Accounting Intern Job Description Templates for Small Businesses
6 templates for the companies that hire interns without an HR department: paid, AP and AR, tax season, audit, unpaid for-credit, and remote. Download as DOCX.
I have lost count of the small business owners who described an accounting intern to me as free help. It is the most expensive assumption in the whole arrangement, and it usually surfaces in March, when a seasonal intern has quietly worked three sixty-hour weeks on a flat stipend that no longer looks like a bargain.
The rules are not complicated, they are just widely ignored. There is no intern category under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which defines an employee as any individual an employer suffers or permits to work. A student is either an employee or the primary beneficiary of a genuine training relationship, and the second one has a seven-factor test attached to it.
At FirstHR we write hiring templates for companies with no HR department, where the person posting the internship is the controller or the owner. The six below cover a paid general internship, an accounts payable and receivable role, a tax season hire, an audit intern, an unpaid for-credit placement, and a remote part-time arrangement.
TL;DR
A paid accounting intern at a for-profit company is a non-exempt employee: minimum wage, overtime past forty hours, W-4, I-9, and workers’ compensation. Unpaid is lawful only when the intern is the primary beneficiary under the Department of Labor’s seven-factor test. Academic credit alone does not carry it. Six templates below, downloadable as DOCX.
Paid or Unpaid Is the First Decision
Every other choice in an accounting internship follows from whether you pay. Paid means you are hiring a short-term non-exempt employee and the rules are the familiar ones. Unpaid at a for-profit company means you are asserting that the intern gains more than you do, and you have to be able to defend that.
The four arrangements below are not interchangeable. A non-profit can accept a volunteer where your business cannot, and a 1099 does not solve a payroll problem, it creates a bigger one: the IRS guidance on independent contractor versus employee status turns on behavioral control, financial control, and the relationship itself, and an internship loses on all three.
Paid intern, for-profit company
The default, and the safe one
A paid intern is simply a non-exempt employee with a short contract and a learning plan. Minimum wage, overtime past forty hours, W-4, I-9, payroll taxes, workers’ compensation. No test to pass, no exposure to argue about later.
Unpaid, for academic credit
Only if the intern is the primary beneficiary
Lawful at a for-profit company only when the seven-factor primary beneficiary test comes out in the intern’s favor. Credit alone does not carry it. Structured training, an academic calendar, and work that does not displace an employee do.
Volunteer at a non-profit
Different rules entirely
The Department of Labor treats unpaid internships at non-profit and public sector organizations, where the intern volunteers without expectation of compensation, as generally permissible. That exception does not travel to your for-profit business.
1099 contractor intern
Almost never legitimate
If you set the schedule, the software, the location, and the review process, you are directing an employee. Putting a student on a 1099 to skip payroll setup is the most common shortcut here and the one that unwinds worst under audit.
When in Doubt, Pay the Intern
The cost of an unpaid internship going wrong is back wages, back payroll taxes, liquidated damages, and penalties, calculated across every hour the student worked. The cost of paying properly is an hourly rate close to a bookkeeping clerk starting wage for a fixed number of weeks. Small businesses reach for unpaid because payroll setup feels like friction, but the student is going through onboarding either way. Pay them, run the timesheet, and the entire compliance question disappears.
What Belongs in an Accounting Intern Posting
An intern posting does four jobs: it tells students the terms, it filters for actual coursework, it protects you legally, and it convinces a good candidate to pick a small company over a structured program at a large firm. Most small business postings do only the first, badly.
The parts students read first
Paid or unpaid, stated in the first line
Hourly rate or a good-faith range
Term dates and hours per week
Remote, hybrid, or on-site, with the address
The parts that filter applicants
Coursework completed, not just a major
Named accounting system and Excel depth
Class standing or expected graduation date
Weekly availability during the term
The parts that protect you
FLSA classification stated as non-exempt
Confidentiality and data handling expectation
Segregation of duties limits on the role
Equal opportunity statement
The parts that win the hire
Three specific things the intern will learn
Who supervises and how often they review work
A real project with a deliverable
Whether a return offer is possible
The omission that costs the most is the learning content. Students compare your posting against programs that publish rotation plans and mentorship structures, and a list of clerical duties loses that comparison every time. Our guide to writing a job description covers the general structure, and the templates below apply it to accounting specifically.
