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Accounting E-News Fall 2020

John T. Steed School of Accounting | Fall 2020 E-News
Karen Hennes

Message from Karen Hennes, Director of the Steed School of Accounting

Greetings from the John T. Steed School of Accounting. The fall semester is winding down, and final exams are looming. This fall semester has been unusual, with a mix of virtual and socially distant in-person classes and new virtual formats for recruiting, conferences and other student activities. Classes pivoted entirely online after Thanksgiving, and the Spring 2021 semester will include a delayed start and the elimination of the typical Spring Break.

Our faculty and staff have gone above and beyond to adapt to these circumstances so we can continue to provide a quality experience for students, and we are all grateful to our partners and alumni who continue to provide invaluable support in these uncertain times.  

Despite all the challenges of this year, our Steed School of Accounting community recorded a number of amazing achievements. I invite you to read further to learn more about recent Steed School of Accounting news and accomplishments.

Karen Hennes

Associate Professor
W.K. Newton Chair in Accounting
Director, Steed School of Accounting

School News
Screen capture from video of students thanking scholarship donors

Steed School of Accounting Awards

Though the in-person 2020 Accounting Awards Banquet was canceled this year, $203,500 in scholarships was awarded to 80 undergraduate students, and $159,250 was awarded to 43 graduate students. We greatly appreciate the generosity of the individuals, families and firms who make these scholarships possible. Please watch this video of thanks to see scholarship recipients express gratitude to our donors.

In addition, Logan Schoonover was named Outstanding Senior and Luke Lombardi was named Outstanding Junior. The following faculty members received teaching awards: Faculty Research Award to Brant Christensen; Faculty Service Award to Joe Dulin; Faculty Teaching Award to Brad Blaylock, Ashley Newton, and Richard Price. The following Ph.D. candidates were recognized: Outstanding Doctoral Student Research Award to Kelly (Seoyoon) Ha; Outstanding Doctoral Student Teaching Award to Yiding Wang.

To provide scholarship support to our graduate students, you can make a donation by giving online or contacting the Price College Office of External Relations at (405) 325-7670.

students work together on a laptop

Growth Continues in Master of Accountancy Programs

Enrollment in the Residential Master of Accountancy continues to grow, rising to 121 students in fall 2020. Our graduates are highly valued by employers, as nearly 100% of the 2019-20 program graduates had positions or were accepted to graduate school within three months of graduation. This is not surprising, given that the most recent results on the Uniform CPA Exam published by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy reported that 87.7% of OU MAcc students passed the CPA Exam the first time in 2019, a result that was #1 among Big 12 schools and #12 in the nation out of 418 universities with advanced degree programs.

The Online Master of Accountancy program reached a milestone this fall, with current enrollment topping 100 students! For the fourth consecutive year, demand for online accounting education increased and the number of applications to the program grew.  

To provide scholarship support to our graduate students, you can make a donation by giving online or contacting the Price College Office of External Relations at (405) 325-7670.

Zoom screen capture of virtual visit by Val Britton and Mike Gameage

Graduate Students Explore Revenue Recognition and Accounting for Cryptocurrency

Retired Deloitte Partner Val Bitton and Deloitte Senior Manager Mike Gamage virtually visited the Accounting Theory and Research graduate course. Students and faculty member Richard Price appreciated the expertise the pair brought to cases exploring changes in estimates in the new revenue recognition standard and the reporting of cryptocurrencies in the financial statements.

Speaker slide from guest speaker reads: Federal Accounting Careers Overview

BMAcc Students Meet Representatives from IRS, Love’s Travel Stops, PCAO

In their first semester in the BMAcc program, graduate accounting students are introduced to the breadth of careers in the accounting profession during the Professional Development seminar, facilitated by faculty member Joe Dulin. This semester’s presentations featured numerous Price College alumni, including the IRS, presented by Sharon Haley (BBA, Accounting, 1984); Love’s Travel Stops, presented by Zach Mason (BBA, Finance, 2012), Caroline Goodin (MAcc, 2018) and Wendy Thompson; and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, presented by Steed SOA Board of Advisors member Debbie Witte (BBA, Accounting, 1990). 

