P O R T L A N D S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y
2016 Spring
www.pdx.edu/sba
ACCOUNTING ALUMNI NEWSLETTER NEW MASTERS OF TAXATION PROGRAM STARTS FALL 2017 PSU RESPONDS TO COMMUNITY NEED
Since 2001, the IRS has made close to five thousand changes to the tax code, which now spans more than sixty-five thousand pages and nearly four million words. In order to confidently navigate this increasingly complex and dynamic landscape, professionals clearly need more advanced knowledge than can be fit into the curricula of most undergraduate accounting programs. At the same time, the industry is experiencing advances in technology along with the trend toward off shoring tax preparation, which previously served as an on-the-job training ground for entry level professionals. This calls for specialized education in the early career years to fill the gap. As Terri Oen, Tax Partner-in-Charge at KPMG Portland, notes: “The vast majority of employers now prefer, or even require entry level tax professionals to have an advanced degree.”
Portland State’s new MT will continue the strong technical focus of the MT program the school had been offering from the late 1970s through the late 1990s, which graduated hundreds of successful students and delivered advanced tax education for many more. Both the content and structure of the new MT program have been shaped by extensive interaction with the region’s public accounting and corporate tax community. Designed for effectiveness and accessibility, its innovative format combines online coursework and a highly flexible schedule with quarterly weekend residencies that foster community among the cohort. This hybrid approach opens the program to students outside the Portland metro area, while leveraging our downtown campus as a strong connection point with experts from the local practice community to teach in the program along with our high-caliber core faculty. Applications for fall 2017 open October 1, 2016.
But as industry leaders right here in the Portland metro area have been telling us, finding those professionals to hire is a challenge since there are few graduate taxation programs currently available in the region and none in Oregon. True to Portland State’s reputation as being responsive to the community’s needs, we are excited to launch a new Masters of Taxation program starting in the fall of 2017. In this challenge, we see an immense opportunity to offer a compelling path for entry level or early career stage professionals to accelerate their careers or pivot toward a sought-after specialization. Terri Oen observes that “Students who have completed these programs position themselves well in the marketplace for entry level jobs in the profession.”
What’s Inside
LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR FACULTY ON THE MOVE
FACULTY UPDATES ALUMNI NEWS FRIENDS OF THE ACCOUNTING PROGRAM
AWARD WINNING BAP STUDENTS
LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR GREETINGS FROM THE ACCOUNTING AREA AT PSU! On behalf of the Accounting Faculty, it is a pleasure to share our activities and updates with you over the past year. This has been a very productive year for our faculty with numerous publications, presentations, grants, and editorial board appointments. It is also with great sadness that we say goodbye to two of our retiring accounting faculty, Darrell Brown and Donna Philbrick – our program will not be the same without them! Please join us in thanking them for their many years of service. We are however excited to announce the hiring of a new faculty member, Matt Kaufman (Accounting Information Systems and Managerial), who will join us in the fall of 2016. Matt brings strong credentials and experience to support his position and we are very fortunate to have him on board! In the past year, we launched an accounting tutoring lab to enhance our accounting students’ experience. We also launched the BAP Advisory Board—these board members were instrumental in recruiting and matching over 50 students in the Accounting Mentor Program. They also provided valuable guidance to BAP competitors for the BAP Regional meeting. Our students placed in two competitions at this meeting and will go on to represent PSU at
ALUMNI IN THE NEWS: GRZEGORZ WIKTOR On April 13, PSU Accounting alumnus ‘14 Grzegorz (Greg) Wiktor was recognized by the American Institute for CPAs (AICPA) as a winner of the 2015 Elijah Watt Sells Award. The award is given to CPA candidates who have obtained a cumulative average score above 95.50 across all four sections of the Uniform CPA Examination, passed all four sections of the examination on their first attempt and completed testing in 2015.
