Say PCA BO To Changes Next Administration

Welcome back, future accounting superstars! Regardless of your political views, it is important to consider how the new United States President and Congress will impact the wonderful world of accounting.

While I’m sure many of you have spent your free time reading about the potential changes in tax laws under the new administration, I bet a few of you haven’t heard about how the PCAOB could be affected.

The PCAOB is the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and is “a nonprofit corporation established by Congress to oversee the audits of public companies in order to protect the interests of investors and further the public interest in the preparation of informative, accurate and independent audit reports. The PCAOB also oversees the audits of broker-dealers, including compliance reports filed pursuant to federal securities laws, to promote investor protection.”

The PCAOB is not technically part of the government, but it plays an integral regulatory role in our financial system. The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appoints the head of the PCAOB. It seems likely that President-elect Trump will appoint a new head of the SEC, who would then appoint a new head of the PCAOB.

The PCAOB currently has a reputation for protecting investors and keeping a tight leash on the auditing profession. Due to the PCAOB’s enforcement actions, the US Chamber of Commerce has labeled it to be an opponent of business. This likely will not resonate well with the President-elect’s pro-business and deregulation stances.

Paul Gillis, a professor at Peking University in Beijing, a former PwC partner, and a former member of the PCAOB’s Standing Advisory Group, suggested that the PCAOB become part of the SEC under a new Office of the Chief Auditor and that the PCAOB’s standard-setting function is transferred back to the AICPA. This could save taxpayers a lot of money, since the PCAOB isn’t subject to government salary caps and its employees are paid significantly more than their counterparts in other agencies.

I’m excited to visit the PCAOB, SEC, and other organizations during the EY Public Policy Symposium in Washington DC in a few months! Our whole MAcc class goes to DC for a week with our professors to learn about the role of accounting in the policy-making process. It’s one of the unique highlights of our MAcc program and an event that former students have spoken very fondly about.

Best of luck as you prepare your applications and GO BLUE!

Accounting Degree Not Required

Welcome back, future accounting superstars! By now, you’re convinced that you want to be a CPA and that Ross is a great place to get that accounting foundation. But what if you didn’t major in accounting, or if you didn’t even major in a business field?

Fear not, because Ross will be MAccing you into a business leader and CPA before you can say “American Institute of Certified Public Accountants”. You can have an undergraduate degree in any field and pursue your MAcc degree at Ross so long as you’ve taken the following classes:

• Principles of Financial Accounting
• Principles of Managerial Accounting
• Intermediate Financial Accounting
• Principles of Microeconomics
• Statistics

You also need a class in Intermediate Cost Accounting, but this can be taken in the MAcc program. It is preferred that prerequisite courses are completed at a four-year university. However, if you took introductory-level courses at a community college before transferring to your current university, you do not need to repeat the coursework. As long as your intermediate-level courses are completed at a four-year degree granting institution, your courses will satisfy our requirements. If you want help figuring out if you’ve met the admission requirements, submit the Prerequisite Assessment Form to rossmacc@umich.edu.

Ross does not have an undergraduate accounting degree and 56% of the MAcc students completed their bachelor’s degree in something other than accounting. I majored in economics and I have classmates who were premed and studied biology. One person even earned her bachelor’s in fashion design!

Even with this diversity in educational backgrounds, Ross MAccs still do really well on the CPA exam! Our pass rates are about twice the national average and rank among the highest in the country. We also had 6 Elijah Watt Sells Award winners last year, out of 75 total winners. These people scored an average of 95.5 on all four parts of the CPA exam on the first try. The Big Four accounting firms give about a $20,000 bonus to Watt Sells award-winners, so there’s some added incentive!

Best of luck as you prepare your applications and GO BLUE!  

Friendsgiving

Welcome back, future accounting superstars! This is a short week for classes as Thanksgiving is on Thursday.

We MAcc students celebrated early, having a “Friendsgiving” this past Sunday. The MSA board cooked a couple of turkeys and the rest of us signed up to bring different dishes. We had mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, cheesy bacon casserole potatoes, barbecue chicken sliders, roasted brussel sprouts, stuffing, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and more! My friend Ben cooked green bean soup, a traditional Chinese dessert. I made rosemary oven roasted potatoes and was really impressed by the cooking of my classmates.

