Contributing in Local Government

This past week, I finished my 6th week working for the Office of the Nassau County Comptroller doing financial analysis for the Accounting department. As the only individual working in the accounting department with a background in Finance, I have had to work on a wide variety of tasks throughout the operations of the Comptroller’s Office. Unfortunately, because I work for a government entity, I am unable to explain the specifics of the work I do, but I can give general examples of how I have helped to serve my local government this summer.

The first project I worked on was the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year 2018, which is the financial statements the County is mandated to produce every year. I was able to get a lot of hands on work during this project and was able to use a lot of the financial skills I have learned at the Robins School of Business. I also worked on the Mid Year Report for Nassau County.

Another project I worked on involves analyzing and updating certain policies which I cannot elaborate on because of their confidentiality. But this project involved a lot of team work from both employees, management, and the interns to get important information which was very difficult to obtain for a variety of reasons. Because this project required such a great deal of teamwork and initiative, I feel like this project allowed me to utilize and analyze all the theories I have learned through Jepson. I have had the the opportunity to see leader-follower relationships in action, which was definitely an interesting experience.

Finally, I work directly under a high ranking government official who has truly taken me under his wing and allowed me to collaborate and work with him very closely throughout the summer. It is very common for him to tell me to drop what I am doing to work alongside him on a given task or to solve a certain problem. This dynamic has forced me to be adaptable and flexible to work on different projects throughout the day and constantly be ready to shift gears. I truly feel like I have become the “swiss army knife” of the office and I worked on such a wide range of projects.

The accomplishment I am most proud of this summer is that an analysis I did about a certain financial projection was so well received by my boss that he sent it in to be published in an official document later this year. The sense of accomplishment I felt by contributing in such a material way has without a doubt been the highlight of my summer internship.