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Background of field attachment
Field
attachment is a field based practical training experience that prepares students
for the work environment that they may find when employed or even when managing
their own companies. It was introduced by an act parliament passed in 2005
which made it compulsory for all students attending higher institutions of
learning. In the beginning, field attachment was referred to by different
faculties of Makerere University by different names including; internship,
school practice, community based education and industrial training. Through
consultations with various stakeholders, it was found that the term
“internship” which had earlier on been adopted, was confusing stakeholders since
it was commonly known to mean post graduate training in the business and
professional world. To avoid this confusion, the National Council for Higher
Education (NCHE) agreed and recommended that the term field attachment be
adopted for all teaching units to refer to any approved field based practical
work carried out by staff and student for the purpose of training and or
research in places outside the university. The university is responsible for
safety of its staff, students and others exposed to these activities.
1.1.1 Objectives of
field attachment
The objectives of field
attachment are;
·
To enable students get a hands-on
experience in the different areas of work that they might encounter in the
future.
·
To apply knowledge, techniques and
theoretical principles learnt into real life problem solving solutions at the
places of attachment.
·
To enhance students’ understanding and
recognition of importance of work ethics, employment demands like commitment,
how to manage responsibilities at work and opportunities in the environment.
·
To provide an opportunity for students
to interact with prospective employers and this presents them with the chance
to attain job opportunities even before completion of their university
education.
·
To support and strengthen the connection
between Makerere University and various participants like employers and
organizations. Through interaction between academic staff and the officials of
organizations to which students are attached. It is also an avenue for comments
which may be a source constructive criticism for improvement to both the school
and organization is created.
1.1.2 Benefits of
field attachment
Some of the
benefits of field attachment are;
·
It enables students get experience in
their differentfields of study for example an accounting student attached to
the accounting department of a given organization gets experience in their
future profession.
·
It enables the intern build social
capital since they get to meet many persons who have the authority to help them
in their future line of work, like meeting potential employers at company
occasions.
·
It allows interns to know the importance
of work ethics and recognize and understand aspects like fulfillment of
responsibilities at work and employers’ demands and how to fulfill each of
them.
·
It aids students improve on skills
required in the work place especially communication skills and computer skills
like typing and editing basic documents.
1.2 Background of
MoWT
This
is government institution that renders free services to the public. The
ministry was restructured in 2006 from the then Ministry of Works, Housing and
Communication. (MoWHC). The President announced the changes in 2006, but the
restructuring report that contained the approved structure was issued in 2009.
Prior to restructuring MoWHC had staff establishment of about one thousand five
hundred staff, most of whom had been deployed across the 22 upcountry work
stations. Due to the restructuring, the employees were downsized from 1500 to
582 posts. The ministry gets funding from Ministry of Finance, Planning and
Economic Development in the consolidated fund and also from donors.
1.3 Location of
MoWT
The
headquarters of the ministry are located at the corner of Jinja Road and Old
Port Bell Road, in Kampala Central Division in the Industrial Area of Kampala.
The coordinates of the ministry headquarters are: 0019’04.0’’N, 32˚
35’48.0’’E (Latitude: 0.317779; Longitude: 32.596681)
1.4 Vision of MoWT
“Reliable
and safe works of transport infrastructure and services.”
1.5 Mission of
MoWT
“To
promote safe and well maintained works of transport, infrastructure and
services for the socio-economic development of Uganda.”
The
core values and principles of the ministry include;
Professionalism:
We shall adhere to defined rules, standards and guidelines of the respective
disciplines, exhibiting professionalism, competence and honesty.
Integrity:
We shall show the highest standards of integrity and shall not place ourselves
under any financial or other obligations to individuals or organizations that
might seek to compromise our professional behavior in performance of our
duties.
Quality Assurance:
We shall put in place measures and mechanisms that will ensure that our clients
deliver or receive quality services and works within budget and on time.
Selflessness:
We shall put public interest above personal interest without consideration of
any financial or material benefit and gain.
Objectivity:
We shall make decisions based on merit, researched information, professional
codes and other codes of good practice.
Customer/ Client focus:
We shall put the interests of our customers/clients as our first priority. We
shall always seek to meet our customers’ needs and expectations.
Partnership:
We shall engage our partners in planning, designing, implementation, monitoring
and evaluation of our Programs and Projects.
Optimal use of resources:
We shall optimally use resources in attainment of the Ministry objectives and
targets.
Transparency and accountability: We
shall be transparent and accountable for our decisions, actions and inactions.
Responsiveness:
We shall respond to our clients effectively and efficiently when called upon.
Impartiality: We
shall provide services to all our clients without discrimination on the basis
of gender, race, colour and religion or creed or ideological orientation or
social status.
APPROVED
MINISTRY OF WORKS AND TRANSPORT MACRO ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
1.7 MoWT
Organizational Structure
|
APPROVED
MINISTRY OF WORKS AND TRANSPORT MACRO ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
|
|
OFFICE OF THE HON MINISTER OF WORKS AND TRANSPORT
|
|
Office of the Hon
Minister for State Works
|
|
Office of the
Permanent Secretary
|
|
Office of the Hon
Minister of State for Transport
|
Engineers
Registration Board
National
Road Safety Council
|
Internal Audit
Unit
Procurement and Disposal Unit
|
Standard
Gauge Railway Project
|
Directorate of
Transport
|
|
Directorate of
Engineering & Works
|
|
Policy & planning
|
|
Finance &
administration
|
|
Human resources
|
|
Mechanical engineering
services
|
|
Maritime Administ-ration
|
|
Public structures
|
|
Construction standards
& quality management
|
|
Transport regulation
& safety
|
|
Roads & Bridges
|
|
Transport services & Infrastructure
|
|
Source;
MoWT Strategic Plan (2011/12-2015/2016)
|
1.8 Governance of
MoWT
This
is a cabinet level government ministry that is mandated to plan, develop and
maintain an economic and efficient and effective transport infrastructure, and
transport services by rail, road, water and air. The ministry is headed by a
Cabinet Minister. The current Minister of MoWT is Hon. Engineer Monica Azuba
Ntege. The Minister of State for Transport is Hon. Aggrey Henry Bagiire and the
Minister of State for Works is Hon. Edward Katumba Wamala. Mr. Bageya Waiswa is
the Permanent Secretary of the ministry.
