Controllership Finance Intern Review

I work with the controllership team overseeing accounts payable and coding invoices for the studios. Each day I work with members of the business and vendors to make and track payments. I also help with reconciliations of various financial reports such as prepaids and fixed assets. Each month I update a development tracker to assist production executives with tracking and analysing development. I also create production cost reports monthly for the production assistants to track the cost of each title currently in production. Finally, I also assist accounts payable in analysing royalties revenue by processing the royalties as we receive them.

The main thing I have learnt in this placement is how work in a professional environment. I have been able to improve how I communicate through email/teams/in person and also be able to change depending on how formal I need to be. I think that I have also been able to develop my existing accounting knowledge by being able to applying what I have learnt in my degree. I have also improved my proficiency in various Microsoft platforms.

In my internship I was given a lot of responsibility as I was the only person who coded the invoices in the international studios. This meant that I was constantly busy with making sure our vendors were paid on time to provide the various services we required. Therefore, I had to communicate with vendors often which meant I had to represent the business on various occasions. I also was one of the few people who processed royalties which had to be done within a short time frame in some cases to be able to process revenue in the correct time period.

My line manager always provided instant replies and always ensured I understood what I needed to do and made sure I was comfortable in asking questions. We also had weekly set up while working from home to catch up and make sure I got the support I need and fully understood everything. My wider team have daily meetings to keep up to date with what each other are doing and require from each other so I also knew exactly what jobs I needed to do each day and who to go to for support on each task. Everyone in the business have also helped me quickly and never had any issues with any question I asked, they were always very patient. HR also had regular catch ups and quickly made sure I knew where I could get support if needed.

The company culture is very fun and I was able to experience some incredible social events and was able to network with various people across the business. The interns were encouraged to be social although due to covid events for interns were limited until later in the internship. I was able to join multiple societies that supported causes like the environment and the LGBTQ+ community. We also had a 'cares day' where we was able to volunteer with a charity to help various causes/communities.

Even with covid meaning that we was not able to go in the office at first, I was still able to enjoy my job as I was interested in the work I was doing. Once the office opened I was able to meet my team and other interns which made I developed new friendships and join them in social activities. The company culture meant that I was able to work in a financial role but also have the benefits of working for a TV studio. I would really love to go back!

Yes

I would advise that you show genuine interest in the film/tv industry. You do not have to necessarily be interested in any NBCUniversal content but make sure that you can show some interest and have conversation about it. In my experience had to answer some pre recorded questions online then was invited to an interview with four different financial teams. In my interview I had to do a 5 minute presentation based on a question we was given. My advice for that is to not overcomplicate it and be actually interested in the topic you discuss.