Jeremy Humphers, chief accounting officer with Devon Energy

Devon Energy’s Chief Accounting Officer Visits Energy Accounting and Regulation Class

Jeremy Humphers, Chief Accounting Officer with Devon Energy, served as a guest speaker for instructor Jean Hale’s MBA Energy Accounting and Regulation class this semester. Humphers serves on the Steed SOA Accounting Board of Advisors and regularly presents for Hale’s class. Humphers shared his experience working in the oil and gas industry in accounting, giving students a practical reference to complement their classroom instruction.

image of the McLaughlin Lessons Learned publication

Lessons Learned: A Look Back at Two Decades of the Glen McLaughlin Prize for Ethics in Accounting Research

The Glen McLaughlin Prize for Ethics in Accounting Research has now celebrated 20 years and has become known as the “gold standard” of ethics research in accounting in the United States. We invite you to reflect on the key “lessons learned” in ethics research from previous prizewinners.

Student News
Logan Schoonover receives Outstanding Senior award from OU President, Joe Harroz Jr.

Accounting/Economics Student Logan Schoonover Named Price College Outstanding Senior

Logan Schoonover, Accounting and Economics major, was recently named Price College Outstanding Senior. Schoonover, a National Merit Scholar from Aurora, Colo., chose accounting as a major to take advantage of the strong analytical skills she developed through participating in national chess tournaments. In chess, Schoonover said, “I learned to recognize patterns that helped me develop strategies to solve complex problems.” After graduating from the MAcc program in May and taking the CPA Exam, Schoonover will join Goldman Sachs in Dallas as a Controllers Analyst.

Danielle Nickell

BMAcc Student Danielle Nickell Awarded PCAOB Scholarship

Danielle Nickell was recently named by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board as a 2020-21 PCAOB Scholar and received a $10,000 scholarship. Nickell is from Lawton and will join EY in Oklahoma City after graduation.

promotional poster for 2020 football captains Creed Humphrey and Pat Fields

BMAcc Student Pat Fields named 2020 Co-Captain of OU Football Team

Our outstanding accounting students are leaders both in and out of the classroom. Pat Fields, a first-year BMAcc student, was elected as a co-captain of the OU football team this fall. Fields said, “Now that I am a BMAcc student, I have learned to better manage my time by constructing an academic schedule for myself every week. This schedule allows me to ensure I am not overloading myself with work, and to spread my work out proportionately over each day so that I can maximize my team and lighten the burden on myself.”

Ashley Davis

Mentorship Program Goes Virtual, Extends to Dallas and Houston

The 2020-21 Mentorship Program is going strong, with 39 students paired with 38 mentors. One advantage of the program’s virtual status is that mentors from the Dallas and Houston areas have been able to participate, a plus for students who plan to begin their careers in these cities. The program is sponsored by the SOA Board of Advisors and coordinated by faculty member Ashley Davis.

Student-mentees shared the following experiences of their mentors:

 

“She helped me prep for my interview today!”

“My first meeting went extremely well. My mentor provided me great advice.”

“My mentor and I immediately clicked.”

“My mentor has been helpful with the multitude of questions I had about internship recruitment.”

