How to choose between Tax or Audit | BIG 4 Accounting Firms | KPMG | Deloitte | EY | PWC

Hey folks,
In this video, I want to address a question I once had when deciding which career path to choose within the Big 4. Hopefully, I can help you understand the differences and similarities between Tax and Audit, so you can make the best decision for yourself.
If you found this video useful, please do not forget to like, comment, and subscribe!

[@nashologygaming4908]

Hey Chris! Im a 4th year Accounting Student in Ontario! I have a high average and was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma this fall (for academic excellence). Your videos are inspiring and they allow me to ask myself a lot of questions about what I want for my future. I, myself, am struggling with the decision between Tax and Audit. Beyond that, Im also trying to determine if Big4 is the right decision or if I should go to a small-to-mid size firm for a better work-life-balance. So many decisions! I hope you can provide some wisdom that I can use for my future!!! Thanks!

[@chrisouch6517]

Hey! Sounds like your asking some really good questions for yourself. I’ll make sure to make a video talking about my work life balance at the big 4. I am have some things I can say about that for sure

[@chrisouch6517]

Also another point, the big 4s, at least the one I am in, has been pushing their audit associates to work at least one day a week from home a year before Covid happened. Now, we have seen people can work from home and still be productive. For me personally, I’ve felt I’ve been able to have a good work life balance. The firm is very supportive of me passing my CPA exams and taking PTO during tour non-busy season. If you feel like you’ve been on too many hard jobs one after the other, there are a lot of lines of communications you can go to about discussing your current workflow. I hope this helps!

[@Fantastic_Timez]

Thanks for this fantastic video. I'm at the end of my degree and I think tax will be the way to go for me. I'll do some more research but it's my gut feeling that tax will work better for me.

[@chrisouch6517]

Thanks man! Glad it helped. Thanks for your comment

[@GottiRC]

wow, you got some really good videos man, subbed!

[@chrisouch6517]

Thanks man! I appreciate it!

[@ayeshahassan687]

Should we choose Audit or Taxation in articleship if we want to move abroad after that

[@subeenkumar2427]

Awesome video..crisp, concise , bang on point !!

[@chrisouch6517]

Hey thank you very much!

[@user-xx4yw9su9b]

What if you enjoy working in both teams and independently? How does this influence your choice between applying for an audit intern or tax intern?

[@chrisouch6517]

That is good if you like both, because you honestly do a bit a both regardless of what you choose. However, the difference between Tax and Audit that I've found since I've done this video is for Tax, your team is consistent, and will mostly be working with the same people. In audit, especially the earlier years, you could be working with a new team every few weeks or months. So depends if you prefer working with a set group of people or a new group of people every few weeks/months. In audit, your teams start to become more consistent as you progress through your career

[@htww1205]

great succinct video! no time wasted : )

[@chrisouch6517]

Thanks for saying that! I appreciate it! :) I am very glad it was helpful

[@elchiringuito994]

Thank you for this valuable information!

[@chrisouch6517]

No problem!

[@christinehanna7051]

I am torn, I have done an internship with tax at a big four and I like it but I don’t love it. I don’t know how to decide if I should switch to audit or not.. I am more social and like to talk

[@chrisouch6517]

Hey Christine, I suppose it depends who you like talking to. You see, I see myself like you do yourself, as I am social and like to talk. I work in Audit, and who I talk to is my team and my client. Audit is very client facing and sometimes that means we interact with people who just aren’t very nice. In tax, you are as client facing. You’ll probably only need to call them a few times a year. However, you will be talking with your team a lot. Maybe not as much as audit. At the end of the day, audit is constantly keeps you moving and you’ll be on so many different teams a year. You can say it is kinda overwhelming how many people you meet. Tax is more intimate, and you’ll be working with the same people all the time. Hopefully this helps this helps you to decide more easily. Let me know what you end of choosing and why!

[@akray1153]

Brother i have worked for the SALT team for 1120 returns for a big 4. Trust me it's crazy, there's hardly a constant. With more than 50 states and other small territories, each tax form is different, no 2 jurisdictions are the same, each with their own rules. Seperate returns are quite simple and easy, but doing combined returns for SALT is crazy.

[@vishaldora8803]

In which big 4 you're working??

[@shekukai-samba870]

I've noticed the importance of 'tax' in accounting as it came up about 5 times.

[@MeZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZ]

thank you for this, im going after my EA now.

[@chrisouch6517]

Good luck!

[@zaynbacha5603]

Got tax articleship in RSM Pakistan

[@ericliu8720]

I am strongly considering a change from tax to audit. But for my firm, my managers tell me I can only do it after a couple years in tax. How easy it is to transfer from a tax associate from audit associate in the big four?

[@chrisouch6517]

Good question. I think right now is a little hard because everyone is under staffed and is struggling to get new and experienced recruits in both Tax and Audit. Additionally, if you are a good performer, they probably will want to keep you. However that is a double edge sword, because if you aren’t a particularly great performer, then they wouldn’t want to help you transfer either. I would talk to the audit recruiter and possible look at other Big 4 with Audit openings. I think getting a new job will probably be easier than transferring, but that is my opinion. Best of luck Eric!

[@chrisouch6517]

Let me know how things progress

[@ericliu8720]

@@chrisouch6517 Thanks for your insight. Your video was so helpful and I wish I watched it before I applied to the leadership programs. However I learned that someone in my firm who worked only 10 months in tax at KPMG and ended up in audit at EY just this year. He also passed his cpa exams like I did. I will see how it goes and am willing to try all avenues.

[@chrisouch6517]

No problem! Having passed the CPA is huge. People will want you

[@ericliu8720]

@@chrisouch6517 hopefully things become smooth

[@RainbowY0]

Thanks for the video!

