DEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTANCYAnnual Report 2010-2011

Contents

Chair Remarks .................... 3

Program Highlights ............. 4

Faculty ................................ 9

Students ............................ 12

Alumni .............................. 17

How You Can Help ............ 22

From the Dean .................. 23

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The Accountancy Annual Report is an annual publication of the Department of Accountancy for our alumni and friends.

Department of Accountancy Farmer School of Business, Suite 3094 Miami University Oxford, Ohio 45056

Telephone: (513) 529-6200 Fax: (513) 529-4740 www.fsb.muohio.edu/acc

Accountancy Support Staff: Susan Anderson, Administrative Assistant Debbie Gentry, Senior Administrative Secretary Gretchen Radler, Academic Program Coordinator

Many thanks to the accountancy students, faculty, staff, alumni, and other partners for their assistance in the compilation of this report.

Miami University: Equal opportunity in education and employment Produced by IT Communications 162588

The Chair’s Perspective

This past year has been one of significant activity in the Department of Accountancy. The department underwent two reviews: the university’s Program Review and the AACSB’s (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the premier accrediting agency of business programs) Accreditation Review. I am proud that both of these reviews validated our commitment to excellence in accounting education.

Described in this report are many of the activities in which our faculty, students, and alumni are engaged, activities that support the conclusions of the reviewers. All three of these groups are integral in fulfilling our mission of having nationally recognized undergraduate and graduate programs that provide our graduates with the ability to continually acquire the skills and knowledge to be successful professionals.

As I complete my twenty-first year at Miami University, and eighth as department chair, I reflect upon the many changes that have occurred in the Farmer School of Business and, more specifically, the Department of Accountancy over this time. The most obvious is the new building, which has made a major impact on how students, faculty, staff, and professionals interact and engage. The new facilities have clearly supported improved classroom pedagogy and enhanced the overall learning experience of our students.

The Department has seen a significant change in faculty members, with many faculty retiring and equally as many new members joining us. New faculty members bring new perspectives as well as new dynamics to the department that we believe will allow us to continue our excellence in accounting education.

In addition to the new facilities and faculty members, we have made numerous changes to courses, curricula, and the processes used to operate a university program. On a more global scale, we have witnessed significant shifts in the overall political and economic climate and in the accounting profession.

It is these changes that continually challenge us to be competitive and motivate continuous improvement. Miami University, the Farmer School of Business, and the Department of Accountancy provide a terrific environment in which to face these challenges. We have excellent students, committed faculty and staff, and supportive alumni and friends who provide us the resources to continue our quest for excellence.

I hope you enjoy this report and realize that we value all of our stakeholders. If you are looking for ways to engage with us, contact me at rubinma@muohio.edu. Have an enjoyable summer and please keep in touch.

Regards, Marc A. Rubin PricewaterhouseCoopers Professor and Chair

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Program HIGHLIGHTS

Accountancy Programs Continue to Excel

Undergraduate and graduate programs in accountancy at the Farmer School of Business continue to rank among the nation’s best, according to this year’s annual survey of accounting professors conducted by Public Accounting Report.

The survey of more than 1,700 college and university educators ranked Miami’s undergraduate program 17th and its Master of Accountancy program 25th. Both programs are among the top five at schools that do not offer doctoral programs.

“I believe that this recognition by our peers is evidence that we are accomplishing our mission of providing excellence in accounting and business education,” said Marc Rubin, department chair.

“Our programs’ continued presence among the nation’s top 25 is testimony to the quality and commitment of our accountancy faculty,” said Roger Jenkins, dean of the Farmer School. “They are devoted to teaching and stay abreast of the rapid changes taking place within the profession worldwide. Because of the rigorous preparation our students receive, they are heavily recruited by the best accounting firms and distinguish themselves professionally.”

Public Accounting Report is the independent newsletter of the accounting profession. The survey of accounting educators asks on a scale of 1 to 10, “which programs consistently turn out students capable of some day attaining partner status?”

As further testament to our continued success in serving our mission, the Department of Accountancy was recently re-accredited by the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business). After undergoing a rigorous review process, the department was praised by the AACSB Accounting Accreditation Committee for, among other things, our commitment to high-quality teaching, our innovative curriculum, and our significant relationships with professionals and employers.

We are grateful to the friends and supporters of our programs, particularly our alumni and the employers who hire our students, who help us to maintain such excellence in accounting education.

Portions of this article originally appeared in the Miami e-Report

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Accounting Thought Leaders Share Experiences and Insights

We in the Farmer School are incredibly fortunate in so many ways, not the least of which is the high regard in which the accounting profession holds our programs, our students, and our alumni. One upshot of this regard is that national thought leaders in business and accounting come to Oxford to interact with our students. Over the past year, we have been privileged to welcome some of the profession’s best minds to campus. The following is a sampling of our recent speakers.

In April 2010, Sharon Allen, Chairman of Deloitte LLP, addressed a standing-room-only crowd of students, faculty, and staff about “The Journey from Manager to Leader: the Skills You’ll Need Along the Way.” When she was elected to her current position in 2003, Allen was the first woman to become chairman of a leading professional services firm.

Lou Grabowsky, COO of Grant Thornton LLP, kicked off this academic year with a visit in September. Responsible for the day-to-day operations of the U.S. firm, Grabowski shared his thoughts about changes and opportunities in the public accounting profession in his talk entitled “Your Place in a Profession on the Move: The Future View of Public Accounting.”

This spring has been a particularly exciting one, with two top public accounting executives visiting campus. PricewaterhouseCoopers

Chairman and Senior Partner Bob Moritz arrived in January. Students, faculty, and staff once again filled the David R. Taylor Auditorium to hear Moritz talk about “Leadership Re-Imagined: Four Forces Shaping Future Leaders.”

Jim Turley, Chairman and CEO of Ernst & Young, wrapped up the year with his April visit. Speaking to a packed house about “Leading in Exceptional Times,” Turley shared the perspectives on leadership he has developed throughout his career, particularly in navigating the firm through the past decade of significant change in the accounting profession.

We are grateful to have these tremendous opportunities and appreciate the support of our alumni and others in the profession who recognize the value of a Miami accountancy degree.

Sharon Allen Lou Grabowsky Bob Moritz Jim Turley

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A select group of our Master of Accountancy (MAcc) students stepped to the front of the classroom this year. As instructors for the discussion sections of our introductory accountancy classes, these students faced challenges beyond those of their peers, and handled them beautifully. “The MAcc instructors have done an outstanding job,” says Dan Wiegand, former coordinator for ACC221 Introduction to Financial Accounting.

“This has been a real win-win situation,” he goes on to say, highlighting the benefits of this experience for both the graduate students who are teaching the course and the undergraduates who are taking it. From the sophomores’ perspective, they have gotten a chance to interact with someone who is not only highly skilled, but also close to their age.

Andrew Mock, one of this year’s MAcc instructors, agrees: “I believe that for the most part, students have been responding well to having MAcc instructors teach their discussion sections. The fact that we are so close in age to the students creates a relaxed and fun learning environment, and we are able to use our perspectives as students to help the 221 students as best we can.”

Another benefit has been reduced class size. Due to the number of MAcc instructors, the department was able to offer a greater number of discussion sections with fewer students in each than in recent years, which allowed for more interaction between student and instructor. For Andrew, that has been the most enjoyable aspect of teaching so far. “What I like most about the teaching are the relationships that I have built with many students,” he says. “Being able to spend time with students individually and seeing them finally understand a difficult concept is rewarding.”

