School of Accountancy - SOA News

Huntsman Club, Beta Alpha Psi, Wins Two First-Prize Awards at Deloitte Best Practices Competition - May 2013

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 00:00:00 MST

By Allie Jeppson

Huntsman students and officers of the accounting club Beta Alpha Psi recently traveled to Denver, Colo., to attend a Deloitte Best Practices competition and took first place in two out of three categories. They competed against teams from Brigham Young University, the University of Utah, the University of Denver, and other schools from six states in the Rocky Mountain Region.

Bonnie Villarreal, faculty advisor, (left), Jenalyn Meldrum, vice president, and Jesse Hamilton, president, are Beta Alpha Psi leaders. Photo by Steve Eaton.

The organization is an international honors society that seeks to bridge the gap between students and accounting professionals. Each year, Beta Alpha Psi (BAP) chapters located at universities nationwide have the opportunity to showcase projects they have completed during the year that help accounting students develop professional skills and serve the community.

This year each club was expected to develop a project or practice in one or more of three areas or categories called “innovation,” “imagination,” and “inspiration.” Each club presented to judges and other chapters at BAP regional meetings across the nation.

USU competed in two of the categories, imagination and innovation, and won first place in both areas which will allow the Huntsman club to compete nationally in Anaheim, Calif., in summer 2013.

“We went out there with good ideas that really were innovative and imaginative, and we were recognized for that,” said Bonnie Villarreal, BAP advisor and director of the Master’s of Accounting program.

In the category of imagination, chapters were required to help students improve written communication skills in an imaginative way. To meet this challenge, chapter members at USU surveyed students within their chapter to see what written skills they needed the most help with and found that many students struggled with writing cover letters. The club held a workshop that helped students not only to write better cover letters, but also to adapt their cover letters to different companies and job opportunities. Afterward, a competition was held among the participating students to see who could produce the most well-written and adaptive cover letters.

“In accounting, a resume is a filter,” Ms. Villarreal said. “Accounting companies don’t want resumes to be unique, so we really wanted a way to help our students develop their own personal brand through their cover letter.”

The innovation project involved developing soft skills that were not recruitment related. To help students learn to present technical knowledge to a non-technical audience, members of BAP held a workshop over two evenings to help local Boy Scouts earn a personal management merit badge. More than 90 Boy Scouts attended.

USU’s chapter was successful, in part, because the students found creative ways to present their material, said Ms. Villarreal. For example, one presenter removed his suit jacket to reveal a Boy Scout uniform, and two of the presenters gave parts of their presentations in Romanian and Chinese to demonstrate how difficult it can be to understand a presentation that is not in your native language. Accounting is commonly referred to as the language of business. The terminology can make it feel like a foreign language to non-accountants. Explaining money management at the Boy Scout level helped accounting students practice overcoming the language barrier while introducing the scouts to possible careers in the financial profession.

“It wowed the judges because it wasn’t the same boring thing that they usually see,” she said.

Two Elijah Watt Sells Award winners - April 2013

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 00:00:00 MST

We are pleased to announce that two recent graduates from Utah State’s School of Accountancy are 2012 Elijah Watt Sells Award winners. Jill Aoki and Anthony Lemon each earned nation leading CPA exam scores and received this prestigious recognition. We congratulate them for this impressive accomplishment! Jill and Anthony are both extraordinary individuals. Their dedication and hard work is what earned them their awards. 92,000+ candidates sat for the Uniform CPA Exam in 2012, and only 39 received the award. This is a great reminder of what is possible when engaged students and faculty meaningfully intersect in a carefully focused educational environment.

School of Accountancy is Ranked 46th in the Nation by Public Accounting Report - March 2013

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:00:00 MST

Andrew Williams is a student at the newly nationally ranked School of Accountancy.

By Steve Eaton

A publication widely read within the accounting profession, Public Accounting Report, has ranked the School of Accountancy at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business in the top 50 among accounting schools nationwide.