1.9 Services provided
by MoWT
The main
services provided by MoWT include;
·
Planning, developing and maintaining an
economic, efficient and effective transport infrastructure.
·
Planning, developing and maintaining
economic, efficient and effective transport services by rail, road, water, air
and pipeline.
·
Managing public works including
government structures.
·
Ensuring good standards in the
construction industry.
1.10 Functions of
MoWT
The main
functions of the ministry include;
·
To initiate, formulate and develop
national plans, policies and programs for safe and efficient public transport
infrastructure and services.
·
To monitor and evaluate the implementation
policies, plans and programs for efficient works public transport, physical
infrastructure and services.
·
To initiate new and review existing laws
and regulations on works and transport infrastructure and services
·
To set standards for the construction
industry, transport infrastructure and services.
·
To enforce compliance to national
policies, laws regulations and guidelines on works transport infrastructure and
services.
·
To monitor and evaluate performance of
transport agencies like UNRA.
·
To inspect and license public transport
vehicles
·
To provide technical support for
contract works, including construction and maintenance undertaken by other
government ministries, departments and agencies.
·
To initiate and formulate plans and
policies for management of public buildings.
·
To set and monitor national standards on
public buildings.
·
To carryout research and develop local
materials and technology for the construction industry.
1.11 Objectives of
MoWT
The objectives
of MoWT are;
·
To improve the stock and quality of road
infrastructure.
·
To improve traffic flow within Greater
Kampala Metropolitan Area.
·
To increase volume of passenger and freight
cargo conveyed on rail network.
·
To increase volume of passenger and
cargo traffic by air transport.
·
To increase volume of passenger traffic
and cargo freight by marine transport.
·
To increase efficiency and improve
effectiveness in service delivery of transport infrastructure and provision of
transport services.
·
To strengthen the National Construction
Industry.
·
CHAPTER
TWO
ACTIVITIES
UNDERTAKEN
2.0 Introduction
This chapter explains the activities that theintern undertook
during field attachment at MoWT.
2.1 Activities
undertaken
The activities the intern undertook at the place of
attachment were as follows;
Orientation
This is an activity during which new members are
introduced into the organization. During this activity the intern was introduced
by Mr. Shariff Armani (the field based supervisor) accountant projects, to the
department of attachment which was Finance and Administration where she got to
meet other officers mainly from the Revenues, Salaries and Bookkeeping office.
After the introductions, the intern got to know about the organization from her
field supervisor. During this discussion, the intern answered questions asked
by field supervisor on Public Sector accounting and wrote down notes about; the
legal frame work that gives the ministry its mandate which was “The
Constitution of Uganda”, the vision, mission and values of the ministry which
were included in the “MoWT CLIENT CHARTER.” The trainee was also told about the
accounting base used by the ministry which was modified cash accounting base
that was dictated by the Public Finance and Management Act 2015.
Book keeping
This is the practice of keeping systematic records
of financial transactions. The intern arranged receipt books from payments by
passengers who boarded the ‘Kalangala Ship’, a government asset, according to
their classes; first class and second class of cars and cargo, first class and
second class passengers and recorded serial numbers of the receipt books
according to their different categories using Microsoft Excel. After which she
arranged, packed the books in boxes and took them to the Archives Office to be
later audited by the Internal Auditor’s Office. This activity was done at the
end of each quarter of the financial year. This took place in the Revenues, Salaries
and Bookkeeping office under the supervision of Madam Katherine Kalungi an
officer in this office.
Automatic
bank reconciliation
This is an accounting activity during which
transactions entered into the cashbook are compared with transactions in the
bank statement to ensure that no transaction has been omitted from either of
documents and ensure that their balances are the same as at the end of the
accounting year. The intern was able to reconcile transactions that had not yet
been reconciled. She checked them for accuracy; whether they were correct by
looking through their source documents like cheques to see whether their right
entries were made. If proven that the transactions were valid, she reconciled
them. The intern used accounting software called Integrated Financial Management
Software (IFMS) by “ORACLE” a software company to carry out automatic bank
reconciliation. This activity was done at the end of each quarter of the
financial year and it was supervised by Mr. Julius Obai an accountant from Revenues,
Salaries and Bookkeeping office.
Manual
bank reconciliation
For purposes of further understanding, the intern
was also shown the manual process of bank reconciliation, after which she
recorded revenue receipts of the “Kalangala Ship” a government asset, into the
cash book, in the cash column on the debit side. She also recorded other direct
expenses by the bank for example bank charges in the bank column on the credit
side of the cash book. Bank statement figures from deposit of cash into the
bank were recorded by the trainee in the bank column on the debit side of the
cash book as a contra entry and the cash column was credited with the same
amount. The intern then reconciled the cash book with the bank statement.
Manual bank reconciliation was no longer used by the ministry since most of the
transactions were ICT based. This activity was facilitated by Madam Katherine
Kalungi in the Revenues, Salaries and Bookkeeping office.
Filing
of returns and amendment
Filing of returns refers to the act of submitting
information about the company’s profit for a particular year to a tax
collecting body so that the tax liability of the company is established.
Amendment refers to editing previously filed returns.
