Training in Dallas

I know I'm already behind, but I'm going to try to catch up. Right now, I'll post about my week of training in Dallas:

First of all, I had the exciting opportunity to stay in the fancy W Hotel in Dallas during this week. It was so fun to stay there and experience a week of life in "ritzy" Dallas. The first evening there I just settled in and explored the hotel.

February 15th- Welcome to EY Training (Day 1)
My first day of WTEY training started with a big breakfast and time to get to know the other interns. Once that finished, we started going through the material. We learned about the strategy, values, and code of conduct for EY. We also briefly touched on the history of the company. In the afternoon we did some role play exercises to learn about how to respond as an intern in various situations. Later, we received our work laptops and learned about how to connect to the EY network and about the security risks and tools. Then we started getting comfortable with the email software, Lotus Notes, and other programs. Finally we learned how to connect outside of the office.

February 16th- Welcome to EY Training (Day 2)
During the second and final day of WTEY, we dove right back into the technical aspects of the internship. We learned about how to update our time and our expenses and about how to access various self-help resources.

February 17th- Tax Training (Day 1)
Today we started getting into the details of the EY tax department. We learned about the tax service framework of the company. It was very interesting to hear a partner of the firm speak about all of the different global service lines, sub-service lines, specialty practices, and global core services. We also learned the details of EYU—the way the EY develops its people. EYU has three components: experiences, coaching, and learning, and we began to gain an understanding of each component and how each affects the diversified career path in tax. At EY, employees (while they are considered a staff or senior) must have a minimum of 600 hours in at least four of seven practice areas, each of which sounds very interesting and unique to me. I look forward to being able to try different areas of tax before being wedged into a specific area.

Our next topic of the day was the career progression of the firm: staff, senior, manager, senior manager, and partner. Then we discussed how to dress at the firm and how to request feedback during the internship.
During the afternoon, we discussed technology and knowledge tools, tax research, and tax quality and risk management.

February 18th- Tax Training (Day 2)
The second day of tax training was completely dedicated to compliance reporting tools. We learned how to use the Analyze Workbook and GoSystems, both of which help to put together tax returns for clients.

It was sad to say goodbye to some of the interns that I had grown to know during the week, but I am now on the road to D.C.! I am so excited to get started on my engagements and to learn all there is for me to learn about EY, tax, and the business world.