Apologies for the late blog!! I actually have no idea where the time is going.  The 2^nd week was over before I knew it and now the 3^rd has almost completely disappeared!  I really feel part of the internal audit team now as I am actually auditing the account reconciliations of one of our plants.   This is slightly scary however, as having no formal practical experience of this I am not always sure whether what I believe is correct actually is. 

The Risk and Assurance manager from Livingston was over for a visit this week and I have been given some projects for him setting up audits that will be carried out at the European Plants.  This is good as I am learning the structure of the audits including the controls that are tested and how these are tested in each process.  Alothough I have learnt the theoretical basis of this at uni to see it in practical terms is really good.  

I have also been involved in looking at the foreign exchange requirements between plants and customers and looking at employees’ access to certain areas of the business.  This has all been really educational and I intend to put all the practical experience I’m getting to good use when I finally go out to work next year after completing university.  Although I have always had a basic idea of what I want to do this has definitely confirmed I am headed the right way. 

We also had a tour of the Human Development room where they chart the development of the top 700 leaders of the company.  It was very interesting to see how much attention they pay to the personality traits of their top leaders and their development within the company.  As the company I work for back home is quite small this is something I have never had experience of and after completing my PI (Predictability Index) and an MBTI questionnaire  I am looking forward to getting the results although slightly apprehensive as to what I will find out about myself. 

The company are taking us to a baseball game this weekend and have given us a bag of New York Yankees memorabilia which was so good of them.  However the local team here is the Rays so slightly unsure as to whether to actually wear the Yankees stuff to the game.  If it’s anything like the football at home its not a good idea to wear an opposing teams gear in the home end!!!  Also got our tickets for Islands of Adventure this weekend and can’t wait for the new Harry Potter attraction.  I’m just like kids at Christmas I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep the night before!

Well I think that’s about it for this week.  Hope all the other interns are having fantastic time, as I am, and learning as much as possible!  Speak soon Kirsty x x x x 

PS I was overwhelmed this week to see they have used my pic for the GobalScot website article and have included my profile in the Global Scot magazine.  This is the best exposure I could have possibly hoped for and was really grateful for this.  Thank you Saltire.