How Purdue University managed to—shocker!—turn accounting into a sexy study path to fill the gaping void in the market

The business world needs more CPAs. And to build a pipeline, professors at Purdue University are on a mission to shatter the stereotypical image of an accountant. And part of the plan includes tailgating at football games.

“In 2019, the faculty made a concerted effort to stem the flow of accountants going elsewhere,” says Kevin Koharki, an associate professor of accounting at Purdue University’s Mitch E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, who joined in 2018.

The accounting department created an advisory board, Koharki says. “They’re all Purdue alums,” he says. “And they’re all partners at public accounting firms and senior VPs of certain corporations.” 

One part of the plan is networking in a non-professional setting. “Every year, the accounting area buys 200 football tickets to a game,” Koharki says. “So this year, it’s September 22, a Friday night game against Wisconsin. We set up a tailgate, where we have 100 of our freshmen students and 100 members of our advisory board firms. We tell students, ‘You’re going to a game afterward, so don’t don’t bring a resume.” Just come, talk, and ask questions, he tells them. 

But an integral part of the plan has to do with accounting professors meeting with the university’s student academic advisors at least once a semester. “I think it’s mostly making sure they can correctly advise students about an accounting career, particularly things like the CPA exam,” says Troy Janes, a CPA and clinical full professor of management and director of the master of science (MSA) program at Purdue.

For example, professors recently met with advisors to share their curriculum and discuss how the CPA exam is changing in January 2024, Koharki says. 

Another vital part of the plan was tweaking the curriculum. “We developed a class that freshmen take, where all you do is meet once a week, every Friday for 75 minutes, and your grade is attendance, Koharki explains. “And every week, we have someone come in from a different firm and present on what you can do with a degree in accounting and finance.” 

“One of the keys to increasing our enrollment is we’re starting to attract those young kids who just thought that an accountant is the tax guy with the green eyeshade,” Janes says.

“We’re showing students how to think like an advisor from day one,” says J.T. Eagan, a clinical associate professor of accounting at Purdue who specializes in tax. “I tell my students this perspective is the difference between a tax preparer and tax consultant.”

Another vital part of the accounting program is paid internships, Koharki says.

Making progress

Since putting their plan into action, Purdue has been tracking two key undergraduate courses, intermediate 1 and 2, which students take if they are pursuing an accounting degree or minor. In 2018, intermediate 1 had 139 students enrolled, and in 2023, enrollment more than doubled to 297. That was the case for intermediate 2 as well, with 227 students enrolling in 2023 compared to 111 in 2018. 

This renewed interest has helped boost the master’s program enrollment from 18 students in 2018 to 45 in 2023, Koharki says. The grad program is capturing about 40% of undergraduate accounting majors, Koharki says. Eighty-eight percent of Purdue master of accounting degree holders complete CPA requirements before starting their full-time job, he says.

‘Making accounting interesting’

I decided to talk with some Purdue alumni to get their perspective. Abby Manikowski earned an undergrad degree in accounting, and a master’s degree this past May. “I was able to network and learn about various firms and types of jobs I could do following graduation,” says Manikowski, an accounting associate at Pinion, a provider of accounting and consulting services to the food and agriculture industries. She’s in the process of earning her CPA license.

Tom and Nick Grote are twin brothers who earned a bachelor’s in accounting and then a master’s degree in 2021. They both are CPAs and currently work at Forvis, a professional service firm. However, Nick is a senior tax associate. “I never dabbled into any auditing,” he tells me. “I kind of left that up to my twin brother.” Tom is a senior audit associate. “What sold me on accounting the most were the professors,” Nick says. “Multiple professors did a good job of making accounting interesting because they were enthusiastic about teaching it.”

Tom says he was initially hesitant about going into the accounting field. “I didn’t necessarily know what accountants did on a daily basis until my internship where I really got hands-on experience in public accounting,” he says. “And then I think just having some professionals come in and talk kind of solidified my thoughts,” Tom says. 

As alums, Tom, Nick, and Abby have attended the tailgate and football games. “It’s been a great pipeline for Forvis for getting our name out there and meeting the students and getting them familiar with public accounting,” Nick says. 

Sounds like touchdown for the future of CPAs.

Have a good weekend.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

Leaderboard

Some notable moves this week:

Bernard McCracken was promoted to CFO at Lands’ End, Inc. (Nasdaq: LE). McCracken previously served as the company's interim CFO since January 2023 and as its VP, controller and chief accounting officer since 2014. He also leads the investor relations function. Over his nearly four-decade career, McCracken has also served in a variety of finance, accounting, audit and controller positions at The Children’s Place, Inc., Footstar, Inc., Deloitte & Touche LLP, The Leslie Fay Companies, Inc. and Loehmann’s Inc.

Kate Clune was named CFO at Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE: PIPR), an investment bank. Clune succeeds Tim Carter, who will retire in the first quarter of 2024. Clune joins the firm from Evercore Inc., where she most recently served as treasurer and head of planning and strategy. Previously, she spent 16 years at Morgan Stanley, where she served in various capacities across operations, sales and trading, and finance.

Mark Lindsey was promoted to CFO at Cineverse Corp. (Nasdaq: CNVS), a global streaming technology and entertainment company, effective Sept. 14. Lindsey will succeed John Canning. Lindsey has served as EVP of accounting and finance at Cineverse since November 2022. He previously served as chief accounting officer at Firefly, CFO at Canapi Ventures; and chief accounting officer at American Capital.

Have an upcoming CFO move you'd like to be considered for an exclusive in CFO Daily? Send me an email.

Big deal

In August, the value of venture capital investments worldwide dropped 37% year over year to $16.92 billion, a new S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis found. The aggregate investment value was the lowest August total since at least 2020, according to the report. The number of funding rounds also declined 37% from a year earlier to 1,028.

Courtesy of S&P Global Market Intelligence

Going deeper

Here are a few Fortune weekend reads:

"Oversubscribed Arm IPO rises 25% in first day of trading: ‘Every employee is now an owner,’ says CFO Jason Child" by Luisa Beltran 

"Wall Street’s most powerful woman shakes up Citibank in bid to narrow gap with rivals: ‘We’ll be saying goodbye to some very talented and hard-working colleagues’" by Christiaan Hetzner 

"Jamie Dimon isn’t ready to feel good about the economy yet: ‘We’ve been spending money like drunken sailors’" by Eleanor Pringle

"Night owls have more unhealthy habits and a 72% higher risk for diabetes, according to a new study" by Alexa Mikhail 

Overheard

“If you think [work] can be done at home, I don’t know. But every golf course that I’ve heard about in the last three years has had record summers, okay? It is funny, but it’s tragic.”

—Media titan, billionaire, and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said during an interview on CBS Sunday Morning that aired on Sept. 10., as the return-to-the-office mandates at companies continue