Category Archives: Xinmiao

Xinmiao Guo’s posts

Academics, Austin, Career, Events, Xinmiao

Growing my interest in not-for-profits

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A view of Austin from across the river

I’m dedicating this post to all things I’ve encountered regarding not-for-profits since my arrival in Austin.  Just to throw some facts and figures at you, Austin has more non-profits per capita in the Southwest U.S. Region, approximately 6,300 in 2009 (that’s about 3.82 nonprofits per 1000 people).

Earlier this semester, I had the pleasure of discovering a wonderful non-profit consulting organization based here in Austin called Greenlights for Nonprofit Success.  Each Fall they host the Texas Nonprofit Summit, where members of non-profit organizations all over the state come for a weekend of seminars and spotlighted speakers.  At this year’s summit, I met quite a few accountants from firms (such as Padgett Stratemann & Co and PMB Helin Donovan) that serve a large number of non-profits, as well as accountants (some that graduated from the UT Austin MPA program) who now either work for non-profits or sit on their boards. Continue reading Growing my interest in not-for-profits →

Austin, Career, Student Life, Xinmiao

An introduction of sorts

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Hello, Reader!

Ellen Furman playing her "Long Stringed Instrument" in the Architecture Library at UT

I’m looking forward to sharing some of my thoughts & adventures with you and hope that they will shed light on what goes on at the MPA Program here at UT Austin.  I’m looking forward to writing about a number of topics, generally introduced below, but I am willing to and probably will divert!

THE PROGRAM

The exciting challenge of being immersed in an accounting education for the first time is navigating through the opportunities and job paths available to you in such a short span of time. With accounting there are many – more options than I realized before starting here.  Thanks to a very thorough academic advisor (that has helped me rework my course schedule numerous times), a career staff that has steered me toward jobs that match my interests and professors I drop in on from time to time, I have expanded my interests. I’m now interested in quite a few areas of accounting, from non-profit and fund accounting to IT and security system audits. Continue reading An introduction of sorts →