Chair's Message
Professor Yongtae Kim
After nearly forty years at Santa Clara, Professor Jim Sepe will retire at the end of this academic year. Jim has been instrumental to the growth of the Accounting Department. His accomplishments and contributions to the Department are quite remarkable. He established the Accounting Advisory Board and helped to create the Accounting Development Fund, a stable source of funding for the Department. He also strengthened alumni relations by launching several departmental events and activities, including bringing this newsletter series into existence. The Department will dearly miss his presence. Because of Jim’s leadership, the Department blossomed into a nationally ranked program over the past four decades.
This year our undergraduate accounitng program is ranked 19th in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, moving from 23rd last year. This ranking reflects our students' huge success in the job market and the quality of our faculty.
In the 2017 senior survey, 88% (85% of accounting majors and 100% of A&IS majors) indicated that they had accepted a position by spring of the senior year. These are easily the highest placement rates in the Business School. Our students also report high levels of internship participation. In 2017, 86% of seniors had participated in an internship; 45% reported two or more internships. The statistics also show that about half of these internships are corporate internships and the remaining half are internships at the accounting firms.
Our faculty continues to publish in premier outlets. In the past academic year, our faculty has published in the Journal of Accounting and Economics and the Review of Accounting Studies, top journals in accounting, as well as in the Journal of International Business Studies, the top-ranked journal in the area of International Business. Over the past six years, our faculty members have published 15 papers in the most prestigious accounting and business journals. These publications include four in The Accounting Review, three in the Journal of Accounting and Economics, one in the Journal of Accounting Research, three in the Review of Accounting Studies, two in the Contemporary Accounting Research, and one each in the Management Science and the Journal of International Business Studies.
The department added two new faculty members this year. Hyungshin Park joins the department as a tenure-track Associate Professor. Hyungshin received his doctoral degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2010. He was a faculty member at Southern Methodist University for the past seven years. Hyungshin teaches managerial accounting classes and is very interested in developing AIS and data analytics courses. Amanda Badger joins the department as a tenure-track Assistant Professor. Amanda will receive her doctoral degree from University of Rochester. She teaches financial accounting classes at Santa Clara.
This past year, the department’s Advisory Board experienced some turnover. Jim Callas, a long-time board member and a former CFO at InvenSense, retired from the board seat. The department deeply appreciates his contributions over the past 13 years. The Board added three new members. Kim McCormick, a partner at Grant Thornton LLP, has replaced Elise Parker. Jeff Nishita, a partner at Novogradac & Company LLP, and James Lynch, CFO and Treasurer at San Jose Water Company, have also joined the Board. The Board has elected Joe Allanson, Executive Vice President and CAO/Controller at Salesforce.com, as the Vice President. Chantal Adam, a partner at KPMG will serve the two-year term as the Board President.
We are proud of our students, dedicated faculty, and outstanding staff. These elements are building blocks for the success of our program but I cannot envision our success without the support of donors and terrific accounting alumni. I want to thank all of you who contribute time and financial support to our program. It is my pleasure to share this year’s newsletter with you.
Yongtae Kim, Chair
Accounting Department