FRIENDS OF THE ACCOUNTING PROGRAM The School of Business Administration would like like to thank all the individuals and companies who support the accounting program. The following generous individuals and companies made contributions between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016. 2015-2016 Accounting Circle Members (in green)
the BAP National meeting this summer. I am very proud of our students’ accomplishments including Elijah Sells awards, scholarships, BAP leadership roles, BAP competition awards, internships and job placements! I would like to thank all of the accounting community and faculty who support our accounting program. Alumni, Accounting Advisory Board members, BAP Advisory Board members, and the local accounting community support our program continually by serving as instructors and mentors, hiring students, and contributing to student scholarships and accounting programs. I would like thank every one of you who have helped contribute in various ways to our students’ success! Regards, Kathy Rupley Accounting Area Director
A total of 93,742 individuals sat for the Examination in 2015, with 75 candidates meeting the criteria to receive the Elijah Watt Sells Award. Greg was born in Poland and immigrated to Portland with his parents at the age of five. After finishing high school, he moved back to Poland to pursue his undergraduate degree. Upon graduation, Greg relocated back to Portland with the goal of becoming a CPA. Greg has always been interested in how businesses operate, especially from a financial perspective. He took his first accounting
INDIVIDUALS $5,000+ Dick Solomon and Alyce Flitcraft Raymond and Marilyn Johnson Ed Wistos $2,500 to $4,999 Les and Nancy Fahey $1,000 to $2,499 Elizabeth and Anthony Almer Jim Brown Carole Bentley Darrell Brown Raymond Cheung Ron Chu Drew and Sarah Corrigan Debra Degener Matthew and Nell Fahey Al and Nina Fleckenstein Rick and Deborah Hawkins Trina Headley Jessica Hoffman
classes in high school and loved them. The career possibilities with an accounting degree got him even more interested in this field. Dedication and hard work allowed Greg to win one of the most recognized awards within the profession. It also led to a position as an Assurance Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) in Seattle, Washington. Read his full Q&A at pdx.edu/sba/profile
Gary Homsley Robert Jarrett and Jill Laney Dennis Johnson Erika Kelley Lynn and Harry Kingston Marilyn and John Lindgren Donna Philbrick Brian Reynolds Don and Melinda Riggs James Rinella Don and Marilyn Schmidt Teresa Spada and David Weiner John Sohl and Diana Thompson Craig Vagt Karin Wandtke $500 to $999 Judy Dauble Constance and Ross Degerstedt John Doel Becky Einolf Karen Hinsdale and Michael Preisz Raphael Larson
Sally Lovett Paul Messner Jim Miller Liesl Nebel COMPANIES $5,000+ Cambia Health Geffen, Mesher & Company P.C. KPMG LLP Moss Adams, LLP Tax Executives Institute, Inc. $1,000 to $2,499 Deloitte & Touche, LLP Grant Thornton Foundation Irvine & Co Perkins & Company Toyota Matching Gifts to Education $500 to $999 United Way of the Columbia/Willamette
FACULTY UPDATES
FACULTY ON THE MOVE THE ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT IS ANNOUNCING THE RETIREMENT OF TWO PROFESSORS AND WELCOMING A NEW ASSISTANT PROFESSOR. Donna R. Philbrick (Professor of Accounting) and Darrell Brown (Professor of Accounting, Accounting Alumni Faculty Fellow, Les Fahey/KMPG Accounting Faculty Fellow) have collectively served for nearly five decades at the School of Business. They both will retire at the end of the 2016 academic year. Dr. Philbrick joined the School of Business in 1989 and since then has taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate financial accounting courses. In recognition of her teaching contributions, Philbrick received the SBA Excellence in Teaching Award. The accolade underpins her excellent reputation within the student community. “I owe Dr. Philbrick a great deal of thanks and gratitude for her teaching and lessons. She is the professor I remember the most from PSU and where I gained the greatest experience…,” said a former MBA student. Dr. Philbrick also received the SBA Excellence in Research Award. Her primary research interests are in the areas of financial analyst’s forecasts and securities litigation. Her work has been published in, among others, The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Accounting and Economics, and Contemporary Accounting Research. Dr. Philbrick has a B.S. from the University of Oregon and an M.B.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell University. Dr. Brown began his career at the School of Business in 1994. During his tenure, he has taught ten different courses related to accounting information systems, managerial accounting, and metrics for sustainability. Brown played
an integral part in the creation of the Graduate Certificate in Sustainability. The motivation for Brown’s research was always the belief that social and environmental impacts should affect business actions. He utilized metrics to make those effects comprehensible. In particular, Brown has studied corporate social and environmental reporting, the relationship between business reporting and transparency, and the correlation between social and environmental reporting and firm performance. Brown has served on the editorial boards of Issues in Accounting Education, The Journal of Information Systems and The International Journal of Information Systems. Brown has a B.S. in Forestry, an M.B.A. from the University of Montana, and a Ph.D. from the University of Utah. Matthew B. Kaufman will be joining the faculty in fall 2016 to succeed Darrel Brown. Matt, an Oregon native who previously was an auditor with Deloitte Portland and worked in corporate accounting positions with Monaco Coach and Floragenix, will be receiving his Ph.D. in Accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He will be teaching Accounting Information Systems. His primary research interests relate to the intersection of management control, internal control, and accounting information systems. We’re excited to have Matt join our faculty! The School thanks Philbrick and Brown, who have influenced many students and faculty over the years for their service, and welcomes Kaufman.