Mike Ferguson, another of this year’s MAcc instructors, echoes Dan’s comments about how beneficial the experience has been. “It really brings the program full-circle,” he says. “Not too long ago we were these sophomores just getting introduced to accounting, and now we are helping to bring that knowledge to the undergraduates.”

For the graduate students, not only have they gotten a real grounding in the basics of accounting – taking the time to look and really understand why we do what we do – but they have also built confidence in their ability to make presentations, think on their feet, and field questions. By the end of the year, each instructor will have made over 60 presentations in front of a large group.

Both Andrew and Mike agree this is a great benefit that will serve them well in their careers, though it hasn’t always been easy. “The most challenging aspect of the experience has probably been learning to communicate my understanding of the material to students in a way that is

Master of Accountancy Students Take the Stage

clear and understandable for them,” says Andrew. “Learning material myself and teaching that material to others are two completely different things!”

Fortunately, the MAcc instructors quickly formed a close-knit group, and Mike contends that being part of a team and having such a strong support network has been one of the best parts of the experience. And they weren’t alone. “Dan Wiegand and Beth Killy (current ACC221 course coordinator) stood behind us all the way, providing guidance and support whenever we needed it,” he says.

Spring semester, the MAcc instructors tackled ACC222 Introduction to Managerial Accounting. “This course brings a new set of challenges,” says Ron Collins, ACC222 course coordinator, “but the MAccs have been more than ready for them.”

Eric Anderson, Fiona Chan, Michael Ferguson, Mark King, Andrew Mock, Bridget O’Connell, Nicole Perna, Allison Russell, Rebecca Silverman, Leo Tropeano, and Nicole Turosky, the 2010-2011 MAcc Instructors, have risen to every challenge placed before them. As we review applications for the MAcc class of 2012, we are looking for the excellence to continue in 2011-2012!

Rebecca Silverman fields a question from one of her ACC221 students.

Mike Ferguson stresses the importance of laying a strong foundation in the basic principles of financial accounting.

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Accounting Careers Panels

On October 28-29, 2010, accounting professionals from throughout the region visited our ACC221 Introduction to Financial Accounting courses for our annual Accounting Careers Panels. More than 30 individuals shared with approximately 1,000 sophomore business students their experiences in preparing for and pursuing careers in accounting.

Please see below for a list of panel participants and their organizations. We thank all of the participants for offering their time and expertise, and for the continuing support your organizations provide to the department and our students.

Organization Representative(s)

Barnes Dennig Jay RammesBattelle & Battelle David KlopferBKD Erin MannixCardinal Health Beth AugustCourtland Partners Rob NegrelliCrowe Horwath David MitrosDeloitte Matt Carley Ryan Jankowski Bill LauterErnst & Young Taylor Mobley Natacha HodgesFifth Third Bank Kristy Laycock Laura WehbyGoodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Kelly Hillyard Amy PipolyGrant Thornton Brad Knoll Katie LongHoward, Wershbale & Co. John KrizanskyJD Cloud & Co., LLP Zach DotzauerKPMG Jennifer BurgasMarathon Petroleum Jeff Marchal Jacob ShaferMartin & Assoc. Kevin MartinNewPage Corporation Andres OcarizO-I Mark PulsParker Hannifin David CurryPlante & Moran Bradley BryantPricewaterhouseCoopers René NewsomeProcter & Gamble Nick SpicherSkoda Minotti Marilea Campomizzi Kenny GoodwinSS&G Alexis Becker Jenny DwyerTQL Alan Abram

Dave Klopfer (Battelle & Battelle) shares career insights with students in ACC221.

Rebecca Silverman fields a question from one of her ACC221 students.

If you or your organization would like to be involved in future career panels, please contact Mrs. Debbie Gentry at gentrydp@muohio.edu.

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Captain Eric Spitznogle, United States Marine Corps, spoke with ACC321 Intermediate Financial Accounting students about leadership qualities and characteristics, discussing their application in both military and business settings. He included tips on leadership self-assessment and improvement plans, and students debated the relative importance of leadership traits such as integrity, loyalty, decisiveness, and dependability.

• The Center for Business Excellence (CBE) hosted the Ernst & Young Business Excellence Summit for the third year, along with a concurrent one-day session targeting a diverse population of high-achieving high school students from the Greater Cincinnati and Dayton areas. The Ernst & Young Future Leaders Summit will return to campus this summer.

• KPMG agreed to continue funding the CBE/KPMG Curriculum Development Initiative for 2011-2014 to develop innovative and integrative course material. Several modules developed during the first phase of the initiative will be integrated into the Farmer School’s BUS101 course that is required for all first-year business students.

• The Sixth Annual Executive Conference was held in April 2011 on Excellence in Integrity, Leadership, and Transparency. The Conference’s keynote speaker, Chris Curtis, CEO of Schneider Electric NA, discussed how employee engagement creates significant

value for the company, driven by its world-class policies on safety and health. Students from the Master of Accountancy, accountancy undergraduate, and MBA programs participated in the event with the registered executives.

• The Inaugural Mutual Fund Board of Directors Forum, “Advancing Fund Governance,” was held on campus in April 2011. The forum focused on ways that board members can balance their many compliance responsibilities with the increasing need to focus on strategy, risk management, and stakeholder expectations. Various CBE advisory board members are serving on a steering committee to develop an ongoing series.

• Schneider Electric NA funded a case study for faculty members Brian Ballou, Tim Eaton, and Dan Heitger in conjunction with it receiving the prestigious Robert W. Campbell Award from the National Safety Council for its innovative safety and health practices. The case will be distributed to business schools throughout the country upon completion (anticipated in late 2011).

• Kai Monahan (B.S. Finance, 1989), Nationwide Insurance Senior Vice President – Office of Internal Audit, joined the CBE Advisory Board in fall 2010. Several advisory board members established a steering committee to develop a CEO event for the Center.

Mr. Jeff Close, Office of General Counsel of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, discussed a fraud case with Master of Accountancy students in ACC650 Fraud Examination.

“The relation between officers and men should in no sense be that of superior and inferior, nor that of servant and master, but rather that of teacher and scholar.” - Lt. Gen. John A. LeJuene

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Faculty HIGHLIGHTS

Jon Grenier, now in his second semester as an assistant professor, joins us from the University of Illinois, where he earned his Ph.D. in 2010. Earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accountancy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Jon joined Andersen LLP in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2000 as an assurance associate.

Two years later, he was hired by KPMG LLP and was quickly promoted to senior associate before returning to school to work toward

his Ph.D. While a doctoral student at Illinois, he was a member of the national winning team in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ xFAC (extreme faculty) Doctoral Case Competition. Surely a sign of good things to come!

Jon’s research interests – understanding and improving professional judgment in auditing and other accounting contexts – link him to other members of our faculty, having already published an article with Dr. Drew Reffett. Jon joins Brian Ballou and Drew Reffett in our auditing faculty.

Jon, his wife, Cristin, and young son, Owen, live in Oxford.

