As an accounting major, Amy Petersen was asked to participate in
this year’s Volunteer Income Tax Program, created by her professor
Dr. Dorata and co-sponsored by the Brooklyn Bread and Life. After
receiving certification through the IRS website, Amy, along with
other undergraduate students, was allowed to prepare federal and
state taxes for low income tax payers who were not able to afford
filing on their own. “This experience gave me a glimpse of
what it will be like to prepare taxes for individuals in the future
as well as taught me the tax program TaxWise. I used what I learned
about individual taxes in class to help clients decide aspects such
as filing status and claiming dependents,” she says.
Although Amy claims that this was her best experience at Tobin,
she feels all of the classes she took for accounting were
beneficial because they each taught her a different aspect of the
accounting field to help her prepare for her career. “In audit I
prepared an audit case teaching all the different areas that need
to be covered by an auditor. Throughout my various tax courses I
learned how to prepare individual tax forms as well as those for
Corporations, Partnerships, and S Corporations. I enjoyed my
intermediate and advanced accounting courses the most. I feel as if
through these courses I learned the fundamentals of accounting that
helped me in all of my other courses,” says Amy.
Amy adds the city life, sports events, and friends as some of
her best experiences while attending St. John’s. “I enjoyed going
to soccer games on campus as well as basketball games at Madison
Square Garden, followed by nights out in the city with my friends.
There is always somewhere to go or something to do at or around St.
John's. The friends I made here and the fun I had are the things
that made me happy with my choice to attend St. John's University.”
Amy is now searching for accounting jobs in the Manhattan area.