Accounting & Business Law Internships
Accounting and Business Law internships facilitate meaningful career progression for graduates. An internship provides the student with an opportunity to extend what they have learned in the classroom and helps them determine which career path in accounting they want to pursue. Performance in an internship can transition into a job offer or it can serve as reference for a full time job application. Many firms will not hire an accounting graduate without an internship.
Accounting internships are available at public accounting firms, large and small private businesses and select governmental agencies. Most internships at public accounting firms are available in spring semester. There are also a limited number of opportunities during the summer. A student who has a part-time job doing accounting-related work may earn internship credits.
The College of Business requires that you register for the term when you are doing your internship. You cannot earn credit retroactively for an internship that is already complete.
If you need help finding an internship please email cobinternships@mnsu.edu or schedule an appointment by calling 507-389-2963.
Internship Qualifications:
1. 135 hours of work is equivalent to three credit hours of internship.
2. The job duties in the position must primarily be accounting/business law or accounting/business law-related (80% or more).
3. The person you report to, or your company mentor, should be in an accounting/business law, or accounting/business law-related field.
Unsure If Your Internship Qualifies? Email the job description to cobinternships@mnsu.edu.
INTERN COMPLETES
1. Goals Statement
In a one-page letter briefly summarize your academic and professional background, your career goals, and your internship objectives. The internship objectives are the specific things you hope to learn, experience, and achieve by doing this internship. This letter should be written in a format similar to a standard cover letter and be addressed to the Department Chair.
2. DARS Report
Access your DARS. Copy and paste this document into Word before attaching to your application.
INTERN GATHERS FROM EMPLOYER
3. Job Description (From Employer)
This document lists your duties and the projects you'll work on during your internship.
4. Internship Offer Letter (From Employer)
Letter should be written on company letterhead and include your start date, end date, and number of hours you'll work each week.
IF REGISTERING FOR CO-OP STATUS, INTERN COMPLETES
5. Co-Op Eligibility Process Form & Agreement
Complete Co-Op Eligibility Process Form and Agreement - Only required if pursuing co-op status.
[PDF] Click here to learn more about what Co-Op entails. (119 KiB)
Please schedule an appointment by calling 507-389-2963 or email cobinternships@mnsu.edu if you have additional questions about Co-Op status.
Steps for Completing the Co-Op Eligibility Process Form and Agreement
- Student needs to print, sign name, and list techID and date
- List the start and end date for your internship and the academic term
- List the company name and your position
- Company supervisor needs to sign and date
- Department chair signs as both department chair and instructor
- Once all of these signatures have been provided, please upload this document to your online profile (Click “Add Attachment” at the bottom of the application to upload) - You do not need the registrar's signiture to upload this document to your online profile
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Bring or send this document to Joshua Woldt in the Registration & Academic Records office.
The Registrar's office will keep this document and will make sure you have permission to register for the co-op course.
- Log in to your COB internship account. Request access by emailing COBinternships@mnsu.edu.
- Click “Experiential Learning” from the menu on the left side of the page.
- Click the purple “Add New” button.
- Complete all required fields.
- Click “Add Attachment” at the bottom of the application to upload the required documents.
- Choose “Save as Draft” if you wish to come back and make changes to the application before submitting it.
- Click “Submit” once your application is complete.
- Email your department chair to notify them that you submitted your application.
Important Note: If you haven’t received confirmation of your application within one week of submitting your application, please reach out to your department chair.
1. Register
Once you have gotten permission from your Department Chair, register for the course in eServices.
ACCT 497 (Up to 6 credits) — Accounting Internship Credit
Satisfies one of the elective courses required by an Accounting major or minor. You will have to pay for these credits like any other class.
ACCT 398 — Accounting Co-Op Status
Zero credit full-time student status. [PDF] Click here to learn more about what Co-Op entails. (119 KiB)
BLAW 497 – Business Law Internship Credit
If you have questions about which course to register for please email cobinternships@mnsu.edu
Completion of Internship
Before your internship ends and you are able to receive a passing grade, you must complete the following.
1. Stangler Internship Initiative Modules
- Complete the Stangler Internship Initiative modules on D2L.
- It is highly encouraged to complete them before your internship starts to be prepared for the professional workplace from day one!
- You must complete the modules before you can receive a final grade.
2. Final Employer Evaluation
- Your employer will receive an email with a link to the evaluation.
- This email will go out 3 weeks before the end of the semester and must be completed before the end of your internship.
- It is the student’s responsibility to remind their supervisor to complete this evaluation. If your supervisor needs a new copy of the evaluation link, email cobinternships@mnsu.edu. Please suggest to your supervisor to check their spam folders.
3. Final Self Evaluation, Program Evaluation, and Semester Report Surveys
- Access the surveys from the Experiential Learning page of your account.
- You can access these surveys as early as 3 weeks before the end of the semester. They must be completed before the semester ends, regardless of when your specific internship ends.
- You must complete all of the surveys before you can receive a final grade.
4. Final Written Paper or ACCT 200 Class Presentation
- With guidance from the Department Chair, decide which option is best for you.
- Click here for the final paper guidelines.
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The final paper must be uploaded to your COB internships account before the end of the semester.
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log in with your Star ID & password
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click Experiential Learning on the left side menu
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click EDIT below where your internship is listed
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scroll all the way to the bottom and click Add Attachment
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click Submit once it is uploaded
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Important Note: All internship course requirements are due the Friday before Finals Week. If your internship continues after the semester ends and you will not be able to complete the requirements by the deadline, email cobinternships@mnsu.edu to arrange an alternate deadline.
If you have any questions, email your Department Chair or cobinternships@mnsu.edu.