"School-to-work" preparedness: integrating tax clinics into the business curriculum.

• Author: Bradwick, Faye

Editor's note: Mr. Porter chairs the AICPA Tax Division Tax Education Committee. Professor Bradwick is a committee member.

Undeniably, business students must be adequately prepared for the rigors and demands of the workplace. While internships may help to fill this need, because they are limited in their availability, they are not always the answer. Alternatively, "school-to-work" preparedness can be accomplished through the use of client clinics, in which students assist taxpayers. Volunteer tax clinics provide a springboard for integrating clinical education into the business curriculum of universities.

Volunteer tax clinics have been in existence for nearly 25 years. Many fall under the auspices of the IRS, through Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) programs. Others are sponsored by professional organizations, such as state and local accounting or law societies.

Still others have taken on lives of their own, such as nonprofit tax help organizations incorporated in certain cities. Community Tax Aid, Inc. (CTA) in Washington, D.C., is such an example. It brings together accountants, attorneys, language interpreters, other community volunteers, and students in accounting, tax and law programs from a half dozen universities.

Yet another way to provide valuable work experience for students and free tax service to the community is to offer students class credit for their formal participation in semester-long tax clinic courses. Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) offers such a program.

Volunteer tax programs--either for class credit or not--provide invaluable clinical experience in the business school curriculum for both undergraduate and graduate students. These clinical programs help to meet the needs of students, employers (especially public accounting firms) and the community.

Clinical Tax Programs Meet the Needs of Students

Clinical tax programs address the needs of students in several very important ways, including enhancing leadership skills and self-esteem; employability; exposure to real clients and a professional environment; and help in affirming choice of major and/or career.

* Enhancing leadership skills and self-esteem. Clinical tax programs allow students to develop and enhance leadership skills, self-esteem and self-confidence. While some students may anonymously "slide through" a lecture-only course, students cannot remain passive in a clinic environment. In order to survive and do well in the clinic, they must take leadership roles in the management of the program itself and in the preparation and management of client tax returns. The clinic provides a safe and nurturing environment for the learning and practicing of leadership skills. As students acquire those skills, enhanced self-esteem and self-confidence necessarily follow. This combination could help to "jump start" these students in their first jobs after graduation.

* Employability. In order to reduce employee start-up costs and employee turnover costs, employers look for employees with good technical skills, good written and oral communication skills, and realistic expectations about the profession. Clinical tax programs address each of these areas. Thus (all other things being equal), students participating in clinical tax programs should find themselves with an advantage over those students not involved in clinic programs, internships or similar work experiences.

* Exposing students to a real-client environment. Medical school is four years and medical students are exposed to patients from the second year on. Law school is three years and most law students are exposed to clients from the second year on. While business school is four years undergraduate and one to two years graduate (MBA), unfortunately, too many business students graduate with no...