NCACPA Provides Full Scholarships to ECU

The College of Business and North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants (NCACPA) have enjoyed a long and rewarding partnership, especially when it comes to faculty members, students, and alumni who serve the 14,000-member statewide organization.

On the faculty side, College of Business accounting professors Dr. Cal Christian and Dr. Malcolm Lathan, Jr. are currently serving three-year terms on the NCACPA Board of Directors. No other members on the 19-person board represent higher education.

Previously, Dr. Rick Niswander, former dean of the College of Business and East Carolina University’s current vice chancellor for administration and finance, served as NCACPA chairman of the board from 2006-2007, president-elect from 2005-2006, treasurer from 2003-2005, and was on the board of directors from 2001-2008.

(Left to right) Jim Ahler, NCACPA CEO; Dr. Cal Christian, ECU accounting professor, and Sharon Bryson, NCACPA COO.

Students and alumni have also stayed highly involved with NCACPA leadership. Currently, Sarah Bruce (BSA/MSA ’08) of Nags Head serves as the 2014-2015 president of the Albemarle/Outer Banks Chapter, Amber Gill (BSA/MSA ’10) of Greenville serves as the 2015-2016 president of the Coastal Plains Chapter, and both Ryan Chadwell (BSBA ’11, MSA ’12) of Charlotte, and Chuck Powell (MSA ’10) of Raleigh serve on the Young CPA Cabinet. Many other alumni, such as Jason Poole (MSA ’99) of Fayetteville, have served in numerous other capacities. In addition, senior accounting student Zeke Sigler was recently appointed to serve on the NCACPA’s new Student Outreach and Recruiting Committee, along with Dr. Cal Christian.

The primary objective of NCACPA is to provide superior member service by monitoring changes within the profession and ensuring members have the resources they need. The association and its board oversee more than 30 committees, chapters, task forces, and advisory groups that frequently interact with regulators who shape state and national accounting standards.

One of NCACPA’s greatest services is its comprehensive curriculum of continuing professional education (CPE) programs – and this is where the association and ECU’s relationship has certainly flourished. Several years ago, the association teamed up with ECU accounting faculty to develop online ethics, fraud, and tax CPE courses for CPAs. NCACPA has shared more than $200,000 generated from these courses with ECU’s accounting department for scholarship support.  Over the last three years, 10 scholarships have been awarded, providing a full ride to high achieving ECU accounting students – and this relationship will continue awarding at least three scholarships per year amounting to more than $40,000 annually.

NCACPA Chief Operating Officer Sharon Bryson said, “Our relationship with ECU has created a wonderfully collaborative opportunity for the association to give back. It is our honor to support the ECU accounting faculty in helping ensure the ‘best and the brightest’– as well as the most deserving students – remain part of the future of the CPA profession.”

Dr. Cal Christian said, “I have been associated with NCACPA since 2007 and have enjoyed every moment of the relationship.  The association provides such a vital service to the entire state of North Carolina, not just the CPAs it serves.  The association has allowed me to travel around the state of North Carolina and interact with CPAs in both large and small CPA firms and with CPAs in industry.  The relationships I have developed are priceless and have made me not only a better professor and colleague, but a better person. Yet, the greatest joy is when I can share with deserving students that their MSA tuition and fees have been paid for by NCACPA’s generosity.”

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