Comings and Goings

Jim Katerakis (B.S. Accountancy, 1976) joined us this fall as an instructor, and he really hit the ground running. In addition to teaching sections of ACC333 Managerial Cost Accounting, he also developed a new course, ACC456 The Accounting Profession, which has proven to be a very popular course offering, each section filling within hours of being opened to enrollment. In this new course, students explore what it means to be a member of the accounting profession, including issues of ethics, integrity, and

societal expectations, and the historical, current, and future role of the profession in the domestic and global economy.

Drawing on years of experience in public accounting, including in the human resources function, Jim also joined forces with Sharon Attaway, director of professional development in the Farmer School, to organize a series of workshops to help prepare our students for the job search process. Called the Accounting Career Explorations, or ACE, Program, these workshops are designed to hone students’ skills in networking, interviewing, and other key job-search strategies.

The Department of Accountancy is delighted to introduce our newest faculty members, Dr. Jonathan (Jon) Grenier and Mr. James (Jim) Katerakis, and wishes farewell to Dr. Ryan Casey.

Welcome, Jon and Jim!

We are sorry to say goodbye to one of our newer faculty members. Ryan Casey, who came to Miami in 2009, will be joining the faculty at the University of Illinois-Chicago this fall. We thank Ryan for his service to Miami and wish him the best in his new position.

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If it is possible to become a legend in less than a decade, then Dan Wiegand is a legend.

Known to thousands of current and former Farmer School of Business students as “Dan the Man,” Dan joined the Department of Accountancy full time as an instructor in 2003, was promoted to lecturer in 2005, and retired in December 2010, leaving behind a legacy of excellence in instruction, innovation in curriculum development, and dedication to students that will be hard to match.

As the coordinator of the ACC221 Introduction to Financial Accounting course, Dan has taught approximately 1,500 students each year. Countless numbers of these students have shared that they decided to major in accountancy because of Dan. What an impact he has had on our students and future business leaders!

In our 2006 Annual Report, we wrote about the revamping of our introductory financial accounting curriculum and Dan’s new interactive

learning tools, Solid Footing – Building an Accounting Foundation and Red Company – Financial Statement Analysis. Since that time, Dan has authored and published five editions of Solid Footing, which has been adopted by the top

accounting program in the nation, the University of Texas at Austin, and by over forty other university accounting programs. It has also been adopted by one of the Big Four accounting firms for use in training international new hires.

Most recently, Dan once again received the annual “Boot Camp Award” from the Farmer School MBA students, recognizing him as the outstanding professor in the summer MBA boot camp. He was also nominated for the 2010-2011 Alumni Association’s Effective Educator Award. Outside of the classroom, Dan continued to perform business and IT consulting for local and national companies.

As Dan’s retirement date approached, Annie Greiner, a senior accountancy major who provided administrative support for the ACC221

Bidding Farewell: Dan Wiegand Retires

course, invited students and alumni to write a brief note to Dan about the impact he had on them. Amanda (Shick) Pyzoha, a 2006 graduate, remembers: “When I chose to enter the business school, I was not very excited about taking accounting classes, but soon after starting Accounting 221 with you as my teacher, I found that I actually enjoyed accounting . . . I’m now a Senior Internal Auditor at Advance Auto Parts, Inc. and couldn’t be happier with my job in accounting and I have you to thank for that!” She goes on to say, “My husband [Jonathan Pyzoha, 2004 B.S., 2005 MAcc] is in the Accounting Ph.D. program at Virginia Tech right now with the hopes of being an accounting professor one day. I can only hope that he will leave an impact on his students like the one you have left on me. Thanks . . . for three semesters of great classes and stories I will forever remember.”

“You are a treasure, not only to us, but clearly to your profession,” wrote Dean Roger Jenkins in 2008. He is, indeed. We are grateful to Dan for his service to the department and our students over the past eight years, and wish him well in his retirement.

Thanks for three semesters of great classes and stories I will forever remember.

Dan Wiegand gives one final “lecture” to accountancy faculty, staff, and graduate students at his farewell dinner last fall.

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Faculty NewsBarry P. Arlinghaus, Deloitte & Touche Professor(arlingbp@muohio.edu)Retired from full-time teaching in August 2010.

Brian Ballou, Ernst & Young Professor(balloubj@muohio.edu)See CBE update (p. 8)

Peter Brewer, Professor(brewerpc@muohio.edu)Published article in May 2010 issue of Strategic Finance titled “Getting Fit with Corporate Wellness Programs”; published article in Journal of Accounting Education titled “Motivating Students to Prepare for Class and Engage in Discussion Using the Hot Seat”; published Managerial Accounting for Managers 2e with the McGraw-Hill Companies; served on the editorial board of the Journal of Accounting Education.

James Cashell, C. Rollin Niswonger Professor (casheljd@muohio.edu)Retired from full-time teaching in August 2010.

Philip Cottell, Jr., Professor (cottelpg@muohio.edu)Many alumni will recall the amazing learning experience of working the Shreffler Stores problem in Dr. Cottell’s class. The Department of Accountancy is pleased to announce that the Shreffler Stores problem – written with the help of a Miami alumna – was published in Issues in Accounting Education during the fall. Now students at many diverse colleges and universities can suffer through the problem. Alumni will be saddened to learn that Bagger, the Irish Water Spaniel who visited class, has sustained a training injury and has had to be placed on the disabled list for the time being.

Kathryn Easterday, Assistant Professor (easterke@muohio.edu)Taught ACC333 Managerial Cost Accounting in Fall 2009; was granted an Academic Research Appointment (ARA) during Spring 2010 which enabled her to complete and submit research papers to academic journals as well as begin work on new projects; attended the American Accounting Association (AAA) Financial Accounting and Reporting Section meeting in San Diego, California, in January and the AAA Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California, in August 2010; one of her research papers, co-authored with PK Sen of the University of Cincinnati and Jens Stephan of Eastern Michigan University, was presented at the European Accounting Association Annual Meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, in May by PK Sen; when she returned from her ARA in Fall 2010, she began teaching ACC321 Intermediate Financial Accounting.

Timothy Eaton, Associate Professor (eatont@muohio.edu)Won the Richard T. Farmer Teaching Excellence Award; served as the national co-chair of the Deloitte & Touche Trueblood Committee; served as faculty advisor for the PwC Case Competition; several articles were accepted or published during the year including in The CPA Journal and Journal of Accounting Education; made numerous presentations at various conferences; continued to serve as a reviewer for Journal of Accounting & Public Policy.

Jan Eighme, Lecturer (eighmeje@muohio.edu)Nominated for the Associated Student Government Outstanding Professor Award; served as chief departmental academic advisor and the advisor for the newly-organized Miami student Accounting Association; served as the program chair for the 2010 Ohio Region Meeting of the American Accounting Association, served as the secretary/treasurer for the Ohio Region of the American Accounting Association; served on the editorial board of the American Journal of Business.

Dan Heitger, Professor (heitgedl@muohio.edu)Promoted to full professor; also see CBE update (p. 8)

Christopher Metcalf, Clinical Faculty (metcalcc@muohio.edu)Started eleventh year at Miami teaching the principles of accounting series, in addition to the core business course, Foundations of Business Decision-Making, and the new Bachelor of Integrative Studies course, Financial Information for Managers, on the Middletown and the Voice of America Learning Center campuses; continued as an academic advisor for the four-year business students on the MUM campus; and continued active involvement in professional qualification activities through SCORE.

