Master in Professional Accounting Admissions Blog

Insider Information for Prospective Texas McCombs MPA Students

Category: MPA Program Info (page 7 of 17)

Is Accounting The Right Fit

Is Accounting the Right Fit for You?

September 27, 2022 / / 0 Comments

If you enjoy working with numbers and analyzing data but also love solving problems and communicating outcomes, accounting may be the perfect fit for you. Accountants determine the financial position of a company so that it can make forecasts about the future and manage risk. They prepare budgets and forecasts, analyze expenditure and revenue and identify where a company can save money or afford to spend more money. Sitting behind a desk all day crunching numbers is a common misconception! In reality, accountants have a variety of roles and responsibilities such as presenting financial information to management, providing financial advice to clients, or investigating fraud.

VARIETY OF JOB OPPORTUNITIES
Accountants are needed in every organization and every industry, from large corporations to small start-up companies and nonprofits, high-tech companies, the energy industry, sports organizations, the entertainment industry – you name it!  Accounting skills are beneficial in a variety of fields such as public accounting, investment banking and financial consulting.

STABILITY AND GROWTH
Accountants are in high demand despite fluctuations in the economy. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, globalization, a growing economy, and a complex tax and regulatory environment are expected to continue driving a strong demand for accountants. The field provides job security and skills that translate across industries and geographic regions.

TRANSFERABLE SKILLS
Successful accountants require a variety of skills and knowledge such as:

  • Budgeting, forecasting, financial statement preparation
  • Ability to analyze data
  • Proficiency in accounting software
  • Communication skills
  • Leadership ability
  • Organization skills
  • Ability to think critically and problem-solve

These skills, along with many others, are gained while earning an accounting degree and continue to develop as you move up in the workplace.

UPCOMING INFO SESSIONS
Want to learn more about the Master in Professional Accounting degree program at Texas McCombs? Join us for an upcoming virtual info session!

REGISTER NOW

REGISTER: Attend an MPA Info Session in September

September 9, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Learn more about the Master in Professional Accounting program and attend an upcoming virtual info session in September! There are two info sessions scheduled this where you will hear about the MPA admissions process and how to make your application stand out. You will also learn about the program’s curriculum, recruiting for jobs and career outcomes, as well as what life is like in Austin.

REGISTER: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 – 12:00 P.M. CT

REGISTER: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 – 5:00 P.M. CT

Jasmin Blas-MendietaIn the meantime, you can learn more about GMAT/GRE test scores being optional on our blog, and you can sign up for a one-on-one admissions consultation with Jasmin Blas-Mendieta, MPA’s Senior Recruiting and Admissions Officer.

We look forward to meeting you soon!

August 10 Info Session Blog Post

REGISTER: Virtual MPA Info Session on August 10

July 29, 2022 / / 0 Comments

With GMAT and GRE scores now being test optional for the traditional Master in Professional Accounting (MPA) program from Texas McCombs, join us at a virtual info session on August 10 from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. CT to learn more about the MPA admissions process and how to make your application stand out. You will also hear about the program’s curriculum, recruiting for jobs and career outcomes, as well as what life is like in Austin.

REGISTER FOR INFO SESSION

In the meantime, you can learn more about test scores being optional on our blog, and you can sign up for a one-on-one admissions consultation with Jasmin Blas-Mendieta, MPA’s Senior Recruiting and Admissions Officer.

We look forward to meeting you soon!

REGISTER: Meet Current MPA Students on July 12

July 8, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Join us at the Texas McCombs MPA Current Student Panel to meet people who have experienced the Master in Professional Accounting program first-hand. You’ll hear about their time in the program, why they chose to study accounting, and what they enjoy about the UT campus and living in Austin, TX. Plus, you’ll have the chance to ask the students questions.

Tuesday, July 12 from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. CT (virtual)

REGISTER NOW

Meet the Panelists

McKinley BodenMcKinley Boden
tMPA ’22
Tax Track

McKinley grew up in the Atlanta area and went to Florida State University for her undergraduate degree. She came to UT to pursue her master’s because she liked the city of Austin and wanted to go to a top program. She is a traditional MPA student on the tax track and will be starting on the tax staff with EY in Denver come January. Until then, she will be working on studying for the CPA exam. Outside of school, she enjoys live music, trying new restaurants, and running.

