Simpson University Accounting Graduates All Working in Their Field

For Immediate Release

05.06.2014

REDDING, Calif. - Simpson University’s accounting program has a perfect percentage when it comes to post-graduation jobs.

All the graduates of the university’s 3-year-old expanded Bachelor of Arts in Accounting program secured jobs in public accounting before or soon after graduation.

These include Kristin Harper, a 2013 graduate who is working as an accountant with Galina in Sacramento; Brittni Hartman ’13, an accountant with D.H. Scott & Company in Redding; Jordan Daigre ’14, an accountant for Matson & Isom in Chico; and Logan Davenport ’14, an intern with JR Martin & Associates in Redding.

“California has the largest number of accounting and auditing positions in the country,” said Marsha Lauck, assistant professor of accounting. “Many of our accounting graduates will become CPAs and work in other segments of the accounting world.”

In 2011, Simpson University’s four-year accounting major transitioned to a five-year, 150-semester-hour professional degree in response to California legislative changes that increased the educational requirements for students desiring to become CPAs.

Accounting firms tend to recruit in the fall so they have enough capacity for their busy season—taxes and annual reports (December through April).

“For that reason, many of our accounting grads will interview their last year at Simpson and have accepted a job before they graduate,” Lauck said.

It’s not uncommon for students who graduate in the spring to complete a paid internship the summer before recruiting season and then compete against other students and graduates for full-time positions opening in the fall.

Harper, for example, interned with Galina CPA in Sacramento and transitioned into a full-time position at the end of the internship, Lauck said.

“Additionally, our accounting majors are required to complete an internship class,” she said. Davenport also received a job offer as a result of his internship, but took a position at a Redding firm founded by Simpson accounting graduate Juli Martin, Lauck said.

Daigre, who is from Brentwood, Calif., came to Simpson on a soccer scholarship and started as a business major.

“I realized I had a knack for accounting after my first two accounting classes,” he said. He picked up the accounting major but continued with the business major as well, enabling him to get the 150 units needed to sit for the CPA exam.

“Simpson’s accounting professors laid a very important layer of knowledge in accounting for me,” he said. “I obtained the information that I needed to get me into the door of an accounting firm with a solid foundation.”

Through networking with another Simpson University graduate who works at Matson & Isom in Redding, Daigre was contacted by the firm and began working there full-time in January 2014, the same month he graduated.

For more information about Simpson University’s accounting major and Business Department, visit simpsonu.edu/accounting.

###

Simpson University is a Christian university offering undergraduate, graduate, and teaching credential programs. Academic programs include ASPIRE, a degree-completion program geared toward working adults in the north state. Simpson’s newest programs include bachelor's degrees in Spanish and nursing, and master’s degrees in counseling psychology and organizational leadership. Learn about our new Science & Nursing Building at simpsonu.edu/snbuilding. For information about the university, or to arrange a campus visit, call 1-888-9-SIMPSON or visit simpsonu.edu.

Contact: SU Public Relations
mediarelations@simpsonu.edu
530-226-4737