It was a fun potluck with lots of yummy food and good conversations. Even in the craziness of studying for classes and the CPA exams, it’s important to take time and enjoy life. We certainly did!  

I am very thankful that I discovered the wonderful community of students, staff, and faculty that makes up the Ross MAcc program. It really is an incredible group of people and I could not think of spending this year anywhere else.

Safe travels this week and Happy Thanksgiving! Best of luck as you prepare your applications and GO BLUE!

Semi-Formal, Completely Fun!

Welcome back, future accounting superstars! Grad school is a lot of hard work, but we make sure to have fun as well. The MSA (Master of Accounting Student Association) plans philanthropic, diversity, professional development, and social events throughout the year. It has an eight member executive board that is elected at MAcc orientation each year. MSA members meet at least once a week as a group and have various commitments depending on their positions.

This past weekend, the MSA put on their largest social event of the semester: Semi-formal! We had buses take us to a cool bar in downtown Detroit called Punchbowl Social. It was one of the more interesting bars I’ve been to. We had the upstairs area to ourselves and it had a buffet dinner, shuffleboard, ping pong, pool, bowling lanes, and arcade games. We had a great time singing karaoke! It’s a good thing we’re studying to be accountants, because I’m not sure how many singing gigs our group would get hired for.

Although grad school is a transformative academic experience, it is also a social one! I’ve met so many cool people in these past few months. Ross MAcc students come from all over the country and world. I have classmates from the Midwest, West coast, South, East Coast, China, India, and even one friend from the Bahamas!

Although the University of Michigan is a large school, the MAcc program is part of the Ross School of Business, which is like a separate school with a community of its own. There are about 100 students in the MAcc program and we are broken into two cohorts that take all our core classes together. It’s very easy to meet people in class and through social events like the football tailgates and semi-formal. A good number of my classmates came from very small universities and have been able to settle in here quite well.

Best of luck as you prepare your applications and GO BLUE!

MAccing Your Life Essayer!

Welcome back, future accounting superstars! This week I’ll be talking about the most fun part of your application--the essays.

Seriously though, essays are a lot more fun than working Data Sufficiency GMAT problems and drilling through practice tests. They are a chance to tell your story and make a personable impression on the MAcc admissions committee.

Write good essays so you can get in and make great friends!

When I was writing my essays last year, I took some time to reflect on my life experiences and brainstorm what I wanted to write about. I used the prompts to write essay outlines and didn’t write my essays until I was happy with the outlines. I tried to make my voice come through in my writing. Don’t write what you think the admission committee wants to hear--write what you’re genuinely passionate about!

The essays for the Class of 2018 are as follows:

Question 1:

What attributes of the Ross MAcc will assist you in achieving your short- and long-term professional goals? Who influenced your decision to apply to the Ross MAcc? (500 word maximum)

Question 2:

If you could travel back in time, where and when would you go and why? (500 word maximum)

Optional Essay:

If there is any other information that you believe is important to our assessment of your candidacy, feel free to add it to your application (500 word maximum)

As you can tell by the time travel question, the essays are really about getting to know you as a person and gaining insight into how you think. The admissions committee wants to assemble a MAcc class full of people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives. This is a perfect place to show your creative side! The admissions committee is not looking for “I would go back in time to the signing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 because I like internal controls” (although if you’re super passionate about internal controls no one would judge you)!

The optional essay really is optional. If there is anything in your application that you think the admissions committee may question, it’s a good idea to briefly explain why. This could be used to explain low grades in a class due to extenuating life circumstances or other factors.

Once you’ve drafted your essays, have a trusted friend, professor, or mentor look over them for spelling and grammar mistakes. If your school has a writing center, that can be a great resource. For University of Michigan undergraduate students applying to the Ross MAcc program, check out the UM Sweetland Writing Center.

Essays are a key part of a successful application--do well so you can get in and make great friends next year! Best of luck as you prepare your applications and GO BLUE!

