Brandon Kunick, '19, completes global internship with KPMG in Malaysia

Brandon Kunick, ’19, came to the University of Richmond to study French. However, his first class on campus was Fundamentals of Financial Accounting with Joe Hoyle, associate professor of accounting, which he says changed his life.

“His class was a shock to my system,” Kunick said. “It made me fall in love with accounting.”

At the end of his first semester, Kunick knew he wanted to become a double major in accounting and French. “It’s been a lot of fun combining the two,” Kunick said.

But Kunick had another goal for his time at Richmond: to travel. “I was very interested in international experiences from the start,” Kunick said. “I got to travel in high school with the school’s French program, which inspired me to continue traveling in college.”

Kunick was selected as an international candidate for KPMG’s internship program and assigned to Malaysia, where he spent this past summer. “There were three other American students in the program, but I was the only one in the audit division,” Kunick said. “Everyone immediately wanted to meet the ‘foreign intern.’ I had never been to an Asian country before, but they were all extremely nice, and helped me meet new people.”

He quickly became familiar with the division, as audit held a department wide dinner his first weekend there. Soon after, he joined colleagues on a trip to Tioman Island in the South China Sea, for snorkeling, games, and team building activities. “I made a bunch of close friends,” Kunick said, “It’s been a really awesome experience.”

This adds to Kunick’s other travels while at Richmond, including five weeks in France the summer after his freshman year, and a semester in Copenhagen during his junior year. “Now when I travel, there are people to visit everywhere I go,” Kunick said. “I have friends all over the world, and whenever I see them, they give me things to remember them by.”

He says he would not have had this experience if it were not for everything he has learned in the accounting department at the Robins School. “My classes were really helpful for my internship, and my internship will be really helpful for my job,” Kunick said. “I’m more likely to work with global clients in the future at KPMG because of this opportunity. It’s like I completed an international business major through accounting.”

Kunick is set to work as an audit associate at KPMG after graduation, and credits his time in the accounting department, particularly with Joe Hoyle, with helping him land the job.

“When you have a student that consistently works that hard, it is never a surprise when they do well,” Hoyle said of his time working with Kunick. “We have a strong program, and he has been challenged to do more than just memorize accounting rules. He is young and his career goals will undoubtedly evolve over the years, but I believe he will do well in public accounting for as long as he finds it interesting and rewarding.”

With experiences traveling and studying in multiple countries on multiple continents, Kunick says he feels prepared to take on his new opportunity with KPMG after graduation.

You can find out more about the KPMG Global Internship Program here.