Recession or not, there is a constant need for public accountants. Likewise there is a need for graduate-\u00adlevel accounting programs to fill this demand. Yet, while many of these programs only seek applicants with undergraduate accounting degrees, Vanderbilt\u2019s yearlong Master of Accountancy (MAcc) program takes a decidedly different approach. The high-performing individuals who enroll in the MAcc program come from a variety of academic backgrounds. Many, in fact, have liberal arts degrees. What\u2019s more, the program goes a step further than most by providing not only the technical knowledge to practice accounting\u2014around 90 percent of MAcc graduates pass the certified public accountant (CPA) exam within eight months of graduation\u2014but also the crucial business skills, like teamwork and communication, to succeed professionally.<\/p>\n
The Idea<\/h2>\nKarl Hackenbrack<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
There were high hopes for the MAcc program when it launched in 2007, but no one quite expected it to come as far as it has in such a short period of time. The program is already attracting the kind of talented applicants it hoped it would. If anyone deserves credit for this rapid success, it is Associate Professor of Management Karl Hackenbrack, who has guided the program from its very beginning.<\/p>\n
With an impressive background that includes numerous professional achievements and a long tenure at the University of Florida\u2019s Fisher School of Accounting, Hackenbrack saw a constant demand for entry-level professionals in the audit service line of public accounting firms. But he also noticed that many new hires lacked the so-called \u201csoft skills\u201d\u2014communication, teamwork and leadership\u2014that are needed in today\u2019s client\u00adoriented professional services firms.<\/p>\n
Hackenbrack, therefore, designed the MAcc program, along with Dean Jim Bradford and others, as a way to fill both of these needs. The students, who come primarily from liberal arts backgrounds, are selected for their breadth of experience, diversity of interests and people skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t encumbered by the traditional idea of what an accounting program should look like,\u201d Hackenbrack says. \u201cWe were given the freedom to build something that makes sense for the world that we\u2019re facing today. So we leaned heavily on experience and relationships with those in the public accounting profession to spec out what is sensible today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The partnerships that Hackenbrack has forged give MAcc graduates a direct path to employment at firms like Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Grant Thornton.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Vanderbilt MAcc program has proven to be a great source of new hires for us,\u201d says Sam DeVane, Managing Partner at Ernst & Young\u2019s Nashville office and an advisory board member for the program. \u201cKarl has done an outstanding job in creating the program and preparing students who are truly ready to be successful in our business.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Faculty<\/h2>\nFrom left, William Henderson, Gary Scudder and Nicole Jenkins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The faculty members of the MAcc program have expertise in a variety of areas and provide their students with a well-rounded business education. Students have the opportunity to learn the technical side of accounting, auditing and taxation from seasoned instructors, several of whom have years of experience at public accounting firms. Yet students also receive a managerial perspective by taking coursework with MBA students\u2014from managerial economics and business law to information systems and ethics.<\/p>\n
Associate Professor of Management Nicole Thorne Jenkins, a CPA and former Big Four auditor who teaches financial reporting, says her MAcc students, most of whom have liberal arts degrees, are as well or better prepared than many undergraduates with accounting or business degrees.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople think accountants are in an office working by themselves\u2014kind of loners\u2014but when you\u2019re in public accounting you\u2019re consulting as a business professional and interacting with clients,\u201d she says. \u201cThe liberal arts exposure that our students have makes them well-suited for the profession.\u201d<\/p>\n
William Henderson, Professor of the Practice of Tax Accounting, who spent 37 years with KPMG, is impressed with the MAcc students\u2019 classroom performance. He notes that they are outpacing his MBA students on grades despite generally having no business experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have a lot of time, and there\u2019s so much to cover,\u201d he says. \u201cThe students put a lot into one year\u2019s time. It\u2019s a tremendously intense program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gary Scudder, the Justin Potter Professor of Operations Management, teaches a broad-based class on business fundamentals, such as supply chain management, which is demonstrated through simulations. Such exercises give the students a context for the accounting and auditing work they will be doing for a variety of business clients.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get really motivated, smart students,\u201d Scudder says. \u201cThey\u2019re taking hard courses and lots of them. If they can handle that pace, they can succeed in a public accounting firm.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Advisers<\/h2>\nFrom left, Greg Anglum, Dion Sheidy, Thomas Aaron and Randy Laszewski (not pictured: Sam DeVane)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The MAcc program benefits from an advisory board that includes executives from all of the major public accounting firms. Their guidance in shaping the program has resulted in exceptionally high placement rates for the program\u2019s graduates.<\/p>\n
The advisers say it is not the technical skills, but rather the interpersonal ones, that make a successful accountant. They have specifically requested that program administrators attract and develop students with the potential for leadership in the profession.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe technical side is important\u2014you\u2019ve got to have the basics\u2014but we\u2019ll build on that with new employees,\u201d says board member Randy Laszewski, Managing Partner at KPMG in Nashville. He describes his input as \u201ca buyer\u2019s perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we really need are good, mature people who are analytical, business-minded thinkers and who have good communication skills. That\u2019s more important than just being able to cite accounting rules,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Board member Sam DeVane, who is Managing Partner with Ernst & Young in Nashville, adds, \u201cPeople have the impression of accountants as backroom types, but you can\u2019t operate behind the scenes and enjoy success in our profession. You\u2019ve got to be on the front line every day interacting with clients. Focused client interaction is the only way we\u2019re successful.\u201d<\/p>\n
