Kansas State University

Dear K-State Accounting Alumni and Friends,

I think we can safely say that this past Spring was the craziest semester in K-State Accounting history! When our semester paused for Spring break, none of us expected that we would be off campus for the remainder of the semester. In the space of about a week, the coronavirus pandemic caused us to move our entire accounting program online in the middle of the semester. Despite the challenges, our faculty and staff team did an exceptional job in serving the needs of our students and our students adapted and adjusted and showed remarkable resilience. It was a tough semester but together we got it done and we did it well.

And that’s what K-State Accounting Wildcats do. When we encounter challenges, we rise up and find a way around them. When people tell us that something can’t be done, we quietly move forward and get it done anyway.

I’m so proud of our K-State Accounting team and I’m so grateful to you, our alumni and friends, for the remarkable support you have shown for our program both during this crisis time and over many years. The pandemic has highlighted that we never know what challenges await us around the corner. We do know that together, as part of the K-State Accounting family and with your loyal encouragement and support, we will continue to thrive.

Go Cats!

Brett R. Wilkinson

Department Head

In May, we successfully achieved the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) endorsement of our accounting curriculum, reflecting the high quality of our program. We are the first school in Kansas and the second school in the Big 12 to attain this endorsement. With this endorsement, we join a high-profile group that includes schools such as Baylor, BYU, Clemson, Michigan State, Missouri, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, and Utah. The IMA is a worldwide association of accountants and financial professionals in business, with over 125,000 members in 150 countries so this is particularly great news for our students who are pursuing industry accounting careers.

A team of six K-State Accounting students advanced to the national final level in Deloitte’s Audit Innovation Campus Challenge (AICC). The team had five weeks to respond to a challenge statement released in October after which team members presented to a panel of Deloitte judges in Dallas, TX, and was declared one of two regional winners. The students from the finalist teams each received a cash award. Twelve teams from around the US advanced to the national finals; unfortunately, the final round of competition was canceled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The K-State team members were (left to right):

• Kylie Durham (Overland Park, KS, Junior),
• Shaylin Ptacek (Salina, KS, Sophomore),
• Andrew Morrison (Manhattan, KS, Senior),
• Erin Goodrum (Andover, KS, Junior),
• Hailey Robinson (Auburn, KS, Senior), and
• Tejaswin (TJ) Shankar (New Delhi, India, Junior).

The team was supported by a Deloitte adviser, innovation subject matter leaders from Deloitte’s Audit & Assurance services practice, and faculty advisers, Ms. Sheila Coomes and Dr. Brooke Beyer.

“The students on this team did an amazing job,” said Sheila Coomes. “They came together with their ideas and insight and advanced to the national final round. Not knowing exactly what to expect for our first year of competition in the AICC, the Deloitte support was phenomenal and everyone on the team rose to the challenge!”

This year, two K-State Accounting students participated in the university-wide Undergraduate Research Symposium. Emilee Brammer, a senior in Accounting, worked on a research project with Dr. Brooke Beyer titled, “Effects of Cybersecurity Breaches on Future Performance.” Their research investigates the effects of cybersecurity breaches on companies’ future performance. They provide evidence consistent with cybersecurity breaches leading to a decline in future net income, sales, and earnings per share but not a significant increase in costs.

Darian Coen, a junior in Accounting, worked on a research project with Ms. Sheila Coomes titled, “Student Perceptions of Tutoring Programs at Kansas State University.” This research demonstrated overall that while students believe participating in tutoring programs could help improve academic performance, they in fact experience several barriers that prohibit them from taking advantage of tutoring programs that are offered.

On December 10, 2020, both these students along with around 150 other undergraduate students, presented their research project posters at the symposium. Both Beyer and Coomes note the value and impact of the undergraduate research experience. “Undergraduate accounting research projects provide students with a great opportunity to develop a better understanding of the research process,” said Beyer. “Further, it improves their analytical mindset, and increases their skills with data analytics software, skills that are critical for success in today’s business world.” Coomes noted that this was a fun way to experience and engage in research with accounting students.  “This symposium has helped our students see and understand the valuable contribution of research to Kansas State University,” she said.

