A message from the chair

Dear alumni and friends,

We just concluded another highly successful year for our students and programs. In May, we graduated 76 MS Accounting students, and they are now on their way to start exciting careers in public accounting and beyond.

The past year is highlighted by a number of student accomplishments and program successes. School of Management graduates continue to rock in their CPA exams. Our most recent CPA exam pass rates for our students have ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 among all large accounting programs in New York State. This is a strong testament to the excellence and rigor of our curricular and instructional quality.

We also successfully nominated one of our MS Accounting students, Kristina Jiang, for the highly prestigious Financial Accounting Standards Board Postgraduate Technical Assistant Program. In recent years, a number of our outstanding students have been selected for this program. This is a major accomplishment for them and raises national awareness of the quality of our programs.

In early April, we held our annual Sufrin Lecture Series, featuring a panel of experts who spoke about artificial intelligence and its impact on the business of health care and the implications for the accounting profession. More than 200 students, as well as many business professionals, attended, making it another highly successful event.     

Looking ahead to the summer, we will be completing our preparations to welcome new students in late August, and we expect strong enrollment for both our undergraduate and graduate programs.

We recently received final approval to offer a new graduate degree program, a Master of Science in Accounting Analytics. This new program will train students to specialize in data analytics in the accounting field and will greatly enhance our ability to respond to growing industry demand for accounting talent. The launch date of this program will be fall 2026.      

This year marks my 10th year serving as department chair. It has been a great journey working with my colleagues, our students and alumni to navigate through many challenges and capitalize on many opportunities. Looking back, I’m pleased to see the continuing success of our programs, our students and our faculty. One area of improvement that will benefit future accounting students is the expansion of scholarships and fellowships that support MS Accounting students. Thank you to all the dedicated alumni, including members of the Accounting Advisory Council, for their contributions to this success and to all who support our students and programs. Your generosity helps provide students with the best academic and professional preparations.

Thank you again for supporting accounting in the UB School of Management. We wish you and your family a great summer.

Feng Gu
Professor and Chair
Accounting and Law Department
University at Buffalo School of Management