Internship Report: Best Example
Introduction to Organization
Qatar Petroleum Corporation is the state-owned company in Qatar. The establishment of the company can be traced back in 1974 when the organization was recognized with the responsibility of managing all the country’s segments in Gas and Oil Industry. Currently, the organization core responsibilities entail providing liquefied and natural gas, petrochemicals, fertilizers and refined products. Besides of selling of these core products, the company is also involved in the provision of financial services. The company business major activities revolve around production, drilling, storing and transporting crude oil to the various destinations where it can be distributed to other parts of the country as well as the world. Alternatively, the company is also engaged in hydrocarbon exploration. To perfect its production, the company engages global oil and gas organizations in executing its new projects. The contracts between the Qatar Petroleum and international companies are based on Exploration and Production Sharing Agreements (EPSA) and Development and Production Sharing Agreements. 
In the global petroleum arena, Qatar Petroleum is widely recognized since 1939 when the first oil in the country was discovered. However, the developments of the oil country production gained momentum in 1949 after World War II. This is the period when the Qatar exported the first batch of the country’s oil. Therefore, the entry of the Qatar in the world market can be traced to this period. The country’s competitive advantage in the global arena improved rapidly in the 1960’s when more two petroleum sites were discovered in the fields of Idd-Shargi and Maydan Mahazan. The country oil and gas industry grew further during 1970’s when the largest petroleum site, Bul Hanine, was discovered. It was after this discovery when the Qatar Petroleum was formed.
Despite focusing on its core vision of oil production, Qatar Petroleum is also playing a major responsibility of providing the nation with significant revolution in human, social, economic and environmental development. Also, the company is again branding the nation as the biggest producer of LNG in the entire world. The determination and motivation of the company manpower have been able to provide the nation with a better and promising future. For example, the company has been able to effectively survive the global challenges and crisis in the oil and gas industry. This has been evidenced by continued improvement in the profit margins the company has been offering to the nation. The company has been able to achieve this through undertaking development mechanisms as well as putting into consideration the welfare of the employees.
Organization Objectives and Missions
Qatar Petroleum has updated its vision statement to include aspects that will make the company vision more futuristic than before. The company current vision statement states that. “To be an international oil and gas production company, with its foundation in Qatar, and a strong international presence.” (Qatar Petroleum, 2014). This vision statement holds that the company should continue meeting its accomplishments while at the same time maintaining the strong links with Qatar as way of ensuring that the foundation of the company is deep-rooted in the country. The core objective behind this vision is to make the company gas and oil resources readily available to the country. Also, the company has focused towards making a considerable and positive involvement not only in the contribution of the national wealth but also in the national vision. The company has been able to attain this by adopting techniques and strategies that are environment-friendly, safe and efficient.Qatar Petroleum Strategic Objectives
- To realize consistent and sustainable cycle of cash inflows from its array of businesses.
- To carefully and efficiently manage the country’s hydrocarbon reserves.
- To achieve the best standards in environmental protection as well as safety and health.
- To establish the cost-effective mechanisms of satisfying gas and oil needs of the country in addition to serving the offshore markets.
- To engage in corporate social responsibility through managing the infrastructure of the industrial cities at the same time supporting the services of the company.
- To ensure a significant of the Qatar are engaged as employees and developed through training and other motivation techniques to meet the international standards of competence.
Internship Position Description
I undertook an internship at Qatar Petroleum Company as the accountant trainee in the Department of Accounting and Finance. Given the fact that I am currently an undergraduate student pursuing BBA specializing in accounting and my responsibilities as an undergraduate trainee were limited to the following areas:
- Carrying out depreciation calculations to certain company assets.
- Analysing the company’s statement of the financial position.
- Reviewing the revenue procedure as well as calculating the revenue costs.
- Preparing, fixed and movable, tangible and intangible reconciliation.
- Calculating the tariff between the Qatar Petroleum Company and its subsidiaries.
