The time has come for accounting students to apply for internships for the spring and summer semesters.

Although they aren’t required, internships for accounting majors are greatly recommended by students, teachers and firms.

“Like any internship, it helps solidify a student’s interest in the career,” said Linda Zucca, manager of the Accounting Internship Program and undergraduate accounting programming coordinator.

Accounting internships are typically done in the spring – during tax season.

“It’s the best experience,” Zucca said. “Because that’s when the firms are the busiest.”

Businesses and firms that work with the university to find interns are typically from the area, including Davey Tree Expert Co. and Ernst & Young.

These businesses have a number of reasons for looking to Kent State for interns.

“There’s two reasons for us,” said Juli Hicks, human resources manager for Brockman, Coats, Gedelian & Co. “We have a huge need during that time period. (And) it provides us with a qualified pool of candidates.”

Brockman, Coats, Gedelian & Co. is a firm based in Akron that deals with individuals and private firms, Hicks said. The firm has worked with students from the university for seven years now and will continue to draw from the school.

While the university isn’t the only school the firm hires from, Hicks said they are happy with the Kent State’s students, and have even offered jobs to interns for after graduation.

Zucca attributes the university’s success to the program and to the work ethic of its students.

“They tend to be hard working,” she said.

In an average year, 45 students get internships for credit in either the spring or summer, Zucca said. Most, if not all, of the internships are paid and full-time.

Brockman, Coats, Gedelian & Co. hires its interns from January until April 15 each year at 40 hours a week, Hicks said. Interns start out with individual returns, but could progress throughout the internship.

Senior accounting major Matt Fifolt worked in the corporate audit department of National City Bank in Cleveland over the summer.

As an industry firm, National City’s corporate audit department is constantly busy.

When Fifolt was looking for an internship last fall, he had just switched his major to accounting and wasn’t yet sure about the process.

“I went through the whole thing blind,” he said of the application process. “The whole process last year was kind of crazy.”

He said the first semester of an accounting major’s junior year is the busiest time. This is when the major classes start to pick up, and a student has to fill out applications and attend a number of functions looking for a job.

“It’s a hectic time,” Fifolt said.

But that time is also worth it, he said, because of the experience a person can get from an internship.

“You determine if that’s what you want to do,” he said. “It’s really like having a full-time job, at least for a few months.”

For firms and corporations, Hicks said working with college interns can have its drawbacks as well.

“They don’t have experience outside of our organization,” she said. “They want to explore their options.”

Hicks said she encourages prospective interns to look at all of their possibilities when getting an internship.

Fifolt, who will attend graduate school after he graduates in May, is following that advice. He hopes to land an internship at a public firm next summer to expand his experience as much as possible.

The deadline to turn in resumes and student information forms is tonight at 11:59 p.m. Students have to turn in all forms online through Career Services and in person to Zucca.

Contact Assistant ALL Editor and College of Business reporter Seth Roy at [email protected].