6 Accounting Intern Job Description Templates to Download
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: company overview, position summary, key responsibilities, required qualifications, a classification and compliance note, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you change.
Download All 6 Accounting Intern Job Description Templates
Paid general, AP and AR, tax season, audit, academic credit, and remote part-time. All in one download.
Accounting Intern (Paid)
The general small business version
Transaction coding, reconciliations, month-end support, and a named term project, written for a company with one bookkeeper and no HR department.
AP / AR Intern
Transaction cycle focus
Vendor bills, customer invoices, aging reports, and a segregation of duties note so an intern never prepares and releases the same payment.
Tax Season Intern
January through April 15
For a CPA or tax practice: return preparation under review, workflow tracking, and the overtime math that seasonal firms routinely get wrong.
Audit / Assurance Intern
Engagement team member
Testing procedures, confirmations, tie-outs, and review notes, plus the independence confirmation to collect before the first engagement.
Academic Credit Intern
Unpaid, structured, for credit
Built around learning objectives and boundaries rather than duties, because an unpaid internship stands or falls on the primary beneficiary test.
Remote Part-Time Intern
Cloud accounting, fixed hours
Overlap hours, written handoffs, access and security rules, and a warning about the state obligations a remote hire creates across a state line.
Template 1: Accounting Intern (Paid, Small Business)
The general version for a company with one bookkeeper or a small finance team, covering transaction coding, reconciliations, month-end support, and a named term project. If the work is closer to a permanent entry-level seat, use the junior accountant templates instead.
Accounting Intern Job Description (Paid, Small Business)
ACCOUNTING INTERN JOB DESCRIPTION (PAID)
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Controller / Office Manager / Owner]
Employment type: Paid internship, [full-time / part-time], [start] to [end]
For the transaction cycle specifically, with vendor bills, customer invoices, aging reports, and a segregation of duties note. Compare it against the accounting clerk job descriptions if you are deciding between an intern and a permanent clerk.
For a CPA firm or tax practice hiring from January through April 15, with return preparation under review, workflow tracking, and an hours note that spells out the overtime math before the season starts.
Tax Season Intern Job Description (Accounting or Tax Firm)
TAX SEASON INTERN JOB DESCRIPTION
Firm: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Tax Manager / Partner / Senior Associate]
Employment type: Seasonal paid internship, [January] to [April 15]
Compensation: $_ per hour, overtime paid past 40 hours
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Firm Name] is a [number]-person [CPA firm / tax practice] serving [individuals
and small businesses / a specific niche] in [City, State]. We hire seasonal
interns for filing season to prepare straightforward returns under review and to
keep the workflow moving during our busiest [number] weeks of the year.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Tax Season Intern prepares assigned individual and small business returns in
[tax software] for review by a licensed preparer, organizes client source
documents, tracks return status, and communicates missing-item requests to
clients under supervision.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Prepare assigned [Form 1040 / Schedule C / simple entity] returns for review
•Organize and scan client source documents into [document system]
•Track return status and deadlines in our workflow tool
•Draft missing-information requests for [reviewer] to send
•Enter and reconcile client trial balances where needed
•Assemble finished returns and e-file packages for signature
•Respond to [reviewer] comments and clear review notes promptly
•Follow the firm's confidentiality, data security, and record retention rules
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•Enrolled in an accounting program, [individual income tax coursework
completed / in progress]
•[PTIN required before preparing returns for compensation: confirm the firm's
policy and the reviewer arrangement]
•Comfortable in Excel and quick to learn [tax software]
•Able to work [hours] per week through April 15, including [evenings /
Saturdays] during peak weeks
•Discretion with confidential client financial information
SEASONAL HOURS NOTE (the one that costs firms money)
Filing season means overtime, and a seasonal intern is a non-exempt employee.
Every hour past 40 in a workweek is paid at time and a half. A flat weekly
stipend, a per-return rate, or a "seasonal salary" does not remove that
obligation. Set the expectation for peak-week hours in the posting, track time
accurately, and budget the overtime before you schedule it. Check your state
rules as well: some states require daily overtime or a seventh-day premium.
