Industry Practicum in Accounting

Question: Discuss about the Industry Practicum in Accounting. Answer: Introduction: As per my study schedule in accounting curriculum, I was assigned with the internship program to suffice the need of practicum program in a Modern Brick Industry in India as an intern in the fields of accounting. My practicum will include areas like payroll management, book keeping along with cultivation of management skills related to accounting. This entity is mainly engaged in brick manufacturing and the organization is operating in the state of Punjab. Legal status of the entity is private limited company by liability of the shareholders. This assignment had been given to me with the arrangement by my Institute and the company through their educational exchange program endorsed by the Government of India and the Institute. This assignment will open a new dimension of probable employment for me. This practicum program will require to be completed by me covering 80 hours of program. I have to learn the system of accounting of this brick factory related to accounting with special em phasis on book keeping, payroll management and teach necessary management skills related to accounting practiced in this industry. The assignment was fixed for 80 hours and was expected to start from 1st November 2016 and scheduled to be ended on 11th November, 2016. The basic distribution of 80 hours was fixed as 8 hours a day for 10 consecutive days. This internship program will benefit me through gathering of experience by practical working in the industry. It will also add value to my knowledge and experience related to different statutory compliance in respective areas of said expertise which will enable me to get a job after successful completion of my course. Practicum Program: As per arraignment, I have reached the brick factory on 1st November, 2016. Mr. Chawla, Senior Manager Accounts of the company had welcomed me and took me to the accounts department. Mr. Singh, Assistant Manager Accounts was my immediate supervisor. After the official introduction, I was given with the program of 80 hours of internship with the detail of schedule and expected hours to be spent in different accounting activities. I am appending below the details of practicum program taken care by me with different area of operations to be learnt by me. Journal Report of my Practicum Program with notes:- Period: 15th November 2016 to 5th December, 2016- 18 days (except Sundays) Total Practicum Hours- 82 Hours Date Comments / Meetings / Activities Time spent 15th November, 2016 Official Introduction, Orientation of the job of Payroll Management, to make familiar with the accounting software, to understand the nature of employment, to find the historical data of payroll process, to understand the same, and to find statutory compliance related to annuity and health insurance offered by the company for the employees 5 hours 16th November,2016 Continued previous training -Do- 17th November, 2016 To have hands on experience on payroll processing, to find the practice of payroll, practical execution of payroll process -Do- 18th November, 2016 Continued previous training -Do- 19th November, 20`16 Preparation of final salary computation for staffs as per the attendance register of last month, payment process- through bank/cash, segregation of employees- Management staff, clerical staff and contracted labour. -Do- 21st November, 2016 Continued previous training -Do- 22nd November, 2016 Book Keeping- introduction, feedback of accounting system followed by the company- Accounting Software Tally ERP 9 multi user- Balance Sheet-division of assets and liabilities, Profit and Loss Account-purchase account, sales account, expenses account, Consolidation of accounts, Trial Balance, balance sheet and profit and loss A/c preparation -Do- 23rd November, 2016 Book Keeping- entering different financial information into accounting software, studying impact of those entries in the accounts, understanding of derivation of gross profit and net profit, tax implication, finalisation of accounts. -Do- 24th November, 2016 Continued previous training -Do- 25th November, 2016 Continued previous training -Do- 26th November, 2016 Hands on experience of accounting in the software- vouchers, journals, cash book, bank book, income tax deducted at source, receivables, payables, valuation of inventories 4 hours 28th November, 2016 Continued previous training -Do- 29th November, 2016 Accounting management skills, Management of different accounting heads in the finalisation of accounts, arriving at the trading and profit and loss account, basic structure of balance sheet, basis of derivation of inventories by value and volume, inventory management -Do- 30th November, 2016 Continued previous training -Do- 1st December, 2016 To manage accounts as per the guideline fixed by the company, understand the Triple Bottom Line exercise by the company Profit, People and Planet- emphasizing on economic, social and environmental practices of the company to ensure sustainability -Do- 2nd December, 2016 Continued previous training -Do- 3rd December,2016 Continued previous training -Do- 5th December, 2016 To wrap up my practicum experience of internship program with Modern Brick Industry in Punjab, India, a meeting with Mr. Chawla and Mr. Singh had been held on 11.11.2016 afternoon with the concluded assignment. Acknowledgment from them is received with certificate and appreciation related to my efforts and ability to learn. Moreover they have offered me for