Job Description Final

 Finance Intern

 

This past summer I had the pleasure to work as a finance intern for Abbott. Working in finance and learning more about what goes behind the numbers and finances of a company has always interested me. Abbott is a global medical devices and healthcare company and I had the pleasure of working in their Nutrition division based out of Columbus. Due to COVID-19, I had to work virtually from Los Angeles while my team was in Columbus. My manager was flexible with me and my hours, so the time zone difference did not have an impact on my experience.

 

As a finance intern in their Nutrition division, I worked closely with the Finance team and with the Third-Party Manufacturers (TPMs). Outside of their own factories, Abbott uses TPMs to help manufacture their products such as Pedialyte, Pediasure, and Ensure. I had the chance to work with the business managers from each TPM to understand their procedures and how they manufacture the company’s products. As an intern, I helped the team with analyzing spending and the money that goes into making these products.

 

Three of my main goals and projects this summer included:

·      Power BI report

·      Microsoft Flow Database

·      Inventory Reconciliation

 

 

Power BI Report

 

One of my main tasks this summer was to work on Power BI and create a report based on data coming in from the TPMs. Power BI is a business analytics tool that helps analyze data to create visuals and dashboard that is easy for the user to read. This is also very similar to Tableau which is another business analytics tool. My task was to create a Power BI report that would make it easier for people to read and understand data rather than having to look through Excel files. The goal was to display data on either bar charts, tables, or other visuals, so it could be easy for the user to read.

 

I uploaded data from all the TPMs onto Power BI. Power BI helped me organize all the data and keep it together all in one place. I focused on the price variance of the products. Imagine it costs $5 to pay someone to make you a smoothie. A couple of weeks later the person tells you it costs $7. The difference between the two is the price variance. The data files used included the price variance of all the different products and ingredients. My task was to create a report that contained visuals that could clearly show the differences between the costs. For example, I used bar charts and pie charts since these visuals helped display the data best. I also included headers and filters to organize the data better.

 

Once I finished the report, I presented it to the Finance team and business managers. I walked them through the report and showed them how to find data specific to a TPM. I had fun working with Power BI and learning about the potential it has bringing data into visualizations.

 

 

Microsoft Flow Database

 

My second task included working with Microsoft Flow. This is a program that helps create automated workflows within a team. My team wanted to move into this new platform and shift away from an older program they would use called Lotus Notes. I had to create a workflow that did the exact same thing as Lotus Notes. This program was an approval process where employees would submit information that would then go to the managers for approval.

 

When filling out a job application, it can be tiresome clicking through all the pages to answer all the questions. It would be easier to fill out all the questions all on one page instead of clicking around. This is essentially what I did. I worked on creating a system that was much more efficient in filling out forms for approval.

 

As I created the approval process in Microsoft Flow, I incorporated all the same tools and functions found within Lotus Notes to make it user friendly for everyone. I went through a lot of trial and error to find any mistakes within the flow and ensure that it worked. For example, I used myself as the test dummy to see if the process ran smoothly. I submitted test data and went through the different steps to see if everything functioned.

 

I presented the workflow to my team and showed them how it worked. I showed them how they would submit information through SharePoint which would then activate the flow. Mangers would then receive the information and make their approval decisions.

 

 

Inventory Reconciliation

 

The TPMs help manufacture some of the Nutrition products and keep some of the inventory at their manufacturing sites. Each year, Abbott must conduct inventory counts with all the TPMs to ensure the inventory is in good condition and correctly counted.

 

I had to create inventory count dates with all the TPMs to count all the inventory they have on hand. I also looked over their procedures of counting inventory to ensure they had the right controls in place. It was important to make sure the products were in good condition because if anything were to happen to the products, this would damage Abbott’s brand and not the manufacturer.

 

For example, I would reach out to a specific TPM to figure out a specific date to count inventory. After doing so, I would then look at the way they counted and handled inventory to see if any errors were happening. Each TPM had rules to follow, so I looked to see if this was the case.

 

 

Statistics:

 

Flesch Reading Ease 63.5

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 8.5

Passive Sentences 0%