Utah State University's undergraduate accounting program is listed at 46th in the rankings that are based on a survey of accounting professors across the country. The Public Accounting Report says it is the “leading provider of competitive intelligence for public accounting firms and the profession.” It is targeted at accounting firm partners and professionals, opinion leaders, and industry observers.

Larry Walther, who heads the School of Accountancy at the Huntsman School of Business, said there are nearly 800 undergraduate programs that are eligible for the list, putting the Huntsman School of Accountancy in the top 6% of programs nationwide. As far as he knows, this is the first time the Huntsman School of Accountancy has been ranked in the top 50.

“We appreciate the recognition we have received from the Public Accounting Report,” Dr. Walther said. “We take even more satisfaction, however, seeing our students excel once they enter the job market and effectively compete with graduates of top schools from around the country. Our professors and staff keep standards high because we believe in our students and their capacity to compete.”

USU’s School of Accountancy is pleased to announce achievement of AACSB accreditation for five additional years - February 2013

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 00:00:00 MST

On January 14^th, the AACSB Accounting Accreditation Committee granted a continuation of accreditation for USU’s accounting undergraduate and master’s degree programs. USU’s School of Accountancy is one of a select group of schools worldwide to have been awarded special accounting accreditation. Congratulations to our faculty, staff, students and our alumni and supporters who worked to make this possible.

Beta Alpha Psi Reaches Out to Boy Scouts - January 2013

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 00:00:00 MST

Beta Alpha Psi Reaches Out to Boy Scouts

Beta Alpha Psi members recently conducted a highly successful service event for 82 Boy Scouts and their scoutmasters educating them about careers in accounting as well as taking them through the steps toward earning their personal management merit badge, one of the merit badges that is required to obtain the rank of Eagle Scout. This particular merit badge is one of the more difficult merit badges to earn because it requires budgeting and tracking personal income and expenditures.

Nate Stephens Earns Two Best Paper Awards - December 2012

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 00:00:00 MST

By Allie Jeppson

It is a rare thing for an author to win a best paper award for his or her published research. It is even more unusual, however, for an author to win two of those awards in the same year. Yet Nate Stephens, assistant professor of accounting, has done just that for research published in the Accounting Horizons and Issues in Accounting Education journals.

Nate Stephens, a professor in the School of Accountancy, won two “best paper” awards earlier this year.

Within the past year, Dr. Stephens has co-authored and published two different papers in two separate academic journals. These journals, which are owned and operated by the American Accounting Association (AAA), each selected Dr. Stephens’ papers for the “Best Paper Award.” He was recognized during the AAA annual meeting held in Washington, D.C., earlier this year.

A press release issued recently by the AAA said this about the award: “The … Best Paper Award is presented to the best paper published each calendar year. The award winner is selected by online voting open to all (of the journals’) subscribing members of the AAA.”

“It’s exciting,” Dr. Stephens said about receiving the award. “They’re both highly ranked journals, highly read, and so to get the best paper award from both of them, especially in the same year, it’s pretty rewarding.”

The first paper written by Dr. Stephens was published in Accounting Horizons. This published research “is meant to help people who are trying to find information about the quality of (accounting) doctoral programs,” according to Dr. Stephens.

The research for the paper was done by looking at a university’s alumni and ranking their success based on how often they have been published in top-tier journals, Dr. Stephens said. He added, however, that this list is unique because it creates separate rankings for the different sub-disciplines within the accounting field such as tax, auditing, and financial and management accounting. Because a few of the co-authors who worked with Dr. Stephens on this ranking are from Brigham Young University, BYU has posted the rankings online. You can view them by clicking here.

While the second paper, published in Issues in Accounting Education, is similar to the first in that it helps students find information about doctoral programs, it differs from the first in that it ranks doctoral professors by name, based on their productivity in research over the course of their careers, Dr. Stephens said.

“Sometimes … the university itself is not as highly ranked but you’ve got one or two individuals at that university who have been very successful,” he said. “And if a doctoral student wanted to go and work with one of those faculty members, then he or she could have a lot of success.”

