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Lucia Stoisor's Internship Web Journal

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Lucia Stoisor
IMBA Class of 2007
Pfizer in New York, NY USA
lucia_stoisor@moore.sc.edu 

2nd Journal Entry - June 28, 2006 :

The manager and I get HUGE, delicious steaks at our team dinner.

I noticed immediately after the 30+ min drive from the airport through dense Mexico City streets that this city was yet another great metropolis.  Totally different from New York -  the widespread city, the whiffs of tamales, churros, mole and loud, muffled radio music pour into the city from different corners, and it seems like you need a second lifetime to get to know yet another great city.  It's nice to be with and meet friends in these places, the city becomes more focused and even more fun! That first night we went out in the chic Zona Rosa district.  We walked by a man with a self-propelled cart making fruit cups of fresh orange, mango, pineapple, beets, cucumber, and carrots.  I had the best mouth-watering, juicy pineapple ever!  (Never mind the fact that you're not supposed to have any water or water-related products in the city).  I have to admit, later that night, I was noticing the impact of the high Mexico City altitude in combination with a few Victoria beers and a little Don Julio, but thankfully no Montezuma's revenge.

Basilica de Guadalupe

The very next day, three of us still managed to hire the hotel tour service to visit the Teotihuacán pyramids were we walked down the Avenue of the Dead on a dry, rainy afternoon and climbed the 2,000-year-old stairways, to the top of the 260 stairs on the Sun pyramid.  On our way back we stopped at a commercial cactus station where they make tequila and pulco and then briefly visited the Basílica de Guadalupe, where the Virgin of Guadalupe is said to have appeared before a converted Aztec.  The architecture, inside and outside of the new Catholic Basilica, was magnificent- surprisingly contemporary and very non-traditional compared to the other grandiose Mexico City buildings.

The rest of the stay in Mexico City, or D.F. (dey-efe) Distrito Federal, was spent in Polanco, at the W Hotel.  Not exactly your bohemian place, this trendy hotel overlooked Chapultepec Park, the equivalent of Mexico City's Central Park.  The W Hotel's lobby bar was, as we were soon to find out, a hot spot for the hip crowd and business people.

During the very first meeting at Pfizer's Mexico site we got to meet and greet with top-level management including, among others, the Regional and Country Manager, as well as the Finance Director.  Our standard introductory presentation went into details on the scope and goals of our work.  At this highest level of management there is a very clear sense of understanding of the strategic importance of our team's work.  The eight of us, including our supervisor, spent our two weeks assessing both the Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals (PGP) and the Pfizer Consumer Health (PCH) divisions. We met with managers in different business areas including Procure to Pay, Travel and Entertainment, Information Technology (IT), Order to Cash, Financial Reporting, and Inventory in order to better understand these processes and the respective controls set in place.   Each audit team member was assigned a business process and the majority of the first week was spent doing walkthroughs (interviews) with business process owners (BPOs) and requesting Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) along with flowcharts, documentation, and any additional information. The second part of the audit included testing controls in order to assure management, investors, audit committee, etc. that these controls mitigate any risks related to the processes.

IMBA Gals: Julie Lawrence, me, and Ashley Cordova at a farewell party for Mexico's Finance Director

I was assigned to work alongside another colleague on auditing the Financial Reporting process for both PGP and PCH divisions.  During the first few days, she and I sat down with all the Financial Reporting business process owners to look over the design of their controls.  We documented our walkthroughs and proceeded to test some of these controls to make certain that they were Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliant.  Like any public accountant, this analysis includes looking at segregation of duties in the financial reporting realm, procedures and execution of operating budget plan, latest estimate, balance sheet, month-end closing, sales reporting, legal and environmental reserves, inter-company transactions, as well as transactions related to the General Ledger (i.e. journal entries).  We had three Spanish speakers in our group, among them, an IMBA alumna, Ashley Cordova, was instrumental in helping us with all aspects of the audit, translating documents, communicating smoothly with the site, navigating the city, among many other things.  Without going into too much detail, at the end of the two weeks we were able to reassure management that the internal controls on the above mentioned processes were indeed designed and operating effectively.

