I spent my internship at the Robert Bosch (Vietnam) Co. Ltd, which was established in Vietnam, despite its operation in the country since 1994. The company operates currently operates in more than six locations in the country. I was assigned various tasks within the company’s finance department, which closely worked with other departments such as billing, sales associates, human resources, etc., besides the members of the department. These tasks were primarily divided into daily, weekly, and monthly assignments, which I was required to complete within the specified time successfully. This report discusses the organizational information, intra- and inter-departmental associations, and the organization’s daily, weekly, and monthly tasks. Finally, it identifies how my academic training prepared me for the work and recommendations on additional educational topics required to improve experiences at such a company.
Organization Information
The Bosch Company was founded in 1886 by Robert Bosch in Stuttgart, referred to as the “Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering.” Bosch was first initiated in Vietnam in 1994, where it operated as a representative office before official representation by Robert Bosch (Vietnam) Co. Ltd in 2007 (Bosch, 2021). Its main office is located in Ho Chi Minh City, and there are branch offices in Da Nang and Hanoi. Moreover, there is a Powertrain Solutions plant located in Dong Nai province to manufacture push belts used in the continuously variable transmissions (CVT) in automobiles. Other businesses operated by Bosch in Vietnam include an automotive R&D center for solutions in Ho Chi Minh and an engineering and software R&D center known as Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Vietnam Co., Ltd (Bosch, 2021). According to their website, Bosch, Vietnam has employed almost 4,000 associates as of 31st December 2018. Within Vietnam, Bosch has diversified businesses such as Automotive Electronics, Power Tools, Automotive Aftermarket, Building Technologies, and Drive and Control.
There was a smooth relationship between our department and other departments, ensuring timely and effective conformation to appropriate accounting rules and regulations. A significant department we closely related to was the billing team, which provided the necessary billing information, such as the monthly rental fee paid by the company. Another department closely associated with our department was human resources, which was crucial in the weekly signing of the Exit Checklist, every Tuesday from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM. Concerning other companies within the organization, the Bosch inter-company provided our department with each companies’ monthly withholding tax certificates. Bosch inter-company usually provided these withholding tax certificates in the last week of each month. Although the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the smooth operations within the company, there were few changes in how we conducted our tasks within the company. It is primarily due to the virtual nature of operations of our functions, such as daily counter rates from Deutsch Bank via email and our communications with contact persons. However, we still had to observe the Covid-19 regulations, especially when signing the Exit Checklist at HR on Tuesdays.
Description of your responsibilities and accomplishments
There were five different tasks that I had to accomplish every day as part of our responsibilities as associates at the Robert Bosch (Vietnam) Co. Ltd. These daily tasks include counter rates, debit advice, exit checklist, and bank report. The counter rates tasks involved obtaining the daily exchange rates from Deutsch Bank. Once the bank has sent the counter rates via email, I updated them in the monthly counter rates report. The daily task of debit advice, commonly referred to as Uy Nhiem Chi (UNC), was accomplished by inquiring about the invoice number, vendor name, or amount on the invoice. Once the information is available, I looked up FBL1N for a reference number and then obtained the UNC from the archive. Each day, the receptionist provided debit advice, which I used to fill in the reference number before archiving it. Exit checklist task involves entering and checking items that have not been refunded to the company. Finally, I save the newly received bank report daily, which I sent to my private every day.
There were essential tasks I was assigned to undertake every week, including the exit checklist, collection, and archival of original documents for weekly payment, among other jobs related explicitly to associates. On Tuesday, a signature of Ms. HA was supposed to support the daily exit checklist, which was then collected and taken to the HR department. The collection and archival of the original document for weekly payment was done in five distinct steps. The first step was done on Tuesday afternoon involving obtaining a payment proposal file from Ms. Hong Anh and exporting a file from the FBL1N. Then, the barcode from the export file to the payment proposal was mapped. Secondly, I collected all the original documents from the scanning center by the barcode on Wednesday morning. Once the collection of all the documents is successful, confirmation is sent to Ms. Hong Anh via email before releasing the payments. It is essential to note the day of document collection through stamping “DBI release.” The following day, I used the invoice amount to search through the bank report to fill documents with the reference number. The reference number was classified as Payment in VND, Receivables in VND, and Payment/Receivables in USD/EUR. Two to three days from Wednesday, I matched the debit advice sent by Deutsch Bank with respective reference numbers. Finally, I stapled the debit advice and the original document with similar reference numbers before archiving them into a folder and moving them into a storage area. There were six distinct weekly tasks related to my position as an associate at the company.
These tasks include Bien ban Dieu Chinh Hoa don/ Bien ban Huy Hoa don, Vendor code creation, APM&SSF role, RBVH information for invoice issuance, Invoice status, and Bank debit note. Bien ban Dieu Chinh Hoa don/ Bien ban Huy Hoa don comprised checking the contents of invoice minutes to obtain Ms. Hon Anh’s signature for support. BVH information for invoice issuance is usually obtained by the associated file shared via a shared folder. The weekly invoice status checks for associates involved inspection of the SAP to know whether a specific invoice has been paid or not. Each week I was required to provide information about bank debit notes to the associates. The task involved obtaining the invoice amount and vendor name from the associates to get the reference number I used for the respective reference in the archive folder. Finally, I scan the debit note and send them to the associates.
Seven monthly tasks were assigned to me. They include monthly counter rate report, overseas payment, rental fee update, GL-FCT file preparation, filling in base amount for VAT tax file, archiving withholding tax certificate, and preparation of invoice text description file from AR report. On the first day of the monthly, I double-checked the month’s counter rate before sending it to Ms. Hong Anh. At the beginning of the month, I updated the latest monthly bank report, pdf of overseas payments, and the latest counter rate report for the tax team (Ms. Tran Nguyen Hong Minh). When the company makes rental fee payments to REE CORP, I obtained the hard copy and compared it to the previous month’s rental credit note for changes. GL-FCT file was prepared at the beginning of each month, while the excel file used to fill the base amount for the VAT tax file was shared by Ms. Hong Anh. The Bosch inter-company sends withholding tax certificates, usually in the last week of the month, which is archived. The building team sends the monthly report each month, which I used to prepare a text description file.
The major projects I completed at the company were those related to payment processing, VAT tax base amount processing, and withholding tax certificates archival. These tasks helped me learn the importance of filling the necessary statutory accounts and the management of the year-end audit process. Moreover, I obtained more knowledge on accounts payable, general ledger, and balance sheets. Concerning the organization, I believe I contributed to providing the various internal customers with support on topics such as fixed asset management and internal controls. During my stay at the company, I usually collaborated with HR, customer services, associates, and other accounting departments and interns. Since each partner knew the importance of our relationship in achieving the company goals objective, they almost immediately accepted me as a team member, which positively influenced my stay and experiences at the company.
Conclusion and recommendations
As I began my internship at the company, I noticed that most tasks involved information obtained from schoolwork. I believe that introduction to the basic concepts such as accounting rules and regulations and financial statements was crucial to my successful internship at the company. However, I observed that working at a multinational company such as Robert Bosch (Vietnam) Co. Ltd requires high levels of coordination between various individuals from diverse cultures. Therefore, I believe that introduction academic subjects and activities that improve crucial skills such as teamwork and communication should be incorporated into the curriculum.
References
Bosch, 2021. Our company. [online] Bosch in Vietnam. Available at: <https://www.bosch.com.vn/en/our-company/bosch-in-vietnam/> [Accessed 28 August 2021].
