KPMG Master’s Program Expands into Tax
By Jeffrey C. LeSage and Frank Casal/The CPA Journal
Disruptive new technologies and the growing pressure at many companies to reimagine the tax function are requiring tax and audit professionals to expand their skills and knowledge. The auditing and accounting professions have a critical need for people who understand data, analytics, and other forms of technology, but not all universities are able to offer these courses in their accounting programs. Some schools have begun offering an integrated curriculum, requiring students in the computer sciences to take business courses and vice versa, offering those on both sides of the technology equation the ability to speak the same language when working together.
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This past spring, KPMG announced that two of the schools in the program—the Villanova School of Business and the University of Southern California (USC) Leventhal School of Accounting—expanded their offerings to include a tax concentration starting with the 2020/21 academic year. In doing so, they joined the University of Mississippi’s Patterson School of Accountancy, the first participant school to offer a tax component. With this expansion, KPMG’s total sponsorships for the class of 2021 will increase to approximately 195, including audit and tax.