In terms of business culture, the Mexican site was very proud and aspired to be among Pfizer's best practice systems for certain processes and their respective controls.  This made sense, given that from Prof. Kostova's class, Mexico ranks high on Hofstede's Uncertainty Avoidance scale. It also follows that, as a rule, almost all important business transactions are carried out face-to-face or through bank transfers (even mail is delivered through the company couriers).  In terms of the pharma business, brand loyalty is very high since doctors are not readily available to write prescriptions.  That is, customers rely on word-of-mouth and family recommendation because they are able to get medicines without prescriptions.  On a side note, did I mention how accommodating, forthcoming, and welcoming the Mexico site staff and managers were, and how many times we all went out together

"IMBA 2006 Gang" (Jeff, Julie, Isbosett, & Tom)

During the second and last weekend, while everyone went off to Mexico's beaches (Cancun, Cenotes caves for diving, Acapulco, etc.), I spent time exploring the city and the surrounding area.  Mexico City is littered with colonial architecture.  The Metropolitan Cathedral is the centerpiece of the city square. The palace, also in the heart of the capital in the city square, is an exemplar of the city's grandiose architecture. Beyond the architecture, the city isn't precise, it isn't repetitive but it isn't all pretty either.  The air is thick with pollution and the altitude aggravates the situation.  The 20million population stifles the last open spaces and the ghettos are everywhere.  A certain increased level of consciousness for safety is also required.  Kidnappings are unfortunately common business transactions.  But there are little pockets of refuge all over the city.  The Condesa area is very similar to New York's East Village with great lounge places, live bands, and delicious margaritas.  Luckily we were visiting long enough to drink and eat more than just Mexican food (the city has great international chefs), to shop at the Saturday crafts and artisans market, and to make day trips to Taxco and Puebla.  An overwhelming and wonderful metropolis, Mexico City can definitely rival NYC. 

1st Journal Entry - May 1, 2006:

New York 42nd Street (left side of Pfizer Bldg, one block further right side Central Station)

I interviewed with Pfizer after the Career Expo in October 2005 and went up for a second interview to the New York Headquarters that December. The snowy, slushy streets of New York offered no glimpses of what the summer would be like. But the Pfizer office was very inviting and the interview process was as much a time for me to get to know the department as it was for them to get to know me. Needless to say, I accepted the internship on the grounds that it would be the best opportunity for me as a summer internship. 

 

Pfizer Corporate Finance Entrance

Let me paint a bit of a detailed backdrop of Pfizer's finance department and the Internal Audit function. Pfizer's Corporate Finance department, like many other corporate companies, consists of Shared Financial Services, Operating Divisions Finance, Internal Audit, Investor Relations, Legal, and Strategic Planning. There are quite a few rotational programs in Corporate Finance that offer a glimpse into a few of these finance divisions. I, however, will be working in the Internal Audit department for the next four and a half months performing financial and operational audits at Pfizer's worldwide locations.

One of my biggest challenges as a 1st Year IMBA student was not having enough time to truly digest and delve into the information presented in many of my classes. This has remained a challenge for me throughout the orientation period at Pfizer. In my first week on the job I received formal training on the auditing approach and process. The focus of the training was also to get familiar with the staff from Corporate Finance who stood ready to answer any questions. Surprisingly, all ten of them were experts in each of the different work fields and already there was plenty of exposure to the management team. Administrative tasks and initiation rites, as I like to call them, such as getting my Pfizer ID, office, laptop, corporate AMEX card and travel expense account, as well as internal user access programs, e-learning sessions, organizational tasks (I already have over 15-folders in my Outlook) also took up much of my time during the first weeks.

Fortunately, the continuous series of training from the first week will immediately be applied on my first on-site audit assignment at the Pfizer Consumer Health (PCH) and Pfizer General Pharmaceutical (PGP) sites in Mexico City. Alongside a fellow auditor, I will work on the Financial Reporting process for both of these sites during the two weeks in Mexico City. In a way, our audit teams are very much set up like the Moore School teams: talented people with diverse backgrounds. The staff is filled with rising-star type colleagues including a Moore alumna, a Thunderbird alumnus, JDs, CPAs, former investment bankers, public accountants, Sarbanes-Oxley experts, just to name a few. For this first project, our seven person team has spent a significant time meeting and planning for the audit (preparing and gathering information) as well as developing a dynamic. Our meetings were focused and usually dealt with work plans and specific tasks to be completed by each individual throughout the auditing process. We've also closely collaborated with the finance staff at Pfizer North America Latin America. At the end of the audit, our team is expected to evaluate the effectiveness of PCH and PGP controls, as well as to assure the efficient utilization of company resources (i.e. erroneous Travel and Entertainment expenses, etc.). As a team there is an unspoken commitment to professionalism and to do the best job possible while supporting each other along the way. In addition, the assignment also encourages us to identify opportunities for improvements and to make recommendations to all levels of management.

Within the first two weeks of training I was well-aware of the fact that this internship would promise real-time business applications of classroom material and individual ownership/responsibility of projects. I look forward to the coming trip and will keep you posted!