future employment, if I am willing to join their company as Accounts Executive. -Do- Notes: Payroll management is to understand proper calculation of salary and wages for employees. Break up of salary is made with basic salary, house rent allowance, city compensatory allowance and other allowances as applicable for different level of employees. Salary is payable in Indian Currency INR. Deduction from salary includes annuity as known in India as Provident Fund, run by the Trustee Board. This facility is availed by the employees through contributory, both by the employees and employer. Employee contribution is 12% on basic salary while employer contribution is 3.67% towards employee account and 8.33% on family pension account. Health insurance is mandatory for employees with gross salary not over 16,000 INR. Employees contribution is 1.75% of gross salary while employers contribution is 4.75%.Professional Tax is deducted at source. Income tax is deducted at source for employees whose earning is more than 250,000 INR per year subject to certain conditions of eligible deduction s (Empxtrack, 2014). Book Keeping is maintained in double entry system. Important financial reports considered for accounts are general ledger, trial balance, trading account, profit and loss account, and balance sheet. Accounting package Tally ERP 9 is good software which can take care of Accounting Information System based on the respective entries made in the system. Derivation of gross profit is done with consideration of purchase of raw materials, direct costs like wages, other fixed overhead costs and revenue. To arrive at Net Profit before tax, different operational expenses are to be deducted from gross profit. Net profit such generated are subject to corporate tax @ 30% as prevailing in India (Accountingtools, 2012). Accounting management skills covers the management of financial information and arrange them in such manner that it will be easy to understand and follow. I have also observed that Triple Bottom Line exercise is followed by the company to ensure economic, social and environmental objectives of the company to ensure long term sustainability for future period. To Do: I have to understand pay roll management to arrive at the net payable salary of human resources. For contracted labor, I have to calculate the man hour multiplied by hourly rate of labor as per attendance sheet generated though automated card punching system. Amount is to be paid to the contractor after deduction of necessary elements like health insurance costs and others as applicable with the addition of service tax as featured in their claims. For salary computation of company employee, I have to understand the formalities of deductions under different heads like Provident Fund, Health Insurance under government scheme of Employees State Insurance Act. For book keeping purpose, I have to clearly distinguish different accounts with their heading and sub-headings as per nature. Moreover, proper treatment of expense is to be booked in the accounts to derive proper financial profit or loss such generated from the system. I have to understand more elaborately different accounting management skills, with clear concept of Triple Bottom Line activities to ensure sustainability in the fields of economic, social and environmental activities by the organization Reflection: Reflection of salary computation system is acquired by me through the process of payroll management. Moreover reflection of statutory compliance related to payroll management is also enriched my experience of how the treatment of those are done with the basic objectives of employees benefit, and how they will be able to get financial benefit out of it in long term or short term. Reflection of knowledge has added value in the fields of accounting management with special emphasis on payroll management with statutory compliance, management skill in regard to accounting with basic book keeping, knowledge of accounting software Tally ERP 9, enhancement of management skill in accounting with special emphasis on the TBL concept. Last five days had added value to my work experience through practical knowledge of handling accounts with hardcore practice of entering the financial data in the accounting package and instantly understand their implication in the books of accounts of the company with special emphasis on different financial information-how they are generated, what outcome they produce and how they are being treated in finalization of accounts with impact on assets, liabilities and equity. Synopsis of Practicum Program: Major problems faced by me- During the practicum program, I have faced problems related to salary structure with statutory compliance. Mistakes made by me- During entering vouchers in Tally ERP9, I have made mistakes like choosing of right account for recording financial information. My strengths- My ability to learn with adoption of new concepts of salary computation and book keeping, with development of management skills in the domain of company accounting. Most beneficial information- The trend of accounting in Brick Industry of India with knowledge of payroll management, bookkeeping and development of management skills to serve the company with enriched MIS. My dream job- I would like to start in a company from the level of junior executive to reach the post of CFO in the accounting and finance domain. Final Report: Preface: As per schedule I have completed my practicum program with the Modern Brick Industry of Punjab, India. The arrangements