Cass Hausserman published “The influence of guilt cognitions on taxpayers’ voluntary disclosures” in Journal of Business Ethics. She was awarded a $6,000 (CND) grant for a project entitled, “Taxpayer responses to tax authority privacy breaches.” She also made the following presentations: “The Effect of Tax Incentives on the Decision to Contribute to Charitable Organizations: Motivational Crowding In or Crowding Out?” (American Taxation Association Midyear Meeting), “Inducing Creativity in Accountants’ Task Performance: The Effects of Background, Environment, and Feedback” (American Accounting Association (AAA) Western Region Meeting), “Don’t get even, get rich: The influence of financial incentives, revenge, and proximity on tax whistleblowing” (UW – Madison PhD Alumni Conference), and “The Effect of Tax Incentives on the Decision to Contribute to Charitable Organizations: An Experimental Investigation” (George Mason University Behavioral Tax Symposium). Darrel Brown published “Voluntary Environmental Disclosure Quality and Firm Value: Further Evidence” in Journal of Accounting and Public Policy. He also published Ecosystem Services of Streams and Rivers, in River Systems: Research and Management for the 21st Century and authored the chapter “SBA Undergraduate Business Strategy/Capstone Program: The value of working with community-based partners,” for an upcoming book: Let Knowledge Serve the City. Elizabeth Almer published “Tenure-Track Opt-Outs: Leakages from the Academic Pipeline” in Advances in Accounting Education and was appointed to serve as Associate Editor at Journal of Accounting Education. Elizabeth Almer and Kathy Rupley served as Associate Editors for Advances in Accounting. Joleen Kremin and Elizabeth Almer presented “The Impact of Leadership Style of Auditor Job Outcomes” at BYU Research Symposium and the Western Region American Accounting Association Meeting. Joleen Kremin published “Attracting Applicants for In-House and Outsourced Internal Audit Positions: Views from External Auditors” in Accounting Horizons and “Growing Up: How Audit Internships Affects Students’ Commitment and Long-Term Intentions to Work in Public Accounting” in Issues in Accounting Education. Kathy Rupley presented “Industry Contagion Effects of Internal Control Material Weaknesses” at the OSU Advances in Accounting Conference. Kristi Yuthas published a chapter, “Performance over Promises,” in Broken Pumps and Promises: Incentivizing Impact in Environmental Health. She also presented “Dialogical Framing of Accounting Information Systems in Social and Environmental Domains: Examples from Microfinance” at the International Symposium on Information Systems and “Social Enterprise in Vietnam and the US, Observations and Interpretations’ at the Foreign Trade University International Scholars workshop.
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ACCOUNTING ALUMNI NEWSLETTER
What’s Inside LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR FACULTY ON THE MOVE FACULTY UPDATES ALUMNI NEWS FRIENDS OF THE ACCOUNTING PROGRAM AWARD WINNING BAP STUDENTS
AWARD WINNING BAP STUDENTS Attending this year’s Regional Meeting were Prescott Thompson, Abbie Therow, Kristen Palmer, Mary Shaw, Stephanie Shao, Sean Baker, Katie Conrad and Joel Morris (back row from left) along with Faculty Advisors Dr. Elizabeth Almer and Kelly Lutz.
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS BETA ALPHA PSI CHAPTER TAKES HOME TWO MAJOR AWARDS Beta Alpha Psi (BAP) Epsilon Alpha Chapter earned two awards in the Best Practices competition sponsored by Deloitte during the 2016 Northwest Regional Meeting held in Spokane, WA on Saturday, April 9th. It was an exciting day in which Katie Conrad, VP of Marketing, and Joel Morris, Director of Best Practices, won first place in the Leadership & Management competition. They presented on two new initiatives of the chapter, a project driven community service option that gives students more leadership opportunities and the creation of an operation manual to guide student leaders through the transition between officers each year. As part of their first place win, Katie and Joel will represent Portland State University and compete at the BAP National Meeting in Baltimore, MD this August. The excitement continued when Abbie Therrow, VP of Competitions, and Stephanie Shao, VP of Communications, took third place in the Good or Great competition. They presented the chapter’s establishment of a BAP Alumni Advisory Board along with the chapter’s role in assisting the School of Business Administration to grow the Accounting Mentorship Program. Both of these initiatives have been highly successful and the chapter is truly grateful to the new BAP Alumni Advisory Board for their support and guidance this year. Prior to the competition the BAP alumni advisory board provided feedback to polish their winning presentations. The alumni’s feedback was crucial to their success!
“This entire group of students represents the essential qualities needed for success. Their dedication, cooperation, enthusiasm, and professionalism in preparation for this competition resulted in their impressive achievement this past weekend. Their commitment to representing Portland State University at the highest level is commendable,” said Kelly Lutz, Accounting instructor. Congratulations to all the accounting students who worked so hard to win this competition. BAP HAPPENINGS This year under the leadership of 2015 PSU accounting alumni Jessica Hoffman (Deloitte), a Beta Alpha Psi Advisory Board was formed to help support our BAP chapter in providing professional development opportunities to PSU accounting students. The board serves as an active advocate for PSU, SBA, and BAP in the community, assists in generating accounting professionals to serve as mentors for PSU accounting students, and provides feedback on “Best Practices” presentations for BAP regional meetings. Other board members include PSU accounting alumni Brett Davis (Cambia), Erika Kelley (Intel), Michael Lu (EY), Paul Messner (Grant Thornton) and Amber Schultz (Moss Adams).
Please support the accounting program. Gifts to the accounting program enable us to provide scholarships; enhance faculty development, recruitment and retention; and cultivate our reputation for quality. Please consider making a gift online:
www.foundation.pdx.edu/publicgift