Column Active Member - Milan Koop

Name: Milan Koop Age: 24 Residence: Rotterdam Study: MSc Accounting & Auditing FSR Committee: Accountancy Committee 2016

Dear student,

My name is Milan Koop and last year I’ve been busy studying the master Accounting & Auditing at our Erasmus University. Next to my study I’ve participated in the Accounting Committee for the FSR - for which I write you this little column.

I’ve started my studies almost five years ago, by moving to Rotterdam and applying for the bachelor Economics & Business Economics. Next to this, I also started following courses in Tax Economics. In both studies I realized that more technical courses related to accounting and controlling were the ones I’ve found the most interesting. I also participated at one of the events organized by the Accounting Committee. This was actually really rewarding for me, because by doing the business cases and talking to a lot of people I further confirmed my master-decision.

This made me realize that these activities are really valuable for students. Not only to lay some first contacts to get you that internship or job offer - which is very helpful offcourse. But also to experience each firm’s own corporate culture and talk to numerous employees. I applied for the FSR Accounting Committee to provide other students with this same experience.

As a member of the Accounting Committee, you are responsible for organizing the ‘Big-4 Cycle’ and “’the Audit’. The Big-4 cycle consists of four individual in-house days at KPMG, EY, PWC and Deloitte. With a selected group of students you are able to participate in a daylong program in each office. The days consist of lunches, business cases, drinks and dinners. Especially the dinners – always on great locations – were very nice and also a great way to meet different employees of the firms. The second event is the Audit. This is a one-day event in which students are able to meet the accountancy firms Baker Tilly Berk, BDO, Grant Thronton and Mazers. The event is located on an external location and consists of a lunch, a large business case and ends with informal drinks.

For me organizing and participating in these events was very rewarding; I’ve met some nice committee members, organized large events and it provided me with the opportunities to experience all large accounting firms. Based on this experience I applied and got selected for a business course of one of the Big4 and I’m currently writing my master thesis at this firm. Therefore I would advise everyone with an interest in accounting to apply for the Accounting Committee - or at least participate at one of their events.

To conclude, the FSR organises several social events such as drinks, dinners an active members day and an active members-weekend. This year for example, the destination of the weekend was Wroclaw (no, not Dublin) in Poland. By becoming an active member you will probably find yourself participating in a few of these events. Altogether participating in a committee at the FSR has been very rewarding for me and is be something I’d definitely recommend. If you are interested in organizing one of the events you can contact the FSR board and perhaps we’ll meet at a future Big-4 cycle, at the office of EY!

Best, Milan Koop