For the Dutch version, click here. As Treasurer, you are responsible for the financial affairs of Asset | Accounting & Finance. In addition, you coordinate the Activities, Sports, Lustrum and Investment Night committees. In this article, I describe my experiences as Treasurer of Asset | Accounting & Finance and why I chose it. Why did I choose a board year at Asset | Accounting & Finance? After spending my first semester just studying, I wanted to do something in addition to my studies. In the second semester, I decided to do a committee at Asset | IB&M because I thought it would be really fun to organize something with other students and get to know a new set of people. After a year there, I went to Asset | Accounting & Finance, because I already knew I wanted to go in one of those two directions, and because I already knew a few people there. I had a great time here for a year and a half doing committees when I finished my bachelor’s degree. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to spend a full gap year doing something completely different from studying, and after Corona I did need a fun year. During this year I can also focus on what I want to do later and have the chance to get in touch with all kinds of companies. What are you actually doing all day? Treasurer is a pretty internal job, which means that most people don’t see the immediate results of what you spend all day doing. One of the main tasks is creating and keeping track of the budget. You do this right at the beginning of the year and in doing so, you set a lot for the rest of the year. This budget is constantly updated, so you know whether there is still room for a spontaneous drink or a beer bike, for example. You are also responsible for the general bookkeeping of A&F, which you keep up to date. I do this with our accounting program Twinfield. Especially at the beginning of the year I regularly had to call my predecessor to get me through the maze. But soon I had learned this. Everything costs money, so you also know a lot about what is going on within the association. Besides the financial part, you are also the coordinator of A&F’s four most fun committees: The Activities, Sports, Investment Night and Lustrum Committee. Throughout the week, you’ll be busy putting on all kinds of events with these committees. From the Meals on Wheels, to the Mario Kart Tournament, to a fat symposium. The many informal committees are also a nice contrast to the fairly formal work you do on a daily basis as Treasurer. Together, it’s a super fun combination to fill the week! It is a unique experience that you can experience in very few places. Once a quarter the cash control takes place. Then the treasurers of the last three years come together to review my accounts and give advice for the coming period. Then I can ask all the questions I have. It’s also fun to compare what everyone ran into in their year and what is still the same now or what is going differently. In addition, A&F is part of Asset Tilburg, so we work together a lot. This year I am the vice treasurer of all of Asset, which means that I am involved a lot in the financial decisions of the association. Every week we also meet with all the treasurers of the departments to discuss matters within Asset. Of course, it is also nice to catch up with the other treasurers once a week. What are the highlights so far of your board year? It’s hard to pinpoint one moment because so many different things happen in a year like this. Some of the best are the first activity with the members, which this year was the Activities Committee’s Meals on Wheels. The Department Members Meeting was also a special moment, because that’s when you reflect on the past six months and also say goodbye to the Winter Enlightenment. But even smaller moments are still fun to think back on, such as when the Investment Night Committee brought in its first speaker, and the announcement of the new Winter Board. The year is really made up of an awful lot of little moments that together make it a wonderful year! Would you recommend a board year to anyone else? Absolutely!!! It is a unique experience that you can experience in very few places. You basically run a small company with five other people while still being a student. You have a lot of responsibility, but also a lot of freedom to set up this year and organize fun events and activities. Because of the combination of the formal and informal activities, you actually never get bored. You also get to know many new people from other associations and experience many fun things. Of course, you’ll also be at plenty of get-togethers and parties to fill your evenings. All in all, it’s a fantastic experience and definitely worth doing. I’ve never doubted my choice to apply. You get the chance to meet lots of people, experience fat things and still be able to catch plenty of parties. All while still being a student. I can only recommend this year.
