Ledger & Quill and School of Accountancy News
Young Alumni Initiatives on the Way!
The newly-formed L&Q Young Alumni Committee is making plans to attract more newer alumni to L&Q--and the timing of the effort could not be better.
The committee, including chair Paul Wong (Crowe Horwath) and Andrea Norder (Deloitte), is gathering up a group of like-minded young alums to plan out an event or two designed especially for accounting grads newly out of college. Many new alums may be familiar with similar offerings from the DePaul alumni association; the L&Q events will be similar, but with an accounting-alum focus and, frankly, some special efforts to help out in difficult times: some informal networking, some useful information and advice, and a good time in a casual setting. And using Chicago's many social venues and facilities should add a good deal of local Chicago-and-DePaul flavor. Getting word out to alums is often a problem, especially when targeting a specific population such as recent accounting grads, but plans include using social media as far as possible, in cooperation with the university efforts.
Watch your mail. Or e-mail. Or Facebook. Or Twitter. Word will get out!
Executive Committee Expands, 2009-10
Ledger & Quill President Jenny Ciszewski has moved to augment the current L&Q Executive Committee by adding five new members--four drawn from the Board, and one new member--bringing a wealth of experience with L&Q, the School, and our students to the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee oversees all L&Q programs and activities, reports to the Board bi-annually, and its members serve two year terms.
The Board members appointed to the Executive Committee also head up or are involved with newly-established committees already active this year. Working directly with the Executive Committee (which meets monthly) enables more timely reporting to and more direct interaction and communication with the full Executive Committee, as well as with an increasing number of university personnel working with L&Q. Committees will be able to report plans and/or progress at the November Board meeting.
Former Board members Matt Mraz (PricewaterhouseCoopers), Bill Razzino (CareerBuilders.com), Jim Robbs (Frank L. Sassetti & Co.) and Paul Wong (Crowe Horwath) joined the Executive Committee effective September. Mraz and Razzino are on the Membership Outreach Commitee, and Wong is heading up the Young Alumni Committee. Both groups are involved in reviewing L&Q current member activities and communications, and devising new strategies to increase L&Q membership. Robbs, with his long years of service on the Board and deep familiarity with the School and L&Q programs, will serve as a resource for both committees.
New to the Executive Committee is Mike Whelan (Ernst & Young), who joins colleague Feroze Kahn as E&Y representatives to the Board. Whelan's long association with DePaul and the School as student, frequent DePaul "champion" at E&Y, and firm recruiting lead make him an obvious selection.
With four vacancies to fill on the Ledger & Quill Board, another committee--Board Augmentation--will be approaching members and alums about service. L&Q is particularly interested in developing and reaching out to "constituency" members (as opposed to the traditional firm-based membership), creatively increasing Board diversity, representation and prespectives.
Babiak-Ciszewski Named President 2009-11
Jenny Babiak-Ciszewski, 2007-09 Vice President, was named Ledger & Quill president at the Spring 2009 meeting of the Board, June 10, 2009. She is the organization’s 19th president, and will serve through Spring 2011.
“We are clearly in good and capable hands,” said outgoing President Ed Fellin, whose two-year term expired after the Board meeting. “I’m looking forward to Jenny taking the podium at the next Fall Luncheon.”
Babiak-Ciszewski, Audit and Enterprise Risk Services Manager with Deloitte, achieves two notable “firsts”: the first woman president of L&Q, and is the first of our L&Q scholarship recipients to head up the organization. She was originally attracted from Lexington, Kentucky, to DePaul and the Strobel Scholars Program by one of our scholarships, and has maintained close contact with DePaul and L&Q ever since.
“We’re really looking forward to continuing to work with Jenny,” adds School Director Kevin Stevens; “her experience as a student, a Strobel Scholar, and a student group president gives her a genuine student perspective on what we do, and brings immediacy to the Executive Committee and her presidency.”
Characteristically, Babiak-Ciszewski immediately established four committees to continue our main concerns, and to build on the work of past presidents Edward J. Fellin and David A. Berek—under whose leadership our annual scholarship expenditures first began to approach, and now exceed, $250,000. Committees will focus on augmenting the size and representation of the Board, developing stronger relationships with newer alums, improving L&Q outreach to all DePaul accounting alums, and reviewing our funding allocation priorities, given the current economy, widespread student need, and our Vincentian mission.
