Student Final Internship Evaluation

Complete and return as an email attachment at the end of your internship. A copy should
be in your final portfolio. Download and type this document for submission.

Name of Intern: Catlin Lilly Email: calilly@memphis.edu

Name of Field Supervisor: Lindsey Lyon Email: lindsey.lyon@dhgllp.com

Internship Location: Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP (999 S Shady Grove Rd. #400)

1. Identify new knowledge, skills or attitudes you have acquired in your internship.
How did this help you apply what you had learned in your major?

The amount of new information and knowledge I have learned over the course of
my internship is impeccable. I gained knowledge on how to complete a variety of tax
returns: 1120, 1120S, and 1065. I also was able to work with the dealership side of our
firm a lot and was about to do LIFO and Unicap work on their clients.
I also was exposed to the audit work that is done as well and reconciled different
accounts, such as Cash. I have gained more efficient skills in Excel. The basis that I had
learned in my MIS class was beneficial in getting me started, but actually applying
everything and learning new tricks to help the process move faster was amazing and gave
me more time to focus on other work. I also became really good at using the different
softwares they use to store files and complete the tax returns.
I knew time management and organization were important when it came to school
but it really is when working for an accounting firm. I had to stay on top of the different
clients I was on, as well as manage the amount of time spent on each. I am glad that my
difficult major in school pushed me to be organized and balance my time with all my
different classes, because it really paid off when it came to my internship. I also realized
even more, the importance of communication. During my internship I constantly was
communicating with a variety of people, whether it was the manager in charge of the job,
fellow associates, or even at some points in time the clients themselves. Playing
volleyball and having to miss class taught me how important it is to be able to
communicate and it paid off extremely well during my internship.
Along with the skills and knowledge I learned in accounting and as a general
guide for the workforce, but I also acquired a certain attitude. The world of accounting is
full of reviews on top of reviews. People are constantly reviewing your work and giving
feedback. I gained a positive, motivated attitude towards this entire process of the work. I
stay positive when I did not do everything right, because who does?! As well as, I was
motivated to make sure that I did not make the same mistake twice and that every review
improved from day one and I am happy to say that I did just that.

2. Identify the accomplishments in your internship that you feel will benefit your
career.
My entire internship has been a learning experience that will benefit me in many
aspects when it comes to my future and career. I learned how to work in multiple fields
 and how to switch over from one to the next quickly. I also was able to work in different
environment settings and under different managers throughout the entire internship.
When I went out to California we worked as a team to complete a clients work and then I
also worked individually directly under a manager. Being able to work in two different
types of environments will help me throughout my career because I was able to adapt to
the external environment changes and also handle the different personalities of the
managers I was under. Not everyone I work for will be the same so being able to adapt to
that will be beneficial in my career. I also got a wide range of different industries I
worked in. This will help me later on because I have done accounting work for variety of
businesses and have become familiar with what their financials look like and how they
vary from industry to industry. I also felt my biggest achievement over the course of the
internship was realizing the importance of building relationships with your co-workers.
This is important in having a positive work environment and I experienced that at DHG. I
believe that this is something I can carry over to the next company I work for, in making
sure I form good relationships with my co-workers and bringing that positive energy to
work. Along with all the different accomplishments and task that will later benefit me, I
also received a huge accomplishment by being offered a full-time position with them.
This shows that I made an impact on the company and gives me an idea of what it takes
for a company to want to hire me.

3. Rate the overall internship experience from 1-5, with 5 being an exceptional
experience and one being an unsuccessful experience. 1 2 3 4 5
Comments:
My internship has been honestly an experience of a lifetime. I was able to wake
up every morning eager to see everyone at work and also gain so much knowledge in
accounting. Not only was I able to enjoy those who surrounded me and the work that I
was doing, but I was given the opportunity to go to California with our Dealership group
and work on a new client. DHG also set the interns up with one week of training in
Charlotte, NC, where we had to opportunity to meet all DHG interns from all the
different DHG offices in the United States. DHG really wanted to give a real example of
what it would be like working there. We did actual work as if we were salary pay
associates and also showed that they enjoy being around each other. We had different
social events every week, for example; Autobahn, Grizzlies game, and Mid Busy Season
Tax Party at the Rec Room.

4. What courses prepare you well for this internship?

I would say my Intermediate I & II class helped prepare me for the overall basis
of the accounting work I was doing and just made it easier to understand the concepts. I
also think that my Federal Income Tax helped tremendously. Most of my time at DHG I
was working with the tax department doing tax returns, and in this class we actually did a
mock tax return which became very helpful. Also my MIS class I took my freshman year
here at Memphis also helped. I was a lot more comfortable using Excel which is where I
did a majority of my work during my internship. Lastly I think my Organizational
Management class helped a lot. This class taught me how to work well in different work
 environments and how I should interact with co-workers and top level management. This
was beneficial throughout the entire internship when it came to those relationships with
all the people I worked with.

Evaluate the following areas with 5 being strongly agree and 1 being strong disagree.

Strongly Strongly
Agree Disagree

My internship site was well-suited for me. 5 4 3 2 1

My supervisor provided appropriate instructions. 5 4 3 2 1

My supervisor included networking and mentoring 5 4 3 2 1

In my experience.

My supervisor provided helpful feedback to help me 5 4 3 2 1

be successful.

My work schedule was reasonable. 5 4 3 2 1

I would recommend this organization to future 5 4 3 2 1

Interns at the U of M.

Include a copy of this in your portfolio as well as submitting to your faculty advisor.