Each year Brigham Young University (BYU) publishes accounting rankings for universities based on classifications of peer reviewed articles in 11 accounting journals. The McCombs School of Business accounting faculty have once again topped the list for All Publications for 2012, an honor they've earned each year since 1990 when BYU first began compiling the rankings.

Our faculty is constantly striving to push the boundaries of accounting research, and these rankings highlight this dedication. It is with pride that we share this recognition of all their hard work!

We are extremely pleased to announce that the following third-year MPA students received an Unrestricted Endowed Presidential Scholarship (UEPS) for the 2013-2014 academic year: Candice DiPaolo, Andrew Hainline, Joshua Hu, Ashley Wallace, Wenting Wang.

The UEPS program was created in 1973 to make substantial scholarships available to outstanding UT students. Departmental nominations go to a president-appointed scholarship committee that selects recipients from across campus.

Join us in congratulating these students and thanking faculty members, Gretchen Charrier and Kristina Zvinakis, who gave their valuable time in selecting the nominees.

It has just been announced that James Braun, BBA '11 and MPA '11, earned the 2012 Elijah Watt Sells Award for his outstanding performance on the CPA Examination. More than 92,000 candidates sat for the exam last year, and only 39 met the requirements for the award. Those recognized earned a cumulative average score above 95.50 across all four sections of the CPA exam, completed testing during the 2012 calendar year, and passed all four sections on their first attempt.

James is currently employed with Ernst & Young LLP in Houston. Congratulations James!

David Patterson, Scott Huff, Maggie Hood, Michelle Niakan, David O’Neil took 1^st place nationally in the 2013 Deloitte FanTAXtic Case competition, held January 18-20th at Deloitte University in Dallas,TX. They competed against 15 other teams, ultimately defeating defending champion, the College of William and Mary, to take home awards of $10,000 for the University of Texas and $2,000 per student.

The competition begins when the team is given their case approximately 3 weeks prior to the event. Each student puts in about 20 hours researching the case and developing a presentation of their recommendations. The day of the competition, they were given new facts and 90 minutes to integrate those facts into their presentation.

Faculty Advisor Professor Terri Holbrook worked hard coaching the team to victory. “We competed against students from some of the top Tax programs in the country, and the case dealt with extremely complex issues, but our team was prepared for the challenge and worked together to deliver the winning solution.  They were a First Class Act!”

Dain Donelson will be joining the Department of Accounting as an assistant professor. Dain was hired by the Business Law Group (now BGS) in 2007 in order to conduct research in Accounting and Law. From a research perspective, Professor Donelson has been a highly-contributing member of the Accounting Department. During his time at the University of Texas at Austin, Dain has published five papers in "A-level" journals in Accounting, and five papers in highly-regarded Law journals. He will be teaching Intermediate Accounting in the fall.

Welcome to the Department, Professor Donelson!

Join us in welcoming our newest lecturer, Donna Johnston Blair, to the Department of Accounting! Donna comes from Santa Clara University where she was a lecturer for the Leavey School of Business. Ms. Johnston-Blair has served as an International Tax consultant for two of the Big Eight accounting firms. She is also the co-author of a Management Accounting textbook and an International Tax Guide to the the Oil and Gas Industry.

U.S. News & World Report ranked the Department of Accounting's undergraduate program number one for the seventh year in a row!