Types of Internships for Accounting Majors

While accounting might seem like a straightforward major, there are many different types of accounting you can focus on. Below are four of the most common types of accounting internships, what each one entails and specific skills you might need for that particular internship.

Corporate accounting intern

Corporate interns work within a larger organization to assist on a variety of financial tasks. In your role, you could be performing profit analysis, working on costing and pricing, preparing budget and forecasting documents, creating cash applications and collections, and preparing tax information, certificates and filings.

Tax accounting intern

Like other accounting interns who deal with taxes, tax interns spend a lot of time on a client’s tax preparation and filings. One thing that sets tax interns apart from other accounting-based interns is that they work very independently. Because they spend a lot of time working alone, tax interns must be self-motivated and detail-oriented so that they feel confident when presenting their work to supervisors.

Audit accounting intern

Audit interns work with a team to help with the planning, implementation and reporting of audits. Because these interns work with others within the auditing team and within an organization at large, it’s especially important to have strong interpersonal and connection skills.

Financial accounting intern

Financial accounting interns may be assigned to do a variety of tasks depending on the size and scope of the company they work for. Responsibilities could be helping with creating and fact-checking an organization’s financial statements, working on tax documentation or auditing a company’s various departments and their budgets.

Whether you’re looking for a paid or unpaid internship, getting exposure to as many areas of the accounting field as possible is a great way to set yourself up for success after graduation.

Next, learn more about this college major such as Journalism and get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as Should I Intern as a Senior?