News and Announcements

SOA Announces Recipients of Scott and Mary Donaldson Teaching Awards

October 2012

The School of Accountancy is pleased to announce that Don Goldman and Glenda Levendowski are this year’s winners of the Scott and Mary Donaldson Excellence in Teaching Awards. Congratulations Don and Glenda for this much deserved recognition!

The Scott and Mary Donaldson Excellence in Teaching Awards are given annually upon the recommendation of the SOA Personnel Advisory Committee.

Scott and Mary Donaldson are alumni who have generously supported the SOA mission throughout their lives; and we are most grateful to them. Scott is currently a tax partner at Ernst & Young.

Serving the Community… The Accounting Scholar Way

In following the tradition set forth by the first year of scholars, the current class of Accounting Scholars continues to lead the community service efforts and volunteer their time. The Accounting Scholars are doing their part to give back to the community not only in donating their time, but by also collecting items to help those who are less fortunate.

In early November, the 39 members of the Accounting Scholars Program spent the day volunteering at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) walk.  Scholars assisted in the event by making more than 4,000 hotdogs for participants to enjoy after they crossed the finish line.  Although cold and rainy, the scholars didn’t let the weather put a damper on their spirits; they cheerfully unpacked hotdogs and buns and turned the task into a competition to see who could wrap the fastest and make the most.

Also in November, the scholars are continuing in their passion to give back and serve others, by facilitating a personal items and toiletry drive for UMOM New Day Centers, a local homeless shelter that meets the needs of more than 3,000 individuals annually. The Accounting Scholars will be collecting donations the weeks of November 7 and 14 with the goal of providing more than 700 basic necessities, like shampoo and soap, to as many families as possible. The Accounting Scholars are asking for the support of the entire School. Items can be dropped off at the School of Accountancy front office through November 17. For a list of the items in most need, please click here.

For more information about the current personal items drive please contact the ASP Program Manager, Angela Haskovec (angela.haskovec@asu.edu, 480-965-7347) and for information about the Accounting Scholars Program please click here.

Matejka Awarded Jabara Family Accounting Professorship

The W. P. Carey School of Business has announced that Associate Professor Michal Matejka has been appointed as the Harvey and Missy Jabara Family Accounting Professor, an honor designed to recognize an outstanding younger faculty member of rising reputation.

Matejka recently joined the School of Accountancy from the University of Michigan. His research interests are in the areas of organizational design, performance measurement and incentive compensation. Matejka's ongoing research projects focus on performance measurement and compensation of Chief Financial Officers or target setting in loss-making companies. Matejka's work has been published in The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Management Accounting Research and Management Science. He received his Ph.D. from Tilburg University, the Netherlands, and his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Economics and Business Administration from Masaryk University, Czech Republic.

The Harvey and missy Jabara Family Accounting Professorship adds to Matejka's long list of international distinctions, honors and awards. The Professorship will provide faculty support to Matejka for research and staffing for graduate research assistance.

Harvey and Missy Jabara are enthusiastic, long-term supporters of Arizona State University. Harvey Jabara graduated from ASU with a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy in 1988 and received the W. P. Carey Outstanding Achievement Award in 2005.

Harvey Jabara is a Certified Public Accountant who began his career with Arthur Young & Co. (Ernst & Young) prior to entering the private equity business with Jabara Ventures Group, Inc. Harvey Serves as Managing Member of Olive Management, L.L.C., an investment management firm and is a partner in JSM Acquisition, L.P., an owner of the San Diego Padres Major League Baseball Club. Missy Jabara is a 1991 graduate of Wichita State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, Radio, Television and Film. Harvey and Missy reside in Palm Desert, California with their two sons and serve on the boards of a number of business, civic, and philanthropic organizations.

Jabara feels the instruction he received while attending ASU was instrumental in his business success. The Jabaras believe their support of high potential faculty will advance the capability and reputation of the School of Accountancy.

Accounting Scholars Gives Back!

