana Revenue Authority.

Consultancy: E.K. Osei Consult and Chartered Accountants also offers advice to its clients

regarding tax procedures, accounting systems and other financial matters.

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2.0 FIELD OF EXPERIENCE

2.1 Duties and ScheduleI performed many duties in various audit and accounting assignments. My duties as an intern

on the field were as follows:

To inspect receipts with the accounting records and examining the transactions of a

business together with appropriate documents of sufficient validity so as to ensure that

the transactions are complete, in order, properly authorized and correctly entered in

the books. One instance was when I conducted vouching on Perez Cold Store’s stock

records.

Another responsibility was to prepare audit working papers during the vouching

process. Entries with no supporting papers were noted on the working papers or

highlighted in red when records are entered using Microsoft Excel.

I was also responsible for the filling of the Value Added Tax components of some

organizations after calculating the net VAT payable by finding the difference between

the output and input VAT not forgetting the withholding tax amount of the

organization.

I was also assigned the responsibility of making the relevant entries of invoices (sales

and purchases), receipts and import documents on ‘TALLY’.

I was expected to report to work at 8:00am, go on break from 12:00pm to 1:00pm, and

close at 5:00pm each working day.

2.2 Contribution of Student to OrganizationAs an intern in the organization, I was eager and willing to put my theoretical

knowledge into use. The following are some of the quota contributed to the

organization.

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Increase productivity. Due to my above average typing skills, I was able to aid my

colleagues in completing reports and other assignments on time and meet deadlines

since those assignments would have been otherwise executed by them.

Contribution of ideas. I brought with me the knowledge and skills learned through

education. I was often given a wonderful opportunity by my supervisor to express my

views and make suggestions when necessary.

2.3 Application of Theories to Real Life SituationAs an intern, it was important to learn how to apply the theoretical knowledge gained in the

classroom to real business world situations as it helped me in gaining the practical experience

I expected to have under my belt at the end of the internship program.

One essential underlying principle of accounting is that of the double-entry rule which is

based on the fact that every financial transaction has equal and opposite effects in at least two

different accounts. While recording entries in the relevant accounts using this principle, I

realized that, the key formula for the balance sheet (Assets = Liabilities + Equity) plays a

major role in double-entry book keeping.

Sampling and Compliance are auditing techniques I was able to apply during my practical

exposure in the field. Sampling has to do with selecting few items from entire accounting

information whereas Compliance deals with the checking of arithmetical accuracy of

accounting record. These theories were applied when I conducted vouching on Perez Cold

Store’s stock records.

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3.0 LESSONS LEARNTI learned more in three months than I ever thought possible. Some valuable lessons I learnt

include the following:

Experiencing real world accounting and auditing practices such as identifying the

source documents needed for making accounting entries in TALLY accounting

software. Some of these documents are VAT invoices, cash sales invoices, purchase

invoices, petty cash vouchers, cheques counterfoils among others.

Preparing various tax schedules which helped me become aware of the general

taxation system in the country which usually consists of date, amount, import

declaration number, import duty, import VAT and NHIL and also learning the

basis for expense classification which include nature and purpose of the expense.

Teamwork. I usually performed in a team which helped me realize the impact

each team member had on the other. Teamwork also taught me the benefits of

synergy (also known as the 2 + 2 = 5 principle).

Last but not least, the internship program gave me the opportunity to learn the

skill of how to combine studies with work. I can boldly say this because, as I was

interning, I also prepared for one of my professional exam alongside.

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4.0 CHALLENGESThere were a few challenges during the internship period. Such challenges were:

The office space was small; hence, a few number of desks and chairs. This

sometimes created problems. For instance, I had to offer my seat to a client who

visits the office even when I was performing my duties. So sometimes I stood

while typing.

Also, due to the small office space, there was the problem of inadequate

equipment like computers. So when there was on overload of work, some had to

wait for others b complete their tasks before they could commence theirs.

At times working hours were too long especially when we go on field duties. This

made me tired during those days as I got home very late in the evening but to

wake up very early the next morning to go to work.

5.0 CONCLUSIONIn conclusion, I would thank the institution for given me the opportunity to earn some

important practical experience as it helped me develop necessary skills and improve my

knowledge base. I left E.K. Osei Consult and Chartered Accountants with a very positive

feeling toward my chosen field of study and the company. The experience gained has

given me confidence in myself and my abilities. Every day at the workplace was a

learning experience and I know it will go a long way to benefit me. For this reasons I can

boldly say my internship reaffirmed my decision to pursue a career in accounting and

auditing. Overall, I rate my internship as the best thing that has happened to me

professionally.

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6.0 RECOMMENDATIONS My recommendation goes to the University of Professional Studies, Accra.

I would like to believe that most students will agree with me that the time of the

internship program and the preparation of our dissertation collide. I would therefore like

to suggest that, the internship program be carried out when students are progressing from

level 200 to level 300.

I would also recommend that, there should be timely supervision and guidance for report

writing by the internship supervisors.

Another recommendation I would give, is for the management of the university to take

the initiative for field visit to the respective organization where students are undertaking

their internship program.

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7.0 REFERENCES “Guidelines for Internship Report” issued by the University of Professional Studies,

Accra.

Outline for the Internship Report. Retrieved August 22, 2016 from:

www.ttu.ee>bachelor>Documents

Internship Activities Guidelines. . Retrieved August 22, 2016 from:

www.frostburg.edu>File>dept>psyc

AIT Internship Report Guidelines. Retrieved August 22, 2016 from:

www.lemass.net>AITIS>images>AIT...

Accounting Internship. . Retrieved August 22, 2016 from:

www.newaccountantusa.com>newsfeat

8.0 APPENDIXAppraisal Form

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