Introduction
The mission of the School of Accountancy and Legal Studies in Clemson University’s College of Business and Behavioral Science is to perform scholarly research and public service and to create a learning-centered environment that provides distinct career advantages for students. The school’s academic programs enjoy a reputation for excellence, rigor and relevance. Clemson’s accounting programs have been certified by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the premier accrediting agency for management education and the only grantor of accounting accreditation.
The program’s students are highly recruited within the Southeast, and the program’s national reputation allows the School of Accountancy and Legal Studies to assist students who wish to obtain positions outside of the Southeast.
If you are accepted into the MPAcc program, you will have the opportunity to develop a specialization in either assurance and management services or taxation. The program is designed to develop your critical thinking, research, documentation and presentation skills to deal with problems that have multiple solutions. Through case-based learning, you will learn to “think outside the box,” by developing the ability to identify problems, research and document alternatives, make recommendations and justify your recommendations. Unique to the program is a required case-based course that emphasizes the accounting professional’s ethical and legal responsibilities. Prior to graduation, you will be required to successfully complete a CPA, CMA or CIA examination tutorial.
Our large, diverse faculty is dedicated to quality in teaching, scholarship and service to the professions and the public.
Program of Study
The Master of Professional Accountancy (MPAcc) program is typically completed in 12 months by students attending full time. If you have appropriate references, background course work, grade point averages and GMAT scores, you may be admitted upon completion of a four-year baccalaureate degree program. You must have a minimum GPR of 3.00/4.00 on all undergraduate and graduate course work taken after admission to graduate study.
The program consists of 33 hours (15 hours in the core and 18 hours in one of the two areas of concentration) and a self-study, professional exam review class. The professional exam review class is designed to prepare you for your upcoming CPA, CMA or CIA professional exam. Core classes are: ACCT 804 Environment of Accounting; ACCT 806 Advanced Accounting Problems; LAW 801 Law for Professional Accountants; FIN 832 International Financial Management; and an elective non-accounting business-related course chosen with your advisor’s consent.
After receiving the MPAcc from Clemson, you will be well prepared to sit for your professional accounting examinations and begin your career in public accounting, industry or the financial sector.
Research Facilities and Resources
MPAcc students in the tax concentration have full access to two tax research databases: Commerce Clearing House’s Tax Research Network and the Research Institute of America’s Checkpoint. MPAcc students in the assurance and management services concentration have full access to the Financial Accounting Research System and the resource system from the AICPA.
Financial Aid
The School of Accountancy and Legal Studies currently offers 11 graduate assistantships. Each assistantship pays $10 per hour for 10 hours per week of work in which you would be expected to provide grading and research assistance to professors. In addition, each assistantship provides for tuition and fee reduction. The school also offers six fellowships. The financial award for each fellowship varies, but it has been as much as $3,000 for a full-time student’s one year in the MPAcc program.
Student Group
The program has approximately 30 students. About 75 percent are women, 90 percent attend on a full-time basis, 5 percent are international students, and 35 percent are from other undergraduate programs.
Student Outcomes
Ninety percent of MPAcc program graduates accept positions with international, regional and local public accounting firms. Other graduates take professional accounting positions in industry or education.
Applying
Admission is based on academic performance, GMAT scores and reference letters. Successful candidates most often have at least a 3.2 undergraduate GPA and a 540 GMAT score. Your statement of purpose provides insight into your goals. You may apply on the web at www.grad.clemson.edu/Admission.php.
Faculty Listing
• L. Stephen Cash, Professor; JD, Tennessee, law; LLM, CPA. Taxation is Dr. Cash’s teaching and research area. Prior to coming to Clemson, he was a partner in the Knoxville, Tennessee law firm of Frantz, McConnell & Seymour. He has published in numerous journals and authored a chapter on taxation of gifts, estates and trusts for Commerce Clearing House’s Federal Tax Course. He is a member of the South Carolina Association of CPAs and the Bars of Tennessee and Georgia.
• Lawrence S. Clark; MA, University of Georgia; CPA, CMA. Professor Clark has practiced as a CPA with Arthur Andersen & Company and George C. Baird & Company. He previously guided the school’s Beta Alpha Psi chapter to four Superior Chapter awards and has received the school’s Outstanding Instructor Award. He is a member of the AICPA and the Institute of Management Accountants.
• Thomas L. Dickens, Alumni Professor; PhD, Texas A&M, accounting; CPA. Dr. Dickens is the coordinator of and advisor to the Master of Professional Accountancy program. His research and teaching interests are in taxation. An extensively published faculty member, Dr. Dickens’ significant contributions to education were recognized by the South Carolina Association of CPAs when they bestowed on him their 2002 Outstanding Accounting Educator Award. He was named to the University Alumni Professorship in 2004. He has received the College’s Graduate Teaching Excellence Award and the University Trustees award for faculty excellence twice.
• Richard B. Dull, Associate Professor; PhD, Virginia Tech, accounting information systems; CPA, CFE, CISA. Dr. Dull teaches accounting information systems. His principal research interest is continuous assurance. He has 11 years experience in public accounting and systems consulting and has published and presented papers internationally. He has received the University Trustees award for faculty excellence.