Andrew Reffett, Assistant Professor (reffeta@muohio.edu)Taught ACC453 Financial Statement Auditing and in the MAcc program; his dissertation “Can Investigating Fraud Risks Increase Auditors’ Liability?” was accepted for publication in the November 2010 issue of The Accounting Review; attended the AAA auditing mid-year conference in January; attended the Deloitte & Touche Trueblood Seminar for Professors; served as a faculty sponsor of Miami’s team that participated in Deloitte & Touche’s national case competition.

Marc Rubin, PricewaterhouseCoopers Professor and Chair (rubinma@muohio.edu)Member of American Accounting Association Education Committee; member of American Accounting

Association Finance Committee; vice-president of American Accounting Association Government and Nonprofit Section; chaired Joint American Accounting Association and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Notable Contributions Committee; member of Board of Directors of the Accounting Programs Leaders Group; member of AICPA Special Committee on CPE Standards.

Thomas Schultz, Assistant Professor (schulttd@muohio.edu)Taught ACC343 Federal Income Tax Accounting; published co-authored articles in Advances in Accounting and Management Accounting Quarterly; presented research papers at the AAA annual and Ohio region meetings on the market valuation of corporate multijurisdictional income shifting practices and the tax benefits of environmentally responsible capital expenditures; served as faculty advisor to Miami’s Deloitte Tax Case Competition team and a member of the American Taxation Association’s Research Resources and Methodologies Committee; currently researching the financial accounting and tax reporting issues related to FIN 48 and the disclosure of unrecognized tax benefits.

Dale Stoel, Assistant Professor (stoelmd@muohio.edu) Taught ACC361 Accounting Information Systems; published a co-authored article in Journal of Information Systems on market valuation of IT capability and IT spending; presented research papers at 2010 AAA AIS mid-year meeting on the impact of knowledge sharing on IT capability and at the 2010 AAA annual meeting on IT audit quality factors; research on reporting of enterprise risk management information to a board of directors has been accepted for presentation at the 2011 AAA AIS mid-year meeting.

Dan Wiegand, Lecturer (Dan.Wiegand@muohio.edu)See article p.10.

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Student HIGHLIGHTS

Honoring Our Students’ AchievementsTwo of the highest honors a student can receive at Miami University are the Provost’s Student Academic Achievement Award and the President’s Distinguished Service Award.

The Provost’s Awards, presented to rising seniors at the August convocation, recognize both academic excellence and outstanding contributions to the university or the community. Each recipient receives a $1,000 scholarship.

The President’s Distinguished Service Awards are presented to graduating seniors whose service as a university employee, through campus life, community service, or intellectual and cultural leadership, has been truly extraordinary.

We are proud to recognize that two of the 11 students who received the Provost’s Award for 2010 and two of the 20 students who received the President’s Award for 2011 are accountancy majors.

Provost’s Student Academic Achievement Awards

Daniel Mater’s goal is to be an astronaut, and he dabbles in theoretical physics as a hobby. He’s preparing to start his career on earth, however, and has accepted a job offer with Ernst & Young’s assurance practice in Chicago, Illinois, where he completed an internship. The accountancy and marketing double major, who hails from Chicago, is minoring in Chinese; he studied in China for a semester during his sophomore year.

Jared Sheehan is from the Cleveland area. An accountancy major with an environmental sciences

companion major, Sheehan led Green Oxford’s biodiesel project: an interdisciplinary effort to develop a bio-reactor to transform the university’s food waste into fuel. Jared spent most of his junior year studying in China and Brazil. He will join Deloitte as a business analyst in their strategy and operations consulting practice in Cincinnati, Ohio.

“I am realizing that the award is more than just another scholarship,” reflects Jared. “It is recognition that I have been lucky enough to fully explore the possibilities Miami University offers and will continue doing so my senior year. Looking forward, I hope the award will allow me to better network with leaders in the business and academic world so that I may pursue my goal of sustainable business.”

Three additional Provost Award winners were also from the Farmer School of Business: John Budig, a finance major, Vince Ciepiel, also a finance major, and Mike Emling, who is majoring in supply chain/

operations management. All five recipients gave credit to Farmer School faculty members for challenging, encouraging, and mentoring them during their undergraduate career.

President’s Distinguished Service Awards

Alexander Howie, a double major in accountancy and history of art and architecture from Mason, Ohio, received the President’s Distinguished Service Award for his intellectual and cultural contributions to the Department of Art, the City of Oxford, and campus life. Alex has been hired by Deloitte to join their Columbus, Ohio, audit staff.

Arvin Ting, a double major in accountancy and finance from Manila, Philippines, received the President’s

Provost Award winners Daniel Mater (bottom right) and Jared Sheehan (top right)

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Distinguished Service Award for his contribution as an international advocate, athlete, teacher, and mentor. Arvin will be joining the audit staff of Deloitte in Cincinnati, Ohio, this fall.

Two other Farmer School students also received these awards: Jonathan Lawson, an interdisciplinary business management and Latin American Studies double major, and Anthony Ting, a supply chain and operations management and management information systems double major.

Alexander Howie (bottom row, center) and Arvin Ting (bottom row, far right) received the President’s Distinguished Service Award on April 10.

FSB Honors Day

In March, the Farmer School held an Honors Day Ceremony, in which top students from each discipline were recognized. Four accountancy majors were honored at this ceremony.

Nicole Abbenante was awarded the PricewaterhouseCoopers Kelly Booms Memorial Scholarship. A member of Kappa Delta sorority, Beta Alpha Psi, and Beta Gamma Sigma, Nicole was employed at the Recreational Sports Center and studied abroad at Miami’s Dolibois European Center during the spring semester of her junior year. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she has been hired as an audit associate in KPMG’s Pittsburgh office following graduation.

Stephanie Baeder received the department’s Arthur H. Carter scholarship. During her time at Miami, she has been active in numerous roles with the Miami University Student Ambassadors, served as a Resident Assistant, and worked in the Office of Admission assisting with the university’s recruitment efforts. Stephanie will be working for KPMG in New York City in their Audit-Metro practice.

Kevin Brager, recipient of the Joseph B. and Esther K. Paperman Memorial Scholarship, will be returning to his home state of Maryland to join the public accounting firm BDO. Kevin volunteers with Habitat for Humanity and the Ohio Benefit Bank, and has enjoyed participating in the firm-sponsored case competitions over the past three years.

Jonathan Roberts also was awarded the PricewaterhouseCoopers Kelly Booms Memorial Scholarship. He made the most of his time at Miami, participating in the Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity, competing in multiple accounting and finance case competitions, tutoring in the Rinella Learning Center, playing intramural sports, and studying abroad in Luxembourg. Jonathan has accepted a position with Deloitte Consulting in their Strategy and Operations practice.

Congratulations to all of these outstanding students!

Students Hone Skills in Annual CompetitionsOnce again, our students have accepted the challenges posed by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte in their annual case competitions.

In November, nearly a hundred students competed in the PwC xACT competition, tackling a case involving IFRS convergence. All teams were judged by a panel of seven PwC professionals, including several partners. Our students performed well in this very challenging competition, but one team excelled above the others.

Team ImpACT, made up of accountancy majors David Hall, Tyler Peters, and Alicia Starc and finance majors Thomas Foster and Michael Trivelli, claimed the $1,000 prize and the chance to compete for the national competition. Team ImpACT was coached by Jeff Snyder, a 2009 Miami graduate who was a member of last year’s winning team.

