Master in Professional Accounting Admissions News

Insider Information for Prospective Texas McCombs MPA Students

Category: McCombs News (page 2 of 8)

Accounting Faculty Research: More Direct Flights, Improved Organ Donations

July 26, 2021 / / 0 Comments

In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers looked at the impact of direct airline flights on kidney sharing and transplantation. Based on the research of Texas McCombs Accounting Assistant Professor Ronghuo Zheng.

Transplant Airlines Research

Two years ago, a donated kidney shipped from Florida to a recipient in North Carolina missed a flight connection in Atlanta. When the kidney finally arrived at the transplant center, surgeons had just 46 minutes to spare, almost rendering the organ unusable.

Ronghuo ZhengEach year in the U.S., nearly 5,000 people die waiting for a kidney transplant, with wait time heavily dependent on where a person lives. At the same time, an estimated 3,500 donated kidneys are discarded because they’re no longer viable. This troubling imbalance of organ scarcity and massive wastefulness is tied in part to limited organ sharing across the country. Current policies prioritize local matching, and surgeons are often reluctant to accept donated kidneys that require multiple flight connections.

Inefficient organ sharing can also have a ripple effect. Surgeons waiting for a kidney that misses a flight connection and becomes unviable could have been operating on another patient. In this case, patients, the surgeon, and the transplant center all lose.

Policymakers have tried to address these complex problems by eliminating the current system’s regional boundaries, allowing organs to travel further. “But geographical distance isn’t the only thing that matters,” says Ronghuo Zheng, a Texas McCombs assistant professor of accounting.

Read the full article on Texas McCombs Big Ideas.

 

 

Take a Virtual Tour of Texas McCombs!

July 9, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Have you been wanting to explore the McCombs School of Business but been unable to see it in person? Take a virtual tour and see what makes Texas McCombs a premiere and top-ranked business school.


Learn more about the McCombs School of Business, Master in Professional Accounting program, and living in Austin by visiting our website.

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!

 

Meet John Bober, MPA ’82

June 2, 2021 / / 0 Comments

From earning an undergraduate degree in history to making a professional pivot into accounting and finance, John Bober (MPA ’82) has had a long and successful career. After earning his Master in Professional Accounting, John started at Arthur Andersen and quickly made partner. He then transitioned to GE Capital, where he spent nearly 23 years of his career. John retired in March 2018 and is now a consultant in the leasing industry. He is also a long-time supporter of our Department.

TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR CAREER AT GE.
I joined GE Capital after more than a decade in public accounting and right after making partner. It was one of the best career decisions I made. The breadth of experience and wisdom I gained at GE were unparalleled. Over my 23 years, I had roles in controllership, finance, risk, and general management. My favorite stints were those I had in project finance, where I led the group that analyzed the accounting and tax implications of investment structures and established investment hurdle rates. I also had other responsibilities within the larger GE organization, including lease pricing and serving as the finance group’s subject matter expert for leasing. At the time, responsibility at GE went to the person and not the position, which allowed for considerable professional growth.

HOW ARE YOU STAYING BUSY IN RETIREMENT?
Since retiring, I have stayed active in the industry. I am now a consultant with The Alta Group, a global consultancy dedicated to equipment leasing and finance — it’s a very interesting world and I enjoy consulting on lease accounting, pricing, and operations. My deepest experience is on the lessor side, and spending time on transactions and establishing lease programs and captive finance arrangements is where my retirement days usually go.

WHY DID YOU JOIN THE DEPARTMENT’S ADVISORY COUNCIL?
Maybe I am a frustrated academic… I enjoy learning what is being taught, and it is great to hear what is on the minds of students and what they are looking for. It was especially helpful when I was recruiting on campus for GE.

WHY DID YOU SWITCH FROM HISTORY TO ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE?
I figured out in college that I needed a skill that I could monetize. I had the opportunity to work in foreign policy, but I passed as UT offered me a fellowship to study accounting in a great program. I do credit my liberal arts courses with helping me learn how to think and process large amounts of information. My history degree also taught me to write, which has served me well.

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER MOST ABOUT YOUR TIME AT TEXAS McCOMBS?
In the early 80s, there was much to talk about in accounting from a theory and public policy perspective; I thoroughly enjoyed the courses that emphasized the “why” and how accounting information is used. This served me well in the second half of my career, when I was more of a thought leader in the accounting world. I also remember how Michael Granof’s two government accounting courses gave me a window into a different world.

Learn more about starting your journey in accounting at Texas McCombs MPA by visiting our website.

Three Little Letters: CPA

May 18, 2021 / / 0 Comments

In December, the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) announced 2019 CPA exam pass rates. UT Austin trailblazed its way to the top of the list for first-time test takers at large collegiate programs (60 or more test takers). Read on to learn more about how the current exam is scored, test-taker outcomes, and upcoming changes to the exam.