Accounting Club Takes Lang Competition
The seventeenth annual Fred Lang Student Case Competition, Wednesday, May 20, 2009, saw teams representing five student groups which delivered outstanding and well-constructed presentations to a panel of judges. The case, developed by School Graduate Assistant Andrew Jameson and Ernst & Young Alumni Professor Belverd Needles, was timely: the complexities of asset valuation and valuation techniques to determine “fair value” in a strained marketplace. After some deliberation, the School’s Accounting Club was declared top team, with the Midwest Association of Hispanic Accountants (MAHA) as close runner-up. Team Accounting Club consisted of (l-r) Kavita Saluja,
Judges this year were John J. Mulherin CEO, The Ziegler and Companies; Fernando Estrada, Manager, Ernst & Young; and graduate assistant Andrew Jameson. Brian Ruben (Deloitte) also contributed to both this year’s Lang Competition judging.
The 2009 contest was once again sponsored by the School’s chaired professors: Ledger & Quill Alumni Professor Mark L. Frigo, Deloitte Alumni Distinguished Professor John McEnroe, KPMG Professor Kevin Stevens, and Ernst & Young Alumni Distinguished Professor Belverd E. Needles. Ledger & Quill was again pleased to serve as a co-sponsor.
Seventh Melvoin Student Ethics Symposium Held
Accounting Students Amber Hackman, Ryan Chmura and Delwyn Liang, juniors in the School's Strobel Honos Program, participated in this year's Melvoin Student Ethics Symposium, the seventh annual, held April 28, 2009, at DePaul. The students, who were selected based on the strength of their essays submitted to the Melvoin Ethics Essay contest in Fall 2008, presented their papers competitively before an audience of faculty, peers, and judges. At stake were the $3000 in 2009 Melvoin Prizes, sponsored by the School's Charles & Selma Melvoin Fund.
After significanrt deliberation, the judges awarded first place to Hackman, and, in a first, declared Chmura and Liang tied for second place. As usual, the essays and their presentations were very high quality, and the competitors faced a good grilling from the judges.
Judges this year were Gerald Ginsburg, Managing Director, RSM McGladrey and member of the Ledger & Quill Board; Accounting Instructor and the School's Accounting Career Advisor Margaret Tower, and sponsor of the Symposium Hugo Melvoin, retired attorney, philanthropist, and DePaul benefactor.
School Faculty Named IIA Chicago Chapter Educator of the Year.
Prof. Sandra Shelton of the DePaul School of Accountancy and MIS has been named Educator of the Year by the Chicago Chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors. The award will be presented at the chapter’s May 18, 2009 awards luncheon.
Prof. Sandra Shelton
Shelton's teaching and research focuses on judgment and decision making issues with financial information—most recently shown in her developing (with assistance from chapter members) DePaul’s innovation Internal Audit course. In addition, Sandra is faculty moderator of our chapter of NABA—the National Association of Black Accountants.
(The honor is the second consecutive for DePaul: the 2008 awardee was our own Ledger & Quill Research Professor Curt Verschoor.)
Alumnus Creates Scholarship Honoring Professor’s 50-year Career
Barry Epstein (COM ’67) established a $50,000 endowed accounting scholarship in honor of his former accounting professor Ed Cohen (COM ’50), who has taught at DePaul for more than 50 years.
I want to help DePaul do for the next generation what it did for the students of my generation,” says Epstein, a partner at Russell Novak & Co. LLP, a Chicago-based public accounting and financial litigation advisory firm. “Without the scholarship I received from DePaul, I never could have attended the university and earned an education that enabled me to be successful from day one.
Prof. Ed Cohen 
Barry Epstein
In 1967, Epstein was the youngest-ever CPA in Illinois. Since then, he has served as an expert witness and consultant on more than 120 commercial disputes and accountant malpractice cases for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Department of Justice, state agencies and the private sector. He also has written several accounting and auditing texts.
When a professor is recognized like this by one of his students, it’s something special,” says Ed Cohen, who joined DePaul’s faculty in 1956. “I’m honored that the scholarship in my name will benefit students, the university and the accounting profession.
Epstein hopes the scholarship will encourage other accountants to support DePaul’s mission and students. “Nearly everyone in the accounting profession in Chicago either had Ed in class or knows Ed. This is a chance to honor him and give back,” he says.