The Accountant Movie Review--Accounting Spoilers Only!

Welcome back, future accounting superstars!

Action. Romance. Suspense. Am I talking about James Bond, or accounting? The Accountant, starring Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, and J.K. Simmons was released in US movie theaters on October 14, 2016. A group of my MAcc classmates went to watch it and we had a really good time. We definitely laughed about the accounting parts after the movie and that gave me the idea to write a movie review. No plot spoilers here--just accounting spoilers!

Accounting Spoiler #1: Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) unethically and illegally advises a tax client. He coerces the client into classifying her necklace-making hobby into a business run from her house. Wolff illegally encourages the client to overstate the square footage of the home office in order to gain a larger tax deduction and to also deduct the client’s vehicle and mileage as business expenses. This is inconsistent with the US Internal Revenue Code and Circular 230, which governs tax preparers in the US.

Practicing tactical skills for The Accountant by playing laser tag

Accounting Spoiler #2: Ray King (JR Simmons) plays the Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). This organization is incorrectly portrayed as a federal law enforcement agency. FinCEN is part of the US Treasury department and their mission is “to safeguard the financial system from illicit use and combat money laundering and promote national security through the collection, analysis, and dissemination of financial intelligence and strategic use of financial authorities.” While they do have analysts and specialists performing these important tasks, FinCEN does not have Special Agents with law enforcement powers who work directly for them. Federal law enforcement officers from other agencies are often detailed to FinCEN, but the only law enforcement arm of the US Treasury Department is the IRS’ Criminal Investigation Special Agents.

Accounting Spoiler #3: Christian Wolff (Affleck) is in a conference room trying to figure out where the money went missing. He spends all night working, writing all over the walls and murmuring many account titles to himself. It is unrealistic to assume that someone could solve this forensic accounting puzzle so quickly or without the use of a computer. Wolff does employ Benford’s Law, which is a real forensic accounting technique involving analysis of first digit number frequencies, but a real analysis would require the data to be graphed and analyzed.

Despite a few mistakes in the accuracy of the accounting information, The Accountant is a very entertaining movie and definitely worth a watch! While I was originally drawn by the title, I was actually pleasantly surprised with how the movie unfolded. There was a nice mix of action, plot twists, and accounting to keep things interesting. Go see it as a break from all that GMAT studying and essay writing.

Best of luck as you prepare your applications and GO BLUE!

International Student Spotlight: Luying and Yu

Welcome back, future accounting superstars! This week’s post will feature two guest stars, Yu and Luying. They are both MAcc students from China who did undergraduate degrees in the US and have been kind enough to share their insights with prospective students.

What were your biggest concerns about attending a MAcc program?

Luying (right) is from x province of China

Luying: I didn’t know much about the recruiting process. Most international students have work experience, but have not recruited with the Big Four before. I was surprised that most international students got 2-3 first round interviews with the Big Four. I had KPMG and Deloitte first round interviews and made it to second round for both.

I went to San Francisco for my second round interview with KPMG and stayed for the weekend. It started Thursday afternoon with one manager interview, a coffee chat with associates, and an interview with a director. Then there was a scavenger hunt and dinner at night. The next day, there was a firm presentation, lunch with associates, and we were done early afternoon. My Deloitte interview is next Friday, and it is also in San Francisco.

Overall, Ross prepares you really well for recruiting. Rebecca is a career coach and emailed us over the summer to help us revise our resumes before the MAcc program started. She also did webinars during the summer. I had mock interviews with a peer coach who interned with PwC and a MBA student who worked for Big Four tax as a manager.

Yu is from the Jiang Su province of China

Yu: Language was the biggest barrier. During recruiting events, I was worried about knowing how to network with professionals. I did my undergrad in the US and most of the international students in the Ross MAcc program did as well. Ross Career Services helped us during orientation with networking and prepared us for the recruiting process. Kaci (MAcc Program Director) and Rebecca (Career Services Associate Director) were always happy to answer any questions.

 Has Anything Surprised You About the Ross MAcc Program?

Yu: When Cheryl interviewed me, it was a very pleasant experience. She tried to discover my personality and learn about what type of person I am. She asked about what I enjoy doing during my free time and my volunteer activities.

