Greetings and welcome to the Accounting Department’s annual newsletter. 2020 has been a year of tremendous change and challenges, but also one of resilience and innovation. In March, the SCU campus was shut down due to the pandemic and we quickly adapted to remote teaching. Classes continue to be delivered online during the spring and fall quarters. Despite all the challenges and disruptions, our faculty have worked hard to ensure a high-quality educational experience for our students. Many faculty members participated in training workshops on online teaching and demonstrated innovation when redesigning courses and adopting new technology to enhance the quality of virtual learning. We are very proud of our students who have worked hard and remained strong, resilient, and flexible. We are also grateful for how our community has supported and cared for each other under these very difficult circumstances. Read the full Chair's Message > >
Haidan Li Department Chair, Associate Professor of Accounting
Faculty News
This year we welcome two new faculty members and say "good bye for now" to one of our long time faculty members.
Welcome New Faculty
Kevin Li - Associate Professor, Accounting
Kevin joined the accounting faculty of Santa Clara University in fall 2020. Kevin was an assistant professor of accounting at the University of Toronto and University of California Riverside before joining Santa Clara and will be teaching Intermediate Accounting I and II (ACTG 130 and 131) during the 2020-2021 academic year. Read More > >
Matthew Cedergren - Assistant Professor, Accounting
Matthew Cedergren joined the accounting faculty of Santa Clara University in fall 2020 after five years on the faculty at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He will be teaching ACTG 11 (Introduction to Financial Accounting) and ACTG 132 (Advanced Financial Accounting) during the 2020-2021 academic year. Read More > >
Congratulations and best wishes to Professor Michael "Lucky" Eames on his retirement! We will miss Lucky and are thankful he will continue his work with the CAAP program. Read more >>
Poets & Quants for Undergraduates shared a study published by Best Accounting Software ranking Santa Clara University #2 for the best earning potential for graduating accountants. Read More > >
To prepare our students for the fast changing business environment, the Accounting Department introduced a new Accounting Data Analysis and Visualization (ACTG 120) course and revamped the Accounting Information Systems (ACTG 134) course. Read More >>
The Accounting Department continues to host research workshops as part of our commitment to support faculty research. We invite nationally and internationally recognized scholars to present their research works at Santa Clara University. These workshops provide opportunities for SCU faculty to interact with leading-edge scholars in the field and to present their own early-stage research to solicit valuable feedback. Read more > >
The Department offers seminar series in the Fall and Winter Quarters for students who are interested in developing a broader understanding of accounting-related business issues. These seminars introduce students to current issues in accounting that may not be included in the regular curriculum. Read more >>
The Accounting Department hosted the 20th annual Accounting Information Night on Wednesday, January 29, 2020. The event consisted of two sessions of round table discussions following by a dual moderated panel discussion and open Q&A. Read More > >
The Accounting Department hosted the annual Sophomore Accounting/A&IS Career Fair on Thursday, February 13, 2020 in Locatelli Center from 6:30 PM to 8:00PM. Fourteen firms attended and conversed with over 50 students. Read More >>
This year the SCU Accounting Association (SCUAA) merged its annual Meet-the-Firms Night with the virtual Career Center Fall BASH held on Tuesday, September 30, 2020 from 12 PM to 4 PM. Read more >>
More than 130 students attended the Accounting Department’s fourth annual fall Corporate Accounting Careers Panel Discussion on October 27, 2020 via Zoom. Read More >>
As a top business school, LSB was asked by Poets & Quants to select two undergraduate students (2020 graduates) as the LSB "Best and Brightest" for this year's feature. Congratulations to Cailtin Colbert and Sarah Tatley! Read More > >
The Accounting Department awarded over $78,000 in scholarships and awards. We hope to honor the awardees at an Awards Banquet in the future. See recipients here >>
Karlise Loza, A&IS major class of 2022, was selected as a Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) scholar and received a $10,000 scholarship. Read More > >
Santa Clara University hosted a Virtual Conferring of Undergraduate Degrees on Saturday, June 13, 2020. Congratulations to our Accounting and Accounting and Information Systems graduates! Read More > >
The Advisory Board welcomes our newest member Nicole Truesdale. Nicole Truesdale is a Managing Director in Accenture’s Customer, Sales, and Service practice. She has spent her career helping clients re-think their customer experiences and drive business outcomes grounded in data insights. Her focus is around customer support and partner relationship management transformations enabled through people, process and technology. She graduated from Santa Clara University in 2010 with a Finance and Psychology degree. She currently lives in Santa Clara with her husband, Devin Bissman, (a Santa Clara University Law Graduate), 2-year old daughter, Adelyn, and dog, Daisy. Explore this year's Advisory Board > >
SCUAA is honored to recognize Neal Ushman as the 2019-2020 Professor of the Year. His Intermediate Financial Accounting II is known to be challenging, which makes his Professor of the Year award all the more impressive. Read more >>
This year the Accounting Department included the SCU Accounting Association (SCUAA) senior officers in the interview process for new faculty members. Explore this year's Accounting Association (SCUAA) officers and what they're doing to prepare accounting majors for professional success. Read more > >
The Certificate of Advanced Accounting Proficiency (CAAP) program continues to be one of the most time-effective and affordable accounting programs in the country, offered in two formats: (1) a 14-week summer program with daily meetings or (2) an academic year program that meets one (long) day each weekend (except holidays).
If you have friends, associates, or classmates who are graduating (you must have an undergraduate degree to be admitted) who might be interested in a career-changing or career-enhancing opportunity, tell them they can find information about the CAAP program at the SCU CAAP website!
The CAAP program had an unusual year as students in the weekend cohort (as in the undergraduate program) were, with little notice, shifted into an online format. Thanks to Professor Eames, who had a few mere hours to convert his weekend class from in-person to online classes in March, and the balance of the faculty who adapted beautifully for the rest of the weekend and the summer program. We are continuing with a fully online program for the Weekend 2020-21 cohort.
Congratulations to our CAAP graduates from this past year! Read More > >