The intern entered names of companies that supplied
goods and services to different departments of the ministry and the
corresponding costs of these goods or services into a Microsoft excel sheet.
Secondly she downloaded a form for filing
withholding tax returns from the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) portal. After
downloading this form, the trainee opened the document and copied the data
previously entered into an Excel sheet to the form. She then applied the rates of
withholding tax for resident companies; 6% and for non-resident companies, 15%
to the gross amounts of the cost of goods for each company. The intern calculated
the net amount that remained after tax in its own column. She then saved and
uploaded the document onto the URA portal as an original filing.
When filing amended returns; the intern downloaded
the previously filed returns document from the URA portal and edited it using
Microsoft Excel and then uploaded the document onto the URA portal. She
repeated this process each time more information was received about suppliers
but they were categorized according to the months within which payment for
goods was expected. This activity was supervised by Mr. Ocheing John an
accountant in the Revenues, Salaries and Bookkeeping office.
Downloading
Trade Credit Certificates
These are certificates that show that an individual
or company has paid the required amount of tax to URA. The intern downloaded
the Tax Credit Certificates from the URA portal approximately two weeks after
filing returns of companies that supplied goods and or services to the ministry
so that withholding tax on taxable supplies could be established. She printed
out the certificates and gave them to the corresponding companies when their
representatives came to pick them. This activity was supervised by Mr. Ocheing
John in the Revenues, Salaries and Bookkeeping office.
Calculating
PAYE for ministry employees
PAYE is a direct tax charged by the government of
Uganda on all employment incomes earned by residents of Uganda and on
employment income of non-residents earned from within the country according to
the Income Tax of Uganda, Cap 340 of Laws of Uganda 2000. During this activity,
the intern calculated Pay As You Earn an income tax on gross salaries of
employees of MoWT agencies like Standard Gauge Railway Project using Microsoft
Excel. The trainee used the rates stated in the third schedule of the “Income
Tax Act of Uganda” to calculate PAYE on employment income of resident and
non-resident individuals. All these rates were charged on the salaries of the
employees per month. This activity was supervised by Mr. John Ocheing.
Interpretation
of Financial Statements using Ratio Analysis to establish organizational
performance
Ratio analysis is a financial analysis tool that
enables an organization to determine whether it is making losses or profits
through comparison of components of financial statements of one year with those
of another year to show whether the organization has made any improvement.
The intern reviewed a report made after comparing
financial statements of an agency of MoWT, National Road Safety council of the
financial year of 2016/2017 with that of 2015/2016 which mainly compared
expenditures between the two years and value of projects completed in each of
the two years. This showed that more expenditure had been incurred despite less
projects completed thus the conclusion that the agency’s performance was
declining. From this review, the intern was able to use ratio analysis to
interpret financial statements of MoWT and drew up her own report on the
analysis.
Ratio analysis was done at the end of the financial
year since it was based on the organization’s drawn up financial statements.
This activity was facilitated by Mr. Shariff Armani from Accountant Projects,
Receivables and Revenues office.
Editing of MoWT Asset Register
An asset register is a document showing a record of
assets owned by a given organization. During this activity, the intern, added
assets purchased by the ministry in the previous financial year 2016/2017 to
the asset register of MoWT using Microsoft Excel. She classified The assets in
the register according to their types for example motor vehicles, ICT equipment
like computers, office furniture and construction machinery. The trainee also
recorded other aspects of the asset like price, model number, users of the
assets and number plates for the motor vehicles in the asset register. This
activity was performed by the ministry every financial year. The activity was
undertaken by the intern in the Revenues, Salaries and Bookkeeping office under
the guidance of Mr. John Ocheing.
Writing Payment
Vouchers for allowances
A payment voucher is a document that proves that a
monetary transaction has occurred. The trainee drew up payment vouchers that
were authorizing payment of allowances to employees who were going to do field
work. The allowances were in respect of accommodation and meals fees while in
the field. The voucher showed that payment of a given sum of money to the
employee had been approved for the stated purpose and if the employee were to
claim this amount, they had to present this payment voucher first. The intern
generated payment vouchers from internal memos written by the employees
requesting for these allowances. This activity was performed every time an
officer was seeking for an allowance whether planned or unplanned. This
activity was done under the guidance of Mr. Ferdinand Otung an accountant in
the Input Office.
Summarizing
Invoice data
An invoice is a list of goods or services provided
with a statement of the sum of money due for the goods or services provided.
During this activity, the intern noted down serial numbers of invoices sent to
the ministry for goods or and services that were provided to it directly or to
its agencies and the dates on which these invoices were sent, the total amount
of money being demanded and the organization demanding payment from the
ministry. The trainee summarized this data so as to calculate the total amount
of money that the ministry was demanded and also to ascertain total sundry
expenses of the ministry. This activity was performed at least once in the
financial year especially at the end. This was done in Internal Auditor’s
office.
Application for
Tax payer’s Identification Numbers (TIN)
A tax payer’s
identification number is a number given to a person or company that has
registered with URA for tax purposes. It was unique and each tax payer had
their own. The intern downloaded the application form for TIN registration from
the URA portal and filled it in under the guidance of Mr. John Ocheing, an accountant
in the Revenues, Salaries and Bookkeeping office. But due to the lack of some
requirements like ownership of an existing business, passports or driving
permits, the registration process was unsuccessful. Application for a TIN
number for an individual or company can only be done once successfully.
Typing Internal
Memos
This is a document used for communication within the
company especially between different offices and departments. The trainee typed
an internal memo as she was given an assignment by the field supervisor to type
an internal memo briefing the chief accountant on details that were discussed
during a seminar, at which the field supervisor had been a representative of
the chief accountant. The internal memo
was official and formal, though it had a different format from a formal letter;
it was brief because it did not require addresses. The internal memo only
stated to which office it was sent to, through whom it was sent according to
the hierarchy above the sender, from whom it was sent. It also stated the
subject of the memo, its body which was a brief discussion on the subject and
the conclusion with any attachments. This activity was supervised by Mr.