The CPA exam is a 16 hour assessment divided into four sections: Auditing and Attestation (AUD), Business Environment and Concepts (BEC), Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR), and Regulation (REG).

In 55 jurisdictions nationally (50 states and five U.S. territories), nearly 83,000 candidates took the CPA exam in 2019. Of these candidates, approximately 63,000 were first-time test takers and close to 23,000 passed either all parts or the final section of the exam.

In 2019, UT Austin had 358 first-time candidates sit for the exam; 89.5% passed all parts on that first try – an exceptionally high percentage. For all 2019 test takers, UT Austin had an impressive pass rate of 83%. This compares to a 54% pass rate for all test takers at all other Texas colleges and universities – go ‘Horns!

How is the exam scored? And, what contributes to our students’ impressive performance?

For each section of the CPA exam, a candidate’s score can range from 0 to 99. To pass a section, the candidate must score a 75 or better.

A candidate’s total score on each of the AUD, FAR, and REG sections is a weighted combination of scaled scores on multiple-choice questions and task-based simulations. For the BEC section, the total score is a weighted combination of scaled scores on multiple-choice, task-based, and written communication questions.

Scaled scores are calculated using formulas that take into consideration both whether the question was answered correctly and level of difficulty. For multiple-choice questions, the exam employs a multi-stage adaptive test delivery model, meaning that the first question is moderately difficult, and the next question will be as or slightly more difficult, based on the candidate’s answer to the previous question. (This adaptive model is not used for task-based simulations or written communications.)

This system allows the candidate’s proficiency level to be measured more accurately. Answering a challenging question incorrectly doesn’t necessarily penalize the test taker in the same way as answering a less-difficult question incorrectly. Scaled scores make it possible to standardize exam results so that the results from different sets of questions are comparable.

The three institutions that oversee the CPA exam include the AICPA, NASBA, and Prometric, the organization that offers the exam at its authorized centers. Other than the written portions of the exam that are graded by humans, CPA exam scoring is completely automated. Candidate responses go through multiple quality assurance reviews to ensure scoring accuracy.

What contributes to our students’ outstanding performance? It’s difficult to say with certainty, but we like to think it’s a combination of the high-caliber students in our program and the rigorous courses that provide them with a solid accounting foundation. As was mentioned in our fall edition, no university has had 12 Sells Award winners in a single year – ever. Professor Ross Jennings likely summed it up best when he said, “The secret to our success isn’t much of a secret. Our students are interested in learning and we have faculty interested in teaching them.”

In considering the importance of the CPA exam, Chad Libertus (MPA ’94), a KPMG tax partner, observed that in many professional-service firms, including at KPMG, people drive the firm’s success. He noted that KPMG “empowers our professionals to own their careers and proactively develop the skills and knowledge to help them succeed, which includes taking the CPA exam and getting a CPA license.” In Chad’s opinion, obtaining this important credential demonstrates that a professional has the skills, knowledge, and foundation to be a strategic business advisor who can provide valuable client service. It also showcases the ability to think critically and strategically, which should allow for solving a wide range of challenges in order to deliver a better client experience.

Beginning in 2024, as part of its CPA Evolution project, the AICPA expects to offer a redesigned CPA exam. The revised exam will emphasize understanding business processes and data analytics and deemphasize topics that a newly licensed CPA would not be expected to know. Testing on the material in the updated blueprints for the exam is scheduled to begin in July 2021, with the final redesign completed by January 2023, and the new format launched in January 2024. Candidates still will be tested in the AUD, BEC, FAR and REG format; the refresh in topic coverage and emphasis is intended to maintain the relevance of the exam to our changing profession. We expect that our students will continue to perform well on the redesigned exam and that our Sells Award record will be tough to beat for years to come.

UT Austin Tops CPA Exam Pass Rates

The University of Texas at Austin Leads 2019 CPA Exam Pass Rates

January 29, 2021 / / 0 Comments

In December, the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) announced the CPA Exam pass rates statistics, and The University of Texas at Austin trailblazed to the top of the CPA Exam’s pass rates from first-time test takers at large collegiate programs (60 or more test takers).


