Tax Intern for Onisko & Scholz

Hello, my name is Jessica Mora. I am a Business Administration major with a concentration in accounting, and will be graduating this summer in 2021. I intern and work for Onisko & Scholz in Long Beach, CA.

Onisko & Scholz is primarily a tax company, but they also do audits, regular accounting, bookkeeping, and other financial services for privately held companies, high income Individuals, and non-profit organizations.

I currently work as a Tax Intern but will be converting to a Staff Accountant once school is done for me in August. What I do in my position is prepare tax returns, talk with managers and partners at the firm regarding tax treatment of items on a persons tax return, and do various office filing & organization. I also communicate via email and phone to clients. This job has taught me a lot about time management and working with people. I have always been a person who likes interaction and talking to people, so learning how to do that in a professional way is such a good skill to learn! Also, learning how to prepare tax returns is not only a useful skill to possess as a professional, but has helped me in my personal life as well, and I can help friends and family members with their tax questions too.

If others are interested in going into tax, the biggest thing to remember are the hours you work during tax season are temporary and to be thankful for a workload! I’m the type of person that dies of boredom when there is no work to be done. Be thankful and appreciative of the work to go around and if there is none, to always ask for more. The hours during tax season are crazy, but it brings you closer together with your team and managers if you communicate correctly and always ask questions. Asking questions can save you hours if your manager or supervisor knows the answer versus you spending hours looking for it. And they will tell you where to look if they don’t have time to explain!