EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. AACSB International Maintenance of Accreditation School of Accountancy College of Business Louisiana Tech University

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1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Maintenance of Accreditation School of Accountancy College of Business Louisiana Tech University Dr. Thomas J. Phillips, Jr. Director and KPMG Endowed Professor School of Accountancy P.O. Box Ruston, LA

2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Overview Louisiana Tech University Our formal university name is Louisiana Tech University, but the name when the university was founded in 1894 was the Industrial Institute. The focus at that time was to educate in the arts and sciences and the practical industries of the age. Twenty-seven years later, the University became Louisiana Polytechnic Institute. In 1970, the name changed to the present Louisiana Tech University. Today, the University has an enrollment of 10,950 students. Over 21 percent of these students are graduate students, and students come from over 46 states and 64 foreign countries. There is a 20:1 student-to-faculty ratio. Students are generally full-time and their ages are typical of most universities (80% are 17 to 24 years old). The University currently has more than 140 buildings. There about 280 acres on the main campus, with additional acreage for a demonstration farm, forestry land, a farm campus, a golf course, a Flight Operations Center, and a Technology Transfer Center. The University also has a degree program on Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech s mission is to advance the state of knowledge, disseminate knowledge, and to provide strong outreach and service programs and activities. The University also places great emphasis on research and the development and application of knowledge. Graduate education is important to the University which is recognized as an SREB Four-Year 2 institution, a Carnegie Doctoral/Research University, and a COC/SACS Level VI institution. College of Business The College is one of five academic colleges at Louisiana Tech. There are eight baccalaureate degree programs offered by the College, two master s degrees, and the Doctor of Business Administration degree. The College also has an Executive MBA program. The College also offers its MBA program at Barksdale Air Force Base and in Alexandria, Louisiana. Tech s College of Business was initially AACSB accredited in 1955, joining seventy-seven other accredited business programs at that time. The MBA program became accredited in Additionally, the School of Accountancy s programs have accounting accreditation. Louisiana Tech Executive Summary 2

3 School of Accountancy The School of Professional Accountancy was established in 1976 by the Board of Trustees for State Colleges and Universities and the Louisiana Board of Regents. The School is a charter member of the Federation of Schools of Accountancy, and the Alpha Chi Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi received its charter in May, In 1982, the School of Accountancy received initial separate AACSB accounting accreditation, one of approximately 20 universities. In 2007, the name of the School changed to School of Accountancy. The School offers a Bachelor of Science in accounting degree, a Master of Professional Accounting degree, a Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in accounting, and a Doctor of Business Administration degree with a concentration in accounting. Faculty Diversity Effective Practices Approximately eight years ago, it became an objective to attract accounting faculty with diversity. Increased diversity in terms of race, gender, culture, geography, and otherwise is considered positive in terms of teaching and research. We also believe that a practice of finding faculty receiving their degrees from different doctoral programs is beneficial. Hiring people from different schools across the U.S. is a positive long range strategy, much like the hiring of too many of one s own graduates is considered a bad practice and should generally be avoided. We currently have tenured and tenure-track faculty with doctoral degrees from the University of Georgia, the University of South Carolina, Washington State University, Purdue University, Michigan State University, the University of Houston, the University of Southern Illinois, and Georgia State University. One of our new accounting faculty members is African American, and we are now divided evenly in terms of gender (i.e., for tenure-track faculty). A change in research productivity is clearly evident, and we have faculty well qualified to teach in our accounting doctoral program. We have five faculty who have been published in The Accounting Review at some point in their careers (two within the last two years). Additionally, we have faculty who have been published in the Journal of Accounting and Economics; the Journal of the American Taxation Association; Accounting Horizons; the Journal of Management Accounting Research; Accounting, Organizations & Society; Behavioral Research in Accounting; the Journal of Business Finance & Accounting; the Journal of Accounting, Auditing, and Finance; the Journal of Accounting & Public Policy; Research in Accounting Regulation; Advances in Accounting; and many other journals. Doctoral Graduate Education The College undertook a strategic review of our doctoral program in to consider the cost and benefits of the program and to consider the future direction of the program (see Appendix). Louisiana Tech Executive Summary 3