Shariff Amarni the field based supervisor.
Attending meetings
The
intern attended a meeting with different offices for example the meeting with
the human resource office where all interns swore an oath of secrecy to keep
all sensitive information that they may come across during their time at the
ministry confidential. The intern were also told about how to behave while at
the organization for example how to dress according to the new Parliamentary
bill that was passed which dictates the dress code to all civil servants, to
respect colleagues and superiors and not to engage in non-platonic relationships
with colleagues and superiors. Other meetings also included; the meeting with
the life skills official usually referred to as “Senga” of the Ministry. During
these meetings, the intern wrote down minutes which were guiding points during
the field attachment period.
Study of financial statements used in Public Sector
Accounting
These are documents that summarize financial
transactions of an organization for a given period of time especially one year
and they show how the organization is performing financially. During this
activity, the intern studied the composition of thedifferent financial
statements of the previous years and how different transactions are treated
using Modified Cash Accounting base in these statements. After studying these
statements, the trainee was able to draw up financial statements of MoWT for
the financial year 2016/2017.
The financial statements she draw up included; Statement
of financial performance which stated revenues less expenditures, all
recognized when cash was received and expended respectively, Statement of
financial position which showed MoWT assets and liabilities, Statement of
changes in equity which showed government funds allocated to MoWT for the year,
Statement of cash flows which showed inflow and outflow of cash of the
ministry.
In addition to the above statements, the she also
prepared the following; Statement of appropriation account based on services
which showed how revenue was allocated according to departments in the
ministry, for example finances allocated to finance and administration, policy
and planning departments.
Statement of appropriation account based on nature
of expenditure which showed how revenue was allocated according to what it
shall be spent on for example finances allocated to salaries among other
statements.
Delivering
statements and documents to other offices
The
intern delivered various statements and documents to different offices within
the finance and administration department for example delivering the statement
of financial position to the Chief Accountants Office. The intern had to ensure
that accountability was done of which office the document had been delivered to
ensure the safety of documents. Therefore, she gave the receiver of the
document to sign in a register for record keeping purposes on receipt of the
document.
Government payroll
A payroll is a list of employees who receive salary
or wages together with the amounts paid to each. The intern filled in salary
cards of MoWT employees after a discussion on government payroll where she got
to know about how the salary received by government employees is determined.
The final salary the intern drew up greatly depended on the positions of
employment and on categories called scales which classified employees according
to their professions.
While the trainee was filling in the salary cards,
from the gross salary of the employees, she deducted NSSF deductions, taxes
like PAYE and any monthly payments to a bank of the employee in respect of a
loan if any.
In MoWT this
activity was carried out on a quarterly basis since employees also received
salary on a quarterly basis. This activity was facilitated by Mrs. Sarah Yiga a
salary official in the Revenues, Salaries and Bookkeeping office
The
Budget process
A
budget is an estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time. The
intern had a discussion with an officer from the Policy and Planning
department. After this discussion the intern was able to participate in the
budget process of the ministry. She got involved in determining the sector
ceiling of the ministry. She looked at the past budget and the expenditure of
the ministry in the last financial to estimate the amount of funds required by
the ministry for the next financial year.
During
the discussion she also wrote a few notes on the steps of budget process which
were; first, determination of the resource envelop where funds available for
allocation are determined through estimation of taxes, grants to be collected
and received, non-tax revenues and other sources this is based on previous
year’s information; second, setting national priorities and sector ceilings:
national priorities are the key sectors in the economy for example the Public
works and Transport sector was a key sector in this year’s budget, a sector
ceiling refers to the total amount of funds allocated to a particular sector;
thirdly budget consultations like the cabinet retreat where different ministers
discuss budgetary matters which is followed by preparation of budget estimates;
and lastly presentation and approval of the budget and budget implementation.
Stores control and management
During
this activity, the intern went to the stores department and an officer from
this department told her about how materials are received from procurement
department, stored and issued after which she was able to carry out these
tasks.
The
intern recorded the quantity of materials received in the stores ledger with
each type of material having its own ledger for example she recorded the
construction materials together, stationery in its own ledger. While in the
stores, the trainee was able to carry out materials control using various
techniques like of Economic Order Quantity technique which she used to
determine when it was best to order for materials at the lowest cost and before
the available materials were used up.
When
a given office requested for the materials from the store and presented a
combined issue requisition voucher that showed that they had been authorized to
receive the materials, the trainee recorded the quantity to be issued in the
stores ledger at the cost it was purchased at and this quantity and she
deducted the total cost of the materials from the remaining amounts.
Scanning and Sending emails with attachments
The
intern scanned different documents and sent them as email attachments to other
interns. This activity was aimed at teaching the intern how to scan documents
and send them as attachments via electronic mail. This activity was facilitated
by Mr. John Ocheing from the Revenues, Salaries and Bookkeeping office.
Client handling
The intern attended to various clients during the
field attachment period at the ministry. The clients she attended to included;
pensioners, MoWT employees who came to receive their pay slips and contractors
of the ministry. She listened to the clients’ issues and directed them to the
right officers to be attended to and also where she could attended to the
clients herself.
Organizing the
office
As
a day to day activity, the intern cleaned the office tables, organized files on
top of the desks and cleared away utensils after
breakfast and took them to the pantry. She did this so as to provide a suitable
working environment for the officers and fellow interns within the Revenues,
Salaries and Bookkeeping office.
CHAPTER THREE
LESSONS, EXPERIENCES AND SKILLS
3.0 Introduction
This chapter comprises of lessons, skills and
experiences acquired by the intern during field attachment from the different
activities participated in and the various people she met.