To support the scholarship or DePaul’s School of Accountancy and Management Information Systems, call Amanda Van Zee, associate director of development, at (312) 362-5563, or email to avanzee@depaul.edu
Kellstadt GSB to offer "stimulus package" to friends and alums
DePaul's Kellstadt Graduate School of Business has announced two new programs for alumni and those interested in enhancing their educations. For Kellstadt alumni who want to enhance their credentials and broaden thier skills, Kellstadt is offering an $800 per-course scholarship. Alumni can use the award to add a three-course new area of expertise, or a concentration, to their DePaul MBA, or complete a second specialized business master's degree. Kellstadt currently offers 26 MBA concentrations and 9 specialized master's degrees. "Our goal is to make additional education more accessible for our alumni," says Commerce Dean Ray Whittington, "so that they can reach their long-term career goals or find new professional opportunities."
For more information and applications, visit the Kellstadt GSB website at www.kellstadt.depaul.edu, or call 312--362--8810.
Kellstadt is also offering 15-week MBA Primer certificate courses. The program allows students to quickly gain broad-based knowledge of current, practical management skills, which they can apply to their careers, or use the courses towards an MBA degree. For more information and tuitions, contact Eilish McDonagh-Hermer at emcdonag@depaul.edu or 312--362--5295.
DePaul Lifelong e-Mail Accounts Now Available!
Lifelong DePaul e-mail accounts are now available to all alumni--show your DePaul spirit with a lifelong "alumni.depaul.edu" e-mail account and enjoy a FREE personal webpage, 5 GB of free web-based storage for your files, plus much, much more. Simply log into your profile in the Alumni Online Community to request your free DePaul alumni e-mail account, hosted by Microsift Live. Graduates from 2009 and later will be able to keep their student e-mail accounts for life.
For more information, log on to alumni.depaul.edu. and look under "University Benefits." (While you're there, look over some other alumni benefits, including the Alumni Website, transcript service, and discount programs.)
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The School’s Belverd E. Needles, Ernst & Young Alumni Professor in the School of Accountancy and MIS, has co-edited a definitive collection of publications focusing on the major issues facing the profession with the change to IFRS.
According to the AICPA, “For the U.S. practitioner overwhelmed by the sudden abundance of articles and white papers on IFRS, this planned annual issuance will be a must-read throughout the convergence and adoption period.”
Ernst & Young Alumni Professor Belverd E. Needles
The book, The Road Ahead: Collected Thoughts on Convergence and Adoption of IFRS in the United States, has been published by AICPA Professional Publications, and should be available soon through the AICPA website. In addition to the editors’ insightful commentary, The Road Ahead will include the most important and useful studies, articles and “white papers” on IFRS and their adoption, providing practitioners and executives with definitive texts and guidance as they prepare for US adoption. The AICPA envisions the publication, a substantial volume, to be updated and revised annually.
The collection is co-edited by Donna L. Street, Mahrt Chair of Accounting at the University of Dayton. Profs. Street, current president, and Needles, past president, of the International Association for Accounting Education and Research (AAAER), have significant participation and publications in international accounting, auditing and education standards.
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Fall Luncheon Sets Records
Our 34th annual Ledger & Quill Fall Luncheon, Wednesday, November 19, 2008, held in the Empire Room of the Palmer House Hilton, was another successful event, attracting over 200 friends and members. Hosted by L&Q President Ed Fellin and School Director Kevin Stevens, this year's celebration included the Helene Ramanauskas Prize to top MBA student Thomas Walker, over 40 new-student scholarships, the 2008-09 Success Through Scholarship awards, and the Robert M. Peters Scholarships. Student speakers included senior Charlene Rhinehart, and incoming students Christopher Ehas and Erica LeMaster.
L&Q was especially delighted this year to make the inaugural presentations of the new Success Through Scholarship awards, those sponsored by Gerald and Jennifer Beeson, Helen Pekny, and John and Kathleen Vitanovec.
One highlight was certainly the presentation of the 2008 Ledger & Quill Award of Merit to one of DePaul's Finest: long-term member, Board member, Executive Committee member, President's Club member and good friend of DePaul and DePaul students, Stacia Taylor.
A photo report is in the Fall/Winter issue of the L&Q General Journal. A report will soon be in the "Member Events" section of the Archives on this website.
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2008 Peters Awards Selected
Senior Strobel Scholars Ashley Christenson and Linda Lin have been selected as the 2008 recipients of the Robert M. Peters Scholarships, the School’s highest honor for Strobel Seniors.
