May 2, 2007
Emily Shafron, MPA ’07, Selected for Prestigious GASB Internship

MPA student Emily Shafron has been selected for a one-year Postgraduate Technical Internship (PTI) with the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) in Norwalk, CT. Competition for the internships is intense, with only three applicants selected nationwide each year.

Candidates for the PTI program must be nominated by a member of their school’s accounting department and approved by the dean or department chairperson. Professor Bill Kinney, who nominated Shafron, said she was the ideal candidate.

“During her undergraduate program in corporate finance at McCombs, Shafron maintained a 3.88 GPA while working two part-time jobs and has maintained a 4.0 GPA in her graduate accounting classes,” Kinney said. “She also displays a maturity and ability to deal with ambiguity and conflicting objectives that will serve her well at the GASB.”

PTI interns provide research support for various projects and help answer comment letters or questions from the public about newly issued standards. She will also work behind the scenes building evidence for one position on upcoming standards versus another. She looks forward to presenting her findings to the board when it meets to deliberate about new rules.

“I think formulating all of the information I have gathered into a concise presentation will be the most interesting part of my internship,” she says.

Shafron sought the internship because she is interested in how the workings of the government affect every person in the United States.

“From paying sales and income taxes, to attending public universities, our lives are affected daily by the way the government allocates and spends funds,” she says.

Shafron will begin work with the GASB in July 2007 after graduating in May. Upon completion of her internship, she plans to pursue a Ph.D. in accounting, focusing her studies on accounting standards.