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Seasonal tax interns at a for-profit firm are employees: W-4 and I-9 on file,
payroll tax withholding, workers' compensation coverage, and minimum wage.
Paying a seasonal preparer on a 1099 while controlling the schedule, the
software, the review process, and the location is a misclassification risk.
This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Firm Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, overtime past 40 hours, [season dates]
To apply, email __ with your resume and your availability
through April 15.
Template 4: Audit / Assurance Intern
For engagement work: testing procedures, confirmations, tie-outs, and review notes, plus the independence confirmation to collect before the intern touches a client file.
Audit / Assurance Intern Job Description
AUDIT / ASSURANCE INTERN JOB DESCRIPTION
Firm: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Audit Senior / Audit Manager]
Employment type: Paid internship, [busy season / summer], [start] to [end]
Written around learning objectives, structured activities, and explicit boundaries rather than a duty list, because an unpaid internship at a for-profit company stands or falls on the primary beneficiary test covered in the next section.
Hours: [number] per week, not to exceed the hours required for credit
READ THIS FIRST
An unpaid internship at a for-profit company is lawful only when the intern, not
the company, is the primary beneficiary of the relationship. The Department of
Labor applies a seven-factor test, no single factor is decisive, and the analysis
depends on the facts of each case. If you cannot describe this internship as
training first and output second, pay the intern and use the paid template
instead. Unpaid internships at non-profit and public sector organizations, where
the intern volunteers without expectation of compensation, are treated
differently. This is general information, not legal advice.
ABOUT THIS INTERNSHIP
[Organization Name] is offering a structured, for-credit accounting internship
in partnership with [School]. The internship carries [number] credits under
[course number] and is supervised jointly by [supervisor title] and the faculty
sponsor. There is no expectation of compensation and no entitlement to a paid
job at the end.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES (the core of this posting)
By the end of the term the intern will be able to:
•[Describe the full month-end close cycle and its dependencies]
•[Perform a bank and credit card reconciliation from raw statements]
•[Explain how a chart of accounts maps to the financial statements]
•[Prepare a variance analysis and present the findings]
•[Add or replace objectives to match the course requirements]
STRUCTURED ACTIVITIES
•Weekly one-hour instruction session with [supervisor title]
•Supervised practice on [named process] with review and written feedback
•Shadowing during [close, review meeting, audit fieldwork]
•A term project with a written deliverable graded by the faculty sponsor
•Biweekly written progress notes shared with the faculty sponsor
BOUNDARIES OF THE ROLE
•The intern's work complements the work of paid employees and does not replace
a position we would otherwise fill
•No production quota, no billable target, no coverage of an open seat
•The schedule follows the academic calendar and accommodates exams
•The internship ends when the term ends, unless converted to a paid role with
a new offer letter
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•Enrolled at [School] and approved for credit under [course number]
•Completed [Financial Accounting] or equivalent
•Signed learning agreement from the faculty sponsor before the start date
EEO STATEMENT
[Organization Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
HOW TO APPLY
Email __ with your resume, your course number, and your
faculty sponsor's contact information.
Template 6: Remote Part-Time Accounting Intern
For cloud accounting setups, with overlap hours, written handoffs, access and security requirements, and a warning about the obligations a remote hire creates in another state.
[Company Name] runs its accounting in [cloud accounting system], which means an
intern can do real work from campus. This is a part-time remote internship of
[number] hours per week with fixed overlap hours and a weekly video review.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Remote Accounting Intern handles transaction coding, reconciliations, and
schedule preparation in our cloud system, on a fixed weekly schedule, with
documented handoffs and a weekly review call.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Code and categorize transactions in [cloud accounting system]
•Reconcile [bank / credit card / merchant] accounts on the agreed schedule
•Chase and file missing receipts and vendor documentation
•Maintain the [expense report / mileage / subscription] tracker
•Prepare [named] schedules in Excel or Google Sheets
•Log hours daily in [time tracking tool] and post a written end-of-day summary
•Attend the weekly [day, time] review call on video
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•Enrolled in an accounting, finance, or business program
•Reliable internet, a private workspace, and a working camera
•Available during core overlap hours: [day range, time range, time zone]
•Strong written communication: most supervision happens in writing
•Comfortable asking for help early rather than guessing
REMOTE WORK AND SECURITY REQUIREMENTS
•Access is granted through named user accounts with the minimum permissions
needed, never a shared login
•Multi-factor authentication is required on every system
•No downloading client or company financial data to a personal device
•No public networks without the approved VPN
•All access is revoked on the last day of the internship
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
A remote paid intern is a non-exempt employee of the state they physically work
in, which can create registration, withholding, sick leave, and expense
reimbursement obligations in that state. Confirm before you hire across a state
line. Track all hours worked, including work done outside scheduled blocks, and
pay overtime past 40 hours in a workweek. Several states require reimbursement
of necessary remote work expenses. This is general information, not legal
advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [hours per week], [term dates]
To apply, email __ with your resume, your time zone, and
your weekly availability.