Wisconsin native Christenson has been on the Dean’s List since her first year, is a recipient of a DePaul Presidential Scholarship and a Ledger & Quill Student Leadership Award, and has served as a Junior Achievement Instructor. She has been very active in our student groups serving as, among other offices, 2007-08 president of the Accounting Club and Beta Alpha Psi vice president, 2008-09. Making the most of DePaul and the Loop, Ashley has interned with IRI, KPMG, Huron Consulting, and Madison Dearborn Partners.
Chicagoan Lin, also a four-year Dean’s List and Presidential Scholarship recipient, has also merited other awards, including the Tax Executives International and the Financial Executives Institute Scholarships. She has been a supervisor in the University’s innovative Supplemental Instruction program, in which she conducted weekly accounting lab sessions. Lin also has held prestigious internships at KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers, and her community service involves the Chinese American Service League and the Boys and Girls Clubs.
The Peters Scholarships are provided by the Robert M. Peters Fund, established in recognition of Prof. Peters’ distinguished career at DePaul and the School of Accountancy, and his development of and leadership in the Strobel Honors Accounting Program.
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Rhinehart Named Student Lincoln Laureate
The School’s Charlene Rhinehart was named a Student Laureate by the Lincoln Academy of Illinois and was selected to deliver the keynote address at the organization's annual Student Convocation held Oct. 18 in Springfield.
Rhinehart, an accountancy and finance major and minoring in community service, also served as president of DePaul’s Golden Key International Honor Society as well as other honor societies. Rhinehart co-founded the DePaul Community Service Association's INSPIRE program, has been involved in the university's Student Leadership Institute and Steans Center for Community-based Service Learning, a student government senator and peer mentor, and officer with DePaul’s chapter of the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA). She is also a recipient of a 2008-09 Success Through Scholarship Award.
"This is one of the state's highest honors for college students, and to be chosen as the student speaker underscores Charlene’s extraordinary accomplishments," said the Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, C.M., DePaul president, in a university press release. "We're very proud of Charlene, who is a shining example of the DePaul community's dedication to academic excellence and service."
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School Faculty Take Kellstadt Awards
Once again the School’s faculty has been recognized for excellence by Kellstadt students: two major awards were announced at the end of the 2007-08 year.
Mark L. Frigo, our Ledger & Quill Distinguished Alumni Professor and Director of Kellstadt’s Center for Strategy, Execution and Valuation, was awarded the Gus Economos Distinguished Graduate Teaching Award for 2007-08. This is the second such honor for Prof. Frigo, who includes a Ledger & Quill Faculty Excellence Award, a University Excellence in Teaching Award and an ICPAS Outstanding Educator Award among his many achievements.
The Economos Award is presented to the professor receiving the most graduate student votes for excellence in teaching. The award honors the late Constantine "Gus" Economos, who was an integral part of Kellstadt for more than thirty years, including Director from 1972-1978.
The 2007-08 Dan Seiden Award, presented annually to the top member of the Kellstadt GSB’s adjunct faculty, was presented to the School’s Ed Doyle. This award is presented to the professor selected by the College's Teaching Committee based on nominations from the University community.
Ed teaches a variety of accounting courses, including audit and the CPA Review. Ed’s experience includes work at Arthur Andersen and KPMG, where he served as a consultant to companies implementing accounting software and also assisted clients in the application of Sarbanes-Oxley. More recently, he worked at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago as Vice-President of Risk, leading the bank’s efforts to deploy S-Ox. Ed has a graduate degree from the University of Chicago. His father was a DePaul alumnus and was instrumental in Ed becoming a member of the faculty.
This award is named to honor the late Daniel Seiden who began teaching part-time in DePaul’s marketing department in 1947 and continued until 1998. Daniel taught and mentored scores of students in his 50-year career; Dan was so well regarded that he was awarded the rank of professor emeritus, a rare honor for an adjunct faculty member.
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NABA takes local PWC xTax
Our student chapter of NABA--The National Association of Black Accountants--placed first in the local offering of the xTax Case Competition, sponsored by PricewaterhoseCoopers this Fall quarter. This is the third consecutive year NABA has taken the local competition, and PWC partners and managers judging the presentations commended the students for their superior content and their creative approach to the issues in the case. Our NABA team's presentation has been submitted for consideration for further rounds of the nation-wide PWC program.
NABA Team members were Melanie Jacobs, Emmah Muringa, Eddie Doxey, Dafena Russell and Brent Wilson, with Prof. Sandra Shelton of the School serving as coach.
In the PricewaterhouseCoopers xTax Competition, student teams are given two weeks in Fall quarter to research a real world tax policy issue and test their critical thinking, team-building and presentation skills. Because xTax is focused on policy and planning issues, the innovative program doesn't require knowledge of detailed tax accounting policies and rules.
