UA’s School of Accountancy Makes Strong Showing in Rankings

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.  — The University of Alabama’s Culverhouse School of Accountancy made a strong showing in Public Accounting Report‘s top 25 school rankings for 2010.

The undergraduate program placed 23rd, up from 25th in 2009, and graduate programs rose to 22nd from 2009’s 25th place.

Dr. Mary Stone, head of the school of accountancy, said the ranking is encouraging given the intensity with which programs compete.

“Like MBA programs, accounting programs compete for high quality students, and recruiters will offer a wide variety of career opportunities,” Stone said.

“Because students, parents and recruiters view rankings as indicators of quality, accounting programs work hard to ensure students, educators across the world, and company and firm executives who may be asked to rank accounting programs know how their programs prepare students to succeed in their professional and personal lives,” Stone said.

Accounting’s doctoral programs also saw improvement to 25th place in the teaching category, which assesses the merits of graduate program faculty.

Lisa McKinney, instructor of accounting, attributes the new ranking to strong leadership and tireless effort from faculty and staff.

“We are constantly striving to improve the quality of education for our students and how others perceive this experience. The faculty and staff, as a team, work to improve each year, assessing our strengths and weaknesses and listening to student and alumni feedback. The leadership of Dr.Stone has been essential to our improvement.”