The Accounting Scholars are doing their part to give back to the community not only in donating their time, but by also collecting items to help those who are less fortunate. In October, the 22 members of the Accounting Scholars Program spent the day volunteering at the Arizona Special Olympics fall games. Scholars cheered participants on as they achieve personal and team victories in the pool, conversed with athletes, and perhaps most exciting; placed the winning medals around the athlete's neck as the Olympic theme song played. It was a day full of memories not only for those receiving the medals, but also for the scholars who shared how powerful and life-changing their volunteer experience was.  

In November, the scholars are continuing in their passion to give back and serve others, by facilitating a food drive for UMOM New Day Centers, a local homeless shelter that meets the needs of more than 3,000 individuals annually. The Accounting Scholars will be collecting food donations the week of November 15 with the hope of providing a Thanksgiving meal for families who may have gone without. The Accounting Scholars are asking for the support of the entire School as they collect food items the week of November 15th. Items can be dropped off at the School of Accountancy front office between November 12 and November 19. The scholars have provided support to UMOM previously by organizing a successful clothing and personal items drive at the end of October. More than 300 items were donated including clothing, personal hygiene items, cash and gift cards.

For more information about the current food drive please contact the ASP Program Manager, Angela Haskovec (angela.haskovec@asu.edu, 480-965-7347) and for information about the Accounting Scholars Program please visit http://wpcarey.asu.edu/accounting/undergraduate/scholars.cfm.

Congratulations to this year's Scholarship Recipients

A.J. Epstein Scholarship: Jenna Seifert

Arizona CPA Foundation Scholarship: Megana Dugani, Susan Eckman, Mackenzie Gaughan, Daniel Nava

Deloitte Master of Taxation Scholarship: Benjamin Anderson, Patrick Shields

Dr. A.R. Burton Memorial Scholarship: Jonathan Guse, Edward Hansen, Taylor Rogers, Khantapob Yatanathanthit

Dr. William Huizingh/John B. Mumford Scholarship: Blake Corry, Joshua Crittenden, Clarissa Goldstein, Brianna Arendt, Susan Eckman, Kelly Guinan, Salina Hazel, Teeghyn Lowry, Alexander Moore, Jorjon Tang, Jamie Tang, RC Thornton, Eunae Yoo, Khantapob Yatanathanthit

Eide Bailly Outstanding Undergraduate Scholarship: Raymon Vargas

Ernst & Young Master of Accountancy Scholarship: Alexander Murray

Ernst & Young Master of Taxation Scholarship: Joseph Heath

Ernst & Young Minority Scholarship: Megan Ellsworth

Financial Executives Institute - Outstanding Senior Award: Susan Eckman

Helen B. Shipley Master of Taxation Scholarship: Stuart Foust, Brian Marino

KPMG Master of Taxation Scholarship: Maria Salhuana, Michael Wold

Lohman Company, PLLC Accountancy Scholarship: Jenna Hoppe

Master of Accountancy & Taxation Class Gift Scholarship: Elizabeth Brinley, Jessica Buterhaugh, Joseph Heath, Darek Kochman, Tina Raether

Matthew Matysiak Memorial Scholarship: Justin Michalski

McGladrey Scholarship: Adam Fasci, Jessica Wert

Mikhail Family Scholarship: Brianna Arendt

Milton & Elaine Silverman Scholarship: Salina Hazel, Marissa Testori, Neil Waite, Spencer Wright

PricewaterhouseCoopers Accountancing Scholarship: John Brimhall

PricewaterhouseCoopers Masters Scholarship: Jeffrey Alexander

Sam Gallant Memorial Scholarship: Isaiah McCoy

Sarvas, King & Coleman, P.C. Master of Taxation Scholarship: Christopher Hoopes, Larina Staggers

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Minority Scholarship: Brian Chavez

Steven Robert Henning Scholarship: Robert Anderson

Tax Executives Institute Master of Taxation - Stan Robins Memorial Scholarship: Albert Kasperkowiak

