My Roles and Responsibilities

My Role and Responsibilities

As an accounting and finance intern in VG Companies, I am going to handle a wide range of important accounting duties such as outlet sales collection verification, monthly cash flow management, debts collection and others.

One of the vital responsibilities is handling the petty cash assigned to me. Whenever I received claims, I must be responsible to check the supporting invoices in respect of payments. After the payment is made through petty cash, it needs to be recorded clearly in the petty cash book. Then, I must ensure that cash box is kept at a secure place to avoid possible misappropriation. Lastly, if the cash balance runs low, the petty cash must be injected with cash by drawing a cheque. In my opinion, it is a good learning outcome for me as I learnt to be more independent to complete the whole processes. I must alert the accuracy of the cash balance stated in the petty cash book same as the cash is kept in cash box time to time, otherwise if anything goes wrong, I will be blamed and destroy my reputation.

Furthermore, I must understand on how to operate the QnE accounting software. QnE accounting software is a real-time proven software with SQL Client with option to run the accounting software in Cloud. By learning it, I am able to create the payment voucher when preparing payment schedule by the 7^th and 21^st of the month. Sometimes, I was required to issue invoices to debtors by using the accounting software. Therefore, all monetary transactions have occurred between two parties can be kept as an evidence. When it comes to the audit period, these documents indicate they have been used for a variety of purposes.

AFI Department has a direct reporting line to managing director, Mr Victor
and then he will give feedback to rectify mistakes.

At first, there has only two interns working in the AFI department includes Grace Koh and me when I join VG Companies. Although Mr Victor, managing director cum my company supervisor assigned Grace as a mentor to guide me all related accounting jobs, I have a direct reporting line to Mr Victor. In my perspective, it is a good idea that I can report to him directly on my daily activities so that he can give an instant feedback on my performance.

  

About The Company (Victor Group of Companies)

Company Structure

Logo of Victor Group of Companies

Victor Group of Companies (VG Companies) was established from 2004 and founded by Mr Victor Ooi Boon Beng. From 2006, one of the sub-companies of them which is Yen Huang Sdn Bhd was changed its name to Asian Secrets Sdn Bhd. Subsequently, the other companies are also established in the following years. Currently, VG Companies has entitled nine companies  with “Sdn Bhd” to incorporate different businesses includes Asian Secrets Sdn Bhd, Rahsia Herbal Sdn Bhd, EcoWarna Sdn Bhd, Fine Batik Sdn Bhd, Exotica Multiverse Sdn Bhd, BizAid Technologies Sdn Bhd, Info-House (I.T) Sdn Bhd, Jconnector.com Sdn Bhd and Agensi Pekerjaan Info-House (M) Sdn Bhd. The office building is right at the Kerinchi LRT Station and bus stop which is accessible by public transportation.   

VG Companies consists of approximately 35 permanent staffs and interns. The long term objective of the organisation is to introduce the Asian culture and identity with traditional products that have been adapted to suit the modern and contemporary lifestyle. By doing it, the Asian culture and identity will not only be preserved and made known, as well as the natives and talented artisans will also have increased their job opportunities. 

Company Structure of Victor Group of Companies

The organisation is mainly focuses in trading business, but also assists with IT business and HR business. In the aspect of trading business, Asian Secrets Sdn Bhd is the main business among others which involve in manufacturing, processing, marketing and trading of dried food stuff and herbs. It is one of Malaysia's leading lifestyle concept stores which aims to bring back centuries' old artistic traditions and herbal remedies; along with a diverse assortment of eco-friendly products to complement the lifestyle today. All the products are rich in tradition and steeped with the magnificence of many cultures. 

For your information, Asian Secrets Sdn Bhd is the umbrella brand of the four brands such as Fine Batik Sdn Bhd, EcoWarna Sdn Bhd, Rahsia Herbal Sdn Bhd and Exotica Multiverse Sdn Bhd. 

