On behalf of the Department of Accounting at The University of Texas at Austin, I would like to thank you for your kind gift. Your contributions cover the “extras” that the state does not fund, giving our programs the edge that allows them to remain among the top programs in the country.

The meaning of your contribution will truly come alive when you realize the growth it initiates in our students and faculty members. Here, we bring you stories of those who directly benefit from your gift and become better educators, students and leaders.

Your gift benefits those who will make you proud as they branch out in their professional lives and contribute exponentially to global accounting knowledge.

Urton Anderson
Professor and Chair
Department of Accounting

Ways to Give

“The Accounting Careers Exploration (ACE) course takes the mystery out of job opportunities for MPAs,” says Professor and MPA Faculty Director Stephen Limberg.

“Job descriptions come alive with examples, cases and day-in-the-life illustrations,” he says. Many of the guest speakers are also alumni. “It’s truly a privilege to have such strong supporters,” he says. The course’s 240 students are divided into teams of ten, each with an enthusiastic team leader, a graduate teaching assistant funded through donor contributions.

Fifth-year MPA student Michael Bird was one such team leader. He took on the job because he wanted to share his experiences as a fellow MPA student and as an intern at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, and to act as a sounding board and advisor to the students. “I know how it is to feel overwhelmed with the demands of the MPA program and to feel anxiety about recruiting. I think it’s good for the third-year students to talk with someone who has gone through it and can give them comforting advice,” Michael says.

ACE student group leaders are role models who build leadership skills while mentoring their junior classmates. “They take full responsibility for their team, facilitating discussions and sharing personal program and internship experience,” Professor Limberg explains. Their contributions are a big plus for third-year students who gain unique insights about courses, tracks, interviewing, working, and opportunities beyond.

Student Information

• MPA Student Profile
• MPA Student Placement

Study abroad holds enriching opportunities; especially when students are empowered with tools to meet the challenges of a foreign culture beforehand.

MPA student Stephanie Wei traveled to Hong Kong and China with the Accounting summer study abroad program, and in preparation for her trip, she took advantage of language tutoring made possible by donor gifts to the Department of Accounting. “Even though I am Chinese American, there are many differences between living in China and the United States,” she says.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) partners with the Center for International Business Education and Research and the Department of Accounting for the study abroad program. Courses are taught by CUHK and McCombs faculty and include background on the history, culture and the current economic and political situations in Hong Kong and China.

Professor Ross Jennings appreciates the impact the program has on his teaching. “Asian countries will be tremendously important in the future, in terms of the world economy, and of course in accounting,” he says. “We focus on the diversity of accounting practice around the world, the implications for preparers, auditors and users of financial statements, and the role of the United States in the ongoing efforts to harmonize accounting standards worldwide.”

For Stephanie, the donor-funded Chinese language training held implications beyond successfully navigating her journey in Hong Kong. She says this type of program demonstrates that McCombs is not only open to other cultures, but actively promotes learning from a global viewpoint.

Each summer, a group of Texas high school students explores the broad spectrum of jobs in the accounting field at the McCombs Accounting Career Awareness Program (ACAP). ACAP welcomes academically talented teens interested in accounting who may be socially or economically disadvantaged, or will be the first members of their families to attend college.

Ernst and Young, the National Association of Black Accountants, the Austin Chapter of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants, the Lower Colorado River Authority and AXA Advisors are a big part of what makes ACAP happen, says Florence Atiase, professor and program coordinator. “They do everything from contributing funding to volunteering their time and offering student scholarships and internships,” she says.

Current MPA students Brandon Chang and Jacqueline Garcia attended ACAP in 2005. Brandon says that ACAP was his first experience at the University and the McCombs School and he was instantly impressed. “All the professors and advisors I met were extremely encouraging and the facilities in the business school just amazed me,” he says. Hearing from professionals working in the field was the most interesting aspect of the camp. “It definitely built my interest in accounting,” he says.

“I got a sense of what the profession was about, and it made me more confident in my decision to choose accounting as my major,” says Jacqueline. At that point, she was sure she wanted to be part of the No. 1 accounting program in the nation.

In recent years, 88 to 100 percent of former ACAP participants have enrolled as business majors, translating into a more diverse study body at McCombs.

As a research assistant to world-renowned Professor Bill Kinney, Marcy Shepardson has the chance to do hands-on research that makes a difference, in both scholarly and personal terms. Thanks to the generosity of department donors who fund her position, she has built skills that have far-reaching implications for her as a Ph.D. student and future professor.

Marcy began her work by replicating a prior study of Kinney’s with the help of a data source purchased with donor funds. Marcy counts the contacts she made with other scholars around the country as a definite job perk. “I was able to ask questions of Bill’s coauthors, people with whom I likely never would have interacted,” she says. The advantages of working with Marcy are not lost on Professor Kinney, either. “Marcy can manipulate and integrate databases much better than I can, and she has insights from her professional experience that are directly applicable to what we’re studying.”

Whether shedding light on the technical content of accounting standards, the education of students in auditing standards, or general interaction with academics and standard setters, Marcy says the education she has gained by working with Professor Kinney surpasses any of her learning experiences thus far. “The general knowledge I’ve attained will carry through my entire academic career, and the specific line of research will likely continue for me for the foreseeable future,” she says.

The spirit of our most fervent Department of Accounting champions is exemplified by Bill Ihlanfeldt, Frank Maresh, Liz Yant and Don Wagner, winners of the Department of Accounting Texas Star Award.

Many of our graduates know 2007 Texas Star and partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Liz Yant, BBA ’77, MPA ’78, as an enthusiastic recruiter of Texas accounting students. She says proudly, “The University of Texas at Austin is PwC’s largest single recruiting source. Texas graduates are consistently great performers.”

Thanks to Yant, the PricewaterhouseCoopers Excellence Fund, a new endowment in Accounting, is funded by generous gifts from friends and fellow alumni at PwC. “Texas alumni at PwC understand and appreciate the jump-start their UT accounting education afforded them, so they want to show their support,” Yant says.

Don Wagner, BBA ’71, MPA ’72, retired Deloitte partner and 2008 Texas Star, explains, “Solid grounding in the principles of accounting theory, taxation, information systems and related technical areas makes Texas graduates smart hires for Deloitte.”

Wagner has been working toward the establishment of the Larry Jones/Deloitte Foundation Fellowship in Accounting in memory of Jones, fellow Texas Accounting graduate, Deloitte partner, and longtime friend of the department. In 1991, he was also the force behind the upgrade of the Deloitte & Touche fellowship to a professorship and Deloitte’s $1 million gift (matched with $1 million from the McCombs matching gift program).

“The university’s accounting department has meant so much to my career that it is natural to want to return the favor,” Wagner says, adding, “It is up to all of us to keep improving the talent going into the accounting profession, and there is no better source of talent than The University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Accounting.”