{"id":14457,"date":"2023-12-01T00:50:21","date_gmt":"2023-12-01T08:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/?p=14457"},"modified":"2026-02-19T16:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T00:48:09","slug":"irs-citizen-academy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/2023\/12\/01\/irs-citizen-academy\/","title":{"rendered":"IRS Highlights Lucrative Career Paths for Accounting Students"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Carson
Carson accounting students conduct mock fraud investigations with coaching from the IRS Criminal Investigation\u2019s special agents.
Photo by Scott Jackson.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Learning the job first-hand<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not often that students get the chance to arrest their instructors, but by the end of a five-hour exercise led by special agents with the IRS\u2019s Criminal Investigation Division earlier this semester, WSU accounting students had cuffed a handful of faculty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event, known as the IRS Citizen Academy and hosted by a dozen or so volunteers from IRS CI, is intended to showcase possible career pathways for accounting students within the agency\u2019s enforcement arm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the exercise, students split into groups to conduct mock fraud investigations with their instructors standing in as the potential ne\u2019er-do-wells at the center of each \u201ccase.\u201d Several students in attendance agreed that even though these \u201carrests\u201d were technically the result of mock investigations, the experience was beneficial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was advertised as hands-on, but I didn’t realize how hands-on it was until we were searching the room for \u2018drugs\u2019 and handcuffing people\u2014I enjoyed it,\u201d says accounting student Samantha Devries<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unique career paths<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite its low public profile and relatively small size compared with other federal law enforcement organizations like the FBI and DEA, agents with IRS CI have worked numerous high-profile cases throughout US history. Even after taking to task the likes of Al Capone, Bernie Madoff, and, more recently, Sam Bankman-Fried, the agency boasts an institutional conviction rate of 90 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it is common for students to hear about opportunities in private and public accounting, organizers noted it\u2019s relatively rare for them to be aware of employment options within federal law enforcement\u2014particularly with IRS CI. However, agents at the event stressed that those looking for a job with the IRS should have some accounting experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey can have other degrees, but they have to have some accounting credits or related work experience,\u201d says Carrie Nordyke, assistant special agent in charge for IRS CI\u2019s Seattle field office. \u201cWe follow the money linked to criminal activity, and we want new employees to have some understanding of how that works.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increased funding sparks recruitment drive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With a large group of veterans that have been with the agency for 20 or more years preparing to retire, the IRS is pushing to shore up its ranks while it has the funding to do so, Nordyke says. This is in addition to filling out existing staffing shortages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current hiring push is due in part to an $80 billion injection awarded by Congress as part of 2022\u2019s Inflation Reduction Act. Nordyke says this means there are employment opportunities throughout the agency, not just with IRS CI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone thinks of auditors when they think of the IRS, but there are so many more opportunities depending on what people are looking for,\u201d Nordyke says. \u201cThere are the auditors, there’s our collections side, which is on the civil side, and then there’s us and there’s a lot of different business units.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students in attendance found the exercise impressive; a few say they are considering seeking a job with the IRS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverybody who was presenting just seemed to have a lot of knowledge about federal law enforcement, especially how IRS CI works,\u201d student Ian Mickelson<\/a> says. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely something that might show up on my radar later. If I were a first year or sophomore here at WSU and I came through this seminar, I\u2019d definitely want to consider a job with the IRS.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not often that students get the chance to arrest their instructors, but by the end of a five-hour exercise led by special agents with the IRS\u2019s Criminal Investigation Division in October, WSU accounting students had cuffed a handful of faculty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":[629],"featured_media":18218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[617,425,428],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14457"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/629"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14457"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18813,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14457\/revisions\/18813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14457"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/author?post=14457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}