Just Graduated: Lars Smits

My name is Lars Smits, I am 25 years old and I was born in Kaatsheuvel. I graduated with my masters of Accountancy in Juli 2015, and therefore, unfortunately, the student life has come to an end.

Student life
My student life began at Tilburg University with the bachelor of Business Administration in September 2009. During the first period of my studies I was a trackstudent; Going straight home after the lectures, I never saw the inside of the university library and easily passed the exams.

However, this changed after the 2013 Economic Business Weeks (EBT). Here I met several active members of Asset|Accounting & Finance. Sander Verberne and Kim Claassen had a chat with me and suddenly I became a committee member of Accounting Insight 2013, and an active member of a study association which was known to my dad as nerds, one you only need for summaries of courses and lectures. Nothing was less true. During my first activity, a soccer tournament with all other associations followed by a beercantus, I was immediately sold.

But apart from the drinks A & F organizes, they  also organize other beautiful projects, such as Accounting Insight 2013. During this evening, current accounting issues were discussed by various speakers from the businesses and 200 students in Koning Willem II Stadion. Another great project is the Study Tour. Shortly after Accounting Insight, we left with 28 students on a study trip to Hong Kong, Shenzen and Macau.

Board Accountancy & Finance
My student days enlived when I was asked for the board of A&F for the academic year 2013-2014. During this year, I was one of six people responsible for the management of the association. During this time I met a lot of new students, but also the business community aspect has been an important part of this year.  Besides the many formal activities, there were many informal activities and drinks, and when writing about this there still appears a smile on my face. An example of this is the third anniversary. A committee of 10 active members created the 3th Jubilee Year which can be remember by everyone. The highlights of this year were the trip to Bruges and the two-day gala.

Master Accountancy
But after this briljant year; back to business: the master Accountancy. But during the masters there was still enough time for beautiful things, such as the study tour which went to Japan, Wouter and I organized the first Ski-trip to Flaine, I joined Deloitte to Milan, and lastly with PwC we went to Barcelona. The business course is the ideal step to your working life. Firstly, it is a fantastic week and secondly it is also a great opportuniy to meet many new colleagues. This will give you a good start when you begin working.

Work life
Eventually, I chose PwC Amsterdam because of the people who work there, the number of customers that you have as accountant and the type of customers. So for example, I have now five clients ranging from listed companies to a hospital. Meanwhile, I have worked almost a year for PwC Amsterdam and it suits me well. Besides the long days there is also time for a stomache ache of laughter and tears on your cheeks during the day. Moreover, the long days in the spring ensure extra days. Now when I look out the airplane window over Russia and think of six weeks backpacking in Asia, the smile on my face returns.

Tam biết! (Goodbye in Vietnamese according to Lonely Planet 😉