OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi Patterson School of Accountancy will be offering two new graduate degrees incorporating data analytics beginning this fall.

The board of trustees of Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning has approved the curricula for the Master of Accountancy and Data Analytics and the Master of Taxation and Data Analytics. Both degree programs require 30 credit hours to complete and are the only ones of their kind in the state.

KPMG LLP, the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm, collaborated with the Ohio State University Max M. Fisher College of Business and the Villanova School of Business to develop the award-winning Master of Accounting with Data and Analytics program in 2016 and disrupt the audit profession’s education experience. A year later, KPMG expanded the program to nine schools, including the Patterson School of Accountancy.

The 135 participants in the program’s second class each will receive funding equivalent to the full cost of attendance, an internship on a KPMG audit or tax team, and a fulltime position with the firm through an advanced entry program upon graduation. The Ole Miss program will include 30 of those students.

“The University of Mississippi’s Patterson School of Accountancy and KPMG have enjoyed a tremendous partnership for many years,” said Mark Wilder, the school’s dean and KPMG Chair of Accountancy at UM. “We are proud to be offering master’s degrees in taxation and data analytics, as well as in accounting and data analytics.

“It is a high privilege to work with KPMG to provide innovative graduate programs to help develop future professionals for the data age.”

“I’m very proud that KPMG is joining with Ole Miss in offering this dual degree in accountancy and tax with data and analytics,” said Ole Miss alumnus and KPMG partner Chuck Walker (BA 79), who serves as a KPMG campus executive for the university.

“This innovative program will equip students coming into the accounting profession with the tools to understand today’s cutting edge technologies, give them hands-on experience with D&A and will incorporate intelligent automation technologies to increase efficiency, reduce risk and add value. We believe these skills represent core competencies for business professionals as we look into the future.”

The other universities in the KPMG initiative are: Arizona State, Baylor, Ohio State and Villanova University; Virginia Tech; and the universities of Georgia, Missouri and Southern California. Ole Miss is the only university KPMG is working with in the area of taxation and data analytics.

At least three new courses are being created for the new degrees. Several existing courses that will be part of the new degree programs are getting a significant makeover to boost their focus on data analytics.

“We are in the process of hiring several new faculty members” Wilder said. “I anticipate that all of the new faculty will be involved in the data analytics graduate degree programs.

“Also, several of our existing faculty members will play a significant role in the course offerings for the new degree programs.”

The Public Accounting Report has ranked the Patterson School of Accountancy among the country’s top 10 accounting programs for each of the last seven years. The school is poised to help fill a critical need for professionals in data analytics training, Wilder said.

The market for professional master’s degrees is expected to grow faster over the next decade than will bachelor’s or doctoral degrees, according to the Educational Advisory Board. The board also predicts that specialized business-related degrees will be among the fastest-growing areas of professional graduate education.

Accounting and taxation degrees with special emphasis in data analytics would be included in this type of degree with tremendous growth opportunity.

UM accountancy faculty and alumni are thrilled about the new programs.

“KPMG is sending us 30 students each year for the next three years for the programs, and they are paying the tuition and reasonable living expenses of these 30 students, plus promising them an internship and a job at graduation,” said Dale Flesher, professor of accountancy, associate dean and holder of the Roland and Sheryl Burns Chair.

“That says a lot about the firm’s confidence in the Ole Miss School of Accountancy. In addition, we can admit other students to the degree programs.”

The school has received a four-year grant from the Robert M. Hearin Support Foundation to provide funding for five Mississippi students per year to attend one of the new degree programs. The support will include tuition costs and a stipend.

The Hearin grant also provides funding for two new faculty members for three years.

“We are very grateful to the Hearin Support Foundation for making such a significant investment in our new degree programs,” Wilder said. “Our goal is to deliver an educational experience to our students that will make the Hearin trustees proud.”

The inaugural class of students in the KPMG Master of Accounting with Data and Analytics program started classes at both Ohio State and Villanova in fall 2017.

“We are getting in on the ground floor of this movement,” Flesher said. “Where we are really ahead of the game is with respect to the Master of Taxation in Data Analytics. I think we are the only school in the country with such a program.

“These degree programs will be great for the national visibility of Ole Miss. This will certainly raise our national reputation even more.”

