My experiences as a treasurer at Asset | International Business & Management

My experiences as a treasurer at Asset | International Business & Management

For the past 9 months I have been the treasurer of Asset | International Business & Management which up until now has been a great experience! In this blog article I will tell you how I have experienced the past few months and why I think you should definitely consider a board year at Asset | International Business & Management.

First let me introduce myself. My name is Sven and I am 21 years old. Last year I finished my bachelor International Business Administration after my exchange to HEC Montréal in Canada. Next year I will start my masters in Finance at Tilburg University.

In the beginning of the second year of my bachelor I subscribed for a study tour to Lisbon & Porto which was organized by Asset | International Business & Management. During this trip I got to know a lot of new people and I learned more about the association. I had such a great time that after the trip I subscribed for a committee, which is one of the best choices I have made during my student life. I started joining all the parties & activities and in a very short time I got to know lots of new people in Tilburg. At that time I already noticed that the board was having the time of their life.

Unfortunately, this time at IB&M did not take very long since I was going on exchange. During exchange I decided for myself that I did not want my student life to end just yet. People told me that exchange was going to be the best part of my life and that after that it would only get worse. Well of course I had to do something about that so when I got back I joined another committee and when applications opened I applied for a board year at Asset | International Business & Management.

In June I was accepted as the treasurer of the board of 2016-2017, giving me the opportunity to develop myself both professionally and socially. During the summer we divided the committees, wrote our policy, and of course, my main task as treasurer was to create a budget. This is also one of my main tasks throughout the year. I am responsible for our budget, which is not as easy as it sounds. We are an association so we are not allowed to make a profit, which means you have to be able to anticipate your expenses & incomes throughout the whole year. Other treasurer specific responsibilities are the bookkeeping and being the representative in the treasurers meeting of Asset Tilburg. In the treasurers meeting, the budget of Asset as a whole is discussed and you also have some responsibilities within the financial administration of Asset Tilburg.

As treasurer I also have to make quarterly overviews of our finances which will be checked by the audit of accounts. The audit of accounts at Asset | International Business & Management consists of the three predecessors of the current treasurer. This means that after my board year I will join the audit of accounts as well and I will possibly check YOUR quarterly reports!

Above I mentioned my daily tasks in short but of course I also have other responsibilities. This year I am coördinating six committees which I believe is a very valuable experience. During a board training we had at the beginning of the year (also one of the perks of doing a board year) the trainer said: “running an organization with only volunteers is the hardest thing you will ever do”. I do not believe it is the hardest thing I will ever do, but you do learn a lot from it, like for instance motivating people.

Committees take up a large amount of your time during a board year, but in my opinion they are also the best part about being a board member at a study association. At Asset | International Business & Management we have over a hundred active members which drop by at our offices daily to study, have lunch, do committee work or just hang out. This makes a board year at Asset | International Business & Management a very social experience as well. I definitely became a more open person this year and learned a lot about working with all kinds of different people.

With these active members we also have parties and other social activities. The highlight of my year so far was the active members weekend where we played games, had parties and our own private beercantus with over fifty of our active members. Throughout the year the group has become very close which I think shows that Asset | International Business & Management is more than a place where you can boost your CV.

Unfortunately this year is slowly coming to an end, but luckily I can still look forward to an awesome study trip to Seattle & Vancouver which one of my committees organized! I can definitely say that this has been a valuable year for me personally. I have learned a lot and I got to know a lot of new people. Together with our committees we have organized a great range of both informal and career focused events. I can also say that life does not get worse after exchange, since I had at least as much fun this year as I had in Montréal two years ago.

If you are interested in a board year at Asset | International Business & Management as well you can always ask me treasurer@asset-ibm.nl or my colleagues info@asset-ibm.nl for more information! There is always time for a cup of coffee to answer all your questions.



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