A board year as Treasurer of Asset | Accounting & Finance – Ella Boerkamp
For the Dutch version, click here As Treasurer, you are responsible for the finances of Asset | Accounting & Finance. In addition, you coordinate the Activities, CityTrip, and Investment Night Committee. In this article, I describe my experiences as Treasurer of Asset | Accounting & Finance. Why did I choose to do a board year at Asset | Accounting & Finance? During the first three years of my student life, I wanted to get my credits as quickly as possible. After three years, I obtained my bachelor’s degree and started with the Master Accountancy. I realized that after one year I would probably be finished with studying and therefore also with my student life. This made me doubt. After all, I was only 21 years old. Then I started thinking and came to the conclusion that I wanted to do something else. Therefore, I started to find out how I could prolong my student life a bit and meanwhile gain experience within my interests. As of my third year of study, I have been an active member of Asset | Accounting & Finance and I always had a good time. For me, that was the main reason that I applied for a board year. I wanted a fun and above all enjoyable year. A board year at A&F was therefore the perfect choice. After all, I already knew most of the members, completed the Master Accountancy and I could come into contact with a variety of companies. “What do you do all day?” That is a question I often receive from many friends. Actually, it is difficult to explain what you do all day to people who have not done a board year. When I started my board year, I knew it would be a busy year with many responsibilities, but what it would look exactly was also not clear to me. On Monday morning, we always have our board meeting. When I saw the agenda for the first time, I was flabbergasted. The agenda contained a lot of different topics, such as our formal and informal events, articles that need to be written for Faces-Online, acquisition, etc. As a board member, you are doing a lot of different things, because everything needs to be well-organized and nothing should be forgotten. In short, besides having drinks with fellow students, you have a lot of responsibilities as a board member. At the moment of writing this article, I am thinking again: “What did I actually do last week? The week always flies by!” Is the position of Treasurer exactly what I expected? Before I started my board year as Treasurer, I expected to be busy with the bookkeeping of A&F: paying invoices and declarations, requesting quotes, keeping track of the budget, and sending out invoices. In the first few weeks, I was indeed very busy with this. Twinfield, our accounting software, was not really my best friend at the time and it took me a while to understand and work efficiently with the system. Every week, I mean every day, I contacted my predecessor with questions about Twinfield. After a while, I became more and more proficient and I started to understand what my predecessor meant by ‘Twinfield is just like gaming’. “That as a board member of A&F, you are working in a mini-company with 120 employees and you will never get these responsibilities at your first job.” In contrast to the beginning of my board year, I am currently spending much more time coordinating my three committees. This results in variety in my work. The Activities Committee organizes various events for active members so that they can get to know fellow students despite the few physical contacts that are currently possible. I also coordinate the Investment Night Committee. Investment Night is a symposium that will take place on May 12. Organizing this is a very fun and exciting challenge. Furthermore, I am the coordinator of the CityTrip Committee. I am very happy with this, because last year, I was a member of the StudyTour Committee that organized the trip to South Korea. Even though traveling is not possible at the moment, we still organize fun activities! Besides coordinating my committees, I am also busy with helping other board members, the weekly meetings of all Treasurers of Asset, the quarterly Audit of Accounts, the bookkeeping of the Alumni Association Financials, and the Financial Association Netherlands (FAN). What are you most proud of? I am proud of the fact that, with all the board members, active members, and partners, we have made it an inspiring and instructive year so far. As a board member in this crazy period, we have to make sure that we keep all our partners and members happy. We ensure that events continue and that requires us to be proactive and creative in finding solutions. Hence, our problem-solving skills were highly demanded this year. I am also happy about and proud of the fact that all our events have taken place this year, despite the various Covid-19 restrictions. As a result, fellow students still had the opportunity to develop themselves and get to know other students. Would I recommend a board year to others, even in these strange times? Definitely! When I started my board year in the summer of 2020, I knew that my board year would be different from a ‘normal’ board year. Nevertheless, it has been a fantastic period so far! My board year cannot be compared to any other board year. I hope, of course, that this unique board year will not become normal. During this year, we had to do the best we could to remain successful as a study association. Every event needs to have a plan b and c, which are usually a physical plan and one or two online plans because the rules are constantly changing. For this reason, we are constantly searching for the best option. Looking back at what I have learned, I dare to say