The Primary Beneficiary Test, Factor by Factor
An unpaid internship at a for-profit company is lawful only when the intern is the primary beneficiary of the relationship. The Department of Labor adopted the courts' primary beneficiary test in January 2018, replacing the older six-factor standard, and it examines the economic reality of the arrangement.
The seven factors below come from Wage and Hour Division Fact Sheet 71. Courts describe the test as flexible, and no single factor is determinative, so a strong showing on credit hours does not rescue an internship that fails on everything else.
Primary beneficiary factor
What a defensible unpaid accounting internship looks like
1. No expectation of compensation
Nothing in the posting, the interview, or the agreement promises pay, a stipend, or a bonus. Any promise, express or implied, points toward employee status
2. Training similar to an educational environment
Scheduled instruction sessions, supervised practice with written feedback, and reviewed work rather than production output
3. Tied to a formal education program
Registered for credit under a named course number with a faculty sponsor and a signed learning agreement
4. Accommodates academic commitments
The schedule follows the academic calendar and flexes around exams and class times
5. Duration limited to beneficial learning
The internship ends when the term ends, not when the busy season does
6. Complements rather than displaces paid work
The intern is not covering an open seat, carrying a production quota, or doing work you would otherwise hire for
7. No entitlement to a paid job
Both sides understand in writing that the internship does not guarantee an offer at the end
Read those seven honestly against your actual plan. If the internship exists because you need the transactions coded, it fails on factors two, five, and six no matter how the offer letter is worded. Fact Sheet 71 also notes that unpaid internships at non-profit and public sector organizations, where the intern volunteers without expectation of compensation, are generally permissible, which is why a local charity can accept help your business cannot.
A paid intern is a non-exempt employee
There is no intern classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Once you pay a student at a for-profit company, that student is an employee: entitled to at least the highest applicable federal, state, or local minimum wage, and entitled to overtime at one and a half times the regular rate for every hour past forty in a workweek. Interns do not fit the executive, administrative, or learned professional exemptions, because an accounting intern is by definition still acquiring the advanced knowledge the professional exemption requires. Put the intern on an hourly rate, run a real timesheet from day one, and budget overtime for filing season and busy season rather than discovering it in April. A flat weekly stipend does not convert a non-exempt worker into an exempt one. This is general information, not legal advice.
Academic credit does not make an internship unpaid
This is the most persistent myth in small business hiring. Course credit is only one of seven factors in the primary beneficiary test, and courts have described the test as flexible with no single factor determinative. An unpaid internship that is really a job with a syllabus stapled to it fails on the factors that matter most: whether the training resembles what an educational institution provides, whether the duration is limited to the period of beneficial learning, and whether the intern’s work complements rather than displaces the work of paid employees. If the intern would be filling a seat you would otherwise hire for, you have your answer. The cheapest fix is also the simplest one: pay the intern. This is general information, not legal advice.
Interns need controls, not just supervision
A student with system access is an internal control question, and small accounting teams are exactly where segregation of duties collapses. Never let an intern both create a vendor and release a payment, both issue a credit memo and apply cash, or both hold bank credentials and reconcile the account. Give named user accounts with the minimum permissions required, never a shared login, and require multi-factor authentication. Have the intern sign a confidentiality agreement covering client and company financial data before the first login, and at a tax or audit firm collect an independence confirmation as well. Revoke every credential on the last day rather than the next quarter. These are the same controls you owe any new hire; an intern simply makes the gap visible faster.