3.1 Lessons learnt
during field attachment
A lesson indicates areas of learning through
exposure, a discovery out of knowledge previously gained according to the MUBS
Student Internship Logbook.
The intern learnt various lessons while at field
attachment and they included;
Time Management
The intern learnt a lesson on the importance of time
management. When she was a good time manager at the ministry, the trainee was
easily acknowledged by superiors and always given the most important tasks as she
always performed tasks within the required time. Poor time keepers, on the
other hand were always clashing with superiors for example some of the other
interns in the accounts office missed tasks given to interns due to poor time
management and ended up clashing with the several instructors and officers due
to incomplete assignments.
Respect of
superiors
The intern got to know the importance of respecting superiors
in the organization. During interaction with different officers the intern
respected them and they later reported this good behavior to the intern’s field
supervisor. This earned the intern good credit with her supervisor hence the
good comments on the field supervisor’s assessment form. Therefore one should
take care to respect superiors since they may determine their success in their
career.
Dress code
The intern got to know the importance of dressing
appropriately when carrying out official duty especially in a public office
like the Accounts office of MoWT. The intern dressed appropriately for the
office as a sign of respect to colleagues and superiors. It was also a sign of
respect to the clients of the ministry that approached the intern and that showed
that the intern respected the position that had been granted to her by the
ministry.
Diligence
The intern learnt that being hard working and always
doing one’s duties as assigned was one of the most important aspects in one’s
career to avoid clashes with superiors and attract respect from colleagues and
superiors in the work place.
Use of IFMS to account
for transactions
The intern learnt how to use accounting software,
Integrated Financial Management System to account for transactions of the
ministry. The intern also learnt from the field supervisor that study of
accounting in school was not enough for her to qualify as an accountant but that
she was required to learn how to use at least one package of accounting
software like IFMS so as to be considered for employment by most employers
since most transactions were computerized.
Taxes charged on
incomes in Uganda
The intern
learnt about some of the taxes charged on different sources of income while
filing both original and amended returns with URA. This involved first
understanding the different taxes like PAYE and withholding tax and the rates
at which these taxes were charged according to the “Income Tax of Uganda, Cap
340 of Laws of Uganda 2000.”
Team work
The intern learnt the importance of team work in the
organization. The intern learnt that through team effort, tasks could be completed
faster with the best results since everyone with an idea contributed and each
member did the part of the task assigned to them. For example when the interns
were arranging “Kalangala Ship” receipt books for the last financial year, each
of the interns handled a particular month’s receipt books and every intern
contributed an idea n how the books should be arranged from which the best
option was picked. This activity which usually took the Revenues, Salaries and
Bookkeeping office at least month to complete took the interns only a week and
a half.
Respect of
reporting hierarchy
The intern learnt that a subordinate must respect
each of the superiors above him or her when reporting and not consider only the
top most management as the important superiors. For example when writing an
internal memo to another office, there was a provision for the immediate
superior’s office to sign and if this signature was lacking the internal memo
would not reach the intended party. This showed how important respect of the
reporting hierarchy in a given organization is.
Respect of
colleagues
The intern learnt how to respect colleagues through
interactions with fellow interns. During these, the intern learnt that people
come from different backgrounds and with different attitudes, personalities and
morals. To avoid conflicts with colleagues and provide a comfortable work space
for them, each of their different values and morals had to be respected for
example the intern did not speak of other colleagues religions negatively.
Writing internal
memo
The intern learnt how to write an internal memo
during the various occasions on which she was assigned to write an internal
memo. The intern took special notice of the components of this document and how
it is different from a normal official letter; for example the intern was given
an assignment by the field supervisor to type an internal memo briefing the
chief accountant on details that were discussed during a seminar, at which the
field supervisor had been a representative of the chief accountant.
How to apply for
a Taxpayer’s Identification Number
The intern
learnt how to apply for a TIN numbers as one of the officers tried to register
the interns with URA. The intern also learnt about the importance of being
registered with URA and the advantages of this registration to an individual or
a business; for example to a business, registration with tax authorities is a
necessity for it to be able to compete on the international market as un
registered businesses are considered by most customers to be illegal and
therefore lose potential clients to registered ones.
Printing and
photocopying documents
The intern on several occasions was given the task
of printing and photocopying documents and through this she learnt how to
operate a printer and photocopier; for example the intern was given the task of
printing out Trade Credit Certificates each month after returns had been
filed.
Government
payroll
The intern during the discussion on government
payroll learnt the different determinants of salaries of government workers
like salary scales for both sciences, professionals of the upper and lower class
and the deductions made from the salary like NSSF deductions to reach the final
salary.
The accounting
base applied by MoWT
The intern, during orientation learnt about the
accounting base used by the ministry which was modified cash accounting base
and why it used this base unlike some government entities that used accrual
base of accounting. The reason why MoWT used modified cash accounting base was
because of the fact that the ministry could not determine the value of some of
its non-current assets. These assets were acquired at a time when cash
accounting was being used and records of cost were lost over time and yet if it
were to convert to accrual base of accounting the cost of these assets would be
required unlike in cash basis of accounting where the assets were written off
as expenses in the profit or loss account.
Proper
bookkeeping
The intern learnt that bookkeeping should be done
with a lot of care and organization for it to be effective and provide useful
information for the intended purpose. For example when the intern was recording
serial numbers of receipt books from the “Kalangala ship” a government asset, extra care had to be
taken when classifying the different categories of receipt books so as to avoid
overstating or under stating revenues since the cost of each class was
different and if serial numbers of one increased due to error then the total
revenue received would change
3.2 Experiences
attained by the intern
Experiences are the areas of knowledge accumulated
in the field on theory taught in class
that will lead the intern to integrate class knowledge into work
practice according to the MUBS Student Internship Logbook.
