2014-2015 Annual Report
June, 2015
Executive Summary
Graduates of the Accounting program continue to have success obtaining employment and on the CPA Exam. Faculty members are active in academic and professional organizations, maintain their professional and academic qualifications, and continue to publish academic, professional, and educational materials.
Annual Report 2014-2015
Accounting Program
Mission Statement
The School of Accounting is a learning community committed to preparing students to be principled and engaged professionals who are able to apply accounting and business knowledge for the betterment of individuals and organizations. We value an environment of educational excellence in which: (1) students develop both technical and interpersonal skills necessary for successful professional accounting careers; (2) faculty create and disseminate meaningful intellectual contributions and actively participate in the academic and professional communities; and (3) stakeholders, including alumni, recruiters and others, desire long-term and mutually beneficial relationships with the School.
Undergraduate Mission:
The mission of the undergraduate accounting program is to prepare students for entry into high-quality graduate programs and for positions in business that do not require postgraduate
education. Since the BBA degree is part of the College of Business, it reflects the distinctive competencies of the College. In addition, the program delivers foundation accounting courses to all students in the College of Business and to students in a variety of programs across the University.
Graduate Mission:
The mission of the graduate accounting program is to provide a strong regional presence for advanced professional education that prepares students for success in the accounting profession by strengthening the students’ technical expertise, enhancing their understanding of
professional responsibility, and improving their business skills necessary to compete in today’s complex and changing business environment.
I. 2014/2015 Academic Programs
Student Success:
The School’s undergraduate mission is to prepare students for entry level employment or admission to quality graduate programs. The School’s graduate mission is to prepare students for entry to the accounting profession.
The School is notably successful in both these missions. Eight-three percent of 2014/15 BBA graduates had obtained employment or been admitted to a graduate program prior to
graduation. Ninety-four percent of the Masters graduates had obtained employment prior to graduation. Starting salaries average around $ 60,000.
University initiatives: In conjunction with the most recent accreditation, the University implemented a campus-wide emphasis on ethical reasoning. Professor Louwers from the School contributed to the development of this initiative. Ethics has always been an integral part the accounting curriculum.
Ethical Reasoning: The overwhelming majority of the School’s graduates enter the public
accounting profession, the only private profession with public responsibilities. While the Madison Collaborative encouraged integration of ethical reasoning throughout curricula, little change was necessary in the accounting curriculum. Responsibility for full and fair disclosure (i.e. the public trust) is a fundamental precept of accounting and is reinforced in every course. Additionally, specific courses stress the prevention and detection of fraud and compliance with laws, regulations and the profession’s Code of Conduct.
II. Funding
The School of Accounting is an academic unit of the College of Business and is not separately funded through the University. The School is separate, however, with respect to private support.
Student Financial Assistance Approximately $ 25,000 in scholarships were awarded to
rising masters students. These were provided by support from major employers and earnings on School endowments. In addition, one of our masters students received a scholarship from the Public Companies Accounting Oversight Board in the amount of $ 10,000. The Sarbanes Oxley Act requires that a portion of penalties imposed on companies whose accounting disclosures are judged to be unsatisfactory be used to provide scholarships for students studying accounting and auditing.
Endowment: The School has approximately $ 1 million in endowments intended to support student scholarships and faculty development and scholarship. The School’s endowments have grown over 100% since 2009.
Annual giving: The School receives approximately $ 130,000 per year from alumni,
employers and others which is used to support student trips and scholarships and faculty development and scholarship. Included in these amount are funds provided by employers through faculty scholarships and professorships.
Employer support: Twelve firms sponsored annual faculty scholarships, providing
funds to support faculty or professional development activities. Four faculty hold professorships supported by endowments or continuing donor commitments. Faculty scholarship and professorships are summarized in the following table:
Faculty Scholarships Professorships
Baker Tilly BDO
Cherry Bekaert Deloitte
Dixon Hughes Goodman Grant Thornton
Hantzmon Wiebel LLC Johnson Lambert
McGladrey PBMares LLP
Robinson Farmer Cox Veris Consulting KPMG Professorships (2) Journal of Accounting Education Professorship Jackson E. Ramsey Centennial Chair
III. Ratings and Recognitions
Accreditation: The School of Accounting and its programs are separately accredited by the
Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). The School was
reaccredited in the fall of 2011. The School is scheduled to apply for reaccreditation in 2016.
Reputation among employers: The professional services industry is dominated by four
international accounting firms (called the Big-4). These firms rank schools on the basis of number and quality of graduates hired as entry-level staff. Generally speaking, the top tier includes 35 to 60 schools, nationwide. James Madison University is now ranked in the highest tier by three of the firms on their national ranking. The fourth firm does not have a national ranking, but ranks by region. Again, JMU is ranked in the top tier of its MidAtlantic region.