The top first-time CPA Exam pass rates by large collegiate programs for 2019 are:

  1. University of Texas at Austin — 358 candidates, 89.5% pass rate
  2. Brigham Young University — 273 candidates, 89.4% pass rate
  3. Wake Forest University — 82 candidates, 88.8% pass rate
  4. Boston College — 129 candidates, 88.3% pass rate
  5. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor — 77 candidates, 88.2% pass rate
  6. University of Florida — 248 candidates, 86.4% pass rate
  7. University of Virginia — 96 candidates, 84.8% pass rate
  8. Texas A&M University — 351 candidates, 82.9% pass rate
  9. University of Wisconsin-Madison — 227 candidates, 82.9% pass rate
  10. Gonzaga University — 118 candidates, 82.4% pass rate

The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) also named 133 winners of the 2019 Elijah Watt Sells Award. This award recognizes test takers who scored a cumulative average score above 95.50 across all four sections of the CPA exam, passed all four sections of the exam on their first attempt, and completed their testing in 2019. The University of Texas at Austin had twelve (yes, twelve!) Sells Award winners in 2019:

  • Daniel Chang (integrated MPA ‘19)
  • Bryan Davis (traditional MPA ‘16)
  • James Hall (Economics MPA ‘19)
  • Kara Killingsworth (integrated MPA ‘19)
  • Jerry Lam (integrated MPA ‘19)
  • Adam Landefeld (integrated MPA ‘19)
  • Collyn Robison (integrated MPA ‘19)
  • Travis Sakos (integrated MPA ‘18)
  • Kyle Schoen (integrated MPA ‘19)
  • Adam Schor (integrated MPA ‘19)
  • Wei-Ning Tsai (traditional MPA ‘19)
  • Alec Weissman (integrated MPA ‘19)


Section pass rates* for all 55 jurisdictions in 2019 are:

  • 51% for AUD
  • 60% for BEC
  • 46% for FAR
  • 56% for REG

Section pass rates** for UT Austin Candidates in 2019 are:

  • 81% for AUD
  • 92% for BEC
  • 76% for FAR
  • 85% for REG

Section pass rates** for all other Texas colleges & universities in 2019 are:

  • 53% for AUD
  • 59% for BEC
  • 48% for FAR
  • 58% for REG

 

*All first-time test takers in 2019
**All test takers (first time or otherwise) in Texas in 2019

Three Steps to Better Investing

November 25, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Advice on selecting mutual funds, listening to CEOs, and considering climate change, courtesy of Texas McCombs research, including our very own accounting professor Jeff Hales.

Better Investing
If you’re looking to make better investment decisions, it’s a good idea to listen to the experts. And who’s more of an expert than a business researcher who studies investing and the stock market.

With that in mind, consider applying these practical research findings from Texas McCombs to your investments:

Seek low taxes on mutual funds. A study by finance professor Clemens Sialm showed that funds with lower tax burdens had higher-than-average returns. That’s why Sialm urges fund shoppers to look beyond past performance and check out taxes as well. “You have to dig deeper in the prospectus, but the information is there,” he says. Research websites such as Morningstar can help. They list the taxable distributions along with the performance of a fund.

Bet on big-talking CEOs. When executives use extreme language on quarterly earnings calls — words such as “astonishing,” “incredible,” and “exceptional” — it can benefit capital markets, according to research from accounting professor Jeff Hales. For executives who speak in superlatives, their words can produce a stronger reaction in stock prices, increased trading volume, and adjusted analyst forecasts. CEO language can even foreshadow a company’s future earnings.

Read the entire article on Big Ideas.

Leaving a Legacy: E. Ben Yager

June 12, 2020 / / 0 Comments

E. Ben Yager received a BBA from the University of Texas at Austin in 1947 and received the first ever MPA degree in 1949. Seventy-one years later, his granddaughter, Katherine Glass, is following in his footsteps and graduated with her MPA this spring. Though Ben passed away twelve years ago, as Katie tells us, his legacy lives on through his family and accounting career.

A young Katherine Glass and her grandfather, Ben Yager, smile for a photo.

TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF, KATIE.
I grew up in Florida and completed my undergraduate studies at Elon University. In addition to my grandfather and me, my father, sister, uncle, two aunts, and two cousins have majored in accounting!

WHAT SPARKED YOUR INTEREST IN ACCOUNTING?
Initially, I was attracted to accounting because it offered solid career opportunities. Through my accounting coursework, I have been pleasantly surprised to find that it is also dynamic and growth-oriented.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO ATTEND THE TEXAS McCOMBS MPA PROGRAM?
Because of its prestige, wealth of resources, and the exceptional community of diverse, impressive faculty and peers. I knew this program would offer a broad array of opportunities for academic and professional growth. Plus, my grandfather went to school here, so McCombs runs in the family.

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER MOST ABOUT YOUR GRANDFATHER?
I remember that grandfather was a loyal fan of both Longhorn and Cincinnati Reds’ baseball, and he always welcomed my visits to Texas with Fig Newtons — a tradition begun by his father.

