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The purpose of this paper is to garner a deeper understanding of the site of influence of aspects of risk management for tax practitioners.

The research design is twofold. Phase one consisted of a wide-scale international survey with 1,061 tax experts across 59 jurisdictions. In phase two, the authors followed up with 68 semi-structured interviews with tax practitioners working in 11 different countries.

The findings recognise the importance of the firm as a significant “site of influence” for tax practitioners in shaping their risk appetite in their tax work. The firm eclipses other influences of risk such as professional body oversight, public interest and demographic markers such as gender and career stage. The authors show that firm is significant, irrespective of size of firm.

This work has practical implications as the findings highlight the importance of oversight of professional service firms by both the professional accountancy bodies and revenue authorities. The findings may have impact on the ethical training and guidance for trainee accountants in terms of an increased awareness on the employing firm as a site of influence for tax practitioners.

This research is important as it adds to the significant body of work on firm socialisation and highlights the important role that the firm holds in moderating (or exacerbating) the risk appetite of tax practitioners, which has significant implications in terms of pushing the boundaries of tax aggressive behaviours. The work aims to recognise the important role that tax practitioners can have in moderating aggressive tax practice, and, thus, reducing tax inequalities and shaping a better world of “Reduced Inequalities” (SDG10).

We used a complementary mixed methods approach, grounded in situated expectancy-value theory, to explore the relationship between completing an internship and engineering undergraduate students’ preparedness and expectancy of success in obtaining their preferred first position after graduation. We disseminated a survey to institutions in the United States and received 1,583 responses; from this sample, we interviewed 62 students.

Internship experiences are considered among “high impact practices” in higher education. Despite calls to increase the quality and quantity of internships, little is known about relationships between internship participation and how prepared students feel for future work, specifically their first position after graduation.

Our findings showed that the students who participated in internships had positive perceptions of preparedness and expectancy of success compared to their peers. We found that participating in multiple internships was beneficial to these outcomes until a student participated in five internships. After five internships, our data did not show a correlation between increasing numbers of internship experiences and increased preparedness or expectancy of success.

While there are benefits to internship participation, after six experiences, additional internships are unlikely to increase confidence in job success and preparation. If that still is lacking, a different approach or conversation on career choice may be warranted.

Our findings are unique in identifying (1) the aspects of internships that increase perceptions of success, including tying theoretical concepts learned in the classroom to engineering practice and (2) the point at which further internships do not seem to offer further benefits.