PLACEMENT REPORT
Candidate Number: 851248
Degree: Accounting For Management
Employer: Hitachi Europe Limited
Job Title: Accounts Clerk
Department/Functional Area:
Finance – Accounts Payable
2013
Placement Report
Hitachi Europe Limited
Hitachi Europe Limited
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Hitachi Europe Limited
Organisational Background
Hitachi Europe Limited (HEU) was founded in 1982 and is part of the Global ‘Hitachi Group’. The
company has approximately 10,000 employees across Europe within 142 legal entities. The company
has established its name through 9 different business areas:
 Rail systems
 Power and industrial systems
 Information systems
 Digital media and consumer products
 Display products
 Industrial components and equipment
 Air conditioning and refrigeration
 Manufacturing systems
 Procurement and sourcing
I was employed in the finance department which has recently been rebranded as Hitachi Business
Partners Europe. The finance department is made up of: Purchasing; Credit Control; Treasury;
Planning & Analysis; Accounts Payable and Financial Accounting. The split of the Finance department
facilitates great efficiency for the high volume of work. All sub-departments are in the same office
which accommodates ease of communication between teams and allows for the company to be an
exceptional shared service provider.
The department is currently undergoing a shift from being the finance sector of Hitachi Europe
Limited to providing financial services to other Hitachi sub-groups such as Hitachi: Rail; Air
Conditioning; Cables and many more, further the company has recently agreed to provide financial
services to external companies; Horizon Nuclear Power (HNP) being the first and Maxell being under
current negotiation.
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Hitachi Europe Limited
Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability
Hitachi is a Japanese company that is governed by strong ethics and values (Figure 1). The company
strongly emphasises contribution through innovation to both: realizing a safe, secure, comfortable
society and helping to tackle global challenges: poverty, inequality in education, the spread of
diseases, resource and energy issues, population concentration in cities, and other global
environmental issues. (Hitachi, Trends in Society and Hitachi Group Identity)
Figure.1.Mission, Value and Vision
Being a global company Hitachi has many sub-groups in various business areas, however they all
work together to control Hitachi’s consolidated GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions by monitoring the
whole supply chain, through to end-users of their products (Appendix 1). The highest category of
emissions is from the “Use of sold products” (Appendix 2) which is what the company will be
focussing on first to reduce their emissions. (Hitachi, Calculation of GHG Emissions throughout the
Supply Chain)
Hitachi’s contribution towards CO2 reduction in fiscal 2012 was estimated at 22.74 million tonnes. It
has products in place to aid in the reduction of CO2 emissions such as two gas turbine generators
(Figure.2) that went into commercial operation in August 2012. The new plant will contribute to an
annual reduction in CO2 emissions of 37,000 tonnes. (Hitachi, Hitachi Products Helping to Reduce
CO2 Emissions)
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Hitachi Europe Limited
Figure.2.Gas turbine generators
As well as reducing GHG, Hitachi contributes towards the sustainability of the environment.
Currently special support is being given to the ‘Forest for the Future Project – The Billion Trees
Campaign in Thailand’. Approx 2.3 million baht ($65,000) was donated to the Sirindhorn
International Environmental Park Foundation, two mini excavators from Hitachi Construction
Machinery (Thailand) and employees of the group have also been participating in the actual treeplanting campaigns. (Hitachi, 1.What is the Plant for the Planet Project?)
Appendix 3 shows the constant contribution towards sustainability of the environment since 2008
from Hitachi on a global scale. (Hitachi, Environmental Accounting)
Employment Experience
I was employed in the Accounts Payable team within the finance department of HEU. For 5-6 months
my job role consisted of providing services to Hitachi Europe Limited and a shared service to Hitachi
High Technologies; an independent Hitachi company located in the same building.
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Hitachi Europe Limited
My time at HEU required me to:

Process AP invoices for European and UK locations; ensure appropriate authorisations and
general ledger coding

Assist with filing / scanning of invoices / credit notes

Liaise with personnel in other departments and locations to resolve issues efficiently

Prepare month end reconciliations

Assist and provide back up to other members of the team as required

Review the AP manual and update as necessary

Other ad hoc tasks as required
My time at HHT required me to assist in providing a full shared service to HHT on behalf of HEU.
This entailed:

Processing AP and AR invoices

Processing bank transactions and bank reconciliation

Checking travel expenses

Arranging local and foreign payments

Providing reports to HHT’s German parent company

Assisting with the month end close

Prepare a full operating manual for HHT

Other ad hoc tasks as required
I reported to my Line Manager, Myrtle O’Neill, who looked over my team along with Financial
Accounting. My responsibilities and tasks were determined by her and further delegations of
responsibilities were also given by her; such as my recent delegation of looking over the service
provided by the Accounts Payable team to Horizon Nuclear Power (a shared service customer).
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Hitachi Europe Limited
My role required me to liaise with: all other finance teams within HEU; other departments for issues
with authorisation of invoices; suppliers for queries and shared service customers internally (Hitachi
companies) and externally (such as HNP).
The Recruitment Process
The recruitment process at HEU was fairly simple as there were only 3 stages: online application
form; online test and final interview.
The application had 3 questions only:

Please provide details of your previous experience which is relevant to this position?

