What is it about?
We measure the organizational and professional commitment of 127 audit interns prior to the start of busy-season internships with public accounting firms and then again at the conclusion of the internship. We find that both organizational and professional commitment decline significantly as a result of the internship experience.
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Why is it important?
Internships play an important role in in the recruiting and hiring process for public accounting firms, and internships are likely to become more important according to a 2013 AICPA survey.
Perspectives
We note that heavy workloads during the internship decreased the degree of commitment to a particular firm. On the other hand, offering challenging work assignments and surrounding the intern with desirable coworkers significantly increased commitment to both the firm and the profession. We also find that changes in organizational commitment are related to changes in interns’ long-term intentions to work in public accounting and that, by the end of the internship, nearly 60% of the interns changed their views with regard to how long they planned to work in public accounting, with a majority of respondents anticipating a shorter career in the profession.
Joleen Kremin
Portland State University
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This page is a summary of: Growing Up: How Audit Internships Affect Students' Commitment and Long-Term Intentions to Work in Public Accounting, Issues in Accounting Education, May 2017, American Accounting Association,
DOI: 10.2308/iace-51431.
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