The Industrial Training Experience Accounting Essay

Lawrence Wong & Co. was established in 1986 before the Malaysian
economic recession in 1987. It has established itself as a recognized
Management Consultancy Firm specializing in all kinds of management
and consultancy services, including corporate secretarial, administrative,
bookkeeping, auditing, taxation, business or financial planning and other
management allied services.
The company was founded by Mimi Gian Guek Poh and Lawrence Wong
Fook Heng, both are Chartered Accountants from Australia. The business
started as a sole proprietor on 6th August 1965 as an employment agency
and was converted into a private limited company on 16th February 1986.
As an associate member of the CPA Australia, the Malaysia Institute of
Accountants, and The Institute of Secretaries and Administrators, Mimi
Gian, my company supervisor, draws on more than 25 years of audit,
management, secretarial, taxation, information system and corporate
advisory experience in international and multinational corporations in
Australia, Singapore, and Malaysia.
Lawrence Wong & Co's success today depends heavily on the confidence
and trust their clientele have with them and also due to their dedicated
workforce who has been continuously contributing their efforts to the overall
success of the firm's nearly 20 years of services. The company hopes to
continue to expand its business by providing quality and reliable services in
Malaysia as well as internationally.

1.2 Industrial Training Experience

Industrial Training is one of the compulsory subjects in all Faculty of
Business and Finance Programmes' course structures. It is compulsory for
every final year undergraduate to undergo industrial training for the
duration of three months before completing their courses. With the
combination of knowledge and work experience during the three months
training, students are required to produce a written report.
The objective of industrial training is to provide an opportunity for students
to observe real life practices and develop their understanding of methods
and applications of the accounting theoretical and conceptual framework in
a real working environment. Additionally, the training program also provides
an opportunity for the industry to identify potential employees from the
industrial trainees.
I joined Lawrence Wong & Co on 1st October until 31st December 2012.
During these three months of industrial training I was involved in
bookkeeping, auditing, taxation and the company's secretarial function.
This was a good opportunity for me to learn more about the business .
Because of this, I can now apply my accounting knowledge to the real
world, such as accounts entry, auditing and so on.
At first my company supervisor discussed with our colleagues my tasks ,
after that only my colleagues assigned tasks to me. My company
supervisor only gave me tasks after I had completed the work that was
assigned by my colleagues. When I faced some problems that I have never
encountered before, I discussed with my company supervisor and
colleagues together to solve the problems. Luckily they treated me well and
taught me with patience. Therefore, I increased my knowledge of

accounting, auditing, and taxation from my company supervisor and

colleagues.

CHAPTER 2
SCOPE OF TRAINING
2.1 Statutory audit
When I arrived on my first day, my first task was to do a statutory audit.
Statutory audit is part of an in-house audit. Whilst I was doing this, I needed
to get information from the company secretary file, such as annual return,
minutes of meeting, and SSM forms. My colleagues told me that use of
some of the SSM forms needed recording, such as Form 24, 44, 49, 32A,
and so on. If one of these forms are used, the auditor report needs to
disclose the information, as well as statutory audit. For example, form 49
which is the form of return for directors, managers and secretaries. If this
form is used, it means that the company has appointed a new director or an
existing director has resigned or is deceased. Therefore, this kind of
information must be included in an audit report and statutory audit.

2.2 Accounting data entry

During this internship, I did a lot of accounting data entry, such as receipt
and payment entries. In order to have a better understanding of the basis of
accounting, my company supervisor assigned me to a lot of the company's
account entry, using UBS Accounting System and Microsoft Excel. This
was a test for me, whether my double entry transactions were posted
correctly. I posted the entries in accordance with bank statements, payment
vouchers, cheque books, and receipt books. After I had done, I printed out

the general ledger, bank reconciliation statement, income statement, and

balance sheet to give to my colleagues and company supervisor to review.

2.3 Bank Reconciliation

Bank reconciliation statements are the important documents that need to
be prepared every month. Bank reconciliation is the process which
prepares a statement accounting for the differences between the cash
balances in a company's cash account and the cash balance according to
its bank statement (Roshayani Arshad, 2007). During my training period, I
prepared this by using UBS Accounting System and Microsoft Excel. Some
clients prepared bank reconciliation statements by themselves. Therefore, I
needed to check whether the bank reconciliation statements that were
prepared by clients were the same as my results.

