Week 1:
Teacher Created Materials

August 13, 2013

After about a week and a half of adjusting, Huntington Beach, CA is beginning to feel like home!  I moved into my apartment, which is a mile away from the beach, on July 31^st, and I jumped right into my finance internship at Teacher Created Materials the next day..  Being so far from home and completely on my own has definitely taken some getting used to, but all of my peers at TCM along with some basketball players that I have met at a local gym have made the transition an incredible experience.

Teacher Created Materials is a publishing firm specializing in educational materials for schools and supplemental materials for teachers.  It is considered to be two separate businesses, with Teacher Created Materials (TCM) doing business with schools and Shell Education doing business with resellers such as bookstores and other vendors.  The business has two buildings, one which is typically used for product creation, and one which contains more of the business aspects, such as the finance department, the IT department, marketing, and the warehouse.

When I first met with my mentor, Controller Lisa Whiteman, she made it clear that the first week would be a lot of observation due to the financial month having just ended.  Every member of the accounting team had six to seven days to complete his or her month-end figures, along with a sales tax audit that was being executed that same week.  This turned out to be for the better, because I was able to observe some of the most dense and thorough accounting practices right away and to see the final product before seeing all of the intermittent steps.  My first “job-shadow” was in accounts receivable.  Here, I learned all of the necessary collections practices for a small business, along with how all of the incoming cash is accounted for and deposited.  I was able to see all of TCM’s business partners and vendors, along with the size of these accounts.  My first four days were spent heavily in A/R, because Vanessa, who is in charge of A/R, will be going on a vacation in the next two weeks, and her duties will become my responsibility for that duration.

Once I had gotten a good handle on Accounts Receivable, they transferred me over to Accounts Payable, where I am currently learning how TCM pays their bills, and how they account for and keep track of the hundreds of checks that go out of the company each week.  When talking with Lisa last week (unfortunately she will be taking a medical leave of absence for the duration of my internship), she informed me that I will be given a project regarding one of their largest clients who I cannot name due to confidentiality reasons.  Since it has only been one week, I am still learning that basics, but I have become very comfortable with the accounting team.  Each coworker is extremely helpful and open to helping me.  In addition, there is currently another intern (he returns to school at the end of this week) who has helped make the transition much smoother.  He, Christian, has been teaching me his daily tasks so that I can take over when he leaves, along with being able to complete more intense projects.

Along with TCM and all of its employees, the city of Huntington Beach has been incredibly open and friendly to me.  My roommate is an older lady who is friendly but also respects my privacy; however, between work and preparing for the upcoming basketball season at the gym, I am not often home!  I have been to the beach a few times as it is right down the street, and it is always entertaining to walk the pier and watch the surfers.  My parents came along for the thirty-hour drive and helped me to get settled.  We stayed in downtown Los Angeles, which is an incredible city as far as the entertainment business to the diverse Venice Beach Boardwalk.  As my internship progresses, I hope to not only learn more about finance and accounting, but I also want to explore the Los Angeles and Orange County areas, as I may not ever get the chance to be out here again.  Either way, I can already tell that this will be an amazing experience, and I have only been here for a week and a half.