On February 8, 2012, a representative and a recent alumnus from the firm Feeley & Driscoll recently spoke to the Accounting Association about their firm, its culture, and its opportunities. Feeley & Driscoll is a regional mid-sized firm that actively recruits at Stonehill, and therefore it was useful for students to hear what it is like to work there. What distinguishes the firm from the “Big Four” and other regional firms is that all of its growth as a company has been organic. This has allowed it to maintain its strategy and its culture since it began. Another distinguishing factor is that its employees act as business consultants to the client, stressing relationships. In accordance with this, the auditing, tax, and consulting functions are intertwined for its privately-held clients. This is unique from most other accounting firms, who strongly separate these functions.

Patrick O’Halloran, class of 2013, spoke to the students about his experiences as a staff II employee. At Feeley & Driscoll, he enjoys that he gets a wide variety of experience doing both auditing and tax, as well as the fact that he frequently interacts with partners and knows almost everyone at the firm. Patrick stated that his biggest challenge on the job was interacting with the client, as it can often be difficult to get the information required for an audit in a timely manner. Overall, he enjoys working at the firm and hopes to gain more experience on clients from different industries.

On November 9, 2011, a group of four recent alumni who currently have jobs at various local accounting firms spoke to the Accounting Association. Shannon Conner from KPMG, Bobby Peterson from Grant Thorton, and Meagan Kennedy and Joe Pottackal from Wolf & Co. spoke about their experiences in the accounting field after graduation. Particularly, they focused on issues that are on many students’ minds as they work through their courses and prepare for their careers.

The alumni spoke about how they achieved or are working towards the 150-credit hour requirement necessary for the CPA license. Some were working towards obtaining their Masters of Science in Accountancy (MSA), but others had simply overloaded on undergraduate and summer classes to obtain the extra credits. They also talked about the dedication required to pass the strenuous CPA exam. The alumni stressed, however, that a CPA license provides opportunities for growth and even opens doors outside of public accounting.

The alumni enjoyed talking to students about their experiences in the working world. There were a variety of perspectives, as KPMG is one of the “Big Four” firms, Grant Thorton is a large international firm, and Wolf & Co. is a regional firm. Each alumnus talked about a slightly different company culture, from KPMG which offers opportunities to work on well-known and international clients, to Wolf which sells itself as a smaller “people firm.” All of the alumni are happy with their current positions and excited for future opportunities both within and potentially outside their firms.

Russell Stamm, who currently owns his own tax business, spoke to the Accounting Association about his career and gave career advice. After graduating from Stonehill College, he got his MST at Northeastern
University and began working at O’Connor & Drew, P.C., a mid-sized accounting firm located in Braintree, MA. He chose this firm because he knew that he would fit in with the firm’s environment well and liked that it
encouraged entrepreneurial activity.

After nine years at O’Connor & Drew, Russell then started his own tax practice. His experience opening his own business was unique in that it was fairly easy to do so. While he was still at O’Connor and Drew, he began doing individual tax returns for friends. This resulted in referrals and eventually built up into enough business to open his own office. He emphasized that it is important to seek out opportunities like he did and to take advantage of them.

Russell also had interesting information to give about the current tax issues our nation is facing. He believes that the upcoming 2012 presidential election could result in a tax overhaul, depending on who is elected. He also believes that the reason many Fortune 500 companies keep much of their business offshore is because the U.S. tax rates are much higher than other countries’.

Last week, the Accounting Association hosted an informational session from Suffolk University for the first time in club history.  Suffolk came to give a brief presentation on their MSA and MST programs currently offered to Stonehill accounting graduates.  The will now join our strong network of allied graduate institutions, including Babson College and Northeastern University, that waive the GMAT standardized exam for Stonehill students.  This waiver serves as a testament to the quality of students the Accounting department here at Stonehill produces.  Suffolk offered a multitude of different options for those pursuing these degrees such as varying program start dates, classroom learning versus online interactive lectures, and crafting programs to cater to credit hour needs.  Suffolk will now be a viable option for those graduating with a concentration in accounting and we look continue to build on our newly established partnership with the university!

On September 7, 2011, Annarita Meeker, Director of Graduate Tax and Accounting Programs at Northeastern University, spoke to the Accounting Association about master’s programs offered at Northeastern University as well as the Becker CPA Exam Review. One of the most pressing issues affecting accounting students is the 150 credit hour requirement needed to obtain a CPA license. In fact, many employers will not hire graduates to work full time until they obtain the 150 credit hours. Annarita focused on Northeastern’s Master of Science in Accountancy degree, in which accounting graduates can obtain their master’s, and fulfill the 150 credit hour requirement, in an accelerated summer/fall program. Because of their partnership with Stonehill College, Northeastern will waive the GMAT score requirement if certain GPA requirements are met and will waive up to six credits if students took extra courses at the undergraduate level. Stonehill’s partnership with Northeastern makes it very easy for accounting graduates to quickly reach the 150 credit hour requirement and begin working and taking the CPA exam.

Annarita also talked about the Becker CPA Exam Review. It is important for students, especially seniors, to be aware of the exam so that they can adequately plan and prepare for it now. She spoke about the process for taking the CPA exam, each of the four exams (Financial, Audit, Regulation, and Business), the content of the exams, and even some strategies for taking the exam. She also raffled off a portion of the review course to three students. Becker Professional Education offers one of the most successful review programs for those preparing for the CPA exam.

Congratulations to the new officers appointed to the Executive Board of the Accounting Association for the 2011-2012 academic year!

President: Liz Rubino ’12
Vice President: Jeff Dary ’12
Secretary: Amy Oliver ’12
Treasurer: Chris DeNapoli ’14
Publicity Coordinator: Dan O’Malley ’14

The Accounting Association is planning on a terrific fall semester and is looking forward to welcoming current as well new members for the new academic year.  Please contact Liz Rubino at erubino@coastalfinance.com for more information.