Fine Batik Sdn Bhd was established to showcase the talents of contemporary batik painting masters across the region of South-East Asia. Its products include batik paintings, batik wood carvings, batik apparel, soft furnishings such as table runners and curtains as well as wooden hangers to display batik art and framing services. In contrast, EcoWarna Sdn Bhd offers natural fibre products, naturally dyed products as well as gift boxes and bags made from natural renewable resources. The fabrics are made from pineapple fibre and banana bark (sinamay), which are hand-woven and naturally dyed into many different designs. Some of the products include handbags, praying mats, tablecloths, napkins and garments for both men and women.  

Furthermore, Rahsia Herbal Sdn Bhd offers a wide range of herbs and herbal formulations to nourish your body from within. The herbal recipes are the result of the collaboration with the medicine men in the rainforests and traditional medicine practitioners who are imbued with generations upon generations of herbal knowledge that have been proven to work. Last but not least, Exotica Multiverse Sdn Bhd is the latest incorporation among other companies from 13 February 2013. It carries on the business as dealers which offer rare and precious luxury items from all over Asia, specially selected and made to order for high net worth individuals who seek them to complement their prestigious lifestyle and constantly upgrade their social status. 

Currently, all products are sold in various places within Malaysia includes KLIA, central market, KLCC, Mid Valley, The Gardens, and Jalan Imbi.

In the aspect of IT function, Bizaid Technologies Sdn Bhd  is engaged in the provision of system integration and consultancy services whereas Info-House (IT) Sdn Bhd is a subsidiary company that of an investment holdings.

In the aspect of HR function, there are two companies under this category which are Agensi Pekerjaan Info-House (M) Sdn Bhd and Jconnector.com Sdn Bhd. Info-House (M) Sdn Bhd is an executive recruitment and management consulting firm. It is principally engaged in the business of management consultancy, computer bereau, human resource management and general trader while Jconector.com Sdn Bhd is engaged in providing human resource products and services on a portal and its related activities.

About Department

AFI Department

I am assigned under Accounts, Finance and Internal Audit (AFI) Department which having the  responsibility of handling account using financial account system, financial analysis, budgetary control and so on. Well, it is surprising that members of AFI department are only two interns, including Grace Koh and me. As the company is considered as small and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs), our department is under controlled by managing director, Mr Victor Ooi, as well as my company supervisor. Thus, we will directly report to work with Mr Victor on regular basis. Mr Victor possesses various qualified accounting designation such as Chartered Accountant (CA) and Certified Public Accountant (CPA), I do believe I can learn more accounting knowledge and skills under his leadership in the coming three months internship.

Department Structure

Department Structure of Victor Group of Companies

According to the chart above, it clearly shows the relationship between departments and its function. For example, AFI and HRA departments are under shared services division which provide internal services to HR function.   

My Reflection -- First Day of Internship

On 23^rd December 2014, it will be a remarkable day as it is my very first day of work in my life. Eventhough I started up my internship earlier than other coursemates about one more week, I was excited and anxious for welcoming my first day of work. What I can do is telling myself although that first day of work may be stressful, it is important to channel the nervous energy and start things off on the right foot.

Receptionists of Victor Group of Companies

On the first day, in order to avoid from traffic congestion, I went out home at 7am and take LRT to Kerinchi Station. When I reached to office, I was welcoming with a big warm smile by a HRA executive, Emmylyn. Sooner, she gave a brief introduction about the company and instructed some rules and regulations that I have to follow even as an intern. For example, those coming in late to work exceed three times within one month will be punished RM 50. To be honest,  Emmylyn looks like a tour guide,  she brought me walk around the office and introduced to co-workers. It really helped me feel comfortable with the new surroundings and get to know company culture.

I was assigned under Accounts, Finance and Internal Audit (AFI) Department which having the  responsibility of handling account using financial account system, financial analysis, budgetary control and so on. Firstly, I was introduced to managing director, Mr Victor Ooi who is also my supervisor. He assigned a mentor, Grace Koh who is also an intern to teach me all the related accounting tasks. Something that surprises me is the members of AFI department are only both of us, moreover, Grace is going to leave soon as her internship period is coming to an end. In other words, I have to learn and take over all the tasks about two week times in order to ensure everything moves smoothly without affecting the daily operations. It suddenly struck me as I was responsible for everything from January.