According to a recent study conducted by the Institute of Management Accountants and Robert Half International, the most “missing” skills among accountants all deal with data analytics, data analysis and decision analysis. The Journal of Accountancy recently referred to data analytics as the “next frontier” for accountants.

Moreover, Jobs.net recently reported, “There will be 4 million big-data related positions by 2018, along with a 1.5 million shortage of people to fill them.”

“It was our desire to create a new Master of Accountancy and Data Analytics degree as well as a new Master of Taxation and Data Analytics degree because we believed this would make the new degree programs more visible, and also more valuable for the students receiving the degrees,” Wilder said.

For more information about the Patterson School of Accountancy, visit https://accountancy.olemiss.edu/.

For more information about the KPMG Master of Accounting with Data and Analytics Program, visit http://www.KPMGmasters.com.

OXFORD, Miss. – After a rare snow day pre-empted he final day of the 15th annual Speaker’s Edge competition at the University of Mississippi, the School of Business Administration recently got participants back together to present awards and wrap up the event.

Nearly 100 students participated in this year’s edition of Speaker’s Edge, which was dominated in the awards by three students from the on-campus Master of Business Administration program.

In the Ethical Dilemmas category, Ferderica Cobb, of Canton, took first place, followed by Jonathan Dowell, of Port Gibson, in second, and Corey Price, of Birmingham, Alabama, in third. In this category, participants presented their best solutions to workplace challenges where suggestions of sexual harassment, bribery, appropriation of intellectual property, plagiarism, per diem abuse and inappropriate office behavior were presented.

In the Marketplace Pitch completion, Dowell came in first, followed by Cobb and then Price. These presentations were persuasive arguments regarding technology, innovation productivity, leadership and strategy. Dowell’s winning pitch advocated using battery technology to close the performance gap between renewable energy and fossil fuels.

Cobb’s stellar performance in both categories earned her the title of overall winner for the competition, which includes a $1,000 prize.

“Speaker’s Edge was a great experience – receiving feedback from the coaches, moving from room to room, presenting our speeches to judges, competing with classmates – I enjoyed the intensity of it all,” Cobb said. “The event challenged me in new ways, and I will take those skills with me into the professional world.

“Everyone’s ideas were so interesting, and I knew there were strong presentations from my classmates. I did not expect to win. I was humbled, and it is a huge honor to be the 2018 winner.”

This year’s edition of Speaker’s Edge kicked off Jan. 11, featuring 97 students from the UM School of Business Administration and Patterson School of Accountancy. More than 50 judges from all over the Mid-South volunteered their time to help at the event.

“Speaker’s Edge provides students an opportunity to develop the communication and presentation skills that are vital to success in business and other leadership settings,” said Walter Davis, faculty adviser to the MBA program. “Students often point to the Speaker’s Edge experience as a highlight of their MBA or Master of Accountancy program at Ole Miss.”

Plans called for a new Team Pitch category at this year’s event, but snow and ice across much of north Mississippi forced the cancellation of the final day of competition, including the Team Pitch presentations.

“It is disappointing that Mother Nature prevented us from the opportunity to review these presentations, but this something to look forward to in next year’s competition,” said Ashley McGee, director of the MBA program.

The Speaker’s Edge competition was started by Ole Miss alumni in 2003. The event brings together industry professionals, retirees, working alumni and students, requiring students to adapt their message to different audiences.

In preparation, participants spent a week-and-a-half working with volunteer communication coaches to discover the strengths and weaknesses of their own personal presentation style in front of multiple judges.

“One great thing about Speaker’s Edge: When you see a student move through fear and become the confident speaker they will be for the rest of their lives,” said Joan Andrews, a Speaker’s Edge coach from the College of East Texas.

The annual event helps students find their own voice and grow more confident in their presentations, said JoAnn Edwards, speech instructor, director of forensics and special projects manager at the UM Lott Leadership Institute.

“The outcomes are beyond valuable – they are vital,” Edwards said. “The act of teaching, guiding and coaching that process is, for me and for all the coaches and judges who give of their time and talents, pure joy.”

The Speaker’s Edge competition is a critical program that helps Ole Miss students position themselves for success as they move into the professional world, said Ken Cyree, dean of the School of Business Administration.