Students were back at it in the spring, with 24 tackling cases posed by Deloitte. Tyler Jones, Xiaojiao Liang, Steve Simecek, Alisa

Smolyakova, and Yi Sun formed “An Unlikely Alliance” to address financial reporting issues pertaining to variable interest entities. Coached by faculty advisor Dr. Drew Reffett and Deloitte advisor Andy Kitzmiller, the team walked away with the top prize and the satisfaction of a job well done.

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sBy Andrew Gray, senior accountancy major

As an accountancy major, I have been privileged to participate in an outstanding leadership development opportunity. In November 2009 and 2010, I was given the opportunity to attend the Institute of Management Accountants’ Student Leadership Conference, with the support of the Ohio Regional Council (ORC) and the Department of Accountancy.

I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.

The IMA Student Leadership Conference greatly benefited my professional development. Through peer-to-peer networking, I had the opportunity to interact with other students who aspire to be accountants. By networking with accounting professionals, I established important contacts and relationships with professionals for future job opportunities. From the presentations, I learned from accounting leaders a great deal about the profession, leadership, and important business tools. I now feel better prepared to make decisions regarding my future in the accounting profession.

The presentations at the conferences covered a wide range of topics appealing to students of managerial accounting. Some, like “How

Learning and Growing Through the IMA Student Leadership Conference

to Market Yourself in a Difficult Economy,” “Networking 101,” and “Interviewing with Impact,” addressed general job-search techniques. Others highlighted exciting career opportunities for accountants, such as “Lights! Camera! Accountants?” (presented by Ray Scalice, vice president and general manager of Pixel Magic) and “The Other Side of Fireworks” (presented by Clark Jones, vice president, domestic site operations finance for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts). Still others covered career opportunities such as forensic accounting and management accounting opportunities in government, sports, and fine arts.

I feel that, through the conference, I have grown as a leader, student, and future accountant. Along with another student who attended the conference, I am currently looking into reinstating the inactive IMA chapter here at Miami University. I am grateful to the ORC and the Department of Accountancy for supporting my attendance at the IMA Student Leadership Conferences, and will continue to look for ways to become more involved with the IMA as I complete my education and move into my career.

Last summer, Master of Accountancy students once again participated in the International Summer School at the University of Seoul, South Korea. During the six-week program, students experienced many different aspects of Korean culture, and were also able to select an excursion to Beijing, China; Osaka & Kyoto, Japan; or Andong & Kyungju, Korea. In these photos, MAcc students (from left) Tyler Roark, Ryan Patterson, Noah Slabotsky, Matt Titus, Greg Brelsford, Tom Laine, and Dan Carley explore the night life in Seoul, South Korea; and (far right) Noah Slabotsky and Tom Laine take a break during their climb up the Great Wall of China.

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By Sara Ferguson and Stephen Thomas

Beta Alpha Psi, the accounting honorary organization at Miami University, offers opportunities for students, faculty members, and professionals in the fields of accounting, finance, and management information systems. Its purpose is to provide its members with professional development skills, networking opportunities with prospective employers, and local community service projects to help those in need.

In April 2010, the members of our Beta Alpha Psi chapter elected our 2010-2011 Executive Board: President, Stephen Thomas; VP of Reporting, Sara Ferguson; VP of Finance, Katie Winkler; VP of Programming, James Castellano; VP of Professional Relations, Natalie Opeka; VP of Community Service, Mary Ormond; VP of Membership, Chris Kopp.

Later that same month, our entire executive board and the chapter faculty advisor, Ron Collins, traveled to Chicago for the 2010 BAP Midwest Regional Conference. Here we had a chance to interact and network with nearly 300 students from 41 chapters, exchanging event and community service ideas in both professional and casual settings.

In July of 2010, we, along with Mr. Collins, attended the BAP National Conference in San Jose, California. One of the highlights of this conference was an incredible community service day. With more than 900 students participating, we were able to make a large impact on lives of the residents in the city of San Jose in just one day of service. BAP students cleaned up the public parks downtown by raking and shoveling, and by planting flowers in the surrounding area. Besides offering an opportunity to help others, the service day allowed BAP members to network with each other as they worked. The experience was an eye-opening one for both of us, inspiring us to bring this level of excitement to BAP community service events like this one at Miami.

The trip to the national conference was hugely beneficial from a planning aspect as well. The ideas shared by other chapters have really encouraged us to improve our chapter by working to make a real difference with the students on campus and in the surrounding Oxford community. Miami’s Omega Chapter has been inspired to reach award-seeking levels of Distinguished or Superior status this year. We are creating a brand that will make a lasting impression on our organization at every event, program, or community service event held.

This year Miami’s chapter of BAP has taken its new brand and has made a difference in both the Farmer School of Business and the greater Oxford community. Every week, business professionals with great perspectives and hot topics have attended our chapter meetings. Several of the firms and professionals that have already teamed up with BAP include

Beta Alpha Psi: A Year of Serving, Learning, and Growing

Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Plante & Moran, Crowe Horwath, Steve Martin, Professor James Katerakis, and Becker CPA Review.

We want to highlight several of the special events and groups our chapter has been involved with this year. The BAP team executed the most successful “Meet the Firms” evening that the accountancy department has ever seen, with more than 300 students and 125 professionals in attendance. What a wonderful networking event for all Miami business students!

BAP also designed a “Letters of Love” campaign, in which business students and faculty members wrote more than 400 letters to members of the military, thanking them for their brave service and dedication to our country. The chapter also took part in a “Build-

a-Bike” service project, in which BAP members teamed up with Deloitte professionals to assemble bikes which were then donated to the local Big Brothers Big Sisters chapter. What an incredible experience to see the looks on the kids’ faces after seeing their new bikes!!

Our chapter recently elected its new Executive Board for 2011-2012: President, Tyler Bond; V.P. of Programming, Lisa Budinscak; V.P. of Reporting, Kellie Huebner; V.P. of Professional Relations, Alexandra Sparkman; V.P. of Membership, Jennifer Treglia; V.P. of Finance, Jordan Sheer; V.P. of Community Service, Parker Dieterle. The first weekend in April, the current and newly-elected officers attended the annual regional meeting of BAP in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was a great learning experience for the new Executive Board and provided a great opportunity for outgoing officers to mentor our chapter’s future leaders.

The members and Executive Board of Beta Alpha Psi are very proud of our accomplishments in terms of professional development and community service. What an incredible group of driven, inspiring business students!! Thank you to all who have supported our chapter this year. BAP looks forward to continuing its hard work and creating lasting memories with the students, faculty, and professionals at Miami University.

BAP officers Steve Thomas and Sara Ferguson pause for a photo during the BAP day of service in San Jose, California.

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s2010–2011 Department of Accountancy Scholarships and Awards

Congratulations to the award recipients and many thanks to the sponsors and donors who make such awards possible! If you are interested in making a contribution to support the Department of Accountancy scholarship efforts, please visit www.forloveandhonor.org, or contact Kirk Bogard, director of development, at 513-529-9727 or bogardks@muohio.edu.

