A Year in Review, and Looking at the Years to Come

It's been over a year since I've posted anything...

A lot has happened, of course. I spent 7 weeks in Africa. I took on the role of BEDC Project Leader for Beta Alpha Psi, which was more work than I thought it would be, but also incredibly rewarding. I interned in my church's Finance department for 6 months, which was definitely one of the best job experiences I've ever had. I went to NYC, Vancouver BC, Palm Springs, and Minneapolis. And I took Winter quarter off of school to do a Tax internship at Sweeney Conrad, an accounting firm in Bellevue.

Today is my last day at SC. I have learned a ton, to say the least.. I don't know why, but it wasn't until this week that I could do my work without getting stressed out. I wish that had happened sooner.... because I learned a lot more when I stopped being so anxious!

So this week has been one filled with reminiscing. Spring quarter starts on Monday. Where did the last 14 weeks go?? (I haven't had classes since December...) I am thankful to have had a break from the stressful, strenuous school life. But I am looking forward to seeing friends again, and probably spending too much time in those all-too-familiar buildings: Balmer Hall and Foster Library... although, I do want to spend more time at cafes, as well..

I'm looking forward to learning more.. this internship has really helped me see the important of understanding business functions and how they work together. In April I'll start working with a friend of mine, Jeremy Allen, who owns a bookkeeping company that focuses on small businesses. I think it will be very interesting to work with all those entrepreneurs! And my coursework aligns perfectly: Business Policy (MGMT 430), Deal-making and Negotiations (MGMT 402), and Entrepreneurial Finance (FIN 457).

It's been a busy year.... I have a feeling my years will stay busy indefinitely, but I am working on being busy with the RIGHT things and using my time more intentionally. I have grown a lot - as a person, as a sister, as a daughter, as a friend, as a student, and as a leader. I'm finding my niche, slowly. I am learning to focus my efforts on productive things, and things I am made for, rather than blinding striving for something that really isn't supposed to come to fruition anyway. I am learning more about how I tick, and how other ticks, and how our ticks can work together for better or for worse. I like people.. and I want to work with them one-on-one. I love to teach and speak and mentor... and I think doors are opening for me to do that in whatever career I pursue.

How's that for a blanket-update?

Maybe I should do this more often..... :)

Jessica K. Nguyen
Class of 2010
Michael G. Foster School of Business
University of Washington, Seattle
accountantforAfrica.blogspot.com
accountingforAfrica.blogspot.com

Lessons from the Dance Floor: Part 1

I've been meaning to write a post (or series of posts) on lessons from the dance floor. I should probably go to sleep, since I have a meeting at 11am in Bellevue, but it's been far too long since I've posted anything.

I've recently taken up dancing - swing style. I started last quarter with Swing Kids at UW and learned East Coast, Charleston, and Lindy. I dove into the swing scene and went dancing as often as I could, wanting to learn everything thing I could about dancing and styles and music and etiquette. This quarter, however, I've only been marginally involved (missed at least six weeks of lessons) and only went out "social dancing" three times throughout the entire quarter (rather than thrice a week). One of those times was tonight.

Why was this quarter so different? Well, for starters, my classes were much more involved (six straight weeks of midterms, weekly homework assignments to turn in and quizzes to take in multiple classes). I also got burned by some leads who had rotten attitudes, which made me feel like an inadequate follow, which made me not want to dance - with them and then eventually at all. So I took a six or seven week haitus from the dance scene. During that time I had urges to go dance, but was satisfied with licking my wounds rather than risking feeling stupid while doing something I thought I loved.

I finally went tonight (technically yesterday) to Century Ballroom's 21-and-over night. It was the best night of dancing I've ever had! There were many things that contributed to this, but I think one of the big things was the leads were more experienced and knew better how to signal their follows to do what they'd intended. I didn't get any sense of snobbery and when I messed up, the leads laughed it off and had an awesome attitude that helped me feel a lot more at ease and much less self-conscious. (Self-consciousness is a whole other topic in and of itself, which I hope to write on in the future.)

How does this have anything to do with my future career? Plenty! In life, and especially in the workplace, there will be leads (authorities, bosses, etc.) who might be good at what they do, but might not be very good at helping others follow them - just like the snobby leads who look good on their own but aren't humble enough to bring moves down to my beginner level. (I'm not trying to say that out of bitterness. I'm just trying to be honest.)

There will also be leads who will be phenomenal at training and mentoring and having patience and the ability to laugh things off (when they really didn't matter in the first place) and graciously, patiently help you improve. From my experience in dancing, I have learned that just because someone scars you, it shouldn't stop you from pursuing your dreams and goals. Just because one person is a bad lead, it doesn't make all leads horrible snobs. It's intensely important to pick oneself up off the ground and persevere. It's worth pressing on once you get to the leads who make both of you look good. Everyone's a leader to someone and we can learn from the mistakes of our leaders ('cause all leaders make mistakes, whether they're "good" or "bad) so as to better guide, train, and mentor people following us.