What excites you about the opportunity of working for Hitachi?

Explain what interests you about this position?
The online numerical and verbal reasoning tests were standard SHL generated tests, which I
recommend to be attempted many times on the online SHL practise simulation.
The final interview was with two line managers and a member of the Human Resources department.
I was questioned on my experience in which competencies such as: accuracy; time management;
problem solving; customer services; team work and others were being looked for.
A question that arose in the interview was “why I chose to apply to HEU as opposed to the Big four
accounting firms: PriceWatehouseCoopers/ Ernst & Young/ Deloitte/ KPMG?” I responded by
suggesting that I preferred to work in a company where I feel I am part of a change; living in an era
where technology is at its peak, working for Hitachi would allow me to feel that I’ve been part of a
change which I can take on with me with pride.
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Hitachi Europe Limited
The induction Process
When I started my placement, I was taught the basics of the SAP Accounting System; how to use one
transaction to process one type of invoice. I was not given constant training in the beginning as I
expected to receive, maybe from a previous student and I felt from my team leader that I was
expected to know things that had not been taught to me.
I had to self-teach myself how to: navigate around the SAP Accounting System; understand all the
ways of processing invoices and why things were done differently for different types of invoices. I
was employed after an employee shifted from the Accounts Payable team to the Financial
Accounting team, leaving a gap of knowledge which my team expected me to fill; a student with no
previous experience of Accounts Payable and/or SAP. This although was extremely difficult and
pressurising, I saw this as a great challenge that I overcame.
Also, a few weeks into my placement I was offered the opportunity to provide a shared service to
Hitachi High Technologies. I received constant on the job training from my colleague who use to
provide the shared service with me, which in turn allowed me to become highly confident with SAP
and enabled me to excel in my responsibilities at HEU.
Advice for Future Students
I found my placement to be extremely beneficial as the experience I gained was invaluable, I may
have not received in-depth accounting experience, but working with the colleagues at Hitachi
allowed me to learn skills which will assist me in my future career anywhere. Learning: to work with
difficult people; prioritising; time management; professional behaviour; resolving issues with
colleagues and many more skills that cannot be learnt in an educational institute. Therefore a work
placement is a good route to choose to ease into the real world as the fact of being a student
somewhat allows errors to be more acceptable than if you were to join as a graduate and/or
experienced employee.
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Hitachi Europe Limited
Hitachi Europe Limited is located in Maidenhead, where the local bus service stops 1.7 miles away
from the office. However at Maidenhead train station a bus shuttle from Hitachi picks up employees
everyday at 08:45 and drops them back at 17:10.
Initially I was looking to move to Maidenhead for the ease of travelling all the way from Wembley
(approx 26 miles), however found that accommodation is generally quite expensive and living costs
are also quite high. It was more cost effective for me to live at home and purchase a car for
commuting as the national trains are also quite costly and time consuming.
For lunch, majority of staff stay in the office either having their own lunch or purchasing it from the
cafeteria. The food is generally quite good at the cafeteria; however I preferred to have my own for
religious reasons.
For the above mentioned and many more reasons I would highly recommend Hitachi Europe Limited
to future students to gain much more than just practical experience in a finance department.
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Hitachi Europe Limited
References
Hitachi. (2013). 1.What is the Plant for the Planet Project?. Available:
http://www.hitachi.com/environment/showcase/employee/ecosystem/plant01/01.html. Last
accessed 15th Sep 2013.
Hitachi. (2013). Calculation of GHG Emissions throughout the Supply Chain. Available:
http://www.hitachi.com/environment/activities/factory/calculation.html#calcula01. Last accessed
15th Sep 2013.
Hitachi. (2013). Environmental Accounting. Available:
http://www.hitachi.com/environment/activities/stakeholder_collabo/account.html. Last accessed
15th Sep 2013.
Hitachi. (2013). Hitachi Products Helping to Reduce CO2 Emissions. Available:
http://www.hitachi.com/environment/activities/ecoproducts/co2.html#co202. Last accessed 15th
Sep 2013.
Hitachi. (2013). Trends in Society and Hitachi Group Identity. Available:
http://www.hitachi.com/csr/strategy/group.html. Last accessed 15th Sep 2013.
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Hitachi Europe Limited
Appendix 1
Source: Hitachi, Calculation of GHG Emissions throughout the Supply Chain
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Hitachi Europe Limited
Appendix 2
Source: Hitachi, Calculation of GHG Emissions throughout the Supply Chain
Appendix 3
Source: Hitachi, Environmental Accounting
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