Join the industry or audit firm

Hi frnds, 

I have completed my articleship. I passed one group and going to write next one soon. Anyway I plan to come into practise soon (probabily after 3 yrs) assuming I pass in the next attempt.

My concern is should I join an audit firm for the next three years or should I join the industry ??

I did my articleship in a Medium sized audit firm and have handled large number of assignments during my articleship and Iam pretty confident of my ability. Since I intend to finally come into practise should I join an audit firm ?.... I feel that  industry experience will give me insight into the intricacies of business functioning and that will ultimately help in providing audit and assurance service.

Some of my friends feel that joining industry will make me loose familiarity with audit field..... that I will not be kept in the loop of relevant updates

What do you think friends ??