One thing 91����Ƶ recent graduates often mention about the university’s accounting program is how they benefitted from its small size.

Ashley Hevener ’10 said the close, first-name relationship with her professors was a key part of the education that serves her well in her job as an auditor in Alexandria, Virginia, with Kearney & Company, a firm that focuses on federal agencies.

“91����Ƶ is doing a great job of preparing students to get the CPA certification,” said Jonathan Beckler ’07, now a senior accountant with Cherry Bekaert LLP in Atlanta, Georgia, echoing a sentiment expressed by many of his peers. In nearly every state, though, the boards that regulate the accounting profession have adopted policies requiring CPA aspirants to have completed 150 collegiate credit hours – basically a year of academic credit beyond the usual four undergraduate years – before they can be licensed as a CPA, even if they pass the CPA exam.

Virginia adopted such a policy in 2005, meaning that accounting majors in the years since who want to become CPAs in Virginia – and pretty much any other state – have needed to continue their education at the graduate level.

Enter the master’s of accounting program at James Madison University (JMU), just across town from 91����Ƶ. JMU has a 30-hour master’s program in accounting. 91����Ƶ and JMU have formed a strong partnership in recent years, giving 91����Ƶ accounting majors ready access to a one-year graduate program in Harrisonburg that gives them enough credit to sit for the CPA exam.

“Many of our students go to ‘finishing school’ at JMU,” says Ronald L. Stoltzfus ’75, PhD, head of the accounting program in 91����Ƶ’s business and economics department. “We give them a good foundation, but our offerings are limited. JMU has the resources to offer graduate-level training in taxes, auditing and other aspects of accounting.”

Stoltzfus does recall one honors student, Eric Yoder ‘11, who chose not to enter graduate school and is now a CPA employed by Brown, Shultz, Sheridan and Fritz in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Yoder, however, came to 91����Ƶ with 20 hours of college credit earned while in high school. This allowed him to take a few extra college courses and continue on to the CPA exam and licensing.

“All of the 91����Ƶ students we have had in our program have been successes,” said Paul Copley, PhD, director of JMU’s School of Accounting. “They have been great in the classroom, have all found jobs, and have all passed the CPA exam. This is a testament to the quality of the undergraduate program at 91����Ƶ.”

Besides his own JMU undergraduate pool, Copley says 91����Ƶ is the only university from which his master’s program actively recruits candidates; each year one or two 91����Ƶ graduates typically enroll. The master’s program at JMU allows students to specialize in taxation, audition or information systems.

While 91����Ƶ’s small program size allows students to develop close, beneficial relationships with professors, being small also keeps it off the recruiting radars of large accounting firms. The fact that dozens of employers recruit from the graduate program at JMU – a public university with an enrollment of nearly 20,000 students – makes it an even more attractive option for 91����Ƶ graduates looking for a first job opportunity.

“JMU has superior recruiting power for business and accounting students,” said Monte Glanzer ’07, who connected with his current employer, the accounting firm Hantzmon Wiebel in Charlottesville, Virginia, through one of his graduate professors at JMU.

As Copley puts it, the presence of JMU’s master’s program in Harrisonburg gives 91����Ƶ accounting students access to the “best of both worlds.” Beckler agreed, describing his undergraduate study at 91����Ƶ as a great foundation on which the master’s program at JMU laid the finishing touches that prepared him for a career in accounting.  — Andrew Jenner ’04

A team of 91����Ƶ senior accounting majors tied for fourth place in the final round of competition with a team from the University of Virginia in the ninth annual Goodman & Company Accounting Challenge in the fall of 2010.

The team – consisting of Brittany S. Snyder, Raphine, Va.; Heidi A. Boese, Hesston, Kan.; Eric B. Yoder, Narvon, Pa.; and Jason D. Ropp, Iowa City, Iowa – was one of 33 teams from colleges and universities from Virginia and Maryland who took a six-hour business exam the second week of October.

The 91����Ƶ team was one of only five to advance to the final round of the competition held Nov. 5 in Richmond, Va. Here, the 91����Ƶ students took another intensive, six-hour exam of practical business questions.

For finishing tied for fourth place, the team was awarded $750 for the 91����Ƶ business and economics department, and each student received $250 from Goodman & Company. Another team from U.Va. finished first in the contest, followed by teams from William & Mary and James Madison University.

“I’m really proud of these students,” said , professor of business and economics and MBA program co-director at 91����Ƶ. “It was definitely a team effort.

“It’s great to have this kind of external validation of our business program and our students,” Stoltzfus added.

“It’s an affirmation of our curriculum and says that our students are well prepared to enter the job market and go on to graduate school,” he added.

Article courtesy Crossroads magazine, fall/winter 2010-11