Undergraduate Internships in Accounting: What and How do Singapore Interns Learn from Experience?

This paper reports on an exploratory study to elicit the impact of internships on accounting students: what interns had learnt; the process by which they learnt; the effect of what had been learnt on their expectations of the accounting profession; and their choice of a future career. The methodology involved qualitative data, with quantitative analysis and testing of hypothesis. The sample was 250 accounting students in Singapore who have completed eight weeks of internship. Interns reported a number of significant learning outcomes of which the most significant were personal and interpersonal skills. Of lesser importance were technical skills. Learning by reflection was the key to supporting these outcomes. The student believed that what they had learnt would support their future professional development, that the internship had prepared them for their first job and that it helped them to choose their career. The framework of Goleman's (1995) theory of Emotional Intelligence (New York: Bantam Books) was used to explain the results.