[@chrisouch6517]

No problem! Glad you found it useful!

[@graysonprickett6348]

Hey Chris, I have a quick question for you. If I choose tax, how necessary is it to get a Masters in Taxation? I would like to get to work instead of going back to school. If I apply at a mid-size company, will they still accept me with a Bachelor's? Thanks for the help!

[@chrisouch6517]

Hey man, so I think getting a master’s in taxation is not absolutely necessary. You can still get a job without having one, however, where the master’s in taxation will help is being promoted and obtaining a better and higher paying job in the long run. I think this is especially true if you plan to leave the mid-size company to go into the private industry, where there is usually more money I believe. Once again, not having the masters isn’t going to preclude you from promotions and having a better job, but it could help you. Either way, one way for certain, getting the CPA is probably the most important think. I would ask you college advisors, recruiters, professors, friends, and mentors and see what they have to say as well. I hope this helps!

[@graysonprickett6348]

@@chrisouch6517 Thank you!

[@chrisouch6517]

Of course! Thanks for watching :)

[@sy-bx1fj]

Hello im asking about KZbin channel for choosing , individual account in youtube and business accounts . By the way if i choose business accounts do i have to open bank account using my KZbin channel? Or its fine using my name? And if i use individual account can i still add my expenses in there? I hope you notice my comment. And please make some video for differences of individual and business account and how is the difference of applying tax for that im so much appreciated . Godbless you . Im Filipino and currently living in Virginia . Because im starting my youtube channel and still struggling about choosing individual and businesses . And what is the most easiest way and more benefits for this .

[@GolusMUM96]

Which field is better if you wish to end up as a partner?

[@e.c7667]

What are the chances of you getting a full time offer in a tax internship (I’m going to have one occur in Spring 2025)? If you work hard, do you get it? Or is it harder to get a full time in tax compared to audit?

[@UnaisMohd]

Hey, Hope you are having a great day. Just want to ask which you will give a better opportunity in industry.

[@chrisouch6517]

From what I understand, Audit has more paths outside of Public because it is very broad (Financial Reporting, Controller, CFO, Finance). If you go into Tax, most opportunities would probably be very tax oriented since Tax is a specialty area.

[@UnaisMohd]

@@chrisouch6517 Thanks. Appreciate

[@chrisouch6517]

No problem 😉

[@finnholmquist7561]

Just got a tax internship at kpmg

[@chrisouch6517]

Congrats Finn! That is awesome - When is the internship?

[@finnholmquist7561]

@@chrisouch6517 It's for summer 2023! really excited!

[@chrisouch6517]

That is awesome! Very happy for you. Let me know if you got any questions you want me to answer

[@vishaldora8803]

How's the work life balance??

[@fuckingastonishing]

Whats life lmao?​@@vishaldora8803

[@nadeerakarunathilaka6427]

I'm final year finance undergraduate of University of Colombo. I get a opportunity to work as Tax trainee at KPMG. I have a doubt whether my degree is suitable for Tax position and whether I can achieve a good salary while working in the Tax sector.

[@chrisouch6517]

I work in audit, so I’ll speak on my experience from there, but I think I’ve could have had a finance degree and still be able to do my job. The reason being is that audit is so different from the classroom that you need to do the job to understand it. My only concern would be getting a BIG 4 job with a finance degree, but you’ve already got one! So congrats! I would try it out and see if you like it. If you end of staying in tax, you might want to get your CPA though. I know people in tax who are successful and don’t have their CPA, but a CPA really helps if you going into accounting from finance

[@nadeerakarunathilaka6427]

@@chrisouch6517 thank you so much sir, this vedio is really helpful for me, tomorrow I will have my first interview in KPMG for Tax trainee position. 🌚❤

[@nadeerakarunathilaka6427]

Again thank you sir for the quick reply, I willing to get your advices for my future career as well.❤

[@chrisouch6517]

Hey best of luck!

[@chrisouch6517]

I’m still learning just like everyone else :)

[@inthebooks3947]

Why do auditors get yelled at? Aren’t the auditors basically the boss who reports company’s?

[@chrisouch6517]

The auditors are not necessarily the boss. There are three parties involved, the board of directors (BOD), management, and third party auditors. The BOD are essentially who management reports to, but the BOD hires the third party auditors. The auditor’s job is basically like the police trying to see if management is doing their job correctly. In order to know if management is doing their job correctly, it takes a lot of time and effort to give the auditors the support and understanding they need to make an opinion about management. Management provides us support and holds meetings with us on top of their job given to them by the BOD. The have one job that is very demanding, stressful, but pays their bills, and another equally stressful and demanding job, but provides them no real benefit and takes time away from their “real” for the BOD. Hence, some people really dislike auditors, because we are basically making their lives a lot harder. However, auditors are necessary to ensure what management is doing is materially fair and accurate. Does that make sense?

[@sharpasacueball]

😂 no

[@chill_nrg5349]

Great vid. Looks like I’m going to specialize in tax.

[@chrisouch6517]

Hey thanks! Great to hear you were able to choose.

[@varunjha6004]

If you are in India, think twice before joining the big 4 firms, there is no work life balance. Better go to Wells Fargo, Ryan LLC

[@stephenxadonai]

Mmm, looks like we've both read this from somewhere....I wonder.

[@chrisouch6517]

You are not wrong. Definitely took some inspiration from other articles and colleagues of mine, especially for tax information since I was also not too much into the know about that

[@stephenxadonai]

ChrisOuch I appreciate the humility 💪🏽. Keep up the great work.

[@chrisouch6517]

Appreciate it!

[@pedrohack2869]

Nice shirt, what brand is it?

[@chrisouch6517]

Thanks man. I believe it’s from Banana Republic

[@2goldenevolvers965]

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