Joshua CostoJoshua Costo
iMPA ’23
Audit Track

Josh is an integrated MPA student on the audit track. He interned with Caterpillar during his junior year, PwC during the spring 2021 busy season, and will be moving to Connecticut in January to work for the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) after graduation. He is a member of Longhorn Powerlifting and Camp Texas, two beloved organizations that he has been a part of for the past three years. He is excited to work at the FASB post-graduation to help companies and investors understand and solve complex accounting issues.

Francisca GuerreroFrancisca Guerrero
iMPA ’23
Tax Track

Francisca is originally from Quito, Ecuador and moved to The Woodlands, Texas when she was two years old. She is a Canfield Business Honors student, as well as an integrated MPA. Throughout her college career, she has been interested in attending law school and learning about other cultures. As a result, she did an internship abroad in Shenzhen, China, wrote her Honors Thesis on e-commerce in China, and she hopes to pursue a career in international tax accounting at EY where she is currently interning.

Zoe McDowellZoe McDowell
ECON-MPA ’23
Generalist Track

Zoe is from Livingston, Texas and recently graduated from UT Austin with a bachelor’s in economics and anthropology. As a student in the ECON-MPA program, she began taking graduate accounting courses last year. Her favorite course so far has been Intro to Audit with Professor Johanns, and she is pursuing the Generalist Track so she can curate her own course selection. Zoe is currently a Summer Analyst at an investment banking firm and plans to move to New York City after graduation to continue her career in investment banking.

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 Current MPA Student Tabetha Wilhelm!

May 23, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Tabetha Wilhelm grew up around accounting, so when it came time to earn her master’s degree, she had one program in mind: Texas McCombs MPA. Read on to learn more about Tabetha and life in the Master in Professional Accounting program.

 

WHERE ARE YOU FROM?
I’m from San Antonio, Texas!

WHAT SPARKED YOUR INTEREST IN ACCOUNTING?
I come from a family of accountants and small business owners, so accounting has been part of my life whether I knew it or not. My dad earned his accounting degree in Germany in the ’60s before he immigrated to Texas.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO ATTEND THE TEXAS McCOMBS MPA PROGRAM?
The Texas McCombs MPA Program has been my dream program since I started college. I could have worked on a master of accountancy at several different schools in San Antonio, but I knew that coming to Austin was the right choice because I knew I would have top tier professors. Plus, the design of the program provides the opportunity to take courses in the areas of accounting that I am interested in studying and I’m not regulated to a set pre-determined set of classes. I do have required coursework, but the ability to take and the access to elective business and accounting classes stands out compared to the other programs where I was admitted.

Tabetha Wilhem Graduation

WHAT HAS YOUR FAVORITE CLASS BEEN SO FAR AND WHY?
Corporate Tax (aka Taxation of Entities-I). Professor Johnston-Blair is wonderful and makes class so much fun. I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in an accounting class in my life!

WHAT ARE YOUR POST-GRADUATE PLANS?
Over Spring Break, I accepted an offer to join the EY tax team in their San Antonio office, and I am scheduled to start in July 2022!

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE ON CAMPUS?
I have many favorites when it comes to UT’s campus. I love Littlefield Home because I’m a sucker for Victorian architecture, and I also loved having class in Rowling Hall (the McCombs School of Business graduate building). The benches outside the Harry Ransom Center are also a nice quiet place to have lunch outside (and hey, we have a Gutenberg Bible in the HRC!). The turtle pond behind the tower is also a great place to visit.

ANY TIPS FOR THOSE LOOKING INTO THE PROGRAM?
There’s a reason why the MPA program is so highly rated; our professors are amazing and on top of being great educators, they also have the professional experience to back up their knowledge. The career services and networking available to MPA students has already been incredibly useful.

