Texas Accounting Chair Steve Kachelmeier — Shulkin Department of Accounting Chair
Steve Kachelmeier

Dear friends of the department:

The standard term for a department chair in the McCombs School of Business is four years. Thus, although it seems like just yesterday that I was writing my first Accounting Times letter as a new department chair in 2022, the current installment is my last. As I compare my thoughts then and now, I am struck by how quickly things change. In 2022, the overriding concern expressed in my inaugural letter was a significant decline in accounting enrollments; fast-forward four years and accounting applications have increased to the point that speaking of a shortage of accountants seems so “2024.”

Still, we face challenges. Although applications are up, so are the demands of an evolving environment in which tasks traditionally performed by accounting professionals are rapidly being reshaped or replaced by artificial intelligence and other technologies. The need to position our graduates as masters rather than victims of these technologies has never been greater.

We have responded to these challenges by implementing state-of-the-art revisions to our existing courses as well as developing new courses. These efforts, however, have faced yet another headwind — namely, the 120-hour path to licensure. For those students attracted to the less‑costly, 120-hour pathway, we have revised the BBA curriculum to give our BBA-only accounting majors an undergraduate degree that is second to none.

Still, there is an inherent loss of content that is unavoidable when completing the accounting program in 30 fewer credit hours, such that we continue to encourage our undergraduates to invest in their long-term careers by completing the five-year integrated Master in Professional Accounting program. The MPA value proposition is that it enables students to expand beyond their foundational BBA courses by choosing from a menu of specialized graduate electives in advanced tax topics, advanced audit topics, AI‑enhanced data analytics and coding, and several others. These same electives are also available to traditional MPA students. Many come to us from other universities, while others are nonaccounting majors at UT Austin attracted to our innovative MPA Bridge program.

Notwithstanding regulatory changes, we find the MPA value proposition compelling. Whether our students will also find it compelling depends in part on the support of our constituents. In addition to hiring MPA graduates and recognizing the additional skills they bring to the table, we ask for your support of the MPA value proposition by backing our initiative to fund more MPA-directed scholarships. The reality is that we can no longer rely on regulations as a reason to secure the MPA. Rather, students must be convinced that the benefits outweigh the costs. We can team together to reinforce the benefits and lower the costs.

Speaking of support, we are incredibly grateful to Jonathan K. Shulkin for the transformative gift that underlies our new name. While we fully embrace our traditions in preparing students for rewarding careers in public accounting, Shulkin’s success in developing businesses with private equity, while crediting his roots as a Texas McCombs accounting alumnus, clarifies that our graduates can go anywhere and do anything.

I close with a note of personal thanks for the privilege of chairing this incredible department. I have been at The University of Texas at Austin since I began my academic career as a new assistant professor in spring of 1988, and I have been fortunate ever since to be associated with outstanding students, faculty members, professional staff, and constituents. Thank you for entrusting me with a program that is precious to all of us.

Hook ’em!