The paperwork is the same as any hire
A paid intern gets the full onboarding packet: a signed offer letter with the rate, hours, and end date, a Form W-4 for federal withholding plus any state equivalent, a Form I-9 with documents examined within the deadline, direct deposit authorization, an emergency contact, a handbook acknowledgment, and a confidentiality agreement. Add the intern to workers’ compensation coverage and confirm whether your state requires paid sick leave accrual for short-term and part-time employees, because many do with no minimum tenure. Remote interns raise the stakes: an intern working from another state can create registration, withholding, sick leave, and expense reimbursement obligations there. Set the end date in writing at the start so the internship closes cleanly instead of drifting into an undefined part-time job.
Paying an Accounting Intern Correctly
A paid intern is a non-exempt hourly employee, entitled to at least the highest applicable federal, state, or local minimum wage and to overtime at one and a half times the regular rate past forty hours in a workweek. There is no exemption that fits a student still completing the coursework the professional exemption is built around.
That single fact drives the whole payroll setup. Hours get tracked daily, not estimated at the end of the term. Our breakdown of exempt versus non-exempt classification works through the tests, and the guide to overtime rules covers how the regular rate is calculated when a bonus or a shift premium is involved.
A Stipend Is Not a Salary, and a Salary Is Not an Exemption
Seasonal accounting work is where this goes wrong. A tax intern paid a flat $600 per week who works 58 hours during the March peak is still owed overtime on 18 hours, calculated from the regular rate that stipend implies. The same applies to an audit intern during fieldwork and to a per-return piece rate. Paying a fixed amount does not create an exemption, it just makes the back-pay calculation harder. Set an hourly rate, state the expected peak-week hours in the posting, and model the overtime cost before the season starts.
The rest is standard new-hire paperwork: an offer letter with the rate, hours, and end date, a Form W-4, a Form I-9 completed within the deadline, workers' compensation coverage, and a handbook acknowledgment. Our internship offer letter template covers the written terms, and the guide to hiring interns covers sourcing and the campus calendar.
What to Pay an Accounting Intern
There is no Bureau of Labor Statistics occupation code for interns of any kind, so no national median exists for this title. Benchmark instead against the classifications whose duties actually overlap: bookkeeping and accounting clerks for the work itself, general office clerks as a floor, and accountants and auditors as the destination the intern is training toward.
Benchmark Occupations, National Wages
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks earned a median of $24.36 per hour ($50,670 per year), with the lowest ten percent at $17.31 per hour. General office clerks earned a median of $21.64 per hour, with the lowest ten percent at $14.57. Accountants and auditors earned a median of $40.23 per hour, or $83,680 per year (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national estimates).
Benchmark occupation (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
10th percentile
25th percentile
Median
How to use it for an intern rate
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks
$17.31 per hour
$20.92 per hour
$24.36 per hour
Closest duty match; a defensible intern rate sits between the 10th and 25th percentile
Office clerks, general
$14.57 per hour
$17.48 per hour
$21.64 per hour
Only relevant if the internship is mostly filing and data entry, which weakens the posting
Accountants and auditors
$26.93 per hour
$32.22 per hour
$40.23 per hour
The role the intern is training toward, not the rate a student commands
Adjust from there for your local market and your setting. Tax and audit interns at licensed firms sit at the upper end because the hours are brutal and the competition for accounting students is real. Whatever number you land on, it must clear the highest applicable minimum wage, and it belongs in the posting: publish a good-faith range where pay transparency laws apply.
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Scope an accounting internship around reviewed work, not independent authority. An intern prepares, an employee approves, and no intern should ever hold both sides of a transaction. That single rule keeps the internship useful and your controls intact on a team too small to absorb a mistake.
The practical split is straightforward once you write it down. Interns can code transactions, reconcile accounts, build schedules, prepare returns for review, and perform assigned testing. They should not have signature authority, banking credentials, the ability to create and pay a vendor in one session, or unsupervised client communication on anything with a number in it.