The intern acquired a lot of experiences while at
the place of attachment which included;
Stores control
and management
While the intern was at stores department, she
acquired experience on how to apply stores control and management methods that had
been learnt in class during the Cost and Management Accounting lecture. During
this visit, the officer from the stores office showed the intern how the
ministry used Economic Order Quantity an inventory control technique and FIFO
method of valuing inventory to control and manage inventory levels.
Manual bank
reconciliation
The intern attained experience in the manual process
of bank reconciliation and was able to understand it better in addition to the
knowledge acquired in class during the Financial Accounting lecture. This was
through the several sessions that involved the intern reconciling bank
statements with the cash book of the ministry for each month of the last
financial year.
Filing returns
The intern obtained experience in filing returns as
it was done on a monthly basis at the ministry and repeated every time more
information on returns of companies or salaries of individuals was acquired and
returns a were amended and filed. This enabled the intern to expand knowledge on
the term “filing of returns” which had only been hinted on during a Tax and Tax
Accounting lecture in class. This will enable the intern carryout the activity
with efficiency in case it is assigned to her by an employer in the future
Writing an
Internal Memo
The intern attained experience in writing an
internal memo during the activities where the intern was required to write one
as a test and to type one to brief the Chief Accountant about the proceedings
of a meeting the Accountant Projects attended on his behalf. This provided the
intern with an avenue to acquire this experience.
Printing and
photocopying document
At the end of most activities like downloading trade
credit certificates, typing internal memos, recording of receipt books serial
numbers, the intern had to print out the document so as to be taken to other
offices, therefore this enabled the intern acquire experience on how to print
documents. Photocopying was done more often when several offices needed more
than one copy of a given document at hand. This gave the intern an opportunity
to attain experience in photo copying and printing documents.
Typing and
editing of Microsoft documents
On several occasions, the intern was required to
type documents like internal memos using Microsoft word, a record of serial
numbers receipt books using Microsoft excel and
these enabled the intern acquire experience in typing and editing
documents. This helped the intern improve on her typing speed.
Application of
financial analysis tools
The intern attained experience on how to practically
apply financial analysis tools which had only been hinted on during the
financial management lecture at school. This enabled the intern to know the
importance of financial analysis tools to an organization since without it, the
organization could not measure its performance.
Public speaking
and presentation
The intern had to ask questions during the different
activities especially discussions and meetings and also answer questions asked
and on some occasions introduce themselves. This provided an avenue for the
intern to acquire experience in public speaking and presentation and it also
helped the intern improve on her confidence as she received encouragement and
correction from the audience on various occasions as she was speaking and
presenting.
Team work
During the various activities that the intern had to
do in a group with other interns, she acquired experience on how to collaborate
with colleagues; for example the intern learnt that, a team could only be successful
in doing duties assigned if all the views of team members were respected and
considered rather than considering one person’s view and undermining others
which caused conflict in the group.
Interacting with
superiors
On several occasions, the intern met and interacted
with different officers at the ministry, for example the intern interacted with
the chief accountant, the accountants in the Salaries, Revenues and Bookkeeping
office and the field supervisor. This enabled the intern to acquire experience
in interacting with different superiors and improve on her way of conduct while
interacting with them for example she got to know that attaching titles of
office to superiors was a sign of respect.
Handling clients
On various occasions, the intern was approached by
many clients that required assistance for example some clients came to receive
Trade Credit Certificates but did not know from whom to get them, others
required directions to particular offices. This enabled the intern attain
experience in handling, interacting with clients and making sure that their
needs are attended to.
Bookkeeping
The intern gained experience in bookkeeping as she
recorded receipt books of the “Kalangala Ship”, ensured that every receipt book
recorded was present and reported the missing ones, arranged the receipt book
and took them to archives office.
3.3 Skills Gained
A skill is a
proficiency gained in carrying out a particular business tasks or techniques
learned in the field.
The skills acquired by the intern included;
Typing skills
The intern acquired this skill through participation
in the various computerized activities that required data entry like typing
internal memos, editing the ministry asset register. This enabled the intern
improve upon her typing speed.
Public speaking
Speaking skill relates to the ability to convey
information to another effectively and efficiently. The intern improved upon
her communication skills especially through public speaking in the different
discussion that were held while at the place of attachment. The intern was
corrected several times during these discussions on how she should present
herself while communicating to an audience for example she was told to speak
audibly and put her views across in brief understandable statements.
Filing of
returns
The intern gained proficiency in filing returns
since she had to carry out this activity for the two months of field attachment
and also file amended returns each time new more information arose on
previously filed returns.
Conflict
management
The intern was involved in many group activities,
and due to differences in attitudes and personalities, disagreements arose
among group members on some occasions. Therefore as the intern attempted to
solve these disagreements, she gained the skill of conflict management.
Use of IFMS
The intern on several occasions used the accounting
software as applied by the ministry which is Integrated Financial Management
System to carryout accounting transactions like automatic bank reconciliation.
This enabled the intern gain efficiency in using this software. This skill will
enable the intern attain a competitive advantage over other applicants in the
eyes of an employer especially a government institution since this software is
used by most ministries.
Interpersonal
skills
During the internship period, the intern interacted
with several individuals ranging from interns in different departments like
policy and planning to superiors in the ministry. This helped the intern build
interpersonal skills which helped the intern relate easily with people of
different backgrounds attitudes and academic qualification different.
Client
care
The intern was approached by many clients during the
internship period while at the ministry and she would assess the clients’
satisfaction after attending to them. This enabled the intern to improve upon
imperfections in this skill since she based on the customers level of
satisfaction to improve upon errors.
