Describe your role and what it entails.

My role had predominantly 2 parts- 1. Corporate Accounting and 2. Lease Accounting & Fixed Assets.

Corporate Accounting (VAT side):

The main task I have done in my internship is manage VAT calculations where we worked out how much VAT each UK-managed hotel owed to HMRC each quarter. I create an analysis of Input and AR report and then input the data into a VAT calculation. I also carried out the age 60 reconciliation task each month where I assign all reconciliations over the age of 60 days to directors for review.

I carried out various month-end tasks with Corporate Accounting including running a GL close check to make sure all journals posted get passed correctly. I have also dealt with Blackline unassigned reconciliations throughout month-end as a blackline local admin.

I also complete a couple of reconciliations myself each month including multi-company and pension reconciliations.

Lease accounting and Fixed Assets:

For Lease accounting I have posted various month-end journals, including finance and operating equipment, and helped create the relevant backup files. I have been getting used to inputting data into macros in Excel. Additionally, I have done a few administration tasks by trying to call certain vendors for lease agreements for our records.

For Fixed Assets, I have completed some WIP recs. WIP recs are done frequently to review whether all the costs recorded in Project Costing have been logged in the General ledger and vice versa.

I also monitor the shared mailbox for all three teams. 

What have been your highlights?

There are many highlights I have experienced throughout my time here! I would say the first one is generally how close I have gotten with my team, as they are all so supportive and help whenever I need them. Secondly, I have enjoyed getting to meet other interns who are also on placement, it is nice to meet others who are in the same position. Thirdly, I really enjoyed planning a charity event with other interns in Glasgow to raise money for Glasgow Association for Mental Health. We worked together to organise a quiz and bingo night with a tombola and raffle. Finally, being part of the social committee and Pride TMRG; both of which I have helped plan various events for the office.

One other highlight from my year at Hilton has been taking advantage of the benefits offered to team members. We are offered great discounts for both ourselves, and our friends & family for hotels around the world. It is great to experience the different brands as well as travel during time off.

What challenges have you faced during your internship?

The main challenge I have faced has been adapting from University life to an office job with responsibilities. As an intern, the Hilton team treat you equally as a full-time employee and so the jobs carried out are real tasks. This was daunting at first but over my year here I have become more comfortable and confident with these responsibilities, and I believe this experience will help me massively going into my final year of University. 

What have you learnt from your experience in the role?

Everybody says this but, the main skills have developed are my excel skills. I thought my knowledge of Excel was fairly efficient before I started my placement year, but I soon found there were definitely parts that needed improvement, or I still needed to learn! I have learnt a lot about how powerful of a tool it can be, and I can definitely say I have developed my Excel skillset throughout the year.

I have also developed my communication skills, especially as I have been working on Microsoft Teams a lot of the time as my immediate team and line managers are all based in Glasgow and I have been based in Watford. I have had the opportunity to travel up to Glasgow a handful of times; which has been great for both networking as well as experiencing a different office environment.

Finally, my organisation and timekeeping skills have gotten much better as I have had to set a schedule every day.

What advice would you give to a student following in your footsteps?

The first piece of advice I would give to a student following in my footsteps would be to ask as many questions as possible to anyone that is training you. Something to remember is that you aren’t expected to know the systems and how accounting work when you initially start.

Additionally, I recommend that you use Microsoft One Note all the time. It is a great tool for writing down anything you are trained up on and can always be referred to. This is something I wish I started sooner. 

Subsequently, I recommend that when you have spare time in the first month of your internship, you brush up on your Excel skills; do this by watch videos on YouTube or completing LinkedIn Learning courses (which we get free access to as part of our internship). 

Finally, but most importantly, Enjoy it! Hilton is a great place to work; everyone is very supportive, and the corporate culture is great. You will not regret doing your internship here!