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 Topic: Switching from audit to tax as an intern ( Topic Closed)
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Lissie
Newbie
Joined: 11 Feb 2012
Location: United States
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Posts: 1
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| Posted: 12 Feb 2012 at 00:09 | IP Logged
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Hi guys,
I am currently an intern in Audit at a Big 4 firm. I
started out being pretty indifferent to either audit or
tax but now after interning for a while I feel that tax
would be a much better fit for me. I have no problem with
the work for either practice, but the traveling and
switching from client to client and team to team required
with audit is just not for me. I would much rather stay
in the office. Right now I am trying to figure out what
the best way to bring this up would be. Should I ask my
recruiter now? I don't even have an offer yet so I don't
really want to cause any more problems than I have to.
Should I bring it up ASAP or would asking to transfer
after I get an offer be acceptable. I have also heard it
is easier to switch from Audit to Tax than vice versa.
Has anyone switched between the two or know how easy or
difficult it is? Thanks!
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dksmoove
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Joined: 24 Mar 2011
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Posts: 19
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| Posted: 04 Mar 2012 at 01:35 | IP Logged
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Hi,
I have no experience whatsoever, as I'm going to be
joining a big 4 as a tax intern.
But, I would ask my "buddy"- see what they have to say.
Ask if you can do any rotations or if you can help out
with some tax projects..
I mean, isn't part of the internship about finding about
if this is the right thing for you? In that sense, the
internship has already been successful for you.
I would just communicate with whoever I can about it, and
as long as you seem a likeable worker and you don't screw
up, they would offer you a tax full-time position..
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db729
Major Contributor
Joined: 22 Apr 2010
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Posts: 256
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| Posted: 04 Mar 2012 at 23:13 | IP Logged
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dksmoove wrote:
Hi,
But, I would ask my "buddy"- see what they have to say.
Ask if you can do any rotations or if you can help out
with some tax projects..
I mean, isn't part of the internship about finding about
if this is the right thing for you? In that sense, the
internship has already been successful for you.
I would just communicate with whoever I can about it, and
as long as you seem a likeable worker and you don't screw
up, they would offer you a tax full-time position.. |
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As far as during your actual internship, you're not going to get to work on tax stuff as an audit intern. Here's why:
1. In order for you to do an official tax "rotation", it has to go through several people. Audit HR has talk to your coach to even approve of it. HR has to talk to the managers on your current engagements about taking you off the job. HR then has to talk to the Tax HR to communicate your desire to work on tax projects, who then has to coordinate with the manager on a tax engagement to see if you can get staffed. That's just not going to happen solely to put an intern on a rotation for like a week or two tops.
2. If you're a summer intern, the firm doesn't really want you to work
past 8 hours a day unless you have actual client work that needs to be
done, which in that cause you're definitely not going to be able to do
non-audit related projects. If you're a winter intern, there's
definitely no way because you're expected to be helping for busy season.
No way anyone is going to go through the effort to try to get you on
any tax related work when all they care about is finishing year end
audits.
3. Your buddy can't do anything for you. He/she at best can put you in
touch with someone they might know in tax to talk to you about the work.
But audit people hardly know tax people in the first place and they
have absolutely no say as far as staffing goes, especially on the tax
side. If you do end up talking to someone in tax, they're not going to unofficially give you something to work on without asking permission from the managers. I doubt any associate/senior associate is going to do that favor for an intern they don't know.
4. If by whatever chance you do somehow get some tax work, it's not going to be reflective of actually working in tax. For one, tax has proprietary software that audit doesn't, so you'd only be working in Excel most likely. Anything that's meaningful will require coaching. The only way you'd really get coached is if you're physically next to that person. There's no way an audit intern is going to be able to sit next to a tax associate for an extended period of time without raising questions.
There are just way too many complications involved to get an intern on some tax work. I mean there's always exceptions to the rule, but the reality is that it's very very unlikely going to happen. Having said that, if you want to be in tax, get an offer with audit first. After you've received the offer, rather than accepting, speak with HR about your preference to be in tax. There are plenty of interns that receive offers but end up switching offices or lines of services. As long as you were a good intern, they're generally pretty flexible. By the way, I wouldn't say going from audit to tax is easier. It's just less common because most people rather do audit because tax is specialized, so you see it happening a lot less.
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Virgil
Regular
Joined: 24 Sep 2011
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| Posted: 05 Mar 2012 at 01:43 | IP Logged
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Db729 is right. When you get the offer, express your desired service
line.
Immediately after the internship is when you have the most bargaining
power in your PA career.
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db729
Major Contributor
Joined: 22 Apr 2010
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Posts: 256
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| Posted: 05 Mar 2012 at 15:27 | IP Logged
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Oh by the way I'm not saying to not network. Definitely talk to as many tax people you can about the work to make sure it's really want you want. HR isn't going to be very tolerant about you switching back to audit if you end up not liking it FT. But I'm just saying it'll be hard for you to work on actual tax related work during your internship.
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