This is, of course, much easier said than done, but I think realizing these truths is the first step to living them out. I'm trying to apply this to both of my jobs - paid for childcare (where I'm a leader to the kids) and unpaid for interning at Pilgrim (where I'm following the CFO). It's tough... but it's growing me a lot, too - professionally and personally.

That's all for tonight. I will probably elaborate on many points within this post, but it's 3am and I have to be out of the house in 7.5 hours. Bon soir!

Jessica K. Nguyen
Junior - Accounting
Michael G. Foster School of Business
University of Washington, Seattle
accountingforAfrica.blogspot.com

Integrity

I've known that integrity is important and I've always been a horrible liar, but I've just recently come to realize WHY integrity is so essential in business, especially in accounting.

During my training at Pilgrim I've been given access to its books and several accounts (online and on computers) to update and edit various items. The other day Jeff Levell (CFO/internship coordinator) and I were trying to electronically file Pilgrim's Annual Report with the Department of Revenue. We were also trying to file with several other departments and governmental entities. I say "trying" because none of them were successful (online).

While we experimented with a combination of user names and passwords, it occurred to me: Wow, Jeff has got to trust me an awful lot to expose me to all this. An employer becomes extremely vulnerable in allowing its employees to touch its financial information and create/edit what goes on financial statements that creditors and investors and governments use to evaluate it. And it's my duty as an employee to steward that trust well and to foster more of it between the firm and myself. It's my duty to protect that information from bias or falsehoods.

Part of the Foster School of Business's Student Code of Conduct is to practice integrity. On multiple occasions my accounting professors and event speakers will give us scenarios and (rhetorically) ask what we should do. Since we're all students and studying a lot of theory, we can regurgitate the right answer from what we read in a book or talked about in class. But my profs/speakers don't leave it at that. They push us and make us think about it as we would in real life: Will your answer be the same when you've got a mortgage, four mouths to feed, and your boss puts your job on the line if you don't falsify the firm's financials? When is it OK to tweak the information? Their answer remains: NEVER.

Last night (or maybe it was today) I was also thinking about academic integrity: citing sources, doing the work you're assigned to do, not cheating. I'm kind of a stickler about this when it comes to writing papers - and I'm not saying that to be haughty or self-righteous; I'm just very detail-oriented and want to be able to track down info later. I used to cheat on homework in high school. I stopped doing that for a lot of reasons, but one of them is that it really end up coming back to bite me later. If I don't do the homework myself, I don't learn the material and am not as prepared for tests. I also don't have time to copy answers 'cause my schedule doesn't match up with many of my fellow students'.. haha. That and there's no guarantee that their answers are right, anyway. And can you imagine spending 10 years researching and writing documents just to have someone rip the idea off of you and get credit for all your hard work? No fun.

Anyway.. I have to go to my Information Systems class. My prof (Shaosong Ou) is hilarious. Toodles!

Jessica K. Nguyen
Junior - Accounting
Michael G. Foster School of Business
University of Washington, Seattle
accountantforAfrica.blogspot.com

Interning @ Pilgrim USA

Monday marked the beginning of a 6+ month internship with Pilgrim. I was originally interning with the Agathos Foundation, but there is talk of a merger so they thought it best for me to work with Pilgrim earlier than Spring quarter. We went through training that involved a very in-depth bank reconciliation, a video on Pilgrim's work in Uganda (see below), and putting together a duties/goals list for the quarter. I'm really excited to use international networks that will allow me to work with Pilgrim Uganda's accounting systems in Kampala and Soroti. We'll be working to refine the systems they have in place. It definitely challenges me to understand accounting on a deeper and more practical level what I'd get in a normal class setting.

Here's the video we watched during training; I think it's a few minutes shorter than what we watched, but you'll get the jist of it:




That's all for tonight. I'll try to update more often; things are busy on my end with four classes, extracurriculars, internship, and my weekend job. Take care!

Jessica K. Nguyen
Junior - Accounting
Michael G. Foster School of Business
University of Washington, Seattle
accountantforAfrica.blogspot.com

Compartmentalizing

Upon realizing that my other blog is to be focused on the kids in Africa I'm trying to help, I came across the problem of no longer having an outlet through which to update friends, family, and whoever else might care, of my whereabouts.

And so, this blog will be about me and my journey through college and life and a hopeful career in nonprofit accounting.

This winter I'll be interning with the Agathos Foundation, working to refine its accounting procedures and then present it to the Board of Directors for approval. This should be a fun, challenging project that will really stretch my knowledge and skills. It will be really neat to put the things I'm learning into practice and to see how it directly affects organizations.

Also, this quarter I am working on zeroing in on a few things, instead of trying to stretch myself beyond what I'm capable of. Ergo, it looks like I'll be stepping aside my role as a Beta Alpha Psi candidate/member so I can focus on schoolwork and my internship. I've also started the first phase of planning fundraising activities so I can go to Africa for 8 weeks this summer and help refugees in Uganda and orphans in South Africa.

Will update more later.

Jessica K. Nguyen
Junior - Accounting
Michael G. Foster School of Business
University of Washington, Seattle
accountantforAfrica.blogspot.com