Terry College of Business - Fall 2008 - (Page 28) Kelly Newman (BBA ‘07, MAcc ‘07), a tax staff accountant with Porter, Keadle, Moore, says that Prof. Dan Smith’s classes were so thorough that she and her classmates thought their do well on the CPA exam, Smith ultimately have to do about it?” Smith, who is approaching stresses the accounting program’s class notes were better study tools than rigor. his 18th year at Terry, spent his first 20 years as an instructor at “There are a number of facthe Gleim or Becker review courses. the University of Florida, where ulty who take that approach to he worked with Jerry Salamon, education here and push the kids former editor of The Accounting Review, which is one of the preemi- very hard, because we want them to be successful,” says Smith, who nent academic journals in the field. Salamon had already established echoes Ayers’ sentiments about Terry not teaching to the exam. himself as one of the best researchers in financial accounting, but “We take passing the CPA exam to be a foregone conclusion — and he wouldn’t commit to teaching his primary area of expertise until a by-product of what we’re trying to do. Smith agreed to tutor him on his methods of class instruction. “One thing that’s true about accounting — especially at a place “When I made this switch, I made it after I got an agreement from like the University of Georgia, where the vast majority of our graduDan to help me — and he was incredibly good,” says Salamon. “I ates goes to work in Atlanta — is that we’re going to get feedback bet we spent two or three hours on the phone on some of the more from partners over there. One of the interesting things about difficult topics. I taught a long time and I never won any teaching being an accounting professor is you have a more direct feedback awards until I started teaching from Dan’s notes and examples. And loop than most faculty at the university. When my students are in then I won them fairly regularly when I started teaching this way.” a firm’s start group of 55-60 people in Atlanta, I don’t care where Smith says the tutoring sessions with Salamon epitomize the those other people came from. The things we do with the Terry shortcomings of strictly teaching by the book. students — their understanding of what accounting is, and having “If you have a guy this distinguished — and he’s reading the some perspective on whether it is good or bad — will make them book and he can’t make it work — then you begin to understand better than others in their group. When the partners get around to that you’ve got to do something else for students to make it bear- ranking the Terry kids at the end of the first year, I don’t want to be able for them,” says Smith. “If Jerry can’t do it, how in the world responsible in any way for them being ranked anywhere but at the can you expect even a very bright undergraduate student to begin top of their class.” ■ to get their arms around it without some help?” Kelly Newman (BBA ’07, First Time CPA Exam Pass Rates MAcc ’07), a tax staff accountant with the Atlanta firm 80% Porter, Keadle, Moore, says that financial accounting is the 70% most difficult section of the CPA exam. But Smith’s classes 60% were so thorough that she and 50% her classmates thought their class notes were more effec40% tive study tools for that section than either the Gleim 30% or Becker CPA exam review courses. “He has a gift for mak20% ing complicated things easier 10% to understand,” says Newman, who passed the exam on her 0% first attempt in 2007. “It was 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 difficult, but I really haven’t ■ UGa ■ national Year had any friends [from Terry] that had trouble passing.” First-time pass rates were not available in 2004. In 2005, the national average for first-time pass rates, as a percentage of all Asked why Terry graduates participants taking all four parts of the exam, was not released. Pass Rate Percentage 28 • Fall 2008 Terry College oF Business
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