By Aoife Max, Finance Co-Op Student.
I am currently studying Law & Accounting at the University of Limerick, and so I was delighted to receive an eight-month placement in the finance department in H&MV Engineering in their headquarters in Limerick. This was an extremely valuable experience for me as I wish to pursue a career in accountancy upon completion of my degree.
During my time at H&MV, I was given multiple opportunities to further my education by applying what I had learned to date in college to the real-life workings of the company. I was lucky enough to get to work in different disciplines within the finance department; I helped with the annual audit, I worked alongside the payroll and accounts payable teams, as well as with both the financial and management accountants.
Most of my instruction tended to come from the head of finance, financial controller, finance manager, financial accountants, payroll manager and the Accounts Payable team lead. I believe I have gained a well-rounded experience of the areas within the finance department as a whole, and this exposure has given me a greater insight into the compatibility of the different areas within finance that I do not believe I would have learned in college.
This placement has not only provided me with an insight into accountancy as part of an international company in a growing industry, but H&MV has also provided me with a number of different training sessions which has enhanced my basic ICT skills, contract negotiation skills, as well as other skills relevant to my area of study, such as training on their accounting databases, SAP and Artsyl. Most importantly, it has helped me to fulfil my main objective of placement, which was to get a better understanding of the career path I wish to pursue and the career options available to me in the future.
While I am an accounting student who did my cooperative education placement in an electrical engineering firm, I genuinely believe I could not have gotten a more well-rounded experience of all the areas within a finance department throughout the course of my eight-month term. Having now completed my placement, I have returned to college for my final year, and I am pleased to be able to say that once I complete my degree, I will be returning to H&MV to undertake my ACCA exams under their recently accredited mentorship and finance graduate program.
For more information about placement opportunities in H&MV Engineering, contact recruitment@hmveng.ie