2.4 Auditing
During these three months, I not only did a lot of accounting data entry, I
was also involved in auditing work. Firstly, I prepared statutory audits
because this was the easier part. Next, I started to do audits working on
paper, such as accounting journal entries, income statements, balance
sheets, variances, tax computations, and other working papers including
information related to assets, liabilities, taxation, revenue, and expenses. In
addition, I had learnt how to prepare every detail of the working paper. After
that, I prepared an audit report, confirmation letter, letter of representation
(which is a summary of all accounts), and an audit memorandum planning.
Once I had done this, my colleagues reviewed my work and asked me to
amend errors, before it was passed to my company supervisor to review.

Lastly, I filled in the Form C & R after my company supervisor reviewed and
confirmed that all working papers were correct.

2.5 Others tasks

My company supervisor had asked me to make some payments, such as
telephone bills, water and electricity bills, EPF, SOCSO, client's income tax
payments, as well as banking some cheques. Before my company
supervisor issued the cheques, I needed to prepare the payment vouchers
and attach them with the invoice, delivery order, and other related
statements. I also had to call the suppliers to collect the cheques. After the
payments were made, I filed all of the documents in the payment voucher
file.
Other than that, my company supervisor also assigned me to prepare client
company's stock list and check list. Stock list is a detailed list of the stocks
available of a company while check list is prepared for checking the stocks.
In addition, I had filed some documents and letters received from Inland
Revenue Borad (IRB) into the client's files. I also sent out documents to
clients, such as tax refund from IRB, audit reports and others documents.
Furthermore, I had updated the client company tax control list. For this
task, I had to record the date received for the Form C & R 2012, financial
year end, the latest audit report that had already been submitted, and the
date of CP 204 to IRB. After I completed this, I prepared a latest list of
client company and IRB's schedule of payment code.

CHAPTER 3
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS APPLIED
AND GAINED
3.1 Knowledge and Skills Applied
3.1.1 UBS Accounting System
These accounting entries, which are receipt and payment entries, I had
been taught during my studies how to complete using the UBS Accounting
System. So, I had no problem when I posted these accounting entries into
UBS Accounting System because it is same as what I have done before.
For example, for the pay for travelling expenses, the entry is debit in
travelling expenses and credit in bank or cash account, so this is called a
double entry. Before I passed my work to the company supervisor to
review, I double checked the entries.

3.1.2 Financial Accounting

Financial Accounting Framework I and II are the compulsory subjects for
accounting students. These two subjects teach us how to prepare the
financial statements such as income statements, balances sheets, cash
flow statements, and statements of changes in equity. These subjects were
very useful for me to apply to my work. By using the knowledge that I
learnt, I had completed my tasks with minor errors.

3.1.3 Taxation
Taxation is another important subject for accounting students. I took this
subject in Year 2 Trimester 3. During my training, I had to prepare tax
computation for companies and individuals. Mostly I prepared tax
computation for companies, because when I was doing client companies'
audit, I needed to prepare it as well. This subject was very useful to me
because I could apply the knowledge that I learnt to prepare the tax
computation, making it easier for me to complete the tasks.

3.2 Knowledge and Skills Gained

3.2.1 Auditing
During my studies I found that auditing was a totally theoretical subject that
is different from accounting and taxation subjects because it is not included
in any calculation matter. I had the opportunity to complete audits on client
companies during the three months of training. I completed many tasks
relating to audits, such as audit working papers, statutory audit, audit
report, and many more.