MAHA Named Top DePaul Student Group
The School’s MAHA, Midwest Association of Hispanic Accountants, was named DePaul ‘s 2007-08 Student Organization of the Year by the Office of Student Affairs. The award, announced at the end of Spring quarter , recognized the many achievements of the chapter and its members throughout the year.
Even if characteristically Vincentian, the award criteria are stiff: the award goes to a group “that encourages the development of and engages the cultural, social, spiritual, educational and ethical values in service to others , . . . and proven dedication to DePaul’s Vincentian values.”
“The DePaul community knows about MAHA’s many case competition successes,” says Elizabeth Murphy, Associate Professor of Accounting and MAHA Faculty Advisor, “but the organization is involved in over 40 events, including professional, community service and social activities. As always, we’re very proud of MAHA, and they are indeed deserving of this award.”
While the application was completed by current MAHA President Nadia Jaber, the officers for the majority of the award-winning year included Adriana Zavala, Guadalupe Villagomez, Christina Huizar, Melissa Herrera, Nadia Jaber and Jennifer Campos.
New Student Group Formed
A new student group has been established at DePaul—a student chapter of Ascend, the organization of Pan-Asian leaders in Finance and Accounting. Ascend currently includes ten professional chapters nationally and 13 student chapters, with many more in formation.
According to Strobel Scholar (and L&Q scholarship recipient) Nikki Yuen, chapter Executive Vice President, Ascend’s mission is to enhance and accelerate the future careers of Pan Asian-American and Pacific Islander finance and accounting students with a number of professional development, social, and community involvement events. Ascend, like MAHA and NABA, extends beyond graduation in a student’s career, providing chapters from practitioners as well. Because of this extension in the professional arena, DePaul’s student chapter gains much support from the Midwest Ascend professional chapter.
Ning Du, assistant professor in the School, will serve as faculty moderator for our Ascend chapter. A professional advisor has yet to be named.
The other members of the chapter’s Executive Board are Samantha Ou, President;
Jason Fung, Vice President of External Affairs; Christie Chen, Vice President of Internal Affairs; Kevin Chan, Vice President of Student Affairs and Howard Han, Treasurer.
Verschoor Named IIA Chapter Eucator of the Year
DePaul's Curtis C. Verschoor has been named Educator of the Year 2007-2008 by the Chicago Chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors. As readers and alumni know, Curt is the Ledger & Quill Research Professor in the School of Accountancy and MIS and also Wicklander Fellow in the Institute for Business and Professional Ethics, both at DePaul University. Verschoor is the author of, most recently, Ethics and Compliance: Challenges for Internal Auditing, published by the Institute, and (anticipated May 2008) Audit Committee Essentials. As both an experienced practitioner and academic researcher with a long interest in business ethics and corporate citizenship, Prof. Verschoor's work appears regularly in his ethics column in Strategic Finance, published by the Institute of Management Accounting.
Melvoin Symposium '08: A Report
The School's sixth annual Melvoin Student Ethics Symposium, April 29, 2008, at DePaul Center, attracted a healthy crowd of participants to hear this year's winners in the Fall '07 Melvoin Essay Contest state their cases, and compete for the $3000 in Melvoin Prizes. The three students--Andrea Kunkel, Dominick LaSpisa, and Noor Raza--presented summaries of their winning essays, answered questions from the judges and the audience, and partook in the lively discussion. Strobel program junior Noor Raza was selected as the top finisher.
Judges this year included Ernst & Young Alumni Professor Belverd E. Needles, L&Q Board members Gerry Ginsburg and Paul Nockels, both from RSM McGladrey, and our Symposium's sponsor, philanthropist Hugo Melvoin.
DePaul Student Tales FEI Award
Strobel Scholar Linda Lin has been awarded a scholarship by the Chicago chapter of Financial Executives International. The award was presented to Lin and other awardees from area colleges at the Standard Club, February 21, 2008, with special guest speaker Patrick G. Ryan. Lin was nominated for the award by the School's John E. McEnroe, Deloitte Alumni Professor of Accounting.
Lin, a Whitney Young Magnet School alum, will complete her junior year in the program this June. She received a DePaul Presidential scholarship, serves in the university's Supplemental Instruction program assisting students with their accounting courses, and has enjoyed internships with KPMG and Handler, Thayer and Duggan. (And good news for some: Linda plans to become an accounting professor.)