Herbel Scholarships: Thanks to the very generous Herbel matching gift (Vern & Joan Herbel) and the scholarship donor families we have been able to begin offering scholarships to high school seniors from Texas and some other states to join the K-State Accounting family. These scholarships enable K-State to compete for the best and brightest students and bring them to Kansas so that they can discover what we already know: this is an awesome program in an awesome state!

Closing the pipeline loop:  To meet the needs of these out of state students, we are committed to working with out of state recruiters and employers. This past May, we had been scheduled to take a group of high-performing students with interests in Texas employment opportunities, to visit public accounting and industry employers in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. Unfortunately, the pandemic caused us to cancel this trip but we are committed to moving forward with this initiative again once the crisis has passed.

The Accounting Success Academy finished up another successful year under the leadership of Ms. Sheila Coomes, director of the academy. We are excited to announce new sponsorship of the academy from BKD and we appreciate the enthusiastic support from Kaylan Baker (BKD-KC) and Jerica Newby (BKD- Wichita)! With BKD’s support, we look forward to the academy exploring new ideas and reaching new heights.

Over the past three years of the program, the Academy hired 15 accounting coaches and offered thousands of hours of additional tutoring outside of our accounting classrooms.  The academy has assisted around 750 students, with a heavy focus on the introductory accounting courses. The program has recently grown to provide assistance to students taking Intermediate Accounting, Tax I and Accounting for Information Systems.

As the current spring semester shifted to online, so did the Accounting Success Academy!  Accounting Coaches answered questions through Canvas discussion boards and held virtual tutoring sessions via Zoom. Thanks to all our past and future accounting coaches for all of their hard work and help with this new online experience.

The 2019-2020 Academic Year Accounting Coaches were:

• Corine Djeuka Nguemfo (Spring 2020 MAcc Graduate)
• Tyler Moore (Spring 2020 MAcc Graduate)
• Andrew Morrison (returning in 2020-2021)
• Haley Peterson (returning in 2020-2021)
• Katherine Schmitt (returning in 2020-2021)
• Nathaniel Vossman (returning in 2020-2021)
• Paria Zarrin (Accounting Graduate Research Assistant in 2020-2021)

“Thank you for letting me to be a part of this. I credit my experience of ASA to my increase in success academically at K-State and am seeing parallels in my preparation for the CPA exam as well. I am confident the leadership skills I developed working with students will translate to giving me leverage and a boost of confidence when I begin my career at EY.”  Tyler Moore, 3^rd Year Accounting Coach, Spring 2020 MAcc Graduate

The coronavirus prevented us from holding our Scholarships & Awards Gala in April but it couldn’t stop us celebrating! We celebrated around $340,000 in scholarships via social media. Thanks to the amazing support of our alumni and friends, our outstanding K-State Accounting majors will continue to thrive.

Special congratulations to three of our students who won major awards this year:

FSA Outstanding Graduate Student award:           Ms. Michelle Anderson. Michelle has been an outstanding student and ambassador for K-State. She graduated in May and will join EY in Kansas City.

PCAOB Award (national award):                            Ms. Madisyn Messenger. Madisyn will be serving as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for 2020-21.

Timothy R. Donoghue award (K-State award):      Ms. Hailey Robinson. Hailey will be serving as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for 2020-21.

Donors who would like to create a scholarship for K-State Accounting students can take advantage of the Otis and Wanda Gilliland match opportunity through the K-State Family Scholarship program.

Each $30,000 gift will be matched with $30,000 from the Gilliland’s fund. Gifts can be made in a lump sum or a pledge over five years.

See here for details: https://www.ksufoundation.org/noteworthy/2019/GillilandFamilyScholarshipMatch.html

At K-State Accounting, we continue to lead the way in the CBA. In the past year, three of our K-State Accounting faculty members have won college-wide awards.

• Sheila Coomes won the KS State Bank Teaching Excellence Award.
• Monica Woods won the Ralph E. Reitz Outstanding Teaching Award.
• Brooke Beyer won the CBA Developing Scholar Award.

Congratulations to these faculty members on their well-deserved recognition by the college!

