Contact: Maridith Geuder
A new accounting internship program at Mississippi State is providing students with opportunities to do the work of professionals and receive academic credit for the effort.
Implemented this spring, the program placed more than a dozen majors with leading regional and national accounting and industrial firms in Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas, said Danny P. Hollingsworth, director of the university's School of Accountancy. The intensive eight-week internships have participants "in many respects performing the same duties as staff accountants," he added.
Hollingsworth said students may choose an audit internship in January and February or a tax internship that takes place from February to April. Others may elect to work for an industry during the same periods. Whichever they choose, each student must write a paper about his or her work experience upon return to campus.
If they so choose, the interns may take up to two courses during the remainder of the semester and, at semester's end, receive a total of nine hours of academic credit.
"Students are expected to work a full 40 hours weekly during the employment period," Hollingsworth said. The hours actually may be longer, since the audit and tax internships fall during the peak accounting season.
"Internships provide valuable opportunities for students to gain confidence outside of a classroom setting," Hollingsworth said. "Students and employers mutually benefit from evaluating the 'fit' between the company and the student as a potential employee, and students often earn significant monthly salaries to apply toward their education."
Andrew Copeland of Jackson, senior manager with Horne CPA Group, said that MSU students in the inaugural program "performed extremely well." Student interns were mentored by other staff members and were expected to be as productive as full-time staff, he added.
"They face a difficult challenge by experiencing the public accounting profession at what most would consider the worst time," Copeland said. "The MSU participants came into the experience with great attitudes and a great willingness to learn."
Copeland said his firm sees the internship as a valuable recruiting tool.
"The program is a win for the student, a win for Horne CPA Group and a win for Mississippi State."
Danna A. Stone of Mantee, a May graduate who worked with KPMG International of Memphis, agreed, saying the work experience "helped me grow both as a person and a professional."