Professor Earns Award for Research That Has Transformed Accounting School Curricula

DePaul University Associate Professor of Accountancy Gary Siegel, whose research into the changing role of corporate accountants has been influential in transforming accountancy curricula at universities nationwide, will be honored by the Illinois CPA Society (ICPAS) at its Spring Awards Banquet for new CPAs May 3 at the Chicago Hilton & Towers.

ICPAS, a professional organization representing more than 23,000 Illinois accounting and finance professionals, will bestow Siegel with a Special Award of Merit for outstanding service to accounting education and the CPA profession.

During the past decade, Siegel conducted three major studies of the accounting profession. His research in the early 1990s revealed that university accounting students were not being taught all the right skills to succeed in the business world. A follow-up study identified the new skills that now are being required by corporations and led to curricular changes at many business schools. He elaborated on the profound industry changes in his 1999 study, “Counting More, Counting Less,” which showed that corporate accountancy had become less about number-crunching and more about developing numbers-based strategy and decision-making.

“The corporate accounting occupation is light years away from where it was 10 years ago.” Siegel said. “Corporate accountants used to be excluded from the corporate decision-making process and were just seen as ‘bean counters’ or ‘corporate cops.’ Now they are valued by top management as advisors and partners.”

“Technology, which has reduced accountants’ traditional number-crunching work, and the rapid pace of corporate change, which requires more data for decision-making, led to this transformation,” Siegel said. “As a result, accountants’ roles have changed from preparers of information to advisors on information. This new role requires new skills. To be successful, accountants need better people skills and analytical skills, as well as an understanding of the business and a strategic perspective.”

Siegel has imparted the results and implications of his research in more than 80 presentations to business and academic organizations around the world, and many accounting programs across North America have been influenced by the research. Locally, top-rated accounting programs at DePaul and Northern Illinois University have used the research results to revise course content and curricula to better prepare students for the challenges that they will face in the working world.

Siegel, a certified public accountant whose areas of expertise are behavioral accounting and management accounting, earned a bachelor’s degree and MBA in accounting and a doctoral degree in organizational sociology. He is founder of the Gary Siegel Organization, an independent opinion research and behavioral accounting firm serving clients in a wide range of professions and industries.

DePaul’s School of Accountancy and Management Information Systems is one of the largest, most innovative and well-known professional schools of its kind in the nation. The school’s full-time faculty holds virtually every relevant degree and credential and includes nationally and internationally-known authors, scholars and researchers. Faculty members consider teaching their chief mission. In addition to undergraduate and MBA degree concentrations in managerial accounting and financial accounting/control, the school offers master’s degrees in accounting and taxation. The school is part of DePaul’s College of Commerce and Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, which offer highly-respected, practical and flexible programs of business study.