In just three years the program has far exceeded the advisers\u2019 expectations, says Greg Anglum, BA\u201992, MBA\u201993, Partner at Grant Thornton in Raleigh, N.C. The only board member who is an Owen alumnus, Anglum has a unique stake in seeing the MAcc program succeed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all big fans of the program,\u201d he says, \u201cand we all say the same thing: Don\u2019t change what you\u2019re doing in terms of developing these students because they\u2019re really top-notch.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Internship<\/h2>\nAshley Kushner and Madison Hampden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
As part of the MAcc program, each student spends 10 weeks interning for a major public accounting firm. Last year Ashley Kushner, BA\u201909, MAcc\u201910, and Madison Hampden, MAcc\u201910, took part in an internship at Deloitte\u2019s office in Hyderabad, India, where they got not only a taste of the auditing work they will be doing as accounting professionals but also a firsthand look at the globalization of business.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to travel abroad and do business,\u201d Hampden says. \u201cIndia and China are where the big growth is going to happen in the next 20 to 30 years, and it was great to see that myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deloitte\u2019s 1,000\u00adperson India office supports American operations by taking up unfinished work after the U.S. workday is done. This 24\u00adhour work cycle increases efficiency and provides a competitive advantage, says MAcc advisory board member Jim Brady, CEO of Deloitte\u2019s Assurance & Enterprise Risk Services operation in India.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really telling how important this part of the company is and how important it\u2019s going to become,\u201d Kushner says.<\/p>\n
The students worked long hours but fit in sightseeing at the Taj Mahal and in the Golden Triangle region of Agra, Delhi and Jaipur.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey worked really hard and did good work, and I think both were changed by the experience of living abroad in an emerging market\u2014one of the fastest growing economies in the world,\u201d Brady says of Hampden and Kushner. \u201cIt\u2019s life\u00ad-changing. You realize it\u2019s a global world, not a U.S.\u00ad-centered world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Hampden and Kushner accepted full-time jobs with Deloitte. And both plan to work abroad as part of their long-term career plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so glad I went to India because now I know I want to go back,\u201d Kushner says. \u201cWherever the need is around the globe, if I have the skills, I\u2019ll seek out that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Testimonial<\/h2>\nSteve and Katie Appel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
When Katie Appel, BA\u201908, MAcc\u201909, chose to enter the MAcc program, no one was more surprised than her father, Steve Appel, Partner in Charge of KPMG\u2019s Southern Coastal Business Unit and a member of the MAcc advisory board.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very happy, but pretty shocked, honestly,\u201d says Steve, who thought she would choose law school. \u201cShe\u2019s always been far more verbal, so I thought the law thing made sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
After comparing the two career paths, Katie, who majored in communications and Spanish at Vanderbilt, decided the MAcc program was a better fit. She now works at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Nashville.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just starting to see the takeaways from this career,\u201d Katie says. \u201cWith my CPA and work experience at a Big Four, I can set myself up for the same type of job in business I would have wanted with a law degree\u2014and in less time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plus, she says, she will have opportunities to fulfill another dream: working in South America, where she can use her language skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe markets are really ramping up in Brazil. It\u2019s nice to know I could work abroad through my own company,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Steve says he is thrilled with Katie\u2019s choice\u2014and with Vanderbilt\u2019s MAcc program. His own company hired half a dozen graduates from the Class of 2010.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got all these kids with different backgrounds, and in a year they become CPA-eligible, well-rounded professionals who have already done internships with a Big Four accounting firm,\u201d he says. \u201cIt puts them in position for all these opportunities. It doesn\u2019t get better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Recession or not, there is a constant need for public accountants. Likewise there is a need for graduate-\u00adlevel accounting programs to fill this demand. Yet, while many of these programs only seek applicants with undergraduate accounting degrees, Vanderbilt\u2019s yearlong Master of Accountancy (MAcc) program takes a decidedly different approach. The high-performing individuals who enroll in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[34],"class_list":["post-1940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-departments","tag-fall2010"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1940"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8845,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1940\/revisions\/8845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Karl](\"https:\/\/magazine.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/legacy\/2010\/11\/karl-hackenbrack.jpg\" "\\"Karl")
![\"Faculty\"](\"https:\/\/magazine.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/legacy\/2010\/11\/faculty-numbers.jpg\" "\\"From")
![\"From](\"https:\/\/magazine.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/legacy\/2010\/11\/advisers-numbers.jpg\" "\\"From")
![\"Ashley](\"https:\/\/magazine.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/legacy\/2010\/11\/internship-numbers.jpg\" "\\"Ashley")
![\"Faculty\"](\"https:\/\/magazine.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/legacy\/2010\/11\/testimonial-numbers.jpg\" "\\"Steve")