Thanks to support from the Kallio Family (Larry & Linda Kallio), faculty teams are currently working on bringing new innovation to our accounting curriculum. One dimension is to more aggressively infuse data analytics throughout our undergraduate and graduate experience. Another dimension is to ensure that our introductory classes meet the needs of our business minors and students from non-business disciplines by emphasizing the application and use of accounting in business. A third dimension is to meet the needs of freshmen and give them early exposure to the versatile world of possibilities in accounting.

Spring 2020 marked the first time in school history that the MAcc program surpassed 100 students, including concurrent students. Despite Covid-19’s disruption, our projected enrollment continues to remain strong.

We are delighted to announce that internships over the year are right on par with last year, which is a huge win given that both spring and summer internships were disrupted by the pandemic. Special thanks to our industry and public partners who, even given these unprecedented circumstances, found creative ways to allow our students to complete their internships. These experiences are invaluable to our students.

Due to Covid-19, we had to postpone our trip to Ireland that was scheduled for May. We have rescheduled for November and have continued to have strong student interest despite the change in dates.

The highly anticipated online Master of Accountancy has arrived! Starting this fall, students will be able to pursue an online MAcc option. This program provides flexibility that allows working professionals to not only maintain their careers while pursuing their MAcc, but also to apply what they learn immediately on the job. The online MAcc also provides our students much-needed flexibility to pick up an additional course regardless of location.

After leading our ACCTG 231 GTA program for 25 years with distinction, Mr. Fred Smith, EY Teaching Fellow, is retiring. We are so very sad to see him leave but the good news is that he is remaining with K-State Accounting in a part-time capacity for the next two years. Fred truly leads by example. He has been an incredible mentor to 60-70 GTAs and he is a dedicated and popular classroom teacher. Fred hands the reins to Ms. Sheila Coomes, who is honored to follow in Fred’s footsteps in leading our GTAs. Smith noted his pride in the number of GTAs who have gone on to become faculty members at K-State or other institutions. “To see their growth and development in their careers has been the most inspiring aspect of my entire career,” he said. “If I had nothing else to fondly reflect on, this one thing is, without doubt, the most gratifying and I will cherish it for the rest of my life.”

Our faculty award winners for the 2020 year are:

BKD Teaching Award: Ms. Sheila Coomes

K-Coe Isom Research Award: Dr. Amy Hageman, KPMG Professor

Koch Industries Leadership & Service Award:  Dr. Brooke Beyer

Koch Industries Leadership & Service Award: Mr. Fred Smith, EY Teaching Fellow

We sincerely appreciate the financial support from our award sponsors: BKD; K-Coe Isom; and Koch Industries.

Thanks to funding from the Cole Family Summer Research award (Charlie & Jan Cole), two exceptional K-State Accounting researchers are preparing for a productive summer working on high impact research projects.

Dr. Amy Hageman will spend the summer working on research pertaining to taxpayer decisions, including understanding how the charitable contribution deduction affects taxpayers’ giving and tax compliance decisions.

Dr. Brooke Beyer will be working on research related to understanding the effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on firm investing/spending behavior and examining whether recent changes by the PCAOB in the audit report provide information about the quality of audit supervision and review.

Both these researchers recognize the impact of the Cole Family Summer Research funding and appreciate the opportunity it gives them to focus on research that matters.

In the past five years our faculty have published in the following journals: Accounting Horizons; Accounting, Organizations and Society; Advances in Accounting; Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory; Behavioral Research in Accounting; Communications of the Association for Information Systems; Contemporary Accounting Research; Corporate Governance: An International Review; International Journal of Enterprise Information Systems; Journal of Accounting and Finance; Journal of Business Ethics; Journal of Corporate Finance; Journal of Forensic and Investigative Accounting; Journal of Information Systems; Journal of International Accounting Research; Journal of the American Taxation Association; Oil, Gas & Energy Quarterly; Research on Professional Responsibility and Ethics in Accounting; Science Direct; Social and Environmental Accountability Journal; Tennessee Society of CPAs Journal. 

We ask you to continue supporting us by giving to K-State Accounting online by clicking here.

