The American Institute of CPA’s (AICPA) Academic Champion Program serves to increase student interest in public accounting as a career and to promote the benefits of becoming a Certified Public Accountant.
The Department of Accounting in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business was recently selected to join a small number of universities to pilot the American Institute of CPA’s (AICPA) Academic Champion Program. Currently, fewer than 50 universities are testing this program out nationally.
The program provides students with resources to pave a pathway to certification, such as on-campus events, scholarship opportunities, and free student membership to professional organizations like AICPA.
Patty Cox, assistant professor of accounting, will serve as the academic champion at Elon University, where she will be responsible for fostering a “CPA Culture” on campus through a series of engagement activities between students and accounting professionals. She will be the main point of contact for CPA Exam and licensure issues and questions. In addition, Cox will contribute input to the AICPA Trends in Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits Report every other year.
AICPA is the world’s largest member association representing the accounting profession. The AICPA develops standards for audits of private companies and other services by CPAs; provides educational guidance materials to its members; develops and grades the Uniform CPA Examination; and monitors and enforces compliance with the profession’s technical and ethical standards. The AICPA’s founding established accountancy as a profession distinguished by rigorous educational requirements, high professional standards, a strict code of professional ethics, a licensing status and a commitment to serving the public interest.
Cox has been an assistant professor of accounting at Elon since 1987 and serves as the faculty advisor for Elon’s chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, the honor organization for accounting, finance and information systems. Cox is a certified public accountant in North Carolina and has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in accounting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.