A group of accounting students from Marshall University traveled to the State Fair of West Virginia on Thursday, June 17. They are in the area attending the West Virginia Society of CPAs conference. During their stay, the students are participating in a special program that gives them real-world experience in their chosen field. As part of the program, the students analyzed a situation for the State Fair. They made calculations and gathered information in order to determine if it would be more prudent and cost-effective for the State Fair to build a stage or finance a stage.
Once all information was gathered and all calculations were complete, the students would make a presentation to fair officials stating their findings. The officials would then take that information under advisement.
According to Dr. Amanda Thompson-Abbott, who was supervising the students, “They learn a lot of theory and things in the classroom which is great, but we all know that out in the real world life can be messy and life can be different, so we wanted to provide them an opportunity to explore some real-world problems outside of the classroom.”
Thompson-Abbott also stated this program is possible thanks to a generous benefactor who, several years ago, set up a fund. Students interview to be a part of this program and each year, a certain number of students are chosen. Being chosen means the students get to attend the West Virginia Society of CPAs conference. While there, students have the opportunity to meet CPAs in a number of different fields so that they can get a better idea of what direction they want to take with their own careers.
This year, five students were chosen and together they worked on the State Fair project. Not only does this provide an opportunity for them to work in a real-world situation, but they also have to work together.
The accounting program at Marshall University is AASCB accredited. Only a handful of schools carry this particular accreditation according to Thompson-Abbott.
Thompson-Abbott said, “One of the big initiatives with the Marshall College business is that they want to create this experiential learning community and working alongside businesses and non-profits.” She noted that many times a non-profit may not have the funds available to hire a team of experts, so this is also a way to provide the skills to help them without the fees.
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