Albers Accountancy ScholarshipYifan Luo

Andersen Alumni Accounting ScholarshipJay L. Conroy*Andrew D. Kopek*

Battelle & Battelle Scholarship Nikki J. GillenKarmen Stoyadinovic

Arthur H. Carter ScholarshipVincent C. CiepielJay L. Conroy*Elizabeth R. HeskettBridget A. O’Connell*Leo T. Tropeano*

Crowe Horwath Outstanding Accountancy Student ScholarshipZachary A. KeelingBrigitte M. RiesMichael J. SolarzWesley N. Tang-Wymer

Ernst & Young Accountancy ScholarshipFiona P. Chan*Ann E. GreinerSean P. KwiatDaniel A. MaterEric K. NgNicole M. Turosky*Mengfei Yuan

Rolland L. Ewell Accountancy ScholarshipFiona P. Chan*Andrew D. Kopek*Michael T. Kopek*

Grant Thornton LLP Accountancy ScholarshipJasmine R. Hill

Harold W. Jasper ScholarshipLea K. Holman*

KPMG Accountancy ScholarshipBridget A. O’Connell*Qianlin Yu*

Daniel Leshner Beta Alpha Psi AwardStephen L. Thomas

Harry C. Lyle ScholarshipEmily M. Vanek

Miami University Graduate AssistantshipEric J. Anderson*Andrew J. Donnell*Michael S. Ferguson*Michael S. Gould*Lea K. Holman*Mark King*Andrew D. Kopek*Michael T. Kopek*Nicole M. Perna*Seth M. Philip*Allison M. Russell*Michael F. Scherpenberg*Rebecca E. Silverman*Kim O. Standen*

C. Rollin Niswonger Graduate FellowshipAndrew J. Mock*

Joseph B. and Esther Paperman Memorial ScholarshipKevin M. BragerJohn D. Coughlin

PricewaterhouseCoopers Accountancy ScholarshipLisa B. BrightChristopher D. LevyJulia E. McKayLeo T. Tropeano*David J. WoodyXi Yan

PricewaterhouseCoopers Kelly A. Booms Memorial ScholarshipNicole M. AbbenanteJonathan C. Roberts

Rankin Accountancy ScholarshipNicole M. Turosky*

William H. Schaefer ScholarshipMatthew A. McNaul*

William D. Stiles/Deloitte & Touche Memorial ScholarshipJonathon M. BogdenAshley R. BrownDavid R. HallLea K. Holman*Matthew A. McNaul*Chad W. Warner

William R. and Irene R. Vogel Memorial ScholarshipJay L. Conroy*

E. Ben Yager ScholarshipJared J. Sheehan

* Denotes a Master of Accountancy student

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James (Jim) Buettner graduated from Miami University in 1989 with a double major in accountancy and finance. “My degrees in accountancy and finance from Miami prepared me for unique business transactions throughout my career,” he writes.

Jim’s career started in public accounting in Cleveland, Ohio, rolling up oil and gas partnerships into new SEC public companies. This process involved months of work, including field audits of oil wells and

late nights testing partnership files. He also worked for BP America’s internal audit department, testing cash and receivables. Jim passed the CPA exam in 1991.

The following year, Jim joined Swagelok Company, one of America’s largest privately held manufacturers, where he managed the costing department of the largest international division, the industrial tube fitting division. Jim’s responsibilities as finance manager included managing the transfer costs for over 8,000 SKUs in a multi-site ERP system. He received his second professional certification, that of Certified Managerial Accountant, when he passed the CMA exam in 1994.

As senior financial analyst with Swagelok, Jim developed and managed a $500 MM foreign currency hedging program for the company’s sales to

Alumni HIGHLIGHTS

Career Growth in the Corporate Sector

My degrees in accountancy and finance from Miami prepared me for unique business transactions throughout my career.

Japan, Canada, the European market, and the United Kingdom. He also managed a fixed asset department with assets over $500 MM.

During this time, Jim returned to school to further develop his skills. He earned his MBA with a concentration in industrial marketing from Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1996.

Jim joined Dade Behring, Inc., a public medical device company, in 2007. Dade was promptly purchased by Siemens AG, the German-based industrial giant, in a $7 billion acquisition, and Jim led the accounting consolidation function in Brussels, Belgium, and the U.S. throughout the lengthy merger process.

Jim currently works as a senior financial analyst for the merged Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics in Deerfield, Illinois, a Chicago suburb; he invites Miami alumni to join him on LinkedIn. He lives in Evanston, Illinois, and teaches Sunday School at Old St. Pat’s Church in downtown Chicago.

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Richard (Rick) Evans is an audit partner in KPMG’s Chicago Consumer and Industrial practice. He has over 20 years of experience serving a wide variety of clients in industries ranging from chemical and fertilizer, aviation and transportation, and steel, and in sizes ranging from private emerging companies to large multinationals–specializing in audit and assurance services.

“I really believe my Miami education laid the foundation for the success I have enjoyed in my career,” says Rick. “Having an accountancy degree

from Miami seemed to carry a little more weight (compared to other schools) when you spoke to people in the profession.”

Rick graduated from Miami University cum laude with a degree in accountancy in 1990. He immediately began his career with KPMG and was elected to the partnership in 2001. Rick has an extensive background with public company

reporting requirements. He also has strong capital markets experience with public offerings, including debt and equity offerings, and leveraged buyouts.

Rick has performed acquisition and due diligence reviews, assisted companies with the proper accounting for acquisitions and divestitures (including experience with carve-out financial statements), and

provided advice during M&A negotiations. He has experience with joint venture structures and variable interest entity accounting. He has also helped clients implement cycle counting programs, analyze finance department benchmarking information, and assess information technology needs.

Rick is one of KPMG’s International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) reviewing partners advising engagement teams throughout the U.S. on technical issues related to the implementation and on-going accounting under IFRS. He also serves as a national instructor for KPMG training and as a reviewer in their internal quality review program.

“You came out of Miami very technically sound and able to think through issues,” notes Rick, reflecting on his time as a student and new graduate. “The professors were top-notch and very interested in your personal development. I remember my first accounting class, ACC221, taught by Dr. Robert Hamilton. At the beginning it wasn’t necessarily ‘clicking’ but I visited him two or three times during his office hours and the light bulb came on.”

Robert (Rob) Evans is an audit partner from KPMG’s Atlanta office currently on secondment with KPMG’s Department of Professional Practice in New York. During Rob’s 16-year career with KPMG, he has worked primarily in the firm’s insurance practice providing audit services to both public and private insurance companies in the property and casualty, life and health, and life reinsurance lines of business. In addition, Rob has served clients in the energy, software, consulting, and real estate industries over the course of his career.

After graduating from Miami in 1994 with an accountancy degree, Rob joined KPMG in Columbus, Ohio. Two years later, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he worked until he was transferred, in 2010, to New York for a three-year assignment in the Department of Professional Practice. Rob has travelled throughout the U.S. and internationally to Jamaica, Japan, Philippines, Hong Kong, China, Switzerland, and Greece.

In addition to his role as audit partner, Rob serves as a member of KPMG’s Training and Methodology Team, assisting other engagement teams on

the proper implementation and execution of KPMG’s integrated audit methodology. He is a national instructor for KPMG’s Center for Leadership Development and participates in KPMG’s internal quality review programs.

“I credit my success at KPMG to the foundation built while at Miami, both academically and personally,” Rob says. “Early on in my career,

when you said you had an accounting degree from Miami, it seemed to carry with it an assumed level of competence and knowledge that opened doors.”

