My name is Lotte Schipperheijn, I’m 20 years old, and this year I am the treasurer of Asset | Accounting & Finance. I started studying Business Economics in 2019 and actually started at Asset at about the same time. After doing committees for two years and already seeing a lot of board life, I finally decided to take the plunge. In this article I want to take you through my experiences in my year so far. As treasurer of Asset | Accounting & Finance, a lot of responsibility falls on you right at the start of your year. The budget preparation, which you do at the beginning of your year, is already one of the most important things of your year, since you base all your expenses and revenues on it. You do this together with your predecessor, who can outline the expectations better. Even though you do it together, it is still your budget and you are ultimately responsible. It’s super cool to be able to give your own interpretation of this. In your first few weeks and months, the actual accounting of the association will also really be your biggest focus. Figuring out the accounting program Twinfield and getting to know the accounts takes a while for every treasurer, and so it did for me. Fortunately, this went quite well for me and I was soon declared the expert in Basecone, the program in which we process invoices. So when the time finally came for my first kascontrole commissie”, or KasCo, I had a lot of work to do. My KasCo consists of the three previous treasurers. They check my accounts every quarter and help me with any accounting problems I encounter. The KasCo’s are a great guide for me as treasurer; every quarter you work towards this. This is also one of the most fun things as treasurer as far as I’m concerned. Everything you have been working on during the past quarter comes together here and what a relief it is every time when everything is in order and you can wrap everything up again. “This is one of the hardest things to pass on to your successor, so it is really up to you to find your own way in this.” Six months in, I have got the hang of accounting and it has become much less of a part of my daily work. In addition to your function-specific tasks, you are also assigned some general board tasks and committees. In my opinion you get the most fun committees as Treasurer! Normally, the CityTrip committee, the Activities committee and the Investment Night committee are under my coordination. It’s super fun to take a seat on a committee in a different way for a change. The coordination of a committee requires that you dare to give things away and that you can set boundaries in your tasks, but also intervene when it is really necessary. This is one of the hardest things to pass on to your successor, so it is really up to you to find your own way in this. You really learn a lot about yourself from this, but also about working with other people. With the changeover in the winter, there were of course more tasks that had to be picked up than usual. For Nina, Lotte and I, this was a kind of new beginning. You are suddenly the seniors of the board and now you can’t fall back on anyone else. You’re the person who’s been working for six months and therefore should know everything. As it turned out, I knew most things! With this switch, a large part of the realization came to me about what I had learned in recent times. I notice in myself that during discussions in the Faculty Wide Organs (FWO) and the board meetings I can form and convey my opinion better, because I now have a much better understanding of what it is really about. You can already tell that it is fun to pass on to the new board members, what A&F stands for and how we have been trying to portray all along. I am already looking forward to handing over my baton to the new treasurer and teaching him/her the finest tricks of the trade. I hope to give my successor just as enjoyable and instructive a year as I have had. The big task for me is of course to train my successor as the master of Basecone. That is ultimately the reason for me to do a board year. Learning as much as possible, combined with as much fun as possible. In an informal atmosphere full of students, there is room for some nonsense and jokes, but miraculously, there is also much to learn. This is not only about the association, but especially about your own working methods and your own way of communicating. Looking back, a year on the board has really been the best choice for me and an experience never to forget! Does this appeal to you and do you want to know more about my experience? Or do you have any other practical questions about a year on the board? Feel free to contact me or drop by room E1.07!
A board year as Chairman of Asset | Accounting & Finance – Lotte de Jager
In this article I would like to share with you how I experienced last year as Chairman of Asset | Accounting & Finance. If you’re curious what I do on a day or what I really remembered from my year on the board, read the article below! My choice for a year at Asset | Accounting & Finance Even though I already know a little bit about Asset, I joined the Accounting Insight Committee in April 2021. At the time, I still had the idea that I wanted to become an accountant, but above all it seemed very cool to be able to organise a symposium and meet new people. It was the time of heavy corona measures, where we even had to deal with a curfew during the active members’ weekend. Many activities were online, but to my surprise I quickly got to know many people within the association. I noticed that everyone had a very open attitude and that the atmosphere was often friendly, whether online or in small groups at someone’s home. I really enjoyed this period, and because of this good atmosphere, I got the idea to apply for a place on the board. Moreover, I saw it as the ideal opportunity to gain some experience that I would not get anywhere else. I can assure you that I succeeded! An average day as a Chairman As a chairman, you do a lot of different things, and I think my predecessors can attest to that. However, there are a number of fixed tasks that return every week. Every Monday morning I lead the board meeting, where we reflect on everything that is going on that week. I am also responsible for leading and preparing the meetings with the Advisory Board, the General Members’ Meetings and maintaining contact with the university. In addition to these responsibilities, I also have a position on Asset’s general board. Here I am treasurer, which makes me responsible for all financial matters within the association. I lead the meeting of all treasurers every week and help them with certain issues. As general manager, I not only have the role of treasurer, I also represent Asset | Accounting & Finance within the weekly general managerial meeting. “What I like about this role is that you can often take on projects to innovate or improve something that will benefit your successors.” Apart from the meetings and tasks that are on the agenda every week, I am always busy with other things. I have become much better at time management, which is a nice bonus. To give you an example of what I’m doing at the moment: these weeks I’m working on an Alumni Event in cooperation with the university, where I approach our alumni to come and talk about their careers and how they ended up there. I’m also working on the acquisition of Banking Days, and I’m having discussions with the Department of Finance about our study support and how we can better integrate that with each other. What I like about this role is that you can often take on projects to innovate or improve something that will benefit your successors. For example, I have taken steps towards the further professionalization of all legal affairs within Asset, for which we have set up a task force. Together with this task force, we are learning more about contract law, we are looking at certain rules of the tax authorities and we want to take this a step further. I also have a lot of contact with the university, mainly with the Academic Directors of the Accountancy and Finance Masters. Together with them, I often organise smaller events and information sessions. If you maintain good relations, you not only build up your own network, you also receive a lot of information and you can often switch with them if you have a new idea or run into problems. I get a lot of satisfaction from this contact because you can really help each other, and you see a lot of what a study association can mean to students. Highlights of last year Last year had a number of clear highlights. The two General Assembly Meetings really stand out. I think it’s a great moment to reflect on the past six months and to look ahead at what great events are planned. You have to be able to justify yourself and be well prepared (and of course be able to answer a lot of questions), but it gives you a lot of satisfaction. You officially say goodbye to the old board, but it is also a festive evening where you hammer in the new board and from there on it really starts. What I personally found to be a very special period was the summer, because the corona measures were gradually relaxed then. At the end of the academic year we had many lunches and drinks, where you can see all the A&F members together again. To end the summer in a fun way, we attended the announcements and constitution drinks of all the other boards. Here we quickly got to know the people with whom we would be working in the rooms every day. By loosening the restrictions, we could also physically organise formal events again, some after only two years. I was really looking forward to meeting all those companies physically and seeing all those students together. What I learned in my year on the board I think I can list hundreds of things I learned during my year on the board, but what stands out for me is what you learn about other people. As chairman you really notice the dynamics within your board and it is up to you to make sure everyone has a good time. A good atmosphere in the rooms is very nice, because you get a lot of energy and motivation from each other. As chairman you also have to take the responsibility to monitor discussions
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
