PKF O’Connor Davies has the best internship program in the nation, not only among accounting firms, but also for any company, according to career resource website Vault.com’s 100 Best Internship rankings for 2024, CPA Practice Advisor reported

The Harrison, N.Y.-based firm vaulted 69 places from last year’s rankings, with a total score of 9.597. Five other accounting firms placed in the top 10.

“PKF O’Connor Davies offers comprehensive accounting & tax internship programs for students,” according to Vault.com.

One former intern told Vault.com that the program offers “a nurturing environment; there is no competitive or cutthroat air.” Another said, “There is an unlimited amount of guidance in this firm. You can go up to anyone in the office and ask questions without feeling like you’re bothering them. The assignments I worked on challenged me but weren’t too challenging to the point where I had no idea what I was doing. The assignments were also all important and meaningful; superiors weren’t just dumping busy work on the intern’s desk.”

“I am definitely satisfied with the compensation,” said another. “I believe the pay is competitive, and the firm does a good job at rewarding hard work.”

This past summer, Vault surveyed more than 13,000 current and former interns from 145 internship programs. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest, respondents were asked to rate their internship experiences in six core areas: quality of life, compensation and benefits, interview process, career development, full-time employment prospects, and diversity.

To determine an overall score for each program, the ratings were assigned relative weights based on what interns told Vault they value most in an internship.

CPA Practice Advisor reported that the five other accounting firms made the top 10 in Vault's rankings are Weaver, Frazier Deeter, Lumsden McCormick CPA, Elliott Davis, and Freed Maxick.

And the full top 25 internships in accounting are the following:

1. PKF O’Connor Davies
2. Weaver
3. Frazier Deeter
4. Lumsden McCormick CPA
5. Elliott Davis (ENVISION Program)
6. Freed Maxick (MAX Internship Program)
7. Grant Thornton
8. Frank, Rimerman + Co. (Summer Internship)
9. Boyer & Ritter
10. Baker Tilly
11. Aprio
12. H&CO (Brilliant)
13. HCVT
14. CohnReznick
15. BDO USA
16. Moss Adams (Summer Internship)
17. Cherry Bekaert
18. Wipfli
19. EisnerAmper (Audit Internship, Tax Internship)
20. Marcum
21. YHB (Summer Internship)
22. Armanino
23. Eide Bailly (Accounting and Technology Internship Programs)
24. Withum
25. CBIZ MHM

The survey methodology is available along with the list of all 100 firms.