Thanks to his recent internship at Ascent Pharmaceuticals, Mohammad Nazim Dawla has discovered new intricacies and nuances when it comes to crunching numbers—critical skills as he pursues his M.B.A. with a finance concentration.
From June through August, Dawla worked as an intern in the pharma company’s accounting department, tackling daily responsibilities such as journal entries, reconciling bank transactions, and posting accounts payable and receivable. He also handled weekly tasks, like vendor payment tracking and aligning invoices with bank statements—essential duties that he credits with sharpening his accuracy on the job.
“Ascent’s mission, bringing pharmaceutical products to market, made my day-to-day tasks feel meaningful,” Dawla says.
After learning to use business management and accounting software, like Acumatica ERP and Quickbooks, respectively, Dawla was excited to go to work each day. Using those programs, he was able to take on broader financial operations including sales entries, expense tracking, vendor payments, invoice processing, flagging mismatches, and generating month-end reports.
This hands-on experience using software critical to keeping a business on its feet deepened Dawla’s understanding of financial operations across different business sizes—perfect preparation for his future career in financial strategy roles or in corporate finance.
“Accounting isn’t just about numbers but about data consistency and process reliability,” Dawla reflects. He did not anticipate how much effort goes into ensuring consistency across programs. The required attention to detail made for one of his proudest moments on the job as he discovered a double-posted vendor invoice between the two systems. Catching that issue early saved an unnecessary payment and earned his supervisor’s appreciation.
As he continues his M.B.A. studies, Dawla looks forward to applying newfound expertise from his internship to his lessons in the classroom. Notably, he is proud of gaining stronger technical skills in financial analysis, a sharper attention to detail, and a deeper appreciation for how finance supports overall business strategy.
“I was most excited to take advantage of opportunities to learn directly from experienced professionals,” Dawla says. “I was able to gain hands-on practice with real financial data and observe how a pharmaceutical company manages its finances in a competitive industry.”
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