4 As a result, we found that the doctoral program is very efficient and provides numerous benefits to the College and the School of Accountancy. The doctoral program is cost effective in attracting better research faculty to Louisiana Tech. The actual cost of quality faculty, while higher, is really only marginally higher than quality faculty in master s level programs. Yet, the research potential of the faculty is substantially better. Higher quality faculty and research offers the College greater exposure nationally and provides Louisiana Tech a major distinction from regional universities. In regard to students, the School has been able to draw excellent doctoral candidates from across the U.S. and around the world (Average GMATs in the upper 600s). This is turn has increased student diversity. That diversity has also been beneficial in the classroom as graduate teaching assistants have provided cost effective instruction, with many of our doctoral candidates having practical experience from CPA firms and companies, as well as diverse cultural backgrounds. Additionally, the State s formula funding for doctoral programs has been beneficial in offsetting the higher cost of educating doctoral students, and the Board of Regents recognizes our doctoral program in the College as a Center of Excellence. Finally, we have been able to readily place our doctoral graduates in universities across the U.S. and in other countries. Our Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) program is centered on training doctoral candidates in research. Almost all of our accounting doctoral graduates have chosen positions in academics, and they find themselves devoting a considerable amount of effort on scholarship. As such, the DBA program is essentially the same as a PhD degree. A strategic goal is to change the designation to a PhD in the future. Endowments for Chairs and Professorships Endowments have been beneficial in recognizing the efforts of leaders in the School of Accountancy. Beginning with the Smolinski Endowed Eminent Scholar s Chair in Accounting, we have been fortunate to receive alumni support for a series of endowed professorships in accounting. The Smolinski Chair endowment has funded partial salary support for an eminent scholar, as well as research and faculty development support. Other support for research and faculty development has been afforded by endowed professorships for accounting faculty. These include the KPMG Endowed Professorship, the George Breazeal Family Endowed Professorship, two Humana/Mike McCallister Endowed Professorships (one currently used in support of excellent teaching), and the Charles Farrar Endowed Professorship. The State of Louisiana s Board of Supervisors has helped in this effort through providing a match of 40% to 60% of raised funds. In addition to School of Accountancy endowed professorships, the College has numerous endowments that can also be used to recognize and support accounting faculty. Louisiana Tech Executive Summary 4

5 College Speaker Series/Beta Alpha Psi Speakers The College of Business Professor for the Day Speaker Series is designed to assist all areas in the College, and accounting students have directly benefited from the excellent speakers who have contributed to the program. For example, we have enjoyed speakers like Mr. Jack Taylor, Chief Operating Officer at KPMG, an accounting alumnus and Ms. Sharilyn Gasaway, Chief Financial Officer at Alltel, accounting alumna. Other series such as the William Ardis Marbury, Jr. and Virginia Lomax Marbury Lecture Series on Ethics in Business and organizations such as Beta Gamma Sigma and Beta Alpha Psi have brought in speakers like Ms. Janet Wong, National Tax Partner at KPMG, accounting alumna; Mr. Rufus Estis, Vice President at Nuevo Energy Company, accounting alumnus; Ms. Karen D. Taylor, Senior Vice President at Reliant Entergy, accounting alumna; Mr. Glen Post III, President & CEO at CenturyTel, accounting alumnus; Mr. John Clay, Former President & CEO at Practitioners Publishing Company, accounting alumnus; and a multitude of other highlyqualified speakers, both alumni and those unrelated to the University. These speakers serve as role models for our accounting students. Additionally, they offer excellent practical knowledge to our students. For example, Mr. Jack Taylor, COO at KPMG, talked to our students about International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the effect that these standards are having on practice. Similarly, Ms. Sharilyn Gasaway, CFO at Alltel, was able to talk to our students about taking a major company from a shareholder company to one that is privately held, prior to the private company being bought by Verizon. Louisiana Tech Executive Summary 5