For the last few years, we’ve heard the slogan “America Counts on CPAs.” Recently, an accounting industry communication touted a new campaign: “The world needs CPAs!” This statement probably reflects several realities about today’s business environment. First, the mindset of business and accounting professionals has to be a global one. Secondly, even in severe economic downturns and in the midst of a worldwide financial crisis, there are fundamental accounting/financial skills that are essential for success in governments, as well as private sector enterprises of all types.
Appropriately, becoming a CPA now requires more knowledge than ever before. Aspiring accountants in almost all U.S. jurisdictions need to complete 150 credit hours before they can be licensed as a CPA. Some undergraduates can accumulate 150 credit hours in four years but the majority of students will need a fifth year of education to reach the 150-hour threshold. At William and Mary this reality has led us to construct an efficient undergraduate program that allows accounting students to plan an individual broad-based (even multi-disciplinary) business foundation. Our fifth year, culminating in a Master’s degree in Accounting, leverages the undergraduate experience to build depth in an increasingly complex subject matter that has become global in its applications.
It is one of my great satisfactions as Assistant Dean of Accounting programs at the William and Mary School of Business, to know that we truly are preparing some of the best-qualified graduates on the market today. Our accounting programs at both the undergraduate and master’s levels were recognized by a national poll of accounting educators (conducted by Public Accounting Report) as #1 in the small school category for 2009. How did this happen? A long-term history of graduating very successful accounting professionals is probably at the root of this outcome. Also, our programs’ structures and curricula have been carefully planned to meet rapidly evolving industry conditions.
We also admit highly qualified, non-accounting undergraduates into our fifth year that begins with an intensive summer “bootcamp” immersion. As this piece is written, we have just begun that process for more than 30 students who are members of the Class of 2011. Historically, these students are equally successful in the classroom and beyond.
Next month we welcome our largest fifth year class ever—just over 90 students! These students have likely already heard the slogan “The world needs CPAs!”
Now it’s our job to get them ready to meet that need.
