Often, accounting students in their first or second year of college are ill advised as to the nature and expectations of the profession into which they will soon enter. Using research results as a guidepost, this paper seeks to assist accounting instructors in outlining the foremost distinguishing attributes between the two major public accounting tracks, tax and audit, and among the major types of public accounting firms - Big Four, International/National, Regional, and Local. By utilizing a decision aid, students will be actively engaged in assessing the compatibility of their personal attributes in conjunction with track or firm type attributes. Such an approach to learning has been shown to increase the students' sense of fulfillment as opposed to more passive approaches, such as only reading or listening to information. Suggestions as to how instructors might disseminate the content of this paper, the ramifications of career path choices for the students, and key points of discussion are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]