School of Accountancy: Brennon Adams, Benjamin Anderson, Jonathan Blomberg, Laura Blomberg, Adam Bowman, Michael Calderon, John Coakley, James Coons, Blake Corry, Joshua Crittenden, Kyle Cunning, Mark DiMaggio, Morgane Dion, Megana Dugani, Adam Fasci, Stuart Foust, Mackenzie Gaughan, Clarissa Goldstein, Katherine Guilmart, Monika Hajduk, Edward Hansen, Eric Hines, Ryan Holste, Won-Zong Huang, David Hunter, Loryn Hurwitz, Egle Inge, Bethany Irwin, Bethany Irwin, Grant Isakson, Rebbeca Ivanhoe, Kasey Jansen, Craig Johnston, Albert Kasperkowiak, Eun Jeong Kim-Zoller, Akshaya Kumar, Brent LeGault, Brian Marino, Michael Marohnic, Keven Minzer, Alexander Murray, Jordan Pace, Cheryl Peterson, John Pryor, Taylor Rogers, Maria Salhuana, Amelia Silva, Jonathon Snyder, Alex Tran, James Van Loo, Ashley Vena, Crystal Wenger, Jessica Wert, Michael Wold, Charles Wolfkill, Khantapob Yatanathanthit, Dafeng Zhu

Accounting Students Win National xTAX Competition

A five-member team of W. P. Carey accounting undergraduates won the 8th Annual xTAX competition, a nationwide contest sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC. The competition uses real-world business challenges to test the critical thinking, team-building and presentation skills of thousands of the best undergraduate accounting students from schools across the country.

This year's W. P. Carey team, composed of Jordan Hall, Taylor Hall, Jonathan Snyder, Jenna Seifert, Lucas McHenry and faculty advisor Glenda Levendowski, topped more than 400 teams from 35 universities around the country to reach the finals, held Jan. 28-29 in Washington, D.C. The ASU students beat teams from Baylor University, the Ohio State University, the University of Cincinnati and the University of Florida to take the top prize in the xTAX final, the Hamilton Award.

Each finalist team was awarded $10,000 and an additional $5,000 was given to their faculty advisors.

Levendowski, a lecturer in the School of Accountancy, says each team in the finals had to address the same issue: A "pretend" country's president wanted to expand health care, with top priorities being universal coverage, electronic records and reduced cost. Each team developed its own solutions for how the president's goals could be achieved over a 10-year period, while also addressing side issues related to various constituents within the country.

Since the last ASU win in 2007, interest in the competition has grown significantly among students, Levendowski says. More than 140 ASU students applied for this year's competition and the university fielded 12 five-person teams.

"ASU's success at the national PwC xTAX competition is a testament to the outstanding caliber of all of our student participants, the dedication of all our faculty mentors, and the importance of our BIT assistance, and it illustrates the significance of our relationships with the business community," Levendowski says.

Accounting Students Win National Case Competition

Oct-06-2009

A team of four undergraduate accounting students from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University won a national case competition that included 28 universities and more than 130 students from around the country.

Gustavo Nava, Isaiah McCoy, Tim Haitaian and Erick Torres, students in the ASU School of Accountancy, were selected as the winners of the 2009 KPMG/ALPFA Case Study, held August 9-10 in Boston. Michael Mikhail, director of the School of Accountancy, served as faculty advisor to the winning student team.

The annual competition is sponsored by KPMG, one of the world's leading providers of audit, tax and advisory services, and the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALPFA). The competition provides finance and accounting students with the opportunity to solve complex, real-world accounting cases and present their findings to a panel of KPMG and ALPFA professionals.

This year's case involved the analysis of a company's business model, strategic risks, accounting issues and corporate governance. Each team presented its findings in a 20-minute presentation followed by a 10-minute question-and-answer session. The students were evaluated based on the quality of their presentation and analysis as well as their responses in the question-and-answer segment of the competition.

A W. P. Carey team also won the 2007 competition.

As sponsor, KPMG covered all the costs for the teams and their faculty advisors to travel to Boston and participate in the competition. The firm also was responsible for identifying the schools to be included in the competition, creating the cases and selecting judges. KPMG also assigned professionals to serve as advisors to work with their respective teams for several months preparing for the competition.

Three Phoenix KPMG officials served as advisors to the ASU team: Audit Senior Manager Scott Cripps, Audit Senior Associate Trinity Kosierowski and Managing Partner Ed Rodriguez.