3.2.2 Information Technology

Lawrence Wong & Co. accounting software includes Microsoft Excel and
UBS Accounting System. With the UBS Accounting System, I learnt how to
key in double entry transactions and look through the financial statements
during my study. I also learnt how to prepare the bank reconciliation
statements by using this system, and to do year end processing, which is to
close the current accounting year and switch to a new accounting year
(Sage UBS Range of Software, 1991). Before I performed year end

processing, I needed to ensure that all transactions were up to the last

period, back up all of the data files, update all stock values, print all reports,
and check that there was only one retained earnings account. After I
completed this, the system would generate an all balance brought forward
account and accumulated profit would be transferred to the retained
earnings account. All transactions from period 1 to 12 will be removed.
Furthermore, Lawrence Wong & Co. used Microsoft Excel to prepare audit
works. This was an advantage for me when I was doing the audit working
papers as I could key in the amount and generate the formula fast, then the
software would automatically calculate the final amount for me. I had also
learnt how to adjust the paper margin and make it neat before I printed the
working papers.
Other than that, I learnt how to use new software, which was the UBS
Inventory and Billing System. This system is a real time system that
updates the stock immediately after entry. It also performs as an invoicing
system whereby you can print out the invoice, credit note, debit note, and
many more (Sage UBS Range of Software, 1991). During my training, I had
prepared a list of every client company's secretarial and filing fee in Excel
form. My colleague taught me how to check the latest invoices inside the
UBS Inventory and Billing System. Therefore, I could check the invoices
easily and key in the information quickly.

CHAPTER 4
WEAKNESSES AND STRENGTHS
4.1 Weaknesses
During the three months of industrial training, I faced a lot of problems that I
had never encountered before as they were problems that I could not learn
from books. This made me feel weak because sometimes I did not know
which methods should be applied to solve the problems.
At the beginning, I had spent most of time finishing the audit works
because what I had learnt in university was theory, but the training was
more focused on practical tasks. These tasks were quite different from what
I had studied in text books and from lecture notes, so I was a bit confused
when I prepared the audit works.
I also faced problems when I was doing account entries. Before I started to
key in receipts and payments into UBS Accounting System, I spent a lot
time trying to understand the company's business transactions and
concepts, because different companies may have different versions of
these. After I keyed in all the transactions, I printed the general ledger,
income statement, and balance sheet to give to my company supervisor to
review. Unfortunately, my works were rejected by her because I did not key
in the transactions and descriptions properly. Moreover, some of the clients
did not provide enough financial information, such as details of income
received, so I did not know exactly what those incomes were.
In addition, I had difficulty in using my English language because the
company mostly has English speaking clients. Sometimes the clients did

not understand what I said, so I had to use Chinese language or Malay

language to communicate with them.

4.2 Strengths
During this internship, I learnt a lot and practiced my knowledge and
concepts relating to accounting, auditing, and taxation. I have come across
many new things and gained knowledge from my company supervisor and
colleagues.
I was able to use other languages to communicate with clients, such as
Hokkien, Cantonese, and Malay. The reason for this is that some of the
clients cannot speak English, they only know to speak their own language.
Therefore, I was able to use these languages to communicate or discuss
some matters with clients.
I felt lucky that my company supervisor gave me the opportunity to practice
my knowledge in her company. She always motivated me and taught me
many new skills as a trainee, and also helped me to acquire new
knowledge. Furthermore, she was also a very patient person. When I did
not understand how to do the tasks that she has assigned, she was very
patient in explaining to me the steps. Another strength was that my
colleagues were willing to help me whenever I encountered problems.

CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
Through this training program, I have gained so much new knowledge and
experience , improved my communication and computer skills, as well as
learning how to adapt to working life quickly in a new atmosphere. It also

prepared me to be more responsible for my actions and tasks in the future

working life.
Furthermore, I have covered knowledge of auditing, accounting, and
taxation during my time spent inside the company. For the auditing part, I
learnt how to prepare the audit program, confirmation letter, auditing
working papers, and others. I also learnt how to key in the account entries
properly by using UBS Accounting System and Microsoft Excel. For the
taxation part, I learnt about how to prepare tax computation. All of the
learning made me feel interested and challenged although it was stressful
at times .
I can conclude that the industrial training was well organized. My company
supervisor and colleagues were caring and willing to teach me all of the
working steps and concepts. With their guidance, I was able to do my tasks
properly and apply the accounting knowledge that I had learnt in university
into real working life.
In conclusion, I have been trained to be prepared in facing the real working
environment in the future and gained some ideas about the work flow of a
company. I am pleased that I did my industrial training in Lawrence Wong &
Co. and thank my company supervisor and all colleagues for caring and
giving me a chance to learn all of the work involved. I hope I can use my
experience and knowledge that I gained further in my education.

