By Blake Hollingsworth | Reporter
Baylor’s accounting department now has a social club known as the Accounting Society where students can explore the field of accounting and the multitude of career paths it has to offer.
Accounting Society faculty advisor Don Carpenter said an accounting degree “probably offers more options, as far as career paths,” than any other business degree.
Furthermore, Carpenter believes it’s important for student to be made aware of these paths so they can discover what best fits them.
This fall is the organization’s official semester since being chartered last October by its president, China Spring junior Caleb Brown.
Brown’s goal was to supplement the accounting department, and he said he hopes to develop more of a sense of community among the accounting students. It has since grown rapidly, with 62 members as of now and plans to reach 100 members by the end of the semester.
The organization plans to give students the opportunity to learn about various aspects of accounting from notable key speakers, potentially giving them a glimpse of their own future.
“Part of the function of the Accounting Society is just bringing in professionals whose background is in accounting and exploring how their careers went so you have a better picture of what your future might be,” Carpenter said.
As faculty advisor, Carpenter’s primary responsibility is approving activities planned by the organization. He also aids in the selection of guest speakers by suggesting interesting individuals with diverse roles in accounting.
“Here at the accounting faculty, we have a lot of good connections with both the accounting firms, but also the professionals in various areas,” Carpenter said. “If you’re bringing in 10 individuals, but their career paths are all the same, you haven’t really accomplished your purpose of understanding the breadth of what’s out there.”
Along with guest speakers, Accounting Society plans to help members sharpen key professional skills through activities such as debates, an accounting journal and a congressional tax policy event where students will play the role of members of Congress in an simulated tax bill debate.
“Students actually engaging with accounting, research, reading stuff and analyzing it and writing about it I think is a critical skill to develop when going into accounting,” Brown said.
The organization has had just one meeting so far, where the budget, mission statement and code of ethics and accounting were approved.
The president emphasized that the organization’s decisions are not made by him, but rather the society’s members.
“The members are ultimately in control,” Brown said. “They control the bylaws, the code of ethics, the budget and they elect the board. I’ve seen other organizations where it’s very aristocratic and monarchical; that’s not what we want to do here.”
The Accounting Society plans to meet every Friday at 3 p.m., and Brown’s hope is that the organization motivates accounting students to tackle everyday work, making them “more happy to get out of the bed in the morning.”
