DISCOVER MOORE WITH MITHIRAN RETHNAM: MY 6-MONTHS AUDIT INTERNSHIP IN THE WAKE OF THE PANDEMIC


My 6-month internship at Moore Singapore has been extremely meaningful and fulfilling. Within those six months, I was able to witness firsthand how the audit planning, fieldwork and completion procedures were performed, which has certainly increased my passion to join the audit field in the future.
 


THE LEARNING CULTURE AT MOORE SINGAPORE


Prior to interning at Moore Singapore, I had only completed one audit module in the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS). Hence, I knew that I had a steep learning curve ahead of me. Thankfully, I had great seniors and mentors who took the time to demonstrate how to perform the procedures, and some even went the extra mile to explain why some procedures are done in a certain way, which definitely improved my learning experience.

The period that I was interning allowed me to observe what is usually done in the build up to the peak audit period. It was exciting from the get-go, where I joined the team for an interim audit on my second day in!

From helping out in interim audits to attending year end stock counts; or even attending an annual report printing process at a printing house, this internship felt like a good indicator of what is expected of an auditor. It was also a refreshing experience which made me realize that audit is not necessarily a stagnant desk bound job; but is rather a dynamic one that entails many secondary services that the auditor is expected to perform as well.
 

AUDIT WORK AND LEARNING IN THE HEART OF COVID-19


The Circuit Breaker measures during the Covid-19 pandemic altered work arrangements for everyone. Having said that, at a time where many companies were reducing the number of interns by suspending their contracts or even letting them go, I was lucky enough to remain employed and be given substantial tasks to complete on my own.

During the two months where we worked from home, I was tasked to complete an entire audit for four dormant entities. This would definitely be the highlight of my entire internship experience, as I never would have imagined that I would be given the opportunity to perform my own audit for an entity, let alone four! It was initially daunting, given that any clarification that I needed had to be done over email or Skype due to the work from home arrangements. Having said that, my seniors were extremely helpful and responsive, despite having their own audit engagements to work on.

The experience of completing four audits on my own was exhilarating, from planning the overall materiality all the way to completing the subsequent events section that signals the completion of the audit process. It was interesting to observe how the various sections and working papers are connected to one another; and by performing all these sections on my own, I was able to see the bigger picture; as contrasted to completing a few smaller sections when I first joined the company. To be given the trust to conduct an entire audit for four entities is certainly something that I cherish and appreciate, as I know that not many interns would be given such an opportunity. Personally, it was also a great indicator to me that this was a career path that I would definitely consider taking in the future.
 

KEY TAKE-AWAYS FROM MY HALF-YEAR INTERNSHIP


Overall, this internship has taught me many things about the audit field as well as myself. While many of my fellow 6-month interns who interned at other accounting firms could only say that they completed a few sections of an audit at most, I can proudly say that I completed an audit for four entities on my own. I came in with little to no audit knowledge along with an open mind; and left with a much greater appreciation of the audit career, along with great friendships forged with many fellow interns and audit seniors.
 
 
At Moore Singapore, we believe in empowering our people to pursue their passions in the work that they do. Believing that everyone’s unique capabilities collectively contributes with impact to the ‘larger’ things that matter, we strive to ensure that we provide the right support, the working and social-work environment to enable our people to reach and fulfill their potential.

With learning at the heart of what we believe in, we ensure that our learning culture is embodied in all aspects of what we do in our firm, as a firm and for our people. The ripple effect of this we believe, provides a meaningful and enriching learning experience for our interns.

‘Discover Moore’ about internship or learning opportunities with us here or follow our #discovermoore hashtag on Facebook and LinkedIn (@MooreSingapore) to find out more from the experiences of our graduate interns.