• Frances L. Edwards, Associate Professor; JD, Kansas, law. Dr. Edwards has worked in contracting with ARCO Oil & Gas Company. She has been an officer and member of the board of directors of a private international company and conducted business in over 11 foreign countries. Her research is in international contracts and legislation. She is the author of two texts, The Legal Environment of Business, 6th ed. and Managing in the Legal Environment, 3rd ed.
• Daryl M. Guffey, Professor; PhD, South Carolina, business administration/accounting; CPA, CIA, CMA. Dr. Guffey previously taught at East Carolina University and Louisiana State University. He received an Ernst & Young Foundation Grant and participated in the Ernst & Young/Tax Foundation Visiting Professor program in 1994. He received teaching awards as a graduate teaching assistant at University of South Carolina and as an assistant professor at both LSU and ECU. Dr. Guffey’s primary teaching interest is financial accounting, and his research interests include accounting education and finance.
• Carl W. Hollingsworth, Assistant Professor; PhD, Tennessee; CPA. Dr. Hollingsworth teaches internal auditing. He joined the accounting faculty in fall 2007. He has published in Accounting Horizons, and prior to receiving his PhD, was a senior associate with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
• Frances A. Kennedy, Associate Professor; PhD, North Texas, accounting; CPA. Dr. Kennedy’s teaching and research interests are in managerial and cost accounting. She previously taught at the University of North Texas where she won three awards for outstanding teaching. She has 10 years of industry and public accounting experience and was a Product Team Financial Analyst for Rubbermaid. She received the 2006 Lybrand Silver Medal from the Institute of Management Accountants for contributions to the management accounting literature.
• Jeffrey J. McMillan, Professor; PhD, South Carolina, accounting. Dr. McMillan has worked as an external auditor with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and as an internal auditor with Hibernia National Bank. His research interests include auditing, ethics, educational methods and market valuation. He has published in numerous journals. He has been awarded research grants from Clemson University, NationsBank and from the AICPA’s Center for Excellence in Financial Management.
• Megan E. Mowrey, Assistant Professor; PhD, JD, Iowa, industrial relations and human resources. Dr. Mowrey’s teaching interests are in the legal environment and law for professional accountants. Her research interests include employment law. She has published in The Journal of Labor Research, the Seton Hall Legislative Journal and the Penn State Law Review. She received an award for outstanding teaching from the University of Iowa College of Business. She is also the recipient of the American Jurisprudence Award, and she is a member of the Iowa State Bar Association and the American Bar Association.
• Lisa A. Owens, Assistant Professor; PhD, Oklahoma State, accounting. Dr. Owens’ teaching interests are financial and managerial accounting. Her primary research interest is financial/capital markets research with a concentration on firm-specific characteristics and firm evaluation. Dr. Owens was recognized as the 2002 KPMG Outstanding Accounting Professor of the Year at Southern Illinois University. While in her doctoral program, Dr. Owens was recognized with the College of Business Outstanding Teaching Associate Award and the accounting department’s Public Service Award.
• Lydia Lancaster Folger Schleifer, Associate Professor; PhD, Georgia, accounting. Dr. Schleifer teaches principles of accounting and auditing. Her research interests include auditing, assessment and critical thinking. Her publications include articles in CPA Journal, Controller’s Quarterly, Corporate Controller, Management Accounting and Managerial Auditing Journal. She has interned in public accounting and is a member of the Institute of Management Accountants.
• Jonathan D. Stanley, Assistant Professor; PhD, Alabama; CPA. Dr. Stanley teaches auditing theory. He joined the accounting faculty in fall 2007. He has published in the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy and the Journal of Forensic Accounting and, prior to receiving his PhD, was an auditor and tax consultant with Ernst & Young.
• Ralph E. Welton Jr., Academic Program Director; PhD, LSU, accounting. Dr. Welton teaches financial accounting theory and research in addition to intermediate accounting. His research interests include accounting ethics, legal regulation, education and assessment. He has published in The Journal of Accounting Education, The International Journal of Accounting Education and Research and The Journal of Business Ethics. He is co-author of the handbook Keys to Reading an Annual Report. He has twice won a Certificate of Merit for contribution to the management accounting literature from the Institute of Management Accountants. Other awards include the 2005 Outstanding Accounting Educator Award from the South Carolina Association of CPAs, the Award for Faculty Excellence from Clemson University and the Graduate Teaching Excellence Award from the Clemson University College of Business and Behavioral Science.
• Alan J. Winters, Professor; PhD, Texas Tech, accounting; CPA. Dr. Winters’ teaching and research interests are in auditing and financial accounting. He is the author of numerous articles and the coauthor of an auditing textbook. Dr. Winters has served as the Director of Auditing Research for the American Institute of CPAs, chaired various committees of the AICPA and authored resources for the institute. Dr. Winters is a prior Director of the School of Accountancy and Legal Studies. Previously, he held the Donald H. Cramer Chair at the University of South Carolina, and he received an award for outstanding teaching at Louisiana State University. He is a member of the AICPA, the South Carolina Association of CPAs and the Institute of Internal Auditors.
For More Information
Dr. Thomas L. Dickens MPAcc Coordinator
301 Sirrine Hall
Clemson University
Clemson, South Carolina 29634-1303
Telephone: 864-656-4890
Fax: 864-656-4892
Email: dickent@clemson.edu