I'm part of an action group that Career Services created for international students still looking for job opportunities The MAcc program is also pairing international students looking for jobs with students who have secured jobs so they can form a mentoring relationship and more easily secure offers.

Luying: People at Ross are more inclusive and open to other cultures. Some of the people in undergrad had never left the US and were not accepting of other cultures. Most MAcc students are from different parts of the US and have traveled. They have also interned at different places where they have worked with international teams.

The Accounting Club did a scavenger hunt with the Big Four on campus. There were clues that led us around campus and helped us network with professionals. It actually prepared me well for the scavenger hunt I had at my KPMG second round interview. The Big Four hold networking hours in the Winter Garden. Dominick’s had a happy hour with all the firms. There is a lot of networking and it’s nice because I had met my Deloitte interviewers at these events so the interview was easier.

I was worried about the difficulty of courses. There is a lot of group work, not too much reading, and I’m feeling better about it now. The classes were still manageable, even with recruiting season. Recruiting took up 50% of the time in September and 40% in October. Recruiting finished at the end of Fall A (halfway through the semester).

Dumpling night was a success!

Yu: I am the Macc Student Association (MSA) e-board International Student Relations Chair. I organize events designed to teach classmates about cultural differences. We recently had a dumpling making night where almost half of the MAcc program came. I was surprised that many of the domestic students liked making dumplings and were very interested in learning how. They did a really good job--better than me! We are planning to celebrate Chinese New Year and have an international holiday forum.

I minored in French during undergrad. At Michigan, I’m now in a club called Le Comite Francophone. We meet every Monday night at a cafe downtown and speak only in French. The club is great because the people are all different majors.

Do you have advice for students applying?

Yu: If you apply to MAcc early, you have a better chance of getting a scholarship. There are also more spaces available in the program earlier. I applied in January and interviewed in March. I wanted to apply because the website is well organized and I liked the EY public policy symposium in DC.

If you apply early, you can also apply for Munger housing. My friend lives in Munger and it has really spacious study spaces. The students are all different majors living together, so it’s good for getting to know people from different academic backgrounds.

I hope that these insights from my classmates helped answer some of your questions! Good luck as you prepare your applications and GO BLUE!

Keeping It Classy

Welcome back, future accounting superstars! I’m keeping it classy this week and talking about courses.

The Ross MAcc degree has core curriculum, core elective(s), and electives. You are automatically scheduled into your core classes, which compose 17.25 of your 30 required units to graduate.

I just finished my first core class, ACC 555 Corporate Financial Research and Reporting. Despite the somewhat intimidating name, this was an incredibly interesting and engaging course. Each class consisted of discussing a case study that we had previously worked on with a group. The problems involved researching the proper way to account for something using the FASB Accounting Standards Codification. As our professor Cathy Shakespeare said, this was the first time for many of us that an accounting problem did not have a definitively right answer. I felt that this class really prepared me for the "real world", because we were put in ambiguous situations and forced to make decisions without perfect information. ACC 555 helped develop my professional judgment skills more than any class I've ever taken.

Two core classes, federal taxation and information systems design, are eligible to be waived if you completed an equivalent course in undergrad. I did both of these classes while earning my bachelor’s degree, so I get to take an extra core elective and one more elective. I’ll be taking Cost Systems/Advanced Management Accounting, Financial Statement Analysis I, and Ethics and Negotiations for Accountants as core electives.

One of the things that drew me to Ross for my MAcc was the flexibility the program offers. Almost half of the degree is customizable with electives, and we MAcc students have access to the incredible classes of the Ross MBA program.

I am taking a wide range of MBA courses as electives. This semester, I have classes in management communication, excel, finance, and business law.

MAcc students are allowed to have a maximum of 6 units from non-Ross graduate programs. I’m in a Master of Public Policy class at the Ford School. The course title is Thinking About Crime: Drugs and Terrorism and is taught by a former United States Ambassador and member of the International Narcotics Control Board. I have found the class to be a nice complement to my study of accounting. Terrorism and drug crimes share common issues of money laundering. Next week, I am presenting a proposal to combat Taliban financing in Afghanistan.

