Finance and Accounting Internships

Hi, my name is Andrew and I'm a current intern at Mutual of Omaha in the finance and accounting program. I had the pleasure of working with six other interns in the program over the summer. Uh, we were dispersed into six different departments across the company.

Um, personally I was in, uh, reinsurance, which fell under the treasury umbrella throughout the summer. We worked on a capstone project, uh, together with the other interns. Uh, it was great to be able to have the opportunity to, to go into the office and collaborate with other people, uh, to work on something, uh, meaningful for the company.

I think what's very unique about the program is the willingness of everyone in the company to invest in their youth. I had several opportunities to have one-on-one 30 minute meetings with, uh, for q and as, try to get, just try to soak up as much knowledge as I can about the company and figure out what I want to do going forward. There are endless benefits to the program, however, the ones that I found the most beneficial we're seeing potential career paths

as well as learning what type of company culture I want to work for. Uh, here at Mutual, there's great people and they're willing to help, and I couldn't have more great things to say about the intern program over the summer.

First started my career at Mutual during the summer of 2019. So I was an intern in the internal controls over financial reporting department, and that was part of our finance and accounting internship.

So it was a 10 week program, and it's similar to kind of like the feeder into the finance and accounting development program, which is a three year rotational program designed to provide students and um, employees with kind of the skills that they need to become a well-rounded employee. So I start, started the finance and accounting development program in June of 2020.

And then I just finished that up this past October where I became a senior financial analyst. Uh, for one of the roles that I was in. I did two internships during college.

So the first one was at a public accounting firm during busy season, and the second one was at Mutual of Omaha during the summer. And I just really liked Mutual.

I liked the people and the work that I was doing. Um, also a big thing for me was a work-life balance. So typically during busy season at a public accounting firm, you're working, you know, 70 to 80 hours a week.

Whereas at Mutual and even in any other industry, even during your busy season, you're only working up to 50 hours, maybe 55. So it was just a better work-life balance. And I really liked how the work, like the work that I was doing, I was able to learn more about the company rather than just doing your traditional audit or tax At Mutual. Um, they compensate you for your exams and for your study materials, which is very similar to what public accounting firms do as well. And then also,

um, with industry you need three years of experience, whereas in public you need two. But with the finance and accounting development program, it's a three year rotational program. So if you do get into that, um, all of your experience hours are fulfilled through that.

And then also a lot of the managers and even the senior finance executive over the finance and accounting development program are all, uh, CPAs so they can sign off on your hours.

I love the people. I love the work. Um, the flexibility, you know, I have the opportunity to come into the office, but it's definitely not required. Um, the work-life balance is just overall great. Um, you know, at a public accounting firm, you're typically doing audit or tax, whereas an industry, you're working for the company once you're able to get a better understanding and kind of see the company and their financials because you're working on them and you're working alongside people who are, you know,

doing different parts of the job. So I really like the work that I'm doing, the people, the flexibility, just everything. One of the big things is that they compensate you for your exams and they also compensate you for your study materials.

So that's really similar to public accounting firms. Uh, public accounting firms typically do this similar thing. And then another thing is that, you know, you, you can get it. So in public accounting you just need two years of experience, whereas in private and industry, you need three years of experience in the finance and accounting development program really allows you to do that because it's a three year rotational program. So all of your experience can get done through that.

And then a lot of the managers that are in the finance and accounting development program are CPAs, so you can get your experience signed off by them. The big thing is a work-life balance.

So typically when you're working busy season hours at a public accounting firm, you're working, you know, 60, 70, 80 hours a week, whereas in industry, and that mutual, the busy time could be up to 55 or 60, so not even comparable. Um, and then during the summer you're typically wor working your 40 hours. Um, a ton of flexibility. You can come into the office if you want, but it's not required. A lot of us work from home. Um, so yeah,

just I would say the big thing is the flexibility in the work-life balance.