“The competitive nature of the program allows our best student presenters and speakers to get even better while honing the skills of those students who are less confident in this environment,” Cyree said. “We greatly appreciate the dedicated coaches, instructors and judges who are involved in making this an exceptional opportunity for our students.”

OXFORD, Miss. – A recent $6.3 million gift from the estate of alumnus and University of Mississippi supporter Lucian S. Minor will establish a new chair within the Patterson School of Accountancy while also providing scholarships and supporting the school’s academic programs and activities.

The Lucian S. Minor Chair of Accountancy Endowment will support the recruitment and retention of outstanding faculty to ensure that quality teaching, research and service will be available for generations of UM students, Dean Mark Wilder said.

“We are extremely grateful to Lucian Minor for his foresight to include the Patterson School of Accountancy in his estate planning,” Wilder said. “The generosity of Mr. Minor will enable us to ensure a quality education for students through scholarships, faculty support and operating funds for our program.

“We are honored to have the Lucian Minor name and legacy forever associated with the Patterson School of Accountancy.”

Planned gifts award donors membership in the 1848 Society, named for the year the university welcomed its first students. The society recognizes those who thoughtfully provide for the university through bequests and deferred gifts.

Minor’s gift also establishes the Lucian S. Minor Accountancy Endowment, which will provide funds for academic programs and activities, and supplements the existing Lucian S. Minor Scholarship in Accountancy Endowment, established by Minor and his wife, Mary, in 1998.

“He was a remarkable individual whom I was very proud to have known well for many years,” said Larry Hardy, of Memphis. Hardy earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Ole Miss in 1968 and a master’s degree in accountancy in 1969. Minor hired Hardy to work for him at Ernst & Young right out of college.

“To have worked with him and then to have known him personally after working with him … he just became a really good friend,” Hardy said. “I was so pleased that he chose Ole Miss and the School of Accountancy to be the beneficiary of his will.”

A UM residence hall bears the Minor name – an honor awarded the couple in 2013 to acknowledge their generous and continued financial support.

“I’ve enjoyed my relationship with Ole Miss for many, many years,” Minor said at the time. “Many of the courses I took at Ole Miss contributed to my success in the business world, particularly the accounting field.

“I’m glad to share some of my success. Hopefully, some needy students will benefit from our gifts.”

Minor graduated from Ole Miss in 1937 with a degree in accounting. He was recruited by General Mills Inc. to join the company’s internal audit staff in Minneapolis, where he worked until beginning his service in the U.S. Navy in 1942.

He was stationed with Douglas Aircraft Co. in Los Angeles as a cost inspector and passed the CPA exam during his enlistment.

Minor was discharged as a lieutenant commander in 1946 and opened his own accounting firm in Memphis. During the next 20 years, his firm, Minor and Moore, grew to be the city’s largest accounting firm. In 1969 he merged his firm with the international accounting firm of Ernst & Ernst and became partner in charge of the Memphis office until his retirement in 1978.

He was inducted into the Patterson School of Accountancy’s Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Ole Miss Alumni Association’s Hall of Fame in 2005.

He served as a mentor to young professionals such as Hardy all his life.

“I’m glad now to see his name around campus on the building and on the scholarships that have been given out every year and soon to be associated with the chair of accountancy,” Hardy said. “I’m very pleased that he was able to do all that and pleased that he did it.”

Minor’s nephew Jim Moore, of Memphis, said his uncle’s decision to give back to the university likely stemmed from his upbringing.

“He came up during the Depression, so he was able to go to college when it wasn’t easy, and he knew how his own education helped him in his life and career,” Moore said. “He always had a strong desire to help people who wanted to get an education and improve themselves.

“He was very supportive of those who really wanted to work to get ahead. Also, he loved the accounting profession and was very dedicated to that.”

Moore said Minor enjoyed watching Rebel football, playing golf and entertaining friends while hunting quail and other game birds at his family’s Circle M. Ranch near Macon, his hometown, and later at his farm, “the Old Rainey Place” near Blue Mountain. Additionally, he was a member of Menasha Hunting and Fishing Club in Arkansas for more than 50 years and the Memphis Hunt and Polo Club.