Task
Intern with review
Employee only
Coding and entering transactions
Yes
Approval of the coding
Bank and credit card reconciliation
Yes, prepared for review
Sign-off on the reconciliation
Creating a new vendor record
Prepare the request
Approve and activate
Releasing a payment run
No
Yes, with a second reviewer
Issuing credit memos or applying cash
One side only, never both
The other side
Preparing a tax return
Yes, for review by a licensed preparer
Review and signature
Client or vendor communication
Drafts for review
Sending anything binding
System access
Named account, minimum permissions
Granting and revoking access
Write the boundaries into the job description rather than explaining them on day three. A student who knows the limits works faster inside them, and a posting that describes reviewed real work reads as a serious internship rather than an unpaid favor. If your actual need is a permanent hire rather than a term placement, the staff accountant templates and the bookkeeper templates are the better starting point.
Hiring an Accounting Intern Without an HR Department
Small company internships fail in three predictable places: the posting undersells the work, the pay structure ignores seasonal overtime, and onboarding and offboarding are improvised. Each one has a fix that costs nothing but a decision made in advance.
The posting describes filing and data entry, so the students you want never apply
Accounting students compare offers against structured programs at larger firms that publish rotation plans and mentorship details. A posting that lists scanning, filing, and general administrative support reads as unpaid overflow work, and the strongest candidates screen it out in seconds. The fix costs nothing: name three specific things the intern will learn, name the system they will work in, name the supervisor and how often that person reviews their work, and name one project with a deliverable at the end. A small company has a genuine advantage here, because an intern at a three-person finance team sees the whole close cycle instead of one corner of it. That advantage only works if you write it down.
You budgeted a flat stipend and then filing season happened
This is the single most expensive mistake small firms make with interns. A paid intern at a for-profit business is non-exempt, so a flat weekly stipend does not cover the sixty-hour weeks that show up in March or during audit fieldwork. Every hour past forty in a workweek is owed at time and a half regardless of what the offer letter calls the payment, and some states add daily overtime on top. Set an hourly rate, state the expected peak-week hours in the posting so nobody is surprised, track time daily rather than reconstructing it later, and model the overtime cost before you commit to a season schedule. The math is far cheaper in a spreadsheet than in a back wages claim.
Intern onboarding is an afterthought, and so is offboarding
Interns arrive in cohorts on the academic calendar, which means the paperwork lands in one week: offer letters, W-4s, I-9s, confidentiality agreements, handbook acknowledgments, system access requests, and a supervisor who has three days to get everyone productive. Then the term ends and half of those accounts stay open. FirstHR was built for exactly that rhythm. The onboarding wizard runs the same sequence for every intern, e-signature handles the offer letter and the confidentiality agreement, document management stores the signed forms against each employee profile, task workflows assign the access setup and the access revocation to named owners with dates, and training modules cover data handling before the first login. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR. Note that FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a payroll provider.
A paid accounting intern at a for-profit company is a non-exempt employee: highest applicable minimum wage, overtime past forty hours in a workweek, W-4, I-9, payroll taxes, and workers’ compensation coverage.
An unpaid internship is lawful only when the intern is the primary beneficiary under the Department of Labor’s seven-factor test, and academic credit is one factor among seven rather than a free pass.
There is no BLS occupation code for interns; benchmark against bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks, whose May 2025 national median was $24.36 per hour with a tenth percentile of $17.31.
Seasonal tax and audit internships generate real overtime, and a flat weekly stipend or per-return rate does not remove the obligation to pay time and a half past forty hours.
Never let an intern hold both sides of a control: prepare and approve, create a vendor and release its payment, or reconcile an account they hold credentials for.
Name three specific things the intern will learn, the system they will work in, and one project with a deliverable, because that is what students compare against structured programs at larger firms.
Interns arrive in cohorts and leave on the same day, so the paperwork and the access both move in bursts. FirstHR runs the same onboarding sequence for every intern, with e-signature for the offer letter and the confidentiality agreement, document storage against each employee profile, and task workflows that assign the access setup and the revocation to named owners with dates. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does an accounting intern do?
An accounting intern supports the transaction cycle and the month-end close under supervision. The realistic list at a small company is coding and entering invoices and expenses, processing accounts payable and accounts receivable, reconciling bank and credit card accounts, assembling supporting documentation for the close, building schedules and reports in Excel, and cleaning up vendor and chart of accounts records. At a tax practice the work shifts to preparing straightforward returns for review, organizing client source documents, and tracking return status. At an audit firm it means assigned testing procedures, confirmations, tie-outs, and clearing review notes. What an intern should not do is hold both sides of a control: never let the same person create a vendor and release the payment, or hold bank credentials and reconcile the account.
