[Anonymous]

Hey everyone,

I am a junior at a UCLA. I am having a really hard time picking Tax or Audit for an internship. I like the “idea” of Tax (transfer pricing seems pretty cool), but I’m not sure how the career trajectory is and I’m afraid of getting pigeonholed. As far as audit, I like the flexibility and the social aspect of it, as well as financial exposure/exit opps, but even the exit opps to industry don’t seem amazing unless you stay until Manager/Partner, but offer decent hours/decent pay bump. I get tripped up when people say you can only go into Tax positions after public, but it seems like with audit you end up in audit positions most of the time as well.

Ultimately, I want something that where there is always movement upwards, pays well, and is interesting/somewhat engaging. I plan to stay in LA if that helps anything too. I like Finance (M&A, PE, Hedge Funds), but I’ve also been intrigued by accounting roles in the Film industry.

Any help is appreciated! I have to decide pretty soon. I’m thinking of applying to PwC for Transfer Tax and then Audit for everywhere else.

[Iggy1985]

I have heard from several big 4 employees that it's easier to switch from audit to tax versus the other way around, so maybe that would influence your decision – I am going for audit full time but I did my internship in tax at a regional firm.

FAR - 89 (8/19/14) Wiley TB, Wiley Book, Books from School, Ninja Audio/Notes
AUD - 92 (10/14/14) Wiley TB, Wiley Book, Ninja Audio
BEC - 82 (5/8/15) Mostly Ninja MCQ, sprinkles of Becker lectures and Ninja Audio
REG - (8/14/15)

[TNCPA16]

Don't focus too much about career trajectory right now – you are deciding how you want to spend 3-4 months of your life; not your entire career! You are only a junior so you have time to do a couple of internships. Do one in tax this year and one in audit next year (or vice versa) and see which one you like better. If you do an audit internship and realize that you hate auditing, it doesn't matter what career opportunities are out there; you don't want to spend your life doing something you hate.

I did a couple of internships when I was in school and realized very quickly that I did not want to do taxes and that I did not want to do corporate accounting. It is much much better to realize this during an internship than after you accept a full time job. If I was in your shoes, I would apply for both tax and audit and see what offers I got before worrying too much about which internship to do this year. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Thank you! I just don't want to get stuck into something and end up getting an offer in something I don't like, but I guess a summer internship is how you get to see what you like/dislike on a small scale.

I guess I'm having a harder time picking what to apply for at each firm. It is for summer so I'd probably only end up doing one internship anyways.

[Author]

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