[Anonymous]

Hi everyone. I was wondering what the career options are for a tax person long term. I actually work predominantly in high net worth individual 1040 tax work at a mid size firm. What are the career paths and options for someone in my role? Is it better to switch to audit? I would imagine in tax it would progress from senior to supervisor to manager etc. I don’t think that is a bad path at all, but speaking with auditors it seems there are much more career opportunities. They also can work up to manager in a CPA firm, or become controller, CFO of private companies etc. Seems like many more options and roles. Is working only in individual tax a bad idea even if I enjoy it (like it better than corp/partnership or auditing). Thanks

[Anonymous]

I am in a mid-sized regional bank doing high networth taxes, mainly focuses on trust, investment, and individual taxes. I am also contemplating switching to audit. The positions in tax seems limited. Plus I plan to move to china in a few years. And I feel that tax won't take me, instead being able to look at financial statement would give me a better chance to work for companies overseas since every company prepares F/S.

[Anonymous]

I am in a mid-sized regional bank doing high networth taxes, mainly focuses on trust, investment, and individual taxes. I am also contemplating switching to audit. The positions in tax seems limited. Plus I plan to move to china in a few years. And I feel that tax won't take me, instead being able to look at financial statement would give me a better chance to work for companies overseas since every company prepares F/S.

[JY]

Hi Beachlover. You raised some really good points about tax. I am in similar position as you are. I did a lot of personals, corporate, and partnership returns. I think you are right in that working in tax positions will likely just lead to working in more tax positions. Whereas people in audit seem to have more choices to move into different types of roles if they decide to exit public accounting. This i completely agree with you.

But, I think tax accountants have much greater opportunity to break out on their own and start their own business than people in audit. I'm not gonna go into too much detail here. But basically if you know how to do personal tax from beginning to end, you can take on tax clients on your own. People who go into audit will generally end up working at one of their clients. Though if you are a tax accountant you can start your own practice if you have your own clients.

So audit = working as a controller for a big company, tax = breaking out on your own and start your own tax practice 🙂

REG: 86 8/3/13
BEC: 85 8/31/13
FAR: 87 10/27/13
AUD: 90 11/30/13

[JY]

Hi Beachlover. You raised some really good points about tax. I am in similar position as you are. I did a lot of personals, corporate, and partnership returns. I think you are right in that working in tax positions will likely just lead to working in more tax positions. Whereas people in audit seem to have more choices to move into different types of roles if they decide to exit public accounting. This i completely agree with you.

But, I think tax accountants have much greater opportunity to break out on their own and start their own business than people in audit. I'm not gonna go into too much detail here. But basically if you know how to do personal tax from beginning to end, you can take on tax clients on your own. People who go into audit will generally end up working at one of their clients. Though if you are a tax accountant you can start your own practice if you have your own clients.

So audit = working as a controller for a big company, tax = breaking out on your own and start your own tax practice 🙂

REG: 86 8/3/13
BEC: 85 8/31/13
FAR: 87 10/27/13
AUD: 90 11/30/13

[sararad]

https://prezi.com/hxoeob4rvgor/audit-vs-tax/

FAR:83 (first attempt)
REG:86 (first attempt)
AUD:93 (first attempt)
BEC:82 (first attempt)

[sararad]

https://prezi.com/hxoeob4rvgor/audit-vs-tax/

FAR:83 (first attempt)
REG:86 (first attempt)
AUD:93 (first attempt)
BEC:82 (first attempt)

[Anonymous]

Just an update here. I ended up applying for a job in the same field I am in doing almost exactly the same thing. We are in salary negotiations at this point. But I applied to numerous jobs out there in tax, except different type of tax, even ones where I needed only one year of related experience when I have 4, because I don't want to do what I currently do and stay in the same field. Well the comments I got from some of the recruiters are my resume is great, except there is no tax jobs that would fit my role. The experience I have is limited, mainly what I will have is transferrable skills, which is BS. I am going to end up moving to another city for the job i'm currently waiting on because of salary negotiations, and the saddest part is I don't even want to keep doing this type of work.

My friend who does audit, has been through several companies now, she just got another offer from a company after working for PWC for a year. I'm not saying tax jobs are bad, but if you want to spend the rest of your life doing tax returns I suggest go in to audit. From my understanding auditors sometimes will help with tax prep, but tax preparers can't help with audit. So in a way, you are limiting yourself from many opportunities that's out there.

[Anonymous]

Just an update here. I ended up applying for a job in the same field I am in doing almost exactly the same thing. We are in salary negotiations at this point. But I applied to numerous jobs out there in tax, except different type of tax, even ones where I needed only one year of related experience when I have 4, because I don't want to do what I currently do and stay in the same field. Well the comments I got from some of the recruiters are my resume is great, except there is no tax jobs that would fit my role. The experience I have is limited, mainly what I will have is transferrable skills, which is BS. I am going to end up moving to another city for the job i'm currently waiting on because of salary negotiations, and the saddest part is I don't even want to keep doing this type of work.

My friend who does audit, has been through several companies now, she just got another offer from a company after working for PWC for a year. I'm not saying tax jobs are bad, but if you want to spend the rest of your life doing tax returns I suggest go in to audit. From my understanding auditors sometimes will help with tax prep, but tax preparers can't help with audit. So in a way, you are limiting yourself from many opportunities that's out there.

[Author]

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