A taxing season

T hose of you working for a large company may be feeling the effects of tax season more than others. That's because CAs who work in larger organizations are more likely to have taxation as their primary area of work.

According to the 2003 CICA members' survey, 26% of CAs employed by a professional services firm with 250 or more staff work in taxation, compared with 15% of those employed by a firm with less than 50 staff. A similar divide exists for CAs working outside professional services: 10% of members employed by a company with 250 or more staff work in taxation, compared with 4% of those employed by a company with fewer than 50 staff.

Still, taxation remains an important area for CAs regardless of organization size, as a large majority of members are involved in tax to some extent. The survey found that 90% of members working in professional services are interested in tax, while 80% of members working outside professional services are interested in tax. CAs in small and medium firms, however, are most likely to be involved in providing tax to some extent, since 95% of them cite tax as an area of interest.

John Tabone is CICA's manager of innovation