WHAT LEGACIES DID YOUR GRANDFATHER LEAVE BEHIND?
In his 35 years as a professor and later as a department chair, my grandfather worked to enhance the accounting profession by educating several generations of accounting professionals, actively contributing to numerous professional organizations, and building long-term professional relationships with leaders in accounting and finance. Upon his retirement in 1989, an endowment was created in his name that provides scholarships for accountancy students at Miami University.

WHAT ARE YOUR POST-GRADUATION PLANS?
This fall, I am excited to be joining PwC’s Assurance practice in Tampa, Florida!

ABOUT DR. E. BEN YAGER
After graduating from UT Austin, Ben worked as the Chief Accountant of Sul Ross State College in Alpine, Texas. He then entered Indiana University’s PhD program and received a Doctorate of Business Administration. At Indiana, he met his wife, Jeanne, and they were married on June 13, 1953. In 1955, Ben began his teaching career at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He was named the C. Rollin Niswonger Professor of Accountancy and was Department Chairman for over five years before returning to his beloved job as a professor. He co-authored three editions of the CPA Examination: A Comprehensive Review. Ben was a CPA in Texas and Ohio and was a member of the American Institute of CPAs, Ohio Society of CPAs, American Accounting Association, Financial Executives Institute, and Alpha Kappa Psi business society. The E. Ben Yager Scholarship is awarded to one undergraduate student at Miami University annually.

Tips to Stay Connected, Productive, and Sane While Working Remotely

April 2, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Stuck at home? Telecommuting and leadership expert David Harrison shares 8 tips for how to make the most of this unusual work-from-home moment.

By: Sara Robberson Lentz

 

 

An unprecedented number of people across the world — from CEOs to college students — now find themselves working from home. For some, this change is causing anxiety and uncertainty about how to maintain productivity.

David Harrison is a management professor at the McCombs School of Business and a research expert on effective telecommuting and leadership. We reached out to him for advice on how to make the most of telecommuting while practicing social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The data on telecommuting is overwhelmingly positive,” he says. “Our meta-analysis found that people who telecommuted actually had higher performance. The only downside was a possible drop in the quality of their relationship with their co-workers.”

His biggest advice is to keep the virtual communication portals open. “Maintaining a connection with your peers and team is crucial,” he says. “You should be prepared to communicate more frequently about your day-to-day processes.”

Harrison believes this could be an opportunity to see how telecommuting works in new settings such as the classroom. He encourages others to remember this is uncharted territory for many, and we are all in it together. “Be more patient, be more generous, and be more open. Hopefully you are picking up new skills,” he says.

Here are his tips for how to succeed at embracing this telecommuting change:

1. Stay connected with peers.

Social connection is good for psychological health and task completion habits. Do what you can to bring peers into your circle. Ask them questions and alert them when you have something going on that could be a joint online activity. For students, if you don’t have a virtual study group, now’s the time to make one.

2. All of us need non-task interactions alongside getting work done.

Communication builds trust, particularly through a narrow medium such as virtual (rather than face-to-face) work. Set aside the first 5 minutes of any meeting for “check-ins” about how the rest of life is going. There will be plenty to talk about during the next few weeks and even months.

3. Shared emotion is vital.

Don’t ignore your and others’ mood(s). If a virtual partner is feeling down and you’re giddy and goofy, that’s not helpful. Empathy matters. It builds trust and keeps the relationship going, even though the emotional cues are harder to pick up. The shared experience — the synchronization — is what matters. So, use face-based interaction when you can. Show support and you’ll get support.

4. Structure your day.

Create a schedule of online or virtual activities and stick to it. Routine is your rock, particularly when everything else is fluctuating around you.

5. Patience, patience, patience with technology is another key.

Things that used to go fast are going to slow down as everyone tries to crowd into the same bandwidth. All learning curves are steep at first. You will most likely get computer-frustrated. Have an outlet. (I have a hacky sack that is getting extra use right now).

6. Be able to show your work.

If you aren’t seen, people generally don’t think you are doing stuff. Try and create a trail and visibility for what you are doing by sending more emails, drafts, or even photos of your work. It’s important to involve others in what you are doing and for them to see proof of that.

7. Find apps to help you digitize.

If you’re working on things that are not digital docs, you need a way to translate them online. I recommend investing in a smartphone app that goes from photo to pdf. Some excellent apps are free, including a native app in the Google Suite and my favorite, “Tiny PDF.”

8. Take a learning orientation, not a performance orientation, to this weird time.

Think about how this part of your life is helping you develop your repertoire of virtual collaboration skills. You’ll definitely use them again. If you master Zoom, try Microsoft Teams, and so on. In the long run, and paradoxically, a learning orientation creates better performance because of the breadth of talent you’ve amassed.

Older posts Newer posts

Categories

© 2026 Master in Professional Accounting Admissions News

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