Doors have opened, indeed. While at the Department of Professional Practice, Rob has served as a representative of the firm in various interactions with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board as it conducted its annual inspection of the firm. Rob is currently serving a rotation in the firm’s Risk Management department where he’ll be involved in a wide spectrum of risk management activities.

Looking back on his time at Miami, Rob laughs at some of the memories: “If you managed to get through the introductory accounting classes without having nightmares about debits and credits you wore it like a badge of honor and would offer to “tutor” those less fortunate on the intricacies of double entry accounting!”

Evans Brothers Achieve Success with KPMG

I really believe my Miami education laid the foundation for the success I have enjoyed in my career.

When you said you had an accounting degree from Miami, it seemed to carry with it an assumed level of competence and knowledge that opened doors.

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cessHe holds fond memories of the faculty, as well. “Dr. Rankin taught auditing

and he had a passion about the subject matter that, however strange it may sound, made auditing interesting and fun,” he recalls. “I remember his perfectly combed hair, his sweaters, and his inviting personality that made you want to ask questions and learn. He showed a genuine interest in the students and made me realize that accounting/auditing was not about sitting behind a desk with a ten-key, crunching numbers, but it was about interacting with clients and required both analytical and interpersonal skills.”

Rob learned that lesson well. He has significant experience serving large, multinational public companies and has helped them navigate the many operational challenges resulting from the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. During the course of these engagements, Rob has worked extensively with internal audit departments in the establishment of planned audit approaches that incorporated reliance on the work performed by internal audit and others under the direction of management. He has worked with audit committees, both public and private, as companies have endeavored to improve their corporate governance practices and oversight of financial reporting.

Outside of work, Rob serves as the chairman of the board of SafeKids Georgia, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to preventing accidental injuries to children under age 14. He and his family (wife, Shelley, and four children: daughter Ryleigh (9), son Alex (8), daughter Presley (4), and infant daughter Dylan) currently live in Larchmont, New York.

Working on the articles for this year’s annual report, Rob and Rick Evans shared numerous memories of their time at “Mother Miami.” Since we couldn’t include them all in the “Alumni Highlights” articles, the desire to share these memories sparked an idea: we can include a fun “Miami Memories” section in one of our next publications! Here are some highlights to jump-start your trek down memory lane…

I have very fond memories of Beth Baer, who taught my cost and government accounting classes (and who let me miss her class to go to Mardi Gras my senior year after I had already accepted a job offer with KPMG). I had just started dating a girl who lived in New Orleans at the time, that girl is now my wife. Who knows, if Professor Baer had said she was going to “dock”me for skipping class, things might have turned out much differently personally. – Rick Evans

I remember studying every night in King Library, a short walk across the street from the Phi Psi house on Campus Avenue. I always sat in the same spot in the library and you’d see other accounting majors all around the library, so you had a built in network. – Rob Evans

I was in the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, in MUSF, and got to meet then-Vice President George Bush when he came to Miami in 1988. – Rick Evans

I had Dr. Rubin for intermediate accounting (and taxes I think). He brought his own unique style to the classroom that made you feel like it was exciting to be an accountant. He had an ability to bring a “real world” experience to the classroom. I remember talking with him about his public accounting experience and how he could have advanced in the profession but chose to become a professor instead and I always admired that about him – choosing a career path that made him happy as opposed to chasing the money. Also, he was a funny guy inside and outside of class. He challenged me intellectually but could then shoot the breeze with you after class like one of the guys so much so that I enjoyed popping my head into his office just to chat. I specifically remember him running all over campus, in shorts that would today be considered way too short! – Rob Evans

Do you have some favorite memories of your years in Oxford, accountancy faculty or staff members, or extra-curricular highlights that you would like to share? Please send them to Gretchen Radler at radlergb@muohio.edu for inclusion in our next annual report or newsletter!

Miami Memories

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Accountancy Department Alumni Events

This fall, accountancy alumni gathered at cities throughout the region for an evening of socializing, networking, and re-connecting with friends, colleagues, and professors.

Marc Rubin, chair of the Department of Accountancy, and Kirk Bogard, senior director of development, worked closely with members of our Accountancy Advisory Group (AAG) to plan events in Cincinnati, Chicago, Cleveland, and Columbus, all well received by those in attendance. Approximately 150 alumni, most of whom graduated within the past 20 years, enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere and the opportunity to share Miami memories with fellow accountancy graduates.

One lesson learned from these events is that we need to improve our alumni records, as many did not receive the invitations, which were e-mailed out by the development office and posted on our LinkedIn site. One of our goals for the upcoming year, therefore, is to improve our alumni database. If you have not received communications from us, or if you are not sure we have your most recent mailing or e-mail address, please send a quick memo to alumnirecords@muohio.edu to update your contact information. Also, please join our LinkedIn site, Miami University Accountancy Alumni and Students (www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=1797275), to keep in

touch with the happenings of the department and connect with current students and fellow alumni.

We hope to offer similar events in the future, perhaps linking them with some form of CPE component. If you have suggestions for CPE or would like to see alumni gatherings in other cities, please contact Marc Rubin at rubinma@muohio.edu. Watch your e-mail and our LinkedIn site for announcements this fall!

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Have you recently started a new job? Retired from an old job? Gone to graduate school? Are wedding bells soon to ring or is a baby on the way? Let your fellow alumni know through the Class Notes section of the Accountancy Annual Report. If you would like to update your fellow alumni, please send an e-mail with all pertinent information (including your graduation date and maiden name, if applicable) to Gretchen Radler at radlergb@muohio.edu.

1970sThomas Farrell (1978) has assumed the role of chief financial officer of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber. He is charged with leading high-performing teams to support the chamber’s mission, to create individual opportunities for development, and to maintain a comprehensive budget. In addition to his undergraduate degree from Miami, Thomas earned an MBA from Xavier University.

1980sRonald J. Bachman (1981) has been named vice president and chief financial officer of CMH Regional Health System. Ronald most recently served as president and CEO for Marion General Hospital in Marion, Ohio. He currently resides in Powell, Ohio, with his wife, Pam.

Lynn J. Good (1981) was elected to the board of directors of Hubbell Incorporated, a Connecticut-based electrical products manufacturer. Lynn is currently group executive and president of Duke Energy Corporation’s commercial business. She was previously CFO of Cinergy Corporation and a partner at Deloitte & Touche and Arthur Andersen.

Jeffrey Green (1983) was hired in June 2009 as chief financial officer of T3 Communications, a Fort Myers, Florida-based telecommunications company. Jeffrey has 25 years of financial management experience, most recently as an investment banker at RBC Capital Markets. His experience includes positions as CFO at both private and publicly traded telecommunications companies, and as finance director for the City of Fort Myers.

Sallie McClelland (1980) has formed Savannah Accounting, a Georgia firm that assists small businesses with their accounting and financial needs. Sallie has 25 years of corporate experience with Fortune 500 firms, and is using that experience to help her clients develop their small businesses. In addition to her undergraduate degree from Miami, Sallie earned an MBA from Saint Francis University.

Pamela (Sattler) Richmond (1987) has accepted a position with Otterbein Homes (Otterbein.org) as vice president of strategic management and new ministry development as of May 2, 2011. Otterbein helps to

enhance the quality of life and holistic growth of older persons and currently serves approximately 2,000 people in Ohio.  