“Private giving from extraordinary alumni and supporters like Lucian Minor is so vital to ensuring the margin of excellence for which our university has become renowned,” Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter said. “We are very appreciative of Mr. Minor’s generous gift, which will have a tremendous impact upon our highly-ranked Patterson School of Accountancy.

“It will help maintain accountancy’s stellar academic profile and accelerate its path of excellence, as well as extend Mr. Minor’s legacy.”

For information on including the university in long-term estate and financial plans, alumni and friends can visit http://www.umfoundation.planmylegacy.org or contact Sandra Guest, UM Foundation vice president, at 662-915-5208 or sguest@olemiss.edu.

OXFORD, Miss. – Royce Kurtz, who has shaped the University of Mississippi‘s accounting library for the last 16 years, has been honored with an international award for his efforts. 

Kurtz, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants research and instruction librarian and associate professor, has won the Academy of Accounting Historians’ Hourglass Award for lifetime achievement. The first nonaccountant to win the honor in its more-than-40-year history, Kurtz works with UM’s Patterson School of Accountancy, the AICPA, the Academy of Accounting Historians and accountants around the country to make this collection the best in the world.

“Accounting tells the story of how wealth in America is created and dispersed, and this wealth is the wellspring of all other creative arts,” he said. “I thoroughly enjoy making available to both the community of scholars and practitioners the books, pamphlets, journals and manuscripts that tell the story of accounting profession, and I hope to continue this endeavor for years to come.”

The Hourglass Award is presented annually to “an individual who has made a demonstrable and significant contribution to knowledge through research and publication in accounting history,” according to the Academy of Accounting Historians. Kurtz will receive the award this month in San Diego. 

He has digitized more than 412,000 pages of historical accounting content and made these available on the library’s website for free use by anyone, anywhere in the world.

“Through the library’s digital initiatives, we are making this collection available to scholars and practitioners around the world,” Kurtz said. “I also wish to thank my colleagues in the library who have worked to process and make available this wealth of knowledge.”

The library’s website includes everything published by the AICPA, except material within the past 10 years, which is embargoed, everything ever published by Deloitte and its predecessor firms between 1895 and 2000, publications of the Academy of Accounting Historians, and other accounting-related publications that are out of copyright from 1923 and earlier.

Kurtz recently was praised by SEC Historical Society researcher and curator, George Fritz, for digitizing the materials of the Public Oversight Board. Kurtz, at the instigation of Fritz, was able to acquire the archived website of the defunct board, an independent body that oversaw the self-regulatory function of auditors of companies.

He not only copied that defunct website, but he improved upon it by adding many new items. 

Dale Flesher, a professor and associate dean of the Ole Miss accountancy school, was among those to nominate Kurtz. Flesher, who won the Hourglass Award in 2014, said Kurtz provides “extraordinary” service to students and faculty and brings world-class knowledge to his job. 

“Following the procurement of the AICPA collection, Dr. Kurtz’ clientele expanded to include thousands of accounting researchers throughout the world,” Flesher said. “He routinely fields anywhere from 500 to 900 phone calls and emails per month from accountants and accounting researchers throughout the world; many of those seeking help are interested in accounting history.

“Dr. Kurtz knows more about accounting history publications than any person alive.”

OXFORD, Miss. – Dale L. Flesher, the Roland and Sheryl Burns Chair and Professor in the Patterson School of Accountancy, is the 2017 Southeastern Conference Faculty Achievement Award honoree for the University of Mississippi.

“What an honor it was to be selected from among top-notch faculty at an R1 institution,” Flesher said. “Receiving this award has provided me with more enthusiasm and energy to continue pursuing my research interests.”

To be eligible for the SEC Faculty Achievement Award, an individual must have achieved the rank of full professor at an SEC institution, have a record of extraordinary teaching and have a record of scholarship that is recognized nationally and/or internationally.

“Most of my previous honors have been awarded by organizations in the field of accounting, and it is humbling to be recognized by colleagues in your discipline,” Flesher said. “However, this award is most special because I will have the opportunity to represent all of the faculty across campus at the University of Mississippi, where I have devoted the last 40 years of my career.”

A graduate of the University of Cincinnati and Ball State University, Flesher joined the faculty in 1977. When Flesher was presented the 2005 Thomas J. Burns Biographical Research Award at the Academy of Accountant Historians Hall of Fame Conference, it was noted that “Dr. Flesher has done more biographical research and publishing than anyone in the field of accounting.”