had been made by my institution where I have completed by curriculum of accounts. The program has two objectives for me- to get acquainted with present accounting practices in business environment, to enhance my scope of employment through this experience. It is to be mentioned that the practicum program is extensive with continuity of 80 hours and had been scheduled from 1st November 2016 and ended on 11 the November, 2016. The division of my practicum program is for 10 days with 8 hours of work every day. Through this practicum program, I have learnt so many practical approaches of accounting jobs which was not known to me during my theoretical studies in the classroom. Learning Outcome: Being a student of accounting, I have already known the basic accounting approaches through my classroom teachings. The need of the moment was practical training for me for which I was assigned with the program as scheduled by my institute with brick industry of India. The company which was chosen for this purpose was from the state of Punjab, India. After completion of successful practicum program with that company for 80 hours, I was enriched with practical experience which endorsed the learning outcome as follows: Payroll management- This area was not taught in the classroom in detail. I came across with this assignment with one of the main issues of payroll management as practiced in India. The basic structure of payroll is same all over the world. The employer takes care of the employees by paying for their skills they offer to the company. But the critical analysis of practical approach of payroll management of the brick industry had given me wide exposure about this field. I came to know how the salary structure is being made for the employees, what are the basic criteria of fixing the salary package, how the salary is being calculated, what are the basic deductions made while calculating salary for the employees, the nature of deductions with its implications and effect for the employees and others, statutory compliance related to salary calculation and disbursement, mode of payment of salary and subsequent accounting of payroll. As it is a manufacturing unit, the role of wages for labors is also taught to me. The labors are mainly contractual in nature with the outsourcing made for the company from outside vendors. Consolidated payment is being made to the vendors with statutory deductions to be made for this purpose to abide by the government laws and acts (Easyhrworld, 2016). Book keeping- This is another area in which I had practicum experience through my internship program. The basic accounting theory is being endorsed by the practical experience related to this subject. The basic distinction of different accounting heads are being taught to me with their implications. Financial information and their respective treatment in the accounting system had been explored by me while learning the same through practical experience. The company is maintaining their accounts in the popular software named Tally ERP 9 with multi user web based version. The software is user friendly and is equipped with the basic features of accounting maintenance. Through my practicum program, I have experienced the treatment of different accounting heads and how they are to be treated to make a perfect trial balance which is essential for different finalization method like trading account to derive gross profit, profit and loss account to derive net profit before tax and balance she et to derive net worth of the company (Reviso, 2016). Management skills- Through this practicum program I am enriched with different features of accounting management like funding, working capital analysis, management accounting ratios with their way of derivation and their impact on the management of the company. I had also come across the implementation of latest concept of Triple Bottom Line management by the company for future sustainability in the fields of economic, social and environmental aspects. Self Realization: Through this program I am well equipped with the practical application of accounting in any industry with specialized effect on payroll management, book-keeping and management skills related to corporate accounting. Accounting in theoretical aspect is not matching with practical outcome, however basic knowledge is same. On this foundation, the concept of accounting system is established. It is often found that practical requirement for the job needs instant decision making which is basic requirement of management. Through this practicum program of 80 hours, I have gone through the practical accounting system of the company which had given me enough experience to prove myself a successful employee for any organization in the specific field of accounting. References: Accountingtools, 2012. What is the difference between accounting and bookkeeping? [Online] Available at: https://www.accountingtools.com/questions-and-answers/what-is-the-difference-between-accounting-and-bookkeeping.html [Accessed 19 January 2017]. Easyhrworld, 2016. Payroll Management. [Online] Available at: https://www.easyhrworld.com/features/payroll-management/ [Accessed 19 January 2017]. Empxtrack, 2014. What Is Payroll And How Payroll Calculations Are Done? [Online] Available at: https://empxtrack.com/blog/what-is-payroll-and-how-payroll-calculations-are-done/ [Accessed 19 January 2017]. Reviso, 2016. What is Bookkeeping? [Online] Available at: https://www.reviso.com/accountingsoftware/accounting-words/bookkeeping [Accessed 19 january 2017].