Introduction (background, objective, significance of the issue)

Background

Student started its internship on 24th of May and it lasts till the 1st of July. From the very first day, the intern was responsible for assisting director and accountant of the company. It included assistance in reconciliation of bank statements with book records, in recording of incoming and outgoing correspondence, in filling of primary documents and for preparing documents for submission into archive and for other various small tasks, which included printing, scanning, purchasing some supplies, charging inks and so on.

Objectives

In general, as it was mentioned earlier, the main objective of the internship was to apply basic background knowledge and skills received at university in the sphere of accounting and finance. Also, the internship served as a reason to be better prepared for real work and broadening chances to get a job.

To clarify objectives, it can be said that by the end of the internship, the student needs to understand and to work with:

1. Primary documents

2. Cash receipt and payment vouchers and invoices

3. Service acceptance acts and other civil and labor contracts

Significance of the issue

As the Academy performs its activities in the sphere of education, it must, as any other organization, follow specific rules and policies promulgated by highest bodies. The significance of the issue arises from the requirements of the Financial Monitoring Committee of the Ministry of Finances of the Republic of Kazakhstan. They require all organizations with such direction to provide trainings for acting accountants to ensure that all their modules (educational materials) are corresponded to the changes in IFRS, Tax Code and Civil Code.

Methodology

The intern was engaged during the internship period into the following activities:

  1. Familiarized with the primary activities (filling documents, working with invoices, introduction to 1C Accounting System)
  2. Hemming documents of previous years to be sent to archive à even it may seem that company does not have half a century of business history behind, but there were a lot of documents that needed to be sorted, hemmed, and properly put in packs and sent to archive
  3. Meeting clients during examination periods, explanation of the main rules and policies during exams, distributing and collecting them, serving as an observer and other assistance to the supervisor and expert
  4. Developing the website http://www.afbs.kz (publishing news, information, schedule and so on)
  5. Overall observation of the business process (what issues do staff struggle with, how they behave with customers, lecturers, experts and regulatory bodies, such as Financial Monitoring Committee)

Findings and Analysis

In general, the company does not face significant difficulties or threats in operational cycle since it was founded except one. As it was mentioned above, there is a problem that intern identified on the second half of his internship period.

Firstly, it needs to be clarified that modules are necessary study materials that lecturers and professors use during classes and which are also given to the customers in order to successfully complete the courses and pass examinations.

The problem took place in the last days of May, when Financial Monitoring Committee observed that the modules that Academy gave to lecturers and clients were not appropriate because they did not comply with Tax and Civil Codes of the Republic of Kazakhstan. It happened due to the changes made to the Codes in January, 2016. Such organizations need to send their modules to the Financial Monitoring Committee as it is required by the sub-law acts in order to ensure that the courses they offer are relevant.

However, the company’s modules were not changed according to the changes in Codes. And this issue might have cost not less than 200 Monthly Calculating Index (MCI), which is about KZT 424,400. Fortunately, a company used services of lawyer and wrote a letter to the Committee in order to avoid fines and left it as warning, what actually happened.

After intern analyzed this issue, the following aspects were indicated:

  1. The Laws and Sub-Law acts may change any time
  2. Financial Monitoring Committee does not warn about the changes à Academy needs to know about these news