Computer skills
During field attachment, the intern operated various
computerized devices like desktop computers, laptops printers and photocopiers.
This enabled the intern to acquire various computer skills like sending emails
with attachments, printing, photocopying and trouble shooting. This enabled the
intern to use computers with ease and efficiently while at and away from the place
of attachment.
Listening
skill
During the internship period, the intern was engaged
in several discussions like the discussions about the procurement process,
budget process, Uganda Road Fund and government payroll. She was corrected
during various discussions on how one should listen for example giving non-verbal
responses like nodding of the head and eye contact with the speaker to show
that one is attentive and listening. This helped her improve her listening
skills.
Life skills
The intern on interaction with different officers
and colleagues was given advice on different aspects of life like health,
dating and home management and how to behave during interviews. This was very
beneficial to the intern as it provided an avenue of attaining skills aside
from those concerning work at the ministry which enabled the intern become an
all-round individual.
CHAPTER FOUR
CHALLENGES,
LIMITATIONS, ENJOYMENTSAND DISAPPOINTMENTS
4.0 Introduction
This
chapter entails challenges and limitations, enjoyments and disappointments that
the intern faced while at the place of attachment, MoWT.
4.1 Challenges
faced
The
intern faced only a few challenges since she had a lot of support from her
supervisors at the ministry. These challenges included:
4.1.1 Organizational
challenges
Such
challenges were faced while at the place of work and they included;
Office
space
The
office in which the intern was supposed to work, Accountant Projects,
Receivables and Revenues’ office, had limited space, in that the intern had to
be transferred to another office, Revenues Salaries and Bookkeeping office, to
carryout activities assigned to her efficiently and effectively. Interns were
also told to come for work in shifts to avoid overcrowding of the office and
solve this problem.
Complicated terms
In
the first week of the internship, the intern was introduced to new terms. Most
of these were abbreviations used in the different offices in the department of
attachment. For example the intern was told to go to the C/A’s office which
meant Chief Accountant’s office, the intern did not know that in that moment
and therefore had to ask for further explanation. This challenge was later
overcome as the intern got used to the use of these terms.
New systems and documents
The
intern was introduced to new systems like Integrated Financial Management
System which she had to become well conversant with in a short period of time
as it was going to be used in most of the activities to be undertaken like bank
reconciliation. New documents also included the “MoWT Client Charter” which the
intern had read within the first day of field attachment. This was quite
challenging for the intern to accomplish since she had only a few hours to read
the whole book..
4.1.2 Personal
challenges
These
arose as a result of the intern experiencing internship for the first time and
they included;
Difficulty
in adjusting to the working routine
The
intern found it difficult to adjust to waking up in the early morning hours at
5:00 am to prepare for work as she was used to afternoon lectures at school.
She also found it challenging to adjust to sitting in the office from 8:00am to
5:00pm with only oe hour lunch break. The intern managed to overcome this
challenge with time as she repeated the routine every day for the two months of
the internship.
Personality differences
As
the intern met new people during the first week of the internship, she found it
challenging to adjust and accommodate the different attitudes and personalities
of her colleagues and the different officers. The intern managed to overcome
this challenge as she continuously interacted with them and started to
appreciate their views and personalities.
Difficulties
in adjusting to professional dress code
The
intern found it hard to adjust to the professional dressing code as dictated by
the public service dress code bill. The intern had to purchase new clothes that
were in line with this new bill.
Traffic jam
The
intern was commuting from home and always encountered a lot of jam in the
morning hours since the place of attachment was located along a major road,
Jinja road. The intern tried to overcome this challenge by waking up early to
avoid the rush hour, the time when most people are going to work.
4.2 Limitations
Some
of these limitations encountered included;
Busy schedules of officers
Most of the officers at the ministry had busy
schedules as it was coming to the close of the financial year which called for
preparation of many financial statements by the accounting office to which the
intern was attached. This limited the time that the intern had with the
officers since she could not get involved in preparation of the statements most
of which were confidential due to sensitive information they entailed
Bias against interns
Some
of the officers in the finance and administration department were biased
against interns due to unprofessional behavior of past groups of interns. To
overcome this challenge the intern and her colleagues created a good rapport
with all the officers they met by acting professionally and respecting them.
Limited computers to practice what
had been learnt
The
office in the intern worked had few computers which were mainly for officers of
the ministry and therefore they were always in use. The intern only got a
chance to practice what was taught in case the activity was repetitively done
and she had to wait for the other interns to use the workstation. To smooth
over this challenge, the officers in the Revenues, Salaries and Bookkeeping
office allowed time to interns to practice on their computers on some
occasions.
Limited funds
On
arrival, the intern expected that meals would be provided by the ministry,
which was not the case aside from the breakfast provided by the ministry. The
intern had to provide for herself the meals which had to be bought from the
nearby restaurants at a relatively higher cost than the intern was used to.
This affected the intern’s morale about the internship since she had to spend a
lot of money on meals which was sometimes unavailable thus going hungry on some
occasions.
Limited access to some offices and information
The
intern and colleagues were only allowed access to some offices in the department
and they were not allowed to work on some the tasks given to officers in the
Revenues, Salaries and Bookkeeping office. This limited the activities and
process from which they had to learn.
Short period of time allocated for internship
The
period of only two months allowed by the ministry for carrying out field
attachment was not adequate for the intern to acquire the required skills and
experiences. There was so much left to learn by the time this period ended for
example the intern had not explored all the functions of IFMS the accounting
software used by the ministry, about which some of the officers said that it
required a substantial period of time to fully master. Therefore the intern was
limited to knowing only a few functions like automatic bank reconciliation.
Poor internet connection
This
limited performance of tasks since most of the activities carried out required
computers to be connected to the internet for example for some days the intern
could not file returns, download trade credit certificates. These activities
had to be postponed to the following day which slowed down completion of tasks.
