Matt Urbizo- Tax Intern

I have to admit that I was very nervous walking into the office on my first day. PKM is my first internship and I did not have a clue what to expect. Lucky for me, I walked in and met Gail Hoggard right away. Gail was great, making myself and the other interns feel right at home. She took us on a tour of the office so we could meet everyone and introduce ourselves. We started off the week with orientation. We covered a lot of the policies, the culture, the evaluation process, and proper conduct and attire at the firm. I was told very quickly that I could lose the tie that took me thirty minutes to tie that very morning. It was good news. I learned a lot about the philosophy of the firm, “professional service with a personal touch,” and the importance of maintaining that attitude at all times. Nevertheless, I would say the most important thing I learned during orientation was how to provide the best service to the clients and what is expected of me in doing so.

On day two we started the training. We started off with our computers and a lot of IT training. The knowledge I gained about the security of the firm and the importance of it was extremely valuable. Security is a high priority for the firm in the sense that they work with very important information that needs to be kept private for the clients. We covered how to do everything in a secure manner such as creating good passwords, how to send a file securely, and being smart with your computer in taking good care of it.

The next few days were very interesting! I started to be trained by various employees in the tax department. Everyone was great and a lot of fun to be around. I was taught how to use GoFileRoom which is where all the files are stored electronically and how to use GoSystemTax which is a program that you do tax returns in. The most interesting thing I was trained to use was “RIA”. This is a research database in which you can find anything and everything on tax laws, rules, regulations and so much more. This led to me receiving my first research project! You would never know that research is an art until you have done some tax research. I learned new techniques on finding information from some of the tax managers, and went to work. I found it really interesting and thought it was cool to learn some of the issues and questions that are being raised right now. Coming from school, I had just assumed everything in tax is black and white. Now I get to laugh at myself for ever thinking that. Researching is a great tool and an opportunity to learn and create value for the firm.

The first week of my internship was a great experience. I honestly feel at home and feel like I have known everyone for so much longer than a week. We all go out to lunch together and have a good time…I have been treated to some really great food! One of the Partners took me and some of the other interns to a Braves game. I had such an awesome time with some good seats, good food, and great company. I also joined the firm’s softball team which is going to be so much fun! PKM is an amazing firm and it was been a great first week!