Screenshot from the Work Life Balance presentation by Phillips 66

Beta Alpha Psi Update

This semester’s energetic Beta Alpha Psi officers, led by President Dylan Whittenburg, planned a full schedule for members, including:

• Professional meetings/Lunch and Learns hosted by EY and Phillips 66

• Information sessions on the BMAcc program, how to become a Chartered Certified Accountant, and accounting Ph.D. career paths

• Hosting tutoring sessions for financial accounting students

• Community service with the United Way of Norman to remove tree debris following the October ice storm

JCPenney Leadership Program | The University of Oklahoma Price College of Business | Diversity, Fellowship, Networking, Philanthropy, Scholarship and Professionalism

Accounting Majors Selected for JCPenney Leadership Program

Congratulations to the following accounting majors, who were selected for the 2020 cohort of the JCPLP: Ainslee Beck, Jamie Dewbre, Chyven Gadin, Viviana Gonzalez, Joseph Liu, Luke Lombardi, Madison Maier, Georgie McCarty, Kyle Morse, James Oplotnik, Meredith Plein, Britney Powell, Taylor Smail and Cooper Browning.

Suzanna Dellinger, Emily Kamphuis and Shea Worthington

MAcc Students Awarded Tulsa Chapter of OSCPA Scholarships

Suzanna Dellinger, Emily Kamphuis and Shea Worthington recently received scholarships from the Tulsa Chapter of the Oklahoma Society of CPAs. Kamphuis also received the Jim Small Volunteerism Award for being the student “who exhibits the most volunteer/service efforts in their community or school.”

Yue (Mark) Ma

Ph.D. Student Yue (Mark) Ma Co-Authors “Corporate Innovation in the Cyber Age”

In this paper, Ma and co-author Gabriele Lattanzio measure companies’ cybersecurity risk exposure and document how firms respond strategically to this exposure. These strategic responses are shown to negatively impact companies’ returns on R&D investments. This study is available on SSRN and was picked up by the Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog.

Lucas Swider and Hongyu (Jack) Wang

Steed SOA Welcomes New Ph.D. Students

This fall, we welcomed new Ph.D. students Lucas Swider and Hongyu (Jack) Wang.

Swider received his master of science degree in management-professional accounting and his bachelor of accountancy from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Prior to joining the Ph.D. program, he worked as a senior accountant in KPMG’s tax practice, where he performed tax compliance and consulting services for clients across multiple industries. He has also worked as an accounting lecturer for the University of Wisconsin System. Swider is a licensed CPA in the state of Wisconsin. His research interests include taxation and financial reporting.

Wang received his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in accounting from Renmin University of China. Prior to joining the Ph.D. program at the Price College of Business, he worked in a listed company and two private equity funds in China. His study and work experiences have shaped his research interest. He focuses mostly on financial accounting issues in related fields. 

Alumni News
David Greenwell poses for a photo with his award

David Greenwell Inducted to Oklahoma Accounting Hall of Fame

David Greenwell (MBA, 1984), member of the Steed SOA Board of Advisors and current OU adjunct accounting instructor, was inducted to the Oklahoma Society of CPAs Oklahoma Accounting Hall of Fame.

Josue Castro Lopez, Jr. and Hannah Kamphuis

OU Graduates Recognized by OSCPA for CPA Exam Performance

The Oklahoma Society of CPAs recently awarded silver medals to two recent OU graduates, Josue Castro Lopez, Jr. (BMacc, 2019) and Hannah Kamphuis (BMacc, 2019). Lopez, awarded the medal for the highest scores over windows I and II, is employed by Deloitte in Oklahoma City. Kamphuis, who received the medal for the highest scores on windows III and IV, is a tax associate with BKD in Oklahoma. You just can’t spell ACCOUNTING without OU!

Brittney Wycoff

Alumni Updates

Got a major life update, like a new job, promotion, or an award? Click this button to let us know:

SUBMIT NEWS

Below is a selection of alumni updates since the spring 2020 Steed SOA e-Newsletter:

 

 

• Brent McDaniel (BBA, Accounting, 1997) has been named a Partner at KPMG’s Dallas Hub.

• Eide Bailly Tax Partner Kelley Grace (BBA, Accountancy, 2000) has been named a 50 Making A Difference honoree by the Journal Record. She also will be inducted to the Circle of Excellence – an honor reserved for those being selected for the third time.