- Managing all the activities that fall under the category of financial statements especially financial accounting and financial reporting.
As I undertook the internship the company expected me to be to have learnt the following at the end of the internship tenure:
- Theoretical accounting knowledge should be supplemented with practical accounting experience for an accountant to be able to carry out the whole process of accounting efficiently and effectively.
- To be able to gain adequate and comprehensive knowledge in executing each accounting transaction in excel.
- To gain an understanding of the financial statements as well as financial processes to be able to analyse financial statements effectively.
- To portray extensive knowledge in financial accounting in some of the activities such as Exploration and Production Sharing Agreements (EPSA) and Development and Production Sharing Agreement (DPSA)
Academic Training and Organization’s Expectations Comparisons
When I have stated my internship as an undergraduate trainee, the company expected me to have some basic knowledge and skills in accounting and finance. This was not a big challenge to me because I had covered some of these skills in the Accounting and Finance classes at Qatar University. Therefore, I had no difficulties in distinguishing different classes of assets, depreciations methods, bank reconciliation, preparing ledger accounts and journals as well as writing off assets. I was able to execute the tasks related to these skills because of the strong accounting and finance foundation I acquired while at Qatar University.
After a while, the company put into another test whereby I was supposed to carry out financial analysis of the financial reports in Excel. To test my skills in this field, I was assigned a task of preparing the Qatar Petroleum Company progress report on monthly basis. I was easy to undertake the test with ease because of concepts I had learnt in the class of Managerial Accounting at Qatar University. To supplement my knowledge and skills in this task, I extracted some information from the – Exploration and Production Sharing Agreements (EPSA). This helped me a lot in the preparation of profit sharing and cost recovery template. Also, I depended on each bit of information associated with Excel that I learnt at Qatar University as well as the basic Excel skills that I had learnt through the use of computers.Usefulness and Merit of the Internship Training
After the completion of an internship at Qatar Petroleum Company, it dawned on me that theoretical knowledge learnt in class is not enough in helping the students excel in the corporate world of the business. Given the dynamics in the modern business environment one is supposed to be fully equipped with some practical skills and knowledge to make it successfully in the labour market. Throughout the internship, I have been able to learn some of the practical application of the concepts I had learnt at Qatar University. For example, I was able to apply financial ratios, bank reconciliation and preparation of journals in the practical set up. Additionally, I was able to analyse the company consolidated financial statements. Finally, it came to the awareness that internship is a very important aspect of the academic life of any student despite the course he or she is undertaking. This is because it helps the student develop personally and professionally as he or she strives to follow his or her career path.
Assessment of the Organization’s Work Environment
The prosperity of any organization is highly attributable to its work environment. When the employees are provided with the conducive work environment, they work harmoniously. Again, they align their interest with that of the company and channel all their efforts in achieving the company’s short term and long term goals. Similarly, Qatar working environment is very favourable and enjoyable for employees to work in. Unlike many organization where the interns are disrespected by the senior employees and other workers, Qatar Petroleum Company is quite different. The company working environment is very professional, and all the workers help each other through the sense of relatedness that has been established for the employees. Each employee ranging from the supervisor to the employees of the lower radar is very helpful and respectful. The company management seems to have recognized the importance of each gender in the company, and thus they have provided a separate area where the ladies can use while praying as well as relax during the break hours. However, as any other organization, the Qatar Petroleum Company working environment has some slight flaws. For example, the company does not provide the interns with internet access. Given the fact the internet is a very critical resource in the modern world of business I had serious challenges I strived to cope up with my portable internet system to search for information which sometimes was very slow. Performance and Internship Experience
I can guarantee that while at Qatar Petroleum Company as the intern, I learnt many things ranging from the bottom level employees to the top management. I was able to learn a lot from the company of professionals who never hesitated to provide with advice which seemed suitable to me as an intern. I can testify that my skills as an accounting intern at Qatar Petroleum were highly polished. The entire training improved both my knowledge and skills in accounting and finance.