Faculty Scholarship: A study appearing in a 2014 issue of the American Accounting
Association’s 2014 Issues in Accounting Education ranks the JMU School of Accounting in the top five universities in the area of accounting education research. David Fordham, David Hayes and Tim Louwers who were ranked 11th, 21st and 41st respectively in terms of
publication productivity from among the 15,000 accounting faculty in the country.
IV. Other Accomplishments
STUDENT ACTIVITIES
Student Placement: The School conducts a census of graduating seniors and masters
students from which placement statistics are derived. These are summarized in the following table:
BBA Graduates MSA Graduates Plans after graduation – Graduate School
Found Employment Seeking Employment 64 % 19 % 17 % - 94 % 6 %
Plans after graduation: Employment:
Accepted Offers:
Public Accounting - National Accounting Firms - Other Accounting Firms Financial Services Consulting Government 40 % 32 % 20 % 8 % 5 % 74 % 16 % 10 % Salary < $ 40,000 40,001 – 45,000 45,001 – 50,000 50,001 – 55,000 55,001 – 60,000 60,001 – 65,000 > 65,000 4 % 12 % 8 % 4 % 52 % 20 % - 4 % 2 % 21 % 55 % 8 % 10 %
Student Research: The Accounting Information Systems Educators Association sponsors a student paper competition to recognize outstanding work by graduate students in accounting information systems. Masters students from James Madison University have won this competition three times since 2010. The students attend the AIS Educator Conference and present their paper. Two of these papers have subsequently been published.
FACULTY ACTIVITIES:
Every member of the faculty is either a Certified Public Accountant or a Certified Management Accountant. They all participate in continuing education and faculty
development activities which maintain their certificate status. The School’s faculty exceeds AACSB accreditation standards for professional and academic qualifications. Significant faculty achievements in the areas of teaching, research and service are highlighted below: Teaching:
The School of Accounting enjoys excellent teaching faculty. Several of these serve as instructors or graders outside of the University.
Robert Richardson was named a Master Instructor for KPMG’s Advanced Auditing for Associates Training program. Professor Richardson has been named the Mengebier
Professor for a two year period beginning July 1 of 2013. This professorship is awarded to the University’s outstanding teachers.
Nancy Nichols, Robert Richardson, David Fordham and Alex Gabbin have all been recognized in recent years as the outstanding teacher in the College of Business. Faculty Scholarship:
Faculty of the School are active in the creation and dissemination of scholarly research. Faculty publications are summarized in the following table:
Three year Frequency that School of Accounting Faculty
are listed among the authors Publication Summary July 1, 2012 – June 30, 2015 Journal articles: Academic/educational journals 36 Professional journals 20 Textbooks 5 Textbook ancillaries 7
Other published works 2
Faculty Service:
Members of the School of Accounting Faculty are active in School, College, University and professional service. Many serve on the editorial boards of professional and academic journals.
Engagement: Faculty are engaged in both the academic and professional accounting
communities. Several members of the Faculty hold service positions of national significance: Luis Betancourt served as an Academic Accounting Fellow in the Office of the Chief Accountant of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. This is a one year position in which the Academic Accounting Fellow works as an integral member of the SEC staff. Molly Brown serves as a scorer on the national Certified Public Accountants Exam and as accountant of the Virginia Association of Commonwealth's Attorneys. She is also the Regional Director for the Atlantic Coast Region of Beta Alpha Psi, the national accounting honorary fraternity.
Susan Ferguson is a member of the Board of Directors of the Virginia Society of CPAs. Alex Gabbin is Chair of the National Alliance of African American Athletes Franklin D.
David Hayes is Past President and member of the Board of Directors of the Accounting
Information Systems Educators Association.
Tim Louwers serves on the AICPA Auditing Subcommittee of the CPA Exam Board of Examiners. Additionally he served as President of the Fraud and Investigative Accounting section of the American Accounting Association and chair of the Accounting Exemplar Award Committee of the American Accounting Association.
Nancy Nichols is President of the American Taxation Association. Additionally she is a past president of and member of the Board of Directors of Beta Alpha Psi, the national accounting honorary fraternity.
Diane Riordan is a member of the Legal Tax Research Committee of the American Taxation Association.
Eileen Shifflett serves as a member of the Industrial Development Authority of Harrisonburg, VA
Other members of the faculty hold state and local chapter positions with professional
organizations, serve on committees of the American Accounting Association, Virginia Society of CPAs, or Institute of Management Accountants, and many volunteer locally with community and nonprofit groups.
BETA ALPHA PSI ACTIVITIES
ΒΑΨ is the international honors organization for accounting, finance and information systems
students attending colleges and universities accredited by AACSB. The JMU chapter is very active and faculty have held leadership roles in the organization. Among the activities this year were the following:
A student team created a “financial Literacy” speaker series covering topics related to budgeting, retirement, mortgages, taxes and insurance and opened it up to the JMU community. The series was well attended by student from all majors. Additionally the team went to Harrisonburg High School and spent two days with close to 100 seniors discussing financial literacy.
