Undergraduate Blog / Career Development

White Collar: Securities and Exchange Commission Internship

My name is Emily, and this summer I have the opportunity to work at the Boston office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the Enforcement Accounting Division.

The SEC is an agency of the federal government that is charged with protecting investors by maintaining fair and efficient markets. Many of the cases that the SEC addresses begin as tips from FINRA or whistle blowers and emerge as Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, or insider trading cases. The Division of Enforcement facilitates close collaboration between examiners, forensic accountants, and attorneys to delve into the details and data of the case to understand what happened and who was involved, and to prepare disgorgement and penalty suggestions.

As a finance, accounting, and legal studies concentrator with a passion for white collar crime I am excited about what the next 8 weeks of my internship will bring. I look forward to delving headfirst into complex cases and learning about everything from Excel shortcuts and securities laws to understanding the psychological motivations behind market abuse.