These name-based rankings are also done for each accounting sub-discipline.

Watch Some of the Excellent Presentations from the 36th Annual Accounting Conference - November 2012

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 00:00:00 MST

The 36th Annual Accounting Accounting Conference was an outstanding success thanks to a blockbuster lineup of presenters that included:

Denny Beran, Chairman of the Board, Institute of Internal Auditors, and senior VP of audit, JC Penney Corporation, who spoke about “Enhancing the Value of Internal Auditing.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cC3NsxddZg

Lynn Turner, former Chief Accountant at the SEC, presented on “An Investors Perspective on the Role of Auditors in the Future—Will Audits be Needed in 20 Years? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzvsgRwqIFk

Jonathan W. Duersch, associate chief accountant, U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, shared valuable insights on “IFRS Convergence and Accounting.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_G-oLeTTqg

James Leisenring, former member of the FASB and the IASB, and currently serving as senior advisor to the FASB, provided information on “Conceptual Framework Issues.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vONQ6yFWfA

Weston Smith, former CFO of Health South, spoke about his direct involvement in one of the largest frauds ever. His topic was “Crossing the Line: An Insider’s Story of HealthSouth Fraud.”

Jason Collins, managing partner of Reid Collins & Tsai LLP, offered advice on “Accounting Liability—Current Issues and Trends.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weyh1slhtww

Bill Ezell, a member of The Pathways Commission, presented “Charting a National Higher Education Strategy for the Next Generation of Accountants—A Report from the Pathways Commission.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKNDAPcMi9c

Paula Eldredge, audit manager, Zions Bankcorporation and president, Salt Lake Chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors, taught attendees how to be a team player within an organization in “Using the Same Playbook.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKVe-T-X5NM

Anthony Berrett, partner, KPMG LLP provided the “Accounting & Financial Reporting Update.”

Garrett Koerner, tax senior manager, Ernst & Young, presented “The Fiscal Cliff: Critical Tax Policy Decision Ahead.”

36th Annual Accounting Conference - October 2012

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 00:00:00 MST

The 36th Annual Accounting Conference on October 25 promises to be the best in years. The conference will present the latest information relevant to today's accounting environment. Presentations will include leading-edge information on tax laws, audit updates, and financial statement reporting. To see the lineup of speakers and the agenda: partners.usu.edu/htm/conferences/accounting/
The conference qualifies for CPE credits.

Ryan Dent, '00, Promoted to Partner - August 2012

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 00:00:00 MST

Ryan Dent was recently promoted to Partner in the Assurance practice at PwC, LLP. His promotion coincides with his relocation back to Salt Lake City after spending four years on the East Coast working in PwC’s National Office and serving banking and other financial services clients in New York City. Ryan will lead the Salt Lake City financial services practice at PwC providing audit and advisory services to banking and other financial clients throughout the region. Ryan’s experience leading audit engagements of public and privately owned companies for over 12 years, including his work as a technical consultant in the National Profession Services group at PwC on financial instrument related transactions and technical matters, will provide the Salt Lake practice with increased leadership, experience and technical expertise.

Ryan is a graduate of Utah State University where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and a Masters of Business Administration. He is currently a member of the John M Huntsman School of Business, School of Accountancy Advisory Board. Ryan has also served on the Board of Trustees, Alumni Executive Board and Extension Advisory Council for Utah State University.

Larzette G. Hale – A Leader Who Made an Impact - July 2012

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 00:00:00 MST

The June 2012 issue of the Journal of Accountancy lists Larzette G. Hale as one of 125 people who “left a mark on the accounting profession.” In celebration of the AICPA’s 125^th anniversary, the Journal of Accountancy identified 125 people who have made a significant impact on the profession since 1887.

In 1955, Larzette became the first African-American woman CPA to earn a PhD in accounting. She was head of the USU School of Accountancy for 13 years. She was national president of Beta Alpha Psi and the American Woman’s Society of CPAs.