Adam Yofan (1988) was named president of Alpern Rosenthal Financial Services LLC, an affiliate of Alpern Rosenthal, in Pittsburgh. He specializes in financial planning, wealth transfer, and asset and risk management.

1990sPaul Beswick (1994) has been named deputy chief accountant, overseeing the Accounting Group of the Securities and Exchange Commission. In his new role, Paul will be responsible for resolution of accounting issues, rulemaking projects, and oversight of private sector accounting standard-setting efforts. Since September 2008, Paul has been serving as deputy chief accountant for Professional Practice in the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant. He joined the SEC staff in October 2007 as a senior advisor to the chief accountant.

Stacy Bonitz (1991) is a certified public accountant with 18 years of accounting experience. She lives in her home town of Medina, Ohio, with her husband, Rich, and three children. In addition to her undergraduate degree from Miami, Stacy earned an MBA from John Carroll University.

Robert (Bob) Ellis (1992), CPA, is a director with Blue & Co., LLC, in Indianapolis, Indiana. An active volunteer, he is a member of the Circle City Foundation; serves on the board of directors for the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana; has worked on or chaired committees for numerous major events sponsored by the Indiana Sports Corporation; and acts as an advisor to the Double Q Foundation.

Diana Mead (1994) has been named COO of Allonhill LLC, a Denver, Colorado-based mortgage and risk management firm. Diana was previously head of business development for government services with Allonhill, a role she will retain in her new position.

Herbert S. Wagner III (1990) was recently named to the board of directors of the Boys and Girls Club of Boston, Massachusetts. He is a managing director of The Baupost Group, an investment organization that manages $20 billion in assets, and he lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his wife and three children. Herbert earned his MBA with honors from the University of Chicago.

2000sKaryn Bailey (2007, MAcc 2008) was promoted in October 2010 to audit senior at Ernst & Young in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Pete Berlute (2000) has been appointed Securian Financial Group’s new assistant controller. His responsibilities include overseeing financial reporting, as well as corporate, investment, and fund accounting. Pete joined Securian in 2006 as director of financial reporting and accounting.

Melissa (Fundzak) Burrows (2005) and Christopher Burrows (2005) were married on June 7, 2008, in North Royalton, Ohio. They welcomed their first child, a beautiful healthy baby girl, Isabella Claire, on February 24, 2011.

Lisa (Dicke) Craig (2004, MAcc 2005) and her husband, Rhett, welcomed their first child, Kaylee Marie, on April 15, 2010. Lisa is a CPA and a stay-at-home mom, and has started a small tax practice out of her home.

David Curry (2007) has announced his engagement to Emily John. David is an accounting supervisor with Parker Hannifin in Buffalo, New York. His fiancée, a graduate of Marshall University, is a research laboratory technologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. A May 2011 wedding is planned.

Marc DeLuca (2008, MAcc 2009) received the Excel Award for earning one of the top scores on the CPA exam in Illinois in 2009. To be eligible for the Illinois CPA Society Excel Award, candidates must achieve a combined average score of 90 percent or above on all sections of the exam and be in the top five percent of Illinois scores.

Chris Horne (2006) married Becky Sovol (a Xavier University graduate!), on September 4, 2010. He is a senior associate with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Cleveland, Ohio.

Robert Nowlin (2006, MAcc 2007) has recently been named director of finance and operations for Hadley Capital in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to joining Hadley Capital, he was a senior consolidation accountant at Stericycle. Rob is a CPA and a CVA (Certified Valuation Analyst).

Ashleigh Palmer (MAcc 2009) married Walter Weathers in May 2011. She works for Deloitte in Chicago, Illinois.

Steven Peach (2007, MAcc 2008) was promoted in October 2010 to audit senior at Ernst & Young in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Jill (Christman) Pratt (2007, MAcc 2008), was promoted in March to senior financial analyst with Mars Petcare. She and her husband, Bailey Pratt (2008), an assurance senior with Ernst & Young, live in Nashville, Tennessee.

Robert Schoettker (2008) decided to use his business knowledge to pursue a dream of his: to start a clothing business. He partnered with a friend, Trevor Furbay, to turn his local business (Romualdo, a men’s custom clothing store in Madeira, Ohio) into a nationwide business. Robert is spearheading a new division of the company, Romualdo Made to Measure custom-made shirts.

Emily Sterling (2010) was hired last September by Ernst & Young and is a member of the firm’s Assurance Services staff in its Chicago office.

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pThe Department of Accountancy would like to thank each friend who supported our efforts over the past year. We appreciate this support as it indicates your confidence in our programs and services. A successful program depends upon teamwork; by reaching out to our various partners and working together to continually improve, we can look to the future with great optimism.

How can you help continue the tradition of excellence?

Share your story. As one of our alumni or other supporter of the Department of Accountancy, you are an excellent ambassador of our programs. Encourage high school students you know to take a look at Miami University and the Farmer School of Business.

Offer your expertise. You possess insights, skills, and experience that can enhance classroom instruction and benefit any number of our programs and activities. We encourage you to contact us to explore ways in which you can contribute your time and talent to make the Farmer School’s accountancy experience even better in the years to come.

Consider a contribution. Gifts and donations are an important part of the university budget and every gift counts. If you have questions about the Department of Accountancy’s funding priorities and initiatives, please feel free to contact Marc Rubin personally at 513-529-3381 or rubinma@muohio.edu, or Kirk Bogard, senior director of development, at (513) 529-9727 or bogardks@muohio.edu. Thank you again for your continued support.

From

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Dean

I would like to extend my congratulations to Marc and his faculty and staff for the great things they have accomplished this academic year. An enthusiastic thumbs-up from the AACSB accreditation team, continued high ratings by Public Accounting Report of both undergraduate and graduate programs, and very strong recruiting of our accountancy graduates by top firms are evidence of the quality of students’ educational experience.

Another achievement was the department’s success in recruiting a promising teacher-scholar. Anne Farrell, currently on the faculty at the University of Illinois, was recommended as being a good fit for our program, and someone who would contribute at a high level. I am so pleased that we got permission from the university to hire her for next fall.

Thanks to the department’s excellent relationships with the Big Four firms, we are able to bring top-level executives to the Farmer School to interact with our students and faculty members. This semester we were very pleased to host Ernst & Young CEO James Turley. In January, Bob Moritz, Chairman and Senior Partner of PwC, was an Executive Speaker. Last spring, Deloitte Chairman Sharon Allen was among our Executive Speakers. Such personal access to these respected leaders is a privilege for all of us here at the Farmer School.

The Center for Business Excellence, under the leadership of Brian Ballou and Dan Heitger, continues to focus attention on key aspects of business integrity and sustainability. The support of their summer business summit by Ernst & Young, and a second generous grant from KPMG to develop relevant curriculum modules, demonstrate just how important their work is.

The Farmer School, as well as Miami as a whole, continues to face serious budget challenges. The school is fortunate to have a faculty and staff who are committed to our mission and who give their very best, even in the midst of financial constraints.

In times like these, gifts from alumni are especially important to help us maintain an outstanding experience for our students. Your gifts of time, talent, and treasure can make a difference! We invite you to connect with us and learn more about how you can become involved.

Warm personal regards,

Roger L. Jenkins Dean, Farmer School of Business

Farmer School Perspectives

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Department of AccountancyFarmer School of Business, Suite 3094Miami University501 E High StreetOxford, OH 45056-1846