Flesher has authored more than 400 articles in more than 100 professional journals. He has also written 50 books in 91 editions.

His numerous history books include the 50th anniversary history of the Institute of Internal Auditors and the 75th anniversary history of the American Accounting Association, as well as books on the history of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. He has had five tax books published by Commerce Clearing House, and he published a book on the history of the Ole Miss accountancy program.

Flesher has enjoyed an extraordinary 40-year career with the Patterson School of Accountancy and receiving the SEC Academic Achievement Award is a well-deserved honor, Dean Mark Wilder said.

“Dr. Flesher has served on the dissertation committees of 48 of our Patterson School Ph.D. graduates, chairing half of these dissertations,” he said. “He has made a tremendous impact on the profession through his mentorship of these doctoral graduates, many of whom are in leadership positions in academic institutions across the nation and world.

“Dr. Flesher has played a key leadership role in the successes of the Patterson School over the years and in our ability to have one of the top accountancy programs in the nation. We are honored that he has been selected for this prestigious award.”

Flesher is a member of many professional organizations, including the American Institute of CPAs, Mississippi Society of CPAs, American Taxation Association, Institute of Internal Auditors, Association of Government Accountants, Institute of Management Accountants, American Accounting Association and the Academy of Accounting Historians, which he served as international president in 1988. He served as editor of The Accounting Historians Journal from 1989 through 1994. He previously edited the Accounting Historians Notebook for 10 years.

He has received outstanding educator or outstanding researcher awards from the American Institute of CPAs, the Institute of Internal Auditors, the Academy of Accounting Historians, the Mississippi Society of CPAs and other organizations.

Flesher’s stellar reputation helped bring the American Institute of CPA’s library to the Oxford campus, creating one of the world’s best and largest accounting research resources. He was also instrumental in establishing the university’s Tax History Research Center, Electronic Data Processing Auditing Archival Center and the McMickle Rare Book Library.

The 2011 recipient of UM’s Distinguished Research and Creative Achievement Award, Flesher said he is dedicated to training the next generation of accountancy professors by mentoring graduate students in the field. The 2011 recipient of the AICPA National Outstanding Educator Award, Flesher is among only five accounting faculty from SEC institutions to receive this award throughout its 32-year history. He is associate dean of the UM School of Accountancy and coordinator of all its graduate programs.

“For 40 years now, Dr. Flesher has helped define excellence at the University of Mississippi,” Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter said. “This award is another recognition of his role as an outstanding academic leader, an empowering mentor, a committed teacher and one of the most prolific contributors in his field.

“Dr. Flesher’s selection for this award contributes to the national standing of the School of Accountancy and reflects the university’s commitment to learning, discovery and engagement.”

Interim Provost Noel Wilkin agreed.

“It is a great honor for Dr. Dale Flesher to be named our recipient of the SEC Faculty Achievement Award,” he said. “This recognition is a testament to his outstanding contributions to the academy.”

Selected by a committee of SEC provosts, the SEC Faculty Achievement Awards and the SEC Professor of the Year Award are part of SECU, the academic initiative of the Southeastern Conference.

SEC Faculty Achievement Award winners get a $5,000 honorarium from the conference and become his or her university’s nominee for the SEC Professor of the Year Award. The Professor of the Year, to be named in April, receives an additional $15,000 and will be recognized at the SEC Awards dinner.

Flesher listed three possible uses for his honorarium, two of which involve donating the funds to the university.

“My wife and I have set up an endowment with the University Foundation that supports scholarships for worthy accountancy students, so some of the money may go into that endowment,” he said. Flesher’s wife, Tonya, is also an accountancy professor and a former dean of the School of Accountancy.

“Another option is to donate some of the funds to the university’s Friends of the Library program, of which my wife and I are both life members. I have been a longtime supporter of the J. D. Williams Library, perhaps even more so since it became the ‘National Library of the Accountancy Profession.’ Ole Miss has the largest accountancy library in the world, and I want to be sure it stays that way.”

Flesher said he also has considered holding out a portion of the funds to travel to work with coauthors and to visit sites with primary data sources to help enhance his research.