Learn more about the MPA program by attending an event or meeting with the admissions team. The application for fall 2023 admission opens this August!

REGISTER: Meet Current MPA Students and Alumni on April 14

April 12, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Attend the virtual Current Student and Alumni Panel as we chat with five people who experienced the Master in Professional Accounting first-hand. You’ll hear about their time in the program, why they chose to study accounting, and their career path since graduating from the program. Plus, you’ll have the chance to ask the students and alumni questions.

Thursday, April 14 from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. CT (virtual)

REGISTER

Meet the Panelists

DavidDavid Elliott, MPA ’22
Current Student

David is originally from Houston, Texas and earned his bachelor’s degree from UT Austin in economics. He wanted to get his foot in the door in the business world but found it difficult with only an economics degree. He found he had a passion for accounting after minoring in it and taking an Introduction to Tax course, so David decided to go back to earn his master’s in accounting at the McCombs School of Business.

 

ReneeRenee Hoekstra, MPA ’18
Assistant Controller, Waste Connections

Renee earned her undergraduate degree in accounting at Michigan State University, then came to UT Austin to earn her master’s in accounting. While in the MPA program, she was a student ambassador and met with prospective and newly admitted MPA students. After graduating from McCombs, she worked at PwC for three years before transitioning to her current role at Waste Connections as Assistant Controller. She is based out of Chicago, Illinois.

 

EnriqueEnrique Munguia, MPA ’22
Current Student

Enrique is from San Antonio, Texas and will earn his MPA degree this summer. Enrique has had internships in accounting, finance, and data analytics at Goldman Sachs, Holt CAT, and Noroc Naturals. After graduating this summer, he will move to Atlanta and work as an Accounting/Finance Analyst at Google. Enrique is currently the President of the Longhorn Wrestling Team, and he is an NCWA All-American and NCWA Southwest Conference champion.

 

KarinKarin Schultz, MPA ’16
Senior Analyst, Emerson Global Financial Services

Following her time in the MPA program, Karin joined Emerson in St. Louis, Missouri as an Internal Auditor, progressing to becoming a Senior Auditor before moving to an Analyst role in a newly created Global Financial Services Group. In mid-April she will be taking a Manager of Financial Controls and Analysis role at Emerson’s Appleton Business Unit based in Chicago, Illinois.

 

GarrettGarrett Shuffield, MPA ’18
Associate, Jackson Walker

Garrett is an attorney in the Wealth Planning practice of Jackson Walker’s Austin office. He was a summer associate at the firm in 2019 and 2020. While studying for his MPA degree, Garrett served as a teaching assistant in the accounting department. He was also a research assistant while in law school at The University of Texas at Austin.

 

Register today and email us with any questions, and we’ll see you there!

View the MPA Class of 2022 Profile

April 1, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Check out the profile of the traditional Master in Professional Accounting Class of 2022! These students came to Texas McCombs from a variety of backgrounds and with an array of experiences and started classes in the fall of 2021. They will graduate this spring or summer.

MPA Class of 2022 Profile

 

The traditional MPA application is still open for U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Apply today and join the MPA Class of 2023! The application deadline is April 30, 2022.

REGISTER: Attend the Virtual MPA Faculty Open House

March 14, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Join us virtually on March 23 for the Master in Professional Accounting Faculty Open House as members of the MPA faculty will be present to speak about the courses they teach, the curriculum taught within the program, and career opportunities in their areas of expertise.

March 23 from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. CT (virtual)

Please feel free to join the Faculty Open House for all two hours or you can join during the time(s) you’d like to hear from certain professors (see below).

Professors Who Will Be Present from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. CT

Patrick Badolato
Financial Statement Analysis Course and Investment Banking/Consulting Topics

Patrick Badolato’s teaching expertise focuses on Financial Statement Analysis, a case-based class that moves away from generic ratios and metrics and towards critical thinking in an effort to use an array of financial information to understand the past and form well-motivated predictions for the future; Financial Accounting, a class that emphasizes the importance of accounting’s thoughtful and logical representation of business events; and Accounting Concepts and Research, a class that offers a deep dive into the business reasons and economic motivations behind accounting standards.