Your gifts to our program are making a big difference in the lives of K-State Accounting students. Thanks for supporting us!

You can also work with one of our development team members who advise alumni and friends on ways to make their desired impact at K-State. Please contact Brett Seidl (bretts@ksufoundation.org) to start a conversation.

SAS: Despite the COVID-19 interruptions, the Student Accounting Society had a productive meeting series this past semester. Led by faculty advisor Ms. Kim Charland and the student officer team of Danny Erickson (President), Britney Smith (VP-Secretary), and Bailey Hamaker (Treasurer), the group held seminars with the Kansas City Royals, RubinBrown, Accounting Department Head Brett Wilkinson, and Phillips 66. A seminar by MossAdams had to be canceled/rescheduled due to the pandemic.

IMA: Throughout the past academic year, the K-State IMA Student Chapter was able to host a variety of valuable events for its officers and members. The group visited the Caterpillar Work Tools facility in Wamego where we were presented with accounting specific information and were given a tour of the production facility.  At one of the on-campus meetings, a National Bank Examiner from the U.S. Treasury came to speak.  Additionally, three of the student officers, along with faculty advisor Ms. Sarah Mason attended the Annual IMA Student Leadership Conference, which was held in Charlotte NC.  During the three-day conference, the officers had the opportunity to tour the Charlotte Knights Baseball Stadium, BB&T Ballpark, while learning a little bit about the accounting side of the business and how the ballpark makes money during the offseason.

BAP: Beta Alpha Psi includes social responsibility and service to the community as a critical component of the organizational mission. The Epsilon Theta Chapter, with the support of our professional partner, Jay Power, and CBIZ, made and donated new fleece blankets to the local emergency shelter. Beta Blankets was organized by the executive leadership team of April Berry (President), Jacob Meyerhoff (VP of Programs), Megan Van Fleet (VP of Reporting), Peyton Strobel (VP of Finance) and Hailey Robinson (VP of Capstone Events) and Jane Bloodgood (Faculty Advisor).

If you missed our Accounting and Technology Conference last Fall, you don’t want to make that mistake again! The conference is targeted at accounting professionals seeking to understand the impacts of technology on the accounting profession in today’s business world, and provides up to 16 hours of continuing professional education.

For further information and to register to attend, visit the conference website.

Under the leadership of Stan Weber (President, Tower Properties), our Accounting Advisory Council continues to play an integral role in ensuring our program is at the cutting edge of the profession and serves our students effectively. This year, we were excited to welcome Steve Collins (VP Global Controller, Hallmark Cards); Lee Driver (Partner, Grant Thornton); Mike Loritz (Managing Director, CBIZ); Chad Parker (Partner, Sink, Gordon & Associates); Andrea Unruh (Corporate Controller, FHR Koch Industries); and Laurie Werth (Finance Manager, GBPU ConocoPhillips).

Randy Fletchall (retired Partner, EY) completed his term at the past meeting and is retiring from the council. We sincerely appreciate Randy’s many years of active investment into K-State Accounting! We know he remains a dedicated Wildcat and look forward to him staying engaged with our program over the coming years.

Congratulations are due to Advisory Council member Dan Gaston on his promotion to Partner at BKD!

Please see the full listing of our 2020-2021 Advisory Council members here.

Dr. Brooke Beyer

Ms. Jane Bloodgood, EY Teaching Fellow

Ms. Kim Charland, EY Teaching Fellow

Ms. Sheila Coomes

Ms. Danielle Fischer

Dr. Dann Fisher, Robert Hagans Chair in Business

Dr. Amy Hageman, KPMG Professor

Dr. Rebekah Heath

Dr. Mark Linville, BKD Faculty Fellow

Ms. Sarah Mason

Dr. Terry Mason, Koch Industries MAcc Director

Dr. John Morris

Dr. Kingsley Olibe

Mr. Fred Smith, EY Teaching Fellow

Mr. Rodney Vogt, EY Teaching Fellow

Dr. Ashley West

Dr. Brett Wilkinson, Robert G. Chapman Endowed Chair

MS. Monica Woods, EY Teaching Fellow