Before starting the actual work, Grace explained the job scopes that I will be doing in the coming three months such as cash flow management, financial statement preparation and also internal audit. In addition, she also showed me an AFI Personnel Effectives Tool File (PET File) which is important for interns because it provided plenty of details and procedures to run efficient and effective daily accounting activities in VG companies. Having this briefing, it helped me to get my feet wet in the company and has the general concept of what kind of work I will be involving. 

Although I was not given an official task on the first day of work, I have tried to adopt an open mind to learn all aspects of work. Therefore, I believe I can perform well when assigning either basic paperwork or challenging task.

My Internship Preparation

Internship is one of the compulsory programs for all business students to complete for their further studies in Taylor’s University. In fact, it is about 12 week’s times to enter into a particular career field in order to deepen our learning experience and enhance the richness of the industry interactions before we are qualified for an actual job.

At first, I was feeling lost of what should I do to get myself prepare for an internship. Fortunately, Taylor’s Career Services provided a lot of pre-internship preparation workshops for all business students from August 2014. With the help of the workshop, it gave me a better picture on what are the preparation procedures for getting an internship placement in the particular companies. For example, the first four workshops which held on 28^th and 29^th August 2014 was helpful in my preparation as it guided me on how to develop a proper resume and cover letter as well as prepare for interviews. Besides, the speaker also offered some advices for us on setting our first impressions for interviews, personal grooming and dressing and so on.

After attending the workshops, I start searching for the company that I want to work with. I chose the internship application under Own Placement (OP) which means I will apply the internship placement by my own. As an accounting and finance intern, there are two types of companies that I hope to engage with, including audit firm and trading company. With the aspect of audit firm, BDO is my choice to pursue career as of course it is a famous audit firm in having good performance and I also wish to work as an auditor to explore  the relevant knowledge and skills from this career field. I sent the relevant documents to their official website. Few weeks later, one of the Human Resources executive consultants made a phone call interview with me. Well, I knew that I’m not well prepared, at the ends I did not get an offer from them. Furthermore, I have tried to send the resumes and cover letters to various companies in my hometown, Sandakan, Sabah. However, most of the companies did not offer internship since they are only branch offices in the town.

While browsing through some job portals, I found a website called InternDome.com which allows students to get the right internship opportunities with various organisations by submitting the personal details and resume to the website. Company will choose and contact with the suitable candidates after looking at the interns’ profile.  As the dateline is near around, I tried to apply and complete the registration process through the website. Sooner, I have been shortlisted by a trading company, Victor Group of Companies and received an email notification to make the interview arrangement. Around mid of November, I was having my first internship interview with Victor Group of Companies. I was very nervous but I did try my best to perform well and also answer all the questions properly. Lastly, I managed to get the offer letter from them.

The first expectation of selecting this company is it can provide me with multiple experiences in both physical and mental state. I wish to have a chance of handling more challenging tasks out of those basic paper works and data entries so that it can gain more valuable working experience and widen the accounting knowledge. Besides, I know I am shy and not having good communication skill when conveying information to others. Practice makes perfect. I hope I can overcome this weakness during my internship placement as the industry is surrounded by professionals. I believe it is a unique learning opportunity for me to learn from everyone around in order to build my confidence of connecting to my first job.

Introduction

Hello~ My name is Tai Tse Kee. Currently, I am studying in Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus, majoring in Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Accounting and Finance. I started my internship in Victor Group of Companies from 23rd December 2014 until 20th March 2015. After completing the internship period, I am going to write an eportfolio in order to share what I have learnt and experienced during the last three month internship in the organisation. Within this eportfolio, it has been divided into three categories such as pre-internship preparations, reflections during internship period and post-internship actions. The various part of it reflects my learning outcomes, experiences, development and my thought for future. Kindly feel free to read it if you want to know me more about my internship journey J

Group Photo in Victor Group of Companies~