The Brown & White

Lehigh's accounting program topped a special BusinessWeek chart which ranked programs based on student feedback.

Accounting professors agree Lehigh's strong student body, dedicated faculty and large number of recruiters are the three main components that have brought the program recent success.

Professor Kenneth Sinclair, former chair of the accounting program and current accounting professor, is not surprised by the poll's results.

"In the program," he said, "there is a balance between a high-quality curriculum, strong faculty who care about students, strong students that want to learn, great firms and career opportunities and many offered outside activities."

James Largay III, professor of accounting, attributes the success of the program to a multitude of reasons.

"We have very good students and a set of dedicated faculty involved with a lot of research outside of Lehigh," he said. "Our students are very marketable."

Faculty and students both stressed the relationship between students and faculty is very important in the accounting program.

"The accounting courses are intense but accounting professors are always willing to help," Stephanie Huiza, '10, an accounting major, said. "And in my experience, they're enthusiastic to discuss their profession."

Since 1991, the accounting department has held a focus group at the end of each year for graduating seniors, Sinclair said. This focus group asks students what they liked, disliked and would want to change about the accounting program experience.

Sinclair said students are usually pretty blunt and honest about what they did not like and, over the years, the program has changed accordingly.

The program's success has translated into great results for graduating accounting majors.

"While 99 percent of all students, regardless of major, find what they're looking for after graduation," said Donna Goldfeder, director of career services; "Lehigh seniors, who major in accounting, usually find jobs for post-graduation before any other major."

Goldfeder said this was because of Lehigh's relationship with recruiters, particularly PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst and Young, Deloitte and KPMG.

Professor Richard Kish, finance department chair, said the rest of the college benefits from the accounting program's individual success.

"The major accounting firms are also interested in hiring non-accountants and interview other students," he said.

The relationship between the school and its recruiters has many students confident they will have a job upon graduation.

"As of now," Huiza said, "I do feel confident that I will have a job upon graduation from the accounting program because of its new BusinessWeek rankings and most professors always say how companies love Lehigh students that major in accounting."

Parveen Gupta , accounting department chair, said Lehigh has been developing its accounting program and its relationship with recruiters for a long time.

"This did not happen overnight. It has been in progress for years," he said.