• Brittney Wycoff (BMacc, 2004) (shown above), SOA Board of Advisors member and Partner at HoganTaylor, has begun her tenure as President of the Board of Directors of Parent Promise/Prevent Child Abuse Oklahoma.

• Allison Reynolds (BMacc, 2009) has been named a Managing Director at KPMG’s Dallas Hub.

• Sarah Bates (BBA, International Business, 2011; Master of Accountancy, 2012) has been promoted to Assurance Senior Manager at EY.

• Stephanie Little (BMacc, 2012) has been promoted to Tax Senior Manager, Global Compliance and Reporting at EY.

• NextGen Under 30 recognized Allison Dumas (BMAcc, 2014), Jacob Dumas (BMAcc, 2014) and Robert Evans (BBA, Accounting, 2016) for “exceptional talent, drive and service to the community.”

• Ben Melton (BMacc, 2015) has been promoted to Tax Manager at EY.

• Christiana Fubara (BMacc, 2015) has been promoted to International Tax and Transaction Services Manager at EY.

Faculty News
Yun Fan, Mina Herron and Chenxi Lin

New Faculty Join Steed SOA

This fall, the Steed School of Accounting welcomed three new faculty members: Yun Fan, Mina Herron and Chenxi Lin.

Yun Fan, assistant professor, joins the faculty from the University of Houston. A graduate of the Steed SOA Ph.D. program (2011), Fan’s research investigates capital market-based accounting issues and has been published in The Accounting Review, Contemporary Accounting Research and Management Science. Fan will teach Intermediate Accounting I in the spring semester.

Mina Herron, instructor, has earned graduate degrees in mathematics and accounting and an MBA. Herron has taught a variety of accounting courses at other institutions for seven years. At OU, she is teaching Financial Accounting and Accounting Information Systems.

Assistant Professor Chenxi Lin joins the faculty after completing her Ph.D. at the University of Kansas. Her research interests include financial reporting quality, audit quality and audit regulations. Lin has a forthcoming publication in Contemporary Accounting Research and will teach Auditing in the spring semester.

Karen Hennes

Karen Hennes Named Director of Steed SOA

This fall, new Price College Dean Corey Phelps named Karen Hennes as Director of the Steed School of Accounting and W.K. Newton Chair in Accounting. She also recently was named to the editorial board of The Accounting Review.

Wayne Thomas

Wayne Thomas Named Associate Dean and JCPLP Outstanding Faculty Member

This fall, Dean Phelps also named Wayne Thomas as Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research Innovation and David C. Steed Chair in Accounting. Thomas also received the Outstanding Faculty Award from the JCPenney Leadership Program this semester.

Chenxi Lin

Chenxi Lin Receives Research Awards

New faculty member Chenxi Lin received the 2020 Max E. Fessler Dissertation Award (University of Kansas) and the 2020 Best Paper by a Ph.D. Student Award at the American Accounting Association Audit Midyear Meeting.

Bradley Blayock, Brant Christensen and Kaimee Kellis

Steed SOA Faculty Generate Business Insights

Members of our faculty continue to publish insightful research, even as they navigate the uncertainty and complexity of teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic.

MORE ABOUT OUR FACULTY RESEARCH

Steed SOA Board of Advisors - Call for Membership

The objectives for the Board of Advisors are to foster and support the missions of the Steed SOA. The Board does so in a number of ways, including thought leadership, curriculum development, student mentoring, and financial support. If you are interested in contributing your time to further the education and development of the Steed SOA and its students, please consider joining the Board of Advisors. For more information, contact Charles Woods.

CONTACT PRICE
University of Oklahoma
Price College of Business
307 West Brooks
Norman, OK 73019-4004
(405) 325-3611
 

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CONTACT SCHOOL OF ACCOUNTING
John T. Steed School of Accounting
307 W. Brooks
Adams Hall, Room 200
Norman, OK 73019-4004
(405) 325-4221
 

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