Jeff Johanns
Audit/Assurance and Its Importance in Financial Reporting

Jeff Johanns is an Associate Professor of Instruction in the McCombs School of Business at UT Austin. He is a former U.S. Assurance Risk Management Leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Texas with more than 30 years of experience in public accounting and the private industry. His clients at PwC ranged in size from Fortune 500 public companies to private start-ups.

Donna Johnston-Blair
Corporate Tax Course and Building a Portfolio of Tax Knowledge

Donna Johnston-Blair started her career at Arthur Andersen (in both Toronto and Denver) as audit staff and eventually became a tax manager. She also worked at Deloitte and Storage Technology Corporation before starting her own consulting practice and ultimately becoming a professor. She has taught across the United States and has been at McCombs since 2013. Donna was named a Texas Ten professor of the year in 2018.

Professors Who Will Be Present from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. CT

Jeff Hales
Environmental, Social, and Governance Course

Jeff Hales has taught financial accounting at all levels, and his research has appeared in multiple journals, including The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting and Economics, and more. He is currently an editor at Contemporary Accounting Research and an editorial board member of The Accounting Review and Accounting, Organizations and Society. He also serves as Chair of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, is a member of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board, and is a member of both the Financial Accounting Standard Board’s Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council and the UK Financial Reporting Council’s Future of Corporate Reporting Advisory Group.

Nick Hallman
Analytics Course

Nick Hallman is an Associate Professor at the McCombs School of Business with a focus in audit. He received his PhD from the University of Missouri-Columbia and is a member of the editorial board for both The Accounting Review and Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory. This fall, he will teaching a data analytics course at UT Austin tailored specifically for Master in Professional Accounting students.

Mallary Tenore
Writing Skills Course

Mallary Tenore is a lecturer at The University of Texas at Austin’s School of Journalism. She’s also the Associate Director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at UT Austin. In 2013, she was named one of the top 50 female innovators in digital journalism. Mallary’s articles and essays have been published in The Washington Post, The Dallas Morning News, Austin Moms Blog and more. She will teaching a writing skills course for Master in Professional Accounting students in the fall of 2022.

Sign up to meet these professors and explore the classes you can take as an MPA students! We’ll see you on March 23!

REGISTER: MPA Current Student and Alumni Panel

February 15, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Join us at the Master in Professional Accounting (MPA) Current Student and Alumni Panel to meet four people who have experienced the MPA program first-hand. You’ll hear about their time in the program, why they chose to study accounting, and their career path since graduating from the program. Plus, you’ll get the chance to ask the students and alumni questions.

Register here! We’ll see you Thursday, February 24 from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. CT.

Meet the Panelists:

Courtney Crosby, MPA ‘14  –  University of Houston Law Student
After graduating from the MPA program in 2014, Courtney worked at Southwestern Energy as a Joint Venture Accountant. She then transitioned into law and interned at a District Attorney’s office before going back to school to earn her law degree from the University of Houston.

Arjun Naganathan, MPA ‘22 –  Current Student
Arjun is originally from Southern California and is currently finishing up his MPA degree while double majoring in film. After graduation, he will join McKinsey & Company as a Business Analyst. His career aspirations include working in sports and pursuing entrepreneurial ventures.

Anthony Saenz, MPA ‘22 – Current Student
Anthony graduated from Texas A&M University in 2015 with an Industrial Distribution degree. After working for a few different energy and engineering companies, he decided to go back to school to earn his graduate degree in accounting to better understand how an organization operates. Anthony is currently studying tax and will graduate this summer.

Sarah Stiff, MPA ‘17 –  ESG & Sustainability Senior Consultant, Deloitte
Sarah started her career at Deloitte as an auditor in their Houston office. After three years of working with real estate clients in financial statement audit, Sarah joined Deloitte’s Sustainability & ESG services team. She currently helps clients with their disclosure outlook and strategy, enhancement of ESG data processes and controls, as well as complete and accurate reporting in accordance with industry-recognized ESG frameworks and standards.

Register Today!

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