Accounting
Accounting Firm Partners with Professor to Develop Future Accounting Professionals
A-lign CPAs has partnered with an accounting professor at the University of Richmond in efforts to bridge the communication gap between accounting educators and the profession.
Aug. 22, 2013
Experience is the best teacher. That’s the idea behind A-lign CPAs’ new Professor-in-Residence program. The compliance and risk advisory services firm has partnered with an accounting professor in efforts to bridge the communication gap between accounting educators and the profession.
“We implemented this program because we saw a need to communicate with the professors who are educating our future employees,” said Scott Price, Managing Director, A-lign CPAs. “The Professor-in-Residence program will be a platform to exchange feedback and to better understand what firms seek when hiring new CPAs.”
Dr. Daniel Selby, an accounting professor at the University of Richmond, is the Professor-in-Residence program’s inaugural educator. Dr. Selby teaches accounting information systems and managerial accounting. In the past, he has taught financial accounting, intermediate accounting, MAcc IT audit, audit, advanced audit and cost accounting. Dr. Selby has also published his dissertation, “The Effects of Auditor Type and Evidence Domain Type on the Influence of Irrelevant Internal Control Evidence and the Potential for Audit Failure.” In addition, he has eleven years of practice experience in external and internal auditing, regulatory reporting, and financial analysis. His practice areas are financial institutions, telecommunications, manufacturing, municipalities, government regulatory agencies, and high-tech industries.
A-lign CPAs brought Dr. Selby on board as part of their staff in hopes that his experience performing IT audits would allow him to bring a different perspective to his classroom. As part of the program, Dr. Selby will serve as a member of A-lign’s staff, helping the firm identify what accounting students need as they transition from student to professional.
“I sit on many committees and I have found that not many professors sit on the committees. We need more professors providing input on these committees to ensure we are able to meet the demands of accounting students,” said Price.
When he was a doctoral student at Florida State University, Dr. Selby was awarded the AICPA Doctoral Fellow, the KPMG Doctoral Fellow, the Rea Fellow and the Best Business School Doctoral Student Teaching Award. Dr. Selby currently presents his research to academic and practitioner audiences at domestic and international conferences. More recently, he received the distinguished research award from The Academy of Accounting and Financial Studies.
While Dr. Selby is the first professor to join the Professor-in-Residence program and is currently serving the Mid-Atlantic region, A-lign hopes that his alliance will the program expand to other areas. Dr. Selby’s experience and background, as well as his time in the program will help as he works with A-lign to develop criteria for future professors. He will not only assist with identifying the target market and participating schools, but he will also lead the efforts to develop an intern program.
“We currently have social media marketing interns, but not any that are focused on the delivery of services for our clients. We are excited about the opportunity to develop an intern program through the Professor-in-Residence program. Dr. Selby will help us identify and onboard the right students,” said Price. “Our goal is to have an eligible talent pool of students right out of college that already have the necessary skill set we’re looking to hire.”