4.3 Enjoyments
The
intern experienced quite a number of enjoyments during field attachment which
included;
Hospitality of MoWT officers
The
MoWT officers from the first day of arrival of the intern were very receptive
and welcoming ensuring that she was attended to, for example the intern was
immediately directed to her field supervisor’s office who welcomed her with a
cup of tea. This gave intern a lot of morale to learn and carryout assignments
given to her during the field attachment.
Meeting with new people
The
intern got a chance to meet new people with interesting points of view about
life and different attitudes including different officers from various
departments and fellow interns. This was one of the highlights of the
internship period since these new friends supported the intern throughout the
internship period.
Team work
The
intern also enjoyed accomplishing tasks in groups, the support and contribution
from group members while carrying out different activities simplified doing the
tasks given. The group comprised of interns from the accounts office.
Wireless network
Some
offices in the ministry had wireless internet that the intern enjoyed since she
was able to carry out research both related and unrelated to the field
attachment with ease. She enjoyed this due to the fact that it was her first
time to have access to free wireless internet.
Exploring the new work environment
The
intern enjoyed exploring the new work environment for example the work ethics
practiced; the respect that was given to people and their views the corporation
culture of the ministry. The intern was highly impressed with the work
environment at MoWT.
Learning new concepts
The
intern enjoyed learning new concepts especially filing returns and automatic
bank reconciliation, registration with URA and government payroll. Learning
these concepts answered questions that the intern had prior to the internship
period especially government payroll.
Satisfaction from successfully completing tasks
Whenever
the intern completed tasks and received good remarks about the work done from
the field supervisor and other officers, she was highly encouraged to
accomplish more tasks in time.
4.4 Disappointments
The
intern only experienced a few disappointments which included;
Unfriendly
officers
Even
though some of the MoWT officers were very friendly and welcoming, the intern
also encountered unwelcoming officers that had had bad experiences with
previous intern groups therefore were highly biased against interns.
Lack
of lunch allowance
The
intern had expected that the ministry would provide lunch allowance to the
interns but since the ministry had not budgeted for interns during that period
there were not able to provide lunch allowances to them.
Inadequate
computers in the office of attachment.
The
office to which the intern was attached only had a few computers for the intern
to practice what she had learnt. This was a disappointment to the intern since
she did not get enough hands on experience on the concepts taught like
automatic bank reconciliation using IFMS.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.0 Introduction
This
chapter entails a conclusion which is an overview of the field attachment and
the recommendations to the school and the ministry.
5.1 Conclusion
The
internship exercises was very successful as the intern managed to learn new
concepts through the various activities carried out like filing returns,
bookkeeping, typing internal memos. This enabled the intern to get equipped
with various skills like typing skills, use of IFMS accounting software; attain
various experiences like how to collaborate with colleagues, respect of
reporting hierarchy and acquire different lessons on various aspects like time
management, team work and time management.
The
field attachment period did not go without a few challenges, limitations and
disappointmentslike limited time with supervisors, inadequate work stations,
adoption to the working hours and lack of lunch allowances which were overcome
as the internship period advanced. Despite these, the intern also experienced
some enjoyments as she got to meet new people both interns and officers of the
ministry who welcomed her with open hands.
The
intern was able to use the knowledge from class and apply it in a real work
environment. This showed the intern that the material she learnt at school was
of great importance in her career. She also managed to acquire social capital
through the making connections with various officers and interns who will help
her in various aspects of her life. Therefore the field attachment training has
highly beneficial to the intern both academically and socially through
providing an avenue for her to grow in both of these areas.
5.2 Recommendations
This
section entails recommendations to both Ministry of Works and Transport and
Makerere University Business School on how to make the internship period more
effective and helpful to the students career.
5.2.1 Recommendations
to the ministry
Restructuring of offices
The
ministry should consider re-organizing their offices since some buildings had a
lot of free space in them like the Policy and Planning department building and
yet other offices like Finance and Administration had very limited space in
which the interns and officers had to work.
Provision of organizational
identity cards
The
organization should consider providing identity cards to the interns so as to
avoid outsiders that pose as interns and enter the ministry to cause chaos
which in turn was blamed on the interns hence the biased officers.
Constant supervision by field
supervisors
The
field supervisors should regularly monitor the work done by interns. This will
motivate interns to work harder as they try to impress the field supervisor and
hence learn a lot.
Allocation of internship placements
The
ministry should welcome requests from interns for internship placements and not
judge all interns based on behavior of past interns which was a basis of
denying some interns placement in the organization. The organization should
also consider interviewing interns before placement as this will train interns
on the real life process that people go through to acquire jobs.
Plan for interns before their
arrival
Activities
to be undertaken by interns should be planned for and scheduled before
commencement of the field attachment so that the corresponding officers
supposed to supervise these activities are prepared beforehand. This will ensure
that interns are always occupied during the internship period
5.2.2 Recommendations
to the school
Extend
internship period
The
school should consider extending the internship period and allocating more time
for it. The time given for this activity limited the activities that the intern
could undertake since some activities are done by the ministry at particular times
of the financial year like budget formulation thus the intern didn’t get a
chance to participate in this process and onlymanaged o discuss it with an
officer.
Assignment ofone academic
supervisorper organization.
The
school should consider assigning one academic supervisor per organization to
lessen work load of supervisors and transport costs incurred by the school.
REFERENCES
Income
Tax Act, Cap 340 Of Ugandan Laws 2000; Rates of tax liability charged on
employment income.
MoWT
Client Charter; the mission, vision and core values of the organization.
MoWT
Strategic Plan (2011/12 – 2015/16); MoWT organizational structure and
objective.
www.works.go.ug;
the MoWT background and governance.
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