UB Offers Minority High School Students Accounting-Careers Preview

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo School of Management and the Foundation for Accounting Education of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA) are collaborating to introduce minority high school students to career opportunities in the accounting profession during a five-day program.

Approximately 25 students from area schools are expected to attend the second annual Career Opportunities in the Accounting Profession Program (COAP), which will run from June 24-28.

The program will feature a comprehensive series of breakout sessions designed to provide participants with insights into all the components of an accounting education and career. Sessions will be held in the UB School of Management. A number of area accounting firms will give presentations on campus, and students will make off-site visits to Lumsden & McCormick, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Rich Products, where they will take company tours and speak with accounting representatives from those firms.

A session entitled "The Accounting Profession -- 360 Degrees of Possibilities," will feature a panel of accounting professionals. Alex Ampadu, associate professor of accounting, will introduce the students to accounting concepts. Several other UB accounting faculty members will lead sessions as well.

Deloitte & Touche will send two employees from their New York office, Marlene Moronta and Navdeep Parihar, both of whom graduated in 2006 from the School of Management, to conduct a session on their first year as accounting professionals and to serve as mentors to the students.

The program also will include a wide variety of professional development opportunities, including a business lunch called "Putting Your Best Fork Forward," which will feature etiquette tips for working meals; an "Accounting Jeopardy" game run by current students in the Beta Alpha Psi accounting fraternity; a "dress for success" session; a résumé-writing workshop; job-search strategies; interviewing sessions; public speaking; and ethics.

Students who attended the inaugural program last year said the found it very worthwhile.

"Besides crunching numbers and learning different accounting terminology, I had the opportunity to meet people who shared my interest and enthusiasm for accounting," says Kendra Brim, a graduating senior at Nardin Academy.

Nathaneal Carbrey, a graduating senior at Williamsville North High School, also was impressed. "It was so good that I wished it had been longer than just one week," says Carbrey.

UB Bulls Men's Basketball Coach Reggie Witherspoon will be the keynote speaker at the final event in this year's program, a banquet for students and their parents at 6 p.m. June 28 in the Jacobs Executive Development Center, 672 Delaware Ave.

"The goal of the program is to increase awareness of the many opportunities that an accounting education and career can provide," says Ann Burstein Cohen, associate professor of accounting.

Cohen worked with NYSSCPA to organize the event. "It is our hope that if minority students realize early on that the accounting profession has a variety of interesting opportunities, we can increase the number of candidates who enter the field," she adds.

NYSSCPA represents 29,000 CPAs and is the oldest state accounting organization in the nation.  Incorporated in 1897, the society is a not-for-profit organization that seeks to establish and maintain high standards of integrity, honor and character among certified public accountants. The Buffalo Chapter, with more than 1,400 members, encompasses Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming counties.  To learn more about the society, visit

Since 1923 the University at Buffalo School of Management has been advancing the practice of management within a global context through scholarly research, education, and professional and community service. The Wall Street Journal ranks the UB School of Management 10th in the nation among schools with strong regional recruiting bases. For more information about the UB School of Management, visit mgt.buffalo.edu.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, the largest and most comprehensive campus in the State University of New York. UB's more than 27,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.