Accounting Professor Spearheads Programs
to Enhance Student Success
Several outstanding accounting students at St. John’s University
will experience a unique spring semester. In addition to
several weeks of graduate study, they will participate in a
full-time internship with a major public accounting firm and have
an opportunity to experience the global side of the profession by
visiting the offices of several public accounting firms in Rome,
Italy.
The students are inaugural members of the
Accounting and Taxation Scholars Program, a new honors track
within The Peter J. Tobin College of
Business. Launched last fall, the program offers accelerated
academic and professional opportunities for high-achieving
Accounting majors. Participants are also part of the University Honors
Program, which provides a broader liberal arts experience.
“This is an opportunity for our most accomplished Accounting and
Taxation majors to not only focus on their chosen field, but on the
broader skills they’ll need as professionals,” said Adrian
Fitzsimons, Ph.D., CPA, Professor and Chair of Accounting and
Taxation. “Those soft skills include strengthening communication
skills - writing and presentations, - conducting accounting and tax
research, using technology effectively, behaving with integrity,
and developing a professional demeanor.”
The program is one of several initiatives that the accounting
faculty has spearheaded over the past two years. “We have
accomplished a lot in a fairly compact amount of time,” he said.
“Our efforts amount to one thing: a focus on student success, which
is the priority of our Department, the Tobin College of Business,
and the University. Our 25 full-time faculty and our 15
adjuncts, most of whom are current or retired partners of “Big
Four” accounting firms, teach specialized topics, provide
networking opportunities, and enhance the value of the St. John’s
degree.”
Also in its first year, the
Center for Accounting Research and Technology (CART) prepares
students for success on the uniform Certified Public Accountant
(CPA) exam. Directed by Mark Ulrich, M.B.A., CPA, who also teaches
Accounting, the Center helps students devise a personal program of
study for the CPA exam.
The Center offers an additional advantage — its partnership with
Becker Professional Education,
offers preparation for professional certifying exams. St. John’s
students and recent graduates can enroll in Becker’s CPA review for
$1,625, half off the regular price. Those who pass receive a
reimbursement of up to entire cost.
To provide Accounting students with a broad knowledge in various
fields, Dr. Fitzsimons helped develop a variety of combined degree
programs. Students can major in
Accounting,
Economics,
Finance,
Management, Management Information Systems,
Marketing, Risk
Management and Insurance, Computer
Science,
Computer Security, Networking and Telecommunication, and
Information Technology and then earn an
M.S. or M.B.A. As an alternative,
students can major in one of ten liberal arts areas and then earn
an M.B.A.
The Department is also developing a program in internal audit
that will allow students to specialize in fraud examination,
information systems audit, or risk advisory services.
Students will soon be able to select additional concentrations in
their graduate degrees.
These are the most recent accomplishments to shape Accounting
and Taxation under Dr. Fitzsimons’ leadership. In 2004, the program
received separate accreditation by AACSB International–The Association to
Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Dr. Fitzsimons, former
Dean Peter J. Tobin and the Department’s faculty devoted five years
to earning that distinction.
“That was an accomplishment,” said Dr. Fitzsimons. St. John’s,
he observed, is one of a select few universities around the world
that has dual AACSB-International accreditation for its accounting
and tax programs as well as its entire college of business.
Born to Irish immigrants in Coventry, England, Dr. Fitzsimons
came to Jamaica, Queens, as a child. He graduated from St. John’s
Preparatory School in Brooklyn and attended St. John’s University,
where he earned his bachelor’s and M.B.A. degrees. He earned his
Ph.D. in Economics at the New School for Social Research in
1984.
He went on to a number of demanding jobs. He was an adjunct
instructor at St. John’s, a New York City public high school
teacher and a professor at Queens College-CUNY. He worked as an
economist for the Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange. He worked as an
auditor with Touche Ross and as a consultant to its successor firm,
Deloitte & Touche, for eighteen years. In 1990, he began
teaching full time at St. John’s.
Dr. Fitzsimons and his wife, Sarah, have two children, Leigh and
Luke. Though his two children did their undergraduate work at
other universities, both earned graduate degrees at St. John’s.
“That’s what I’d always expected,” said Dr. Fitzsimons. “Wherever
else they studied, I wanted them to earn their accounting degrees
here.”