ACKNOWLEDGE
MENT
Sometimes words fall short to show gratitude, the same
happened with me during this project. The immense help and support
received from Cpl & Co overwhelmed me during the project. It was a great
opportunity for me to work with Cpl & Co, pioneer in the field of accounting and
taxation. I am extremely grateful to the entire team of Cpl & Co, who have shared
their expertise and knowledge with me and without whom the completion of this project would
have been virtually impossible. My sincere gratitude to
Ms.Sara Chin (Secretary of the company) for providing mewith an opportunity to work with
them as a company project guide who has provided mewith the necessary information and
her valuable suggestion and comments on bringing out this report in the best possible
way.I am highly indebted to Ms.Sharon(working colleagues)
who has provided me thenecessary information and her valuable suggestion and
a good support in understandingthe basics of accounting and taxation easily.I feel great
pleasure to cordial thanks Ms.Lee (Auditor)
.

I also very thankful tomy friends who help me in completion of the project . I am
thankful to the power thatalways inspires me to take right step in the journey of success my
life

Praise to Allah for three (3) months I undergo my internship that begins on early February this
year till end of April, I finally successfully completed my Industrial training report. For the
remaining 3 months more that I have to continue my training in order to complete my course, I
pray to Allah hoping my journey is in His bliss. I also would like to extend my thankfulness to
the most precious persons in my life, my father and mother for all their moral support, financial
support and also to my friends for never ending reminding me to always be honest and
trustworthy during my training here. As for my supervisor from Universiti Malaysia Pahang
(UMP), Encik Shamsul Hairi Bin Muhamad. I thank you for all the reprimand and guidance as it
is very helpful for me in completing my report. Last but not least I would like to extend my
appreciation to my industrial supervisor, Dr. Ir. Selamat Bin Aliman and Ir. Fakhrul Zakee for
their advices and patiently guiding me through while I working here as a trainee. Not forgotten
for all the staffs working at SBA Consultant I very much appreciate for their entire kindness
helping and teaching me when Im working there. I am very lucky to have such a helpful
colleagues and I never felt left out in any situation.
I am entrusted to undergo my industrial training at SBA Consultant for six (6) months
before I can complete my subject course in order to graduate. For now I have completed half of
the period required for my training. During these 3 months working here I am exposed to many
new things which are very valuable for me to learn and carry out with devotion when I face the
real world of working in the future. Undergoing for industrial training has become one of the
curricular that college student compulsory to attend especially for those who studied at IPTA.
The motive of this action is to expose students and let them experience the environment of the
real world of working before graduating. It is also to prepare students to face the real challenge
and learn how to find solution when problem encountered besides completing the course. This
exposure not only will prepare the students but it is also a great opportunity to gain knowledge at
industry. Besides that, it can prepare students on how to polish more their soft skill especially on
how to communicate with others and learn to do work in a group. At college students usually
communicate with people around their ages but when working there are differences in ages and
this required communication skill. The period for completing industrial training is different
according to course. Most of the courses need to undergo 6 months training period in order to
complete it as for others only 3 months but the period of time undergo this training is not the
measurement to ensure the students will get full benefit out of it. If the students itself doesnt
know how to grab the opportunity given even undergoing training for 6 months would be
useless. Therefore it is important to make use of the chances given and make the best out of it as
this experience is priceless and it wouldnt be the same when we are working later.

I have learnt a lot of valuable things while working here. I realize that learning theoretical
is never the same when it comes to practice. There are a lot more to master than just learning
from book. For example it is impossible to master the etiquette of communicating with others
from the book unless we put it in action. I also learned it is very important to know how to work
as part of the team especially when you are working in a big organization. In order to complete
the task given timing is also another crucial thing to take care of. As is it known, the world of
working is a completely different phase compared to the time when we are studying; therefore by
going for an industrial training it is in hope that the students are well prepared and have high
confidence to serve the community. Students have to carry a big responsibility when working at
industry and carry it with honesty and sincerity.