FLC graduate, Sherin Clarke, is one of many successful Accounting alumni.

DURANGO, CO - According to the 2008 report, “Candidate Performance on the 2007 Uniform CPA Examination,” 72 percent of the students from Fort Lewis College who took the CPA exam passed one or more of the four exam sections.

This percentage was higher than any other Colorado college or university where the candidates taking the exam did not have a graduate degree. Fort Lewis College also beat the 2007 national average, which stands at 56.5 percent of CPA exam takers without a graduate degree who passed all or some of the exam.

The Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination is the world’s leading accounting licensing exam. There are four sections to the exam and it is not necessary for a student to take all four sections at the same time. Students are also able to retake exam sections at later dates.

Success like this doesn’t come without hard work and not only hard work by the accounting students. Over the past five years, the FLC Accounting Department has enhanced the accounting program, adding new course elements and, in some cases, whole courses to better prepare students for the CPA exam and life in the professional accounting world.

One added course element is the use of real-life case simulations in class. The CPA exam includes a simulation-type problem that is similar to the types used in Fort Lewis accounting classrooms.

“I have [students] do a practical auditing case, so it’s not just theoretical; it’s theoretical and practical,” says Dr. Paul McGurr of his auditing class. Dr. McGurr is an associate professor of Accounting and assistant dean of the FLC School of Business Administration.

“Rather than just telling them what’s on the CPA exam,” adds Dr. Paul Herz, professor of Accounting and area coordinator of the program, “it’s an active learning exercise where they actually have to do it and they get feedback on their answers.”

This type of teaching lends itself well to the classroom environment at Fort Lewis College. Class sizes are small, averaging only 17 students, and that enables professors to go beyond the basic nuts and bolts of accounting.

“If we had 70-80 people in these upper division classes we couldn’t teach the same way,” Dr. McGurr observes. “We would have to go to more of a theoretical approach with more basic questions and less practical experience.”

“Students in the FLC School of Business Administration get closer instruction from faculty,” he continues. “They have questions, they can come ask. They’re not asking a teaching assistant. They’re not in a lecture class with 600 people or 300 people.”

Perhaps the best example of the excellence of the Fort Lewis College Accounting program is in the success of the FLC Accounting alumni.

Sherin Clarke, a recent FLC graduate, currently works for FredrickZink & Associates, a certified public accounting firm in Durango.

“The [Fort Lewis College] faculty is dedicated to the success of the program participants, both as students and as professionals upon graduation,” she says. “The resources are available to help students choose their career path, and make it a reality. The program invests in its students, creating relationships that last long after graduation.”

One valuable resource available for accounting students is the Fort Lewis College chapter of Beta Alpha Psi (BAP). BAP boasts 279 chapters and a membership of more than 300,000 financial information students and professionals. Its mission is to encourage scholastic and professional excellence.

Among the many opportunities FLC’s Beta Alpha Psi chapter offers is the Denver Road Show, an annual trip where FLC accounting majors travel to Denver to visit financial firms, corporations and government agencies.

The Road Show represents another way FLC accounting students receive experience beyond the textbook. It’s also one reason why so many financial firms and organizations come to Fort Lewis College each year to recruit accounting majors.

To learn more about the Fort Lewis College Accounting program, visit http://soba.fortlewis.edu/soba/students/academic_programs/accounting.asp.

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The Fort Lewis College School of Business Administration (SOBA) was the first public liberal arts school to receive the mark of excellence that is an accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB). Only the best business schools in the world can meet the rigorous requirements necessary to earn AACSB accreditation. The Fort Lewis College School of Business Administration has continuously held AACSB accreditation for 35 years.

For more information on SOBA and all the business majors at Fort Lewis College, visit http://soba.fortlewis.edu/.

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