How Tax Departments Can Attract the Next Generation of Accounting Talent

A recent conversation with a Tax Director friend got me thinking: accounting enrollment is up, but most students still default to audit. 

How do we get more students to pursue tax?

How can tax departments capture these students’ attention and help them see tax as a compelling career path?

The answer lies in early exposure, mentorship, specialty awareness, career clarity, and meaningful real-world experience.

1. Early Exposure

Students often choose careers based on what they see early in their education. Tax departments can create early exposure opportunities that demystify the field and highlight its breadth:

• Workshops and webinars: Invite students to participate in sessions on real-world tax challenges. For example, a workshop on state and local tax implications for multi-state businesses can show how complex and intellectually stimulating tax work can be.

• Guest lectures: Send tax professionals to universities to give talks about their day-to-day responsibilities, interesting projects, or case studies. This personalizes the work and makes it more relatable than a textbook example.

• Hands-on demonstrations: Simulate tax compliance exercises, international tax scenarios, or R&D credit calculations so students can see the problem-solving and strategic thinking involved.

Why it works: Students often default to audit because it’s visible and familiar. Showing tax early (and showing its variety) gives students a tangible reason to consider it.

2. Mentorship Programs

Mentorship can be transformative. Students who see a clear career path and have someone to guide them are more likely to choose tax:

• Shadowing opportunities: Pair students with tax professionals for short-term projects or shadowing days. Let them observe client meetings, internal discussions, or strategic planning sessions.

• Formal mentorship programs: Establish structured programs where students meet regularly with mentors to discuss career goals, technical skills, and workplace culture.

• University partnerships: Collaborate with accounting departments or career centers to match students with mentors, either in person or virtually.

Impact: Mentorship humanizes the profession. It helps students picture themselves in a tax role and understand how to advance beyond entry-level work.

3. Highlight Specialties

Tax is not monolithic. Many students don’t realize the diversity within tax roles. Departments can highlight specialty areas to attract those interested in technical depth and meaningful impact:

• SALT (State and Local Tax): Show how SALT professionals help businesses navigate complex tax laws across multiple jurisdictions.

• International Tax: Highlight opportunities to work on cross-border transactions, transfer pricing, or global tax compliance.

• R&D Credits and Incentives: Showcase the strategic value of helping clients maximize benefits from research and innovation.

Why it matters: Students drawn to intellectual challenge and niche expertise may be more motivated by specialized tax work than by audit’s generalist exposure.

4. Career Clarity

Students gravitate toward roles where the path is clear, the skills gained are tangible, and the “why” of the work is obvious. Tax departments can provide clarity in several ways:

• Growth paths: Outline the progression from Associate → Senior → Manager → Director → Partner, including typical timelines.

• Skill mapping: Show which skills are typically gained at each stage, and which certifications (CPA, EA, MST) support advancement.

• Panels and info sessions: Invite professionals at different career levels to discuss their journeys, challenges, and successes.

• Digital resources: Provide guides, webinars, or recorded sessions detailing tax career paths and professional development opportunities.

Impact: Career clarity reduces uncertainty and increases confidence. Students are more likely to choose tax when they understand how to grow and succeed.

5. Real-World Projects

Nothing engages students like meaningful work. Internship or co-op programs that go beyond clerical tasks can create lasting interest in tax:

• Project ownership: Give interns responsibility for segments of a project, such as preparing parts of a compliance filing or conducting research on a specific tax regulation.

• Cross-functional exposure: Allow interns to interact with advisory, audit, or finance teams to see how tax decisions impact broader business outcomes.

• Feedback and reflection: Encourage mentors to provide constructive feedback and guide interns through learning points.

Why it works: Students remember the work they can take ownership of. Real-world projects make tax tangible, exciting, and rewarding.

The increase in accounting enrollment is a great sign for the profession, but tax departments cannot rely on students “discovering” tax on their own. By providing early exposure, mentorship, specialty visibility, career clarity, and meaningful real-world experience, tax departments can attract the best and brightest students to the field.

The next generation of tax professionals is entering the workforce. It's up to tax leaders to show them why tax isn’t just a career choice, but a path to growth, challenge, and impact.