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Career outcomes with an MPA from Texas McCombs

A Master in Professional Accounting Degree = More Opportunities

March 6, 2023 / / 0 Comments

It can be a challenge to design the best plan for your future. If you’re into numbers and the stories they tell, you may find that the Texas McCombs Master in Professional Accounting (MPA) degree program is a smart choice. Here’s why we think you should take a closer look:

An MPA degree makes you attractive to top organizations.

Accounting is the lifeblood of virtually every company in every industry. Organizations need accountants to track finances, predict future transactions, and evaluate performance. Without highly qualified accountants, businesses have a hard time growing or even surviving. A graduate from the top-ranked Texas McCombs MPA program will be in demand for years to come.

The MPA degree gives you the luxury of choice.

With an MPA degree from Texas McCombs, you’ll have a variety of roles to choose from in areas such as public accounting, industry, consulting, finance and government. Here are some examples of positions your MPA degree could help you secure:

  • Internal Auditor—the employee that’s indispensable to senior leadership and the board of directors. As an internal auditor, you investigate and report, giving leadership key information for important decision-making.
  • Staff Accountant—this role holds more credentials and trains for higher-level tasks than a general accountant. As a staff accountant, you’ll soon advance to more senior positions and management roles.
  • Controller—this powerful management role oversees all accounting employees and processes.
  • Restructuring Consultant—this role points the way when making major business decisions. Restructuring consultants make financial projections and cash forecasts. They also analyze financial data, perform financial reporting, and conduct data mining and research.
  • Tax Consultant—this role helps keep businesses safely legal with tax-related issues, including compliance and regulations, and determining taxes owed.
  • Risk and Financial Advisor—this is another role that informs big decisions. As a risk and financial advisor, you would help organizations reduce or wisely manage their financial risk.

Wondering how well the MPA Class of 2022 is doing?

98% of the MPA Class of 2022 received job offers within three months of graduation!

What’s the next step in planning your future?

This may just be the beginning of your research. If you want to know more about how the MPA program can help you reach your career goals, attend an info session or meet with admissions.

REGISTER: Meet Current MPA Students and Alumni on November 16

November 10, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Hear from current Master in Professional Accounting students and alumni at our virtual panel on Wednesday, November 16 from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. CT! MPA students and alumni will discuss why they chose to study accounting, as well as detail their experiences in the program, including their favorites classes, recruiting and networking opportunities, and life at Texas McCombs. Plus, you’ll have the chance to ask the panelists questions!

Register Now

Event Details:
Wednesday, November 16
5:00 – 6:00 p.m. CT
Virtual – Zoom

Meet the Panelists!

Yadira Avitia

Yadira Avitia  |  Current MPA
Undergrad: Psychology, University of North Texas

Yadira grew up in Fort Worth, Texas and received a bachelor’s in psychology from the University of North Texas. She decided to earn a graduate degree in accounting from Texas McCombs to master the language of business. She strives to service businesses within various industries who are working to make this world a better place.

 

Christine CockerellChristine Cockerell  |  MPA ’17
Senior Financial Analyst at Toyota North America

Christine earned her undergraduate degree in finance/accounting from American University and earned her MPA at UT Austin. She is interested in financial advisory services, particularly in the airline, automotive, and real estate sectors. She was born and raised in Texas and is a private pilot and avid golfer.

 

David O'NeilDavid O’Neil  |  MPA ’15
Senior Associate at Crescent Cove Capital

David earned both his bachelor’s and master’s in accounting from UT Austin. He focused his studies in financial accounting, as well as volunteered as a tax preparer through the Tax Practicum course. His passions include corporate finance, new technologies, and investing.

 

Eric WenEric (Junqi) Wen  |  Current MPA
Undergrad: Accounting, UT Austin

Eric grew up in China and went to high school in Sugar Land, Texas. He is a current student studying in the Master in Professional Accounting Program. Upon graduation, Eric will be working as a strategy analyst at Accenture in Chicago, Illinois.

 

A Peek Into the Classroom: Healthcare Accounting

June 17, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Anindita Roy Bardhan has been sharing her passion for healthcare since 2018, when she brought her Healthcare Accounting course from UT Dallas to McCombs. Learn more about this course and why it’s a valuable addition to the Master in Professional Accounting (MPA) program curriculum.

Healthcare Accounting Blog Post


HOW DOES THIS COURSE DIFFER FROM OTHER ACCOUNTING CLASSES?
This course is unique in the fact that it includes topics related to financial and managerial accounting and finance in a single course. The purpose is to bring facets of the business side of healthcare to students with an interest in healthcare careers.

WHAT IS UNIQUE ABOUT HEALTHCARE ACCOUNTING?
As I tell my students, hospitals in the U.S. include a majority of not-for-profit entities. Therefore, this course covers accounting and business issues of both not-for-profit and investor-owned/for-profit entities. It is very rare, if at all, to find both aspects being addressed in a single course!

BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS FROM YOUR CLASS?
Students have the opportunity to:

  • understand how financial statements reflect the performance of a healthcare entity; » analyze strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats based on financial statement analysis and make recommendations to address them;
  • manage working capital using cash budgets and receivables aging;
  • make decisions regarding pricing of products and services, make or buy, using breakeven analyses; and
  • use net present value concepts to make investment decisions.

 

We hope you enjoyed learning more about this elective class in the Master in Professional Accounting program at UT Austin! See all of our electives here, and mark your calendar for August 29, 2022 as our traditional MPA Class of 2024 application opens that day!

Meet Dave Platt, Accounting Faculty and UT’s Vice Provost for Undergraduate Academic Affairs

June 21, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Since 1996, David Platt has called UT home. He has touched the lives of thousands of students teaching managerial and cost accounting in the BBA, MPA, and various MBA programs. Let’s learn more about Dave and his current role as UT’s Vice Provost for Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Meet Dave Platt

Dave Platt did not set out to earn a PhD in accounting. After working as an auditor for PwC in Philadelphia and then in industry, he returned to Cornell intending to earn his PhD in operations management. While in grad school, he found that there was a discipline called managerial accounting that sat at the intersection of accounting, finance, marketing – and he was hooked!

While at Texas McCombs, Dave wore a variety of different hats. He began as a faculty member and researcher, and then added the director of the Center for International Business Education and Research to his resume. After 12 years in that role, Dave became Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, where he stewarded the operations of the BBA program. In 2019, he joined the Provost’s Office as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

In his first 18 months in the Provost’s Office, Dave concentrated on building a working network among the many different undergraduate programs at UT, to make the academic experience the very best it can be across our large and diverse university. Dave notes that “UT is a big place, but it’s important that for any given student it feels like it is a small, tight-knit community.”

Dave has dedicated 12 of the last 18 months largely to responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and trying to do so in a way that, as much as possible under our current operating constraints, keeps undergraduate education at UT going strong. While he misses teaching students, their well-being and educational experience are both still paramount concerns for him.

Dave cross-country skiing with his wife, Nancy.

Dave cross-country skiing with his wife, Nancy.

In his spare time, Dave loves to read, particularly history, and spends as much time as possible in the mountains skiing, hiking, and enjoying the fresh air with his wife, Nancy. And like so many of us, he picked up a few new hobbies during the pandemic. “I’m finally learning to play guitar, something I’ve always wanted to do, and I’ve gotten into making ice cream and dreaming up new recipes,” Dave said. “I even based one on shoofly pie, which I remember from growing up in Pennsylvania.”

Texas McCombs Department of Accounting Facts

June 11, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Can you guess what year the first accounting course was offered at UT? Or when the first accounting PhD degree was conferred? How about the year we hired our first tenure-track female faculty member? We’ll take you through a short history of the Department of Accounting at The University of Texas at Austin.

Department of Accounting Facts

spurgeon bell

Spurgeon Bell was Dean of the School of Business Administration from 1922-1925.

1912: Spurgeon Bell stands before 20 students in UT’s first accounting class, the Theory and Practice of Accounting.

1928: George Newlove is the first accounting faculty member to receive a distinguished professorship, funded by discovery of oil on university land in 1923.

1934: The first PhD in Accounting at the College of Business Administration is awarded to Lloyd Raisty.

1939: For the first, but not the last, time, accounting classes are populated with more women than men (due to WWII enlistment in the armed forces).

1947: The Department of Accounting is one of five departments created in the College of Business Administration.

1948: The Master in Professional Accounting program is established.

anna fowler

Anna Fowler taught at UT from 1977-2004.

1957: Luzine Bickman is the first Black student to be initiated into the Theta Chapter, a UT fraternal accounting organization.

1958: With nine inaugural members, the Department of Accounting’s Advisory Council is established.

1962: The new Business Administration Economics Building opens (now known as CBA).

1977: Anna Fowler is the first female, tenure-track professor hired by the Department.

1985: The five-year integrated approach to the MPA is introduced, allowing McCombs freshmen and sophomores to begin working on their masters in accounting while still in undergrad.

rowland atiase

Rowland Atiase has been a faculty member since 1987.

1987: Rowland Atiase is the first Black, tenure-track professor hired by the Department.

1994: Texas McCombs’ Department of Accounting is ranked #1 in Public Accounting Report’s survey for the first time.

2002: The ECON-MPA program, which allows UT economics students to get a head start on MPA coursework during their senior year, is created.

2012: The Department of Accounting celebrates its 100 year anniversary!

2019: The MPA Program adopts a proposal requiring every course within the program to include content on data analytics.

As you explore your future in accounting, we hope you discovered  some new and useful information on the Department of Accounting. Reach out to us or visit our website to learn more!

 

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