What kind of March Madness event series would this be without a last-minute change of game plan? Instead of wrapping up our MPAcc March Madness virtual event series this week, we made a quick pivot to add a surprise addition this week and reschedule our planned last event to next week, on April 4th. The more opportunities to connect with some of our impressive accounting faculty, the better!
This week’s Accounting Faculty Spotlight featured Dr. Letitia Pleis. We started by getting some clarification on what cost accounting is:
“Cost accounting blends in managerial accounting and figuring out how it flows into the financial accounting reporting side. Then it ultimately flows into the decision making. How can we become more efficient? How can we lower our costs? What are things we should truly be spending on?” – Letitia Pleis
While there are many professional avenues within accounting, they are more interconnected than one may initially think. Cost accounting is a clear example due to its relevance to tax, audit, and fraud. 
Since we see cost accounting principles as important for all accounting professionals to know, our B.S. in Accounting degree requires a cost accounting course (ACC 3400) and our Master of Professional Accountancy (MPAcc) degree requires a strategic cost management course (ACCM 5400).
In addition to these cost accounting courses, Dr. Pleis teaches one of the experiential learning elective options in the MPAcc degree, ACCM 5810 Small Business Consulting & Accounting. This course is a fantastic opportunity for our MPAc students who are either particularly interested in working with the small business community or potentially interested in opening their own practice.
“In a small business accounting class, most students have a good understanding of the basic concepts but have never applied them to a real business. This course allows for students to experience a real world setting of various accounting concepts used in small businesses as well as the complexity of dealing with a business owner” – Letitia Pleis
Thank you Letitia for sharing your story and insights with our attendees. What a fantastic surprise addition to our 2024 MPAcc March Madness series! Now onto the last event of this virtual series – join us!