Although Michigan as a university is on semesters, most of the MBA and MAcc classes are half a semester long. This means that some classes switch every 7 weeks! This may sound intense, but it’s actually an advantage. Because the MAcc program is one year, you’ll get to take a greater variety of classes! It also prevents procrastination because there isn’t enough time to fall behind.

Good luck as you prepare your applications and GO BLUE!

Michigan Football

Welcome back, future accounting superstars! Today I promise not to talk about accounting and will instead focus on the next best part of attending Michigan--FOOTBALL!

The Big House seats over 111,000 people!

I came from a school where sports were not a big deal, so Michigan was a pretty big change. People go CRAZY for Michigan Football and gameday is a social experience that goes beyond the playing field. Students get a generous discount on season tickets and I highly recommend getting those, even if you don’t particularly like football or think you can attend every game (reselling tickets can net quite the profit--there’s our weekly dose of accounting!).

Having fun at a MAcc tailgate!

Our MAcc program made a ticket group, so we sit together in the stadium. The MSA (MAcc Student Association) also organizes tailgates before home games. We got lucky because James, one of our classmates, lives only a few blocks from the stadium and graciously hosts our tailgates.

Being in the football stadium is an incredible experience. Known as The Big House, it’s the largest stadium in the United States and the second largest stadium in the world. It seats over 111,000 people and every game is sold out. The energy from that many people is exhilarating and helps propel our football team to victory.

Besides football, Michigan has many award-winning sports teams! Hockey, basketball, baseball, and soccer are also popular to watch. Even if you’re not the biggest sports fan, attending a school like Michigan can be great because people have a lot of school pride and good camaraderie is built by going to the tailgates and games with your MAcc classmates.

Our class decided to buy tickets in the same section!

Good luck as you prepare your applications and GO BLUE!

Applying Early and Preview Day (MAcc Open House)

Welcome back, future accounting superstars! There’s a saying that “the early bird gets the worm” and that holds true for graduate school admissions too.

I applied early and I’m so glad I did! I submitted my application around the end of October. Since the Ross MAcc program has rolling admissions, I received an offer within a few weeks that included a Graduate Student Instructor (GSI)/Graduate Student Staff Assistant (GSSA) position. As a GSSA, I work about 7 hours a week in exchange for a partial tuition waiver and monthly stipend. I highly recommend applying by December 1, 2016 to receive priority scholarship consideration!

Another perk of applying early is the chance to attend Preview Day as an admitted student. Preview Day is open to all non U-M undergraduates applying for 2017 admission, which includes students who have applied and are awaiting their admissions decision, students who are in the process of applying, and students who have already been admitted. Applicants get the chance to meet with current MAcc students, staff, and faculty, and tour Ross, the University of Michigan campus, the Big House, and the Munger Graduate Residences. You can register for Preview Day here; spots are limited, so register soon!

I attended Preview Day last year and it was the largest factor in convincing me to attend the Ross MAcc program. I already liked the program on paper, since it had a flexible curriculum with lots of electives (including MBA classes!), was very reputable, and had a focus on building leaders. However, I was hesitant to come to Ross because I had never lived outside of California, and I had a great experience getting my bachelor’s degree. My previous university also had a master’s program in accounting, and it was tempting to stay in an environment where I knew I was comfortable and would not have to rebuild my life.

I ultimately decided to attend Ross because I wanted to challenge myself to grow. By being in a new environment, I would be learning from people with different perspectives and cultures. I had never been to the Midwest before Preview Day, and my last school was not as ethnically diverse as Michigan is. I also have the benefit of belonging to two alumni networks now, which will help create camaraderie and opportunity for the rest of my career.

Apply as early as you’re ready! A lot of people aren’t confident in their GMAT/GRE score or essays and put off their applications. The MAcc program’s admissions team is a group of amazing people who are happy to give advice on your test scores! They also look at applicants wholistically, so make sure your personality and passions shine through. I had a lot of fun crafting my essays and writing them can be a great break from GMAT studying.

Good luck as your prepare your applications and GO BLUE!