Do you have to pay an accounting intern?
At a for-profit company, almost always yes. There is no intern exception in the Fair Labor Standards Act, so an unpaid internship is lawful only when the intern rather than the employer is the primary beneficiary of the relationship. The Department of Labor applies a seven-factor test covering the expectation of compensation, whether the training resembles an educational environment, the tie to a formal education program, accommodation of the academic calendar, a duration limited to the period of beneficial learning, whether the work complements rather than displaces paid employees, and the understanding that no paid job is promised at the end. No single factor decides it. Unpaid internships at non-profit and public sector organizations, where the intern volunteers without expectation of compensation, are generally permissible. If the intern is filling a seat you would otherwise hire for, pay them.
How much should I pay an accounting intern?
There is no Bureau of Labor Statistics occupation code for interns, so benchmark against the classifications whose duties actually match. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks had a median wage of $24.36 per hour, with the lowest ten percent at $17.31 and the twenty-fifth percentile at $20.92. Office clerks, general, had a median of $21.64 per hour and a tenth percentile of $14.57. Accountants and auditors, the job the intern is training toward, had a median of $40.23 per hour. A defensible intern rate sits between the tenth and twenty-fifth percentile of the bookkeeping clerk figures, adjusted for your local market and never below the highest applicable federal, state, or local minimum wage. Tax and audit interns at licensed firms typically command the upper end.
Are accounting interns exempt or non-exempt from overtime?
Non-exempt, in essentially every case. A paid intern at a for-profit company is an employee, and none of the white-collar exemptions fit. The learned professional exemption requires advanced knowledge in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction, and a student still completing that instruction has not yet acquired it. That means the intern is owed at least the highest applicable minimum wage and overtime at one and a half times the regular rate for every hour past forty in a workweek. This matters most at tax firms in March and audit firms during fieldwork, where sixty-hour weeks are normal. A flat weekly stipend, a per-return rate, or the word salary in the offer letter does not change the obligation. Track hours daily and budget the overtime in advance.
Can I hire an accounting intern as a 1099 contractor?
No, not in any normal internship arrangement. Independent contractor status turns on the economic reality of the relationship, and an internship fails that analysis on its face: you set the schedule, you provide the software and the systems, you direct the method of the work, you review and correct the output, and the intern is not running a business that serves other clients. Paying a student on a 1099 to avoid payroll setup shifts the employer share of payroll taxes onto them, strips them of minimum wage and overtime protection, and leaves them outside your workers’ compensation coverage. That combination is what makes the arrangement expensive when it unwinds: back wages, back taxes, penalties, and interest. Run the intern through payroll as a non-exempt hourly employee with a W-4 and an I-9 on file.
What qualifications should an accounting intern have?
Ask for completed coursework rather than a major, because the major tells you nothing about what the student can do yet. A practical bar for a general accounting internship is current enrollment in an accounting, finance, or business program with Financial Accounting completed, sophomore standing or above, and real spreadsheet ability: sorting, filtering, lookups, and pivot tables rather than a line on a resume. For a tax season internship add individual income tax coursework and confirm your policy on preparer registration and reviewer sign-off. For an audit internship add auditing coursework and progress toward the credit hour requirement for CPA licensure in your state. Beyond coursework, screen for accuracy habits and for whether the candidate asks questions early instead of guessing, which is the single best predictor of a productive intern on a small team.
How do I write an accounting intern job description for a small business?
Start with the decision that drives everything else: paid or unpaid. Paid is simpler and safer, so default to it. Then state the hourly rate, the term dates, the hours per week, and the work arrangement in the first few lines, because students screen on those before they read a single duty. List duties tied to a named accounting system rather than generic support tasks, name the supervisor and how often they review the work, and name three specific things the intern will learn plus one project with a deliverable. Add the non-exempt classification, the confidentiality expectation, the limits on system access, and an equal opportunity statement. Then run the hire like any other: offer letter, W-4, I-9, handbook acknowledgment, access setup, and a dated plan to revoke that access when the term ends. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
