Nearly four dozen BT天堂accounting students met and discussed their futures with 16 firms from across the state and region Sept. 17.

Students shared their stories, talked about what attracted them to accounting, discussed their aspirations were. Firms shared career and internship opportunities, gave insight into their company cultures and quizzed students on what areas of accounting interested them for their careers.

The event is open to all accounting majors and members of Beta Alpha Psi and the Accounting Club. It is a crucial event for students to secure internships and explore career opportunities following graduation.

Participating firms included: Hudson Cisne & Co., Landmark, ArcBest, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Inuvo, Erwin & Co., Dassault Falcon Jet, HoganTaylor, Bell & Co., Onyx Brands, Arkansas Department of Finance & Administration, Acxiom, PwC, Windstream, Frost, EGP and BKD.

The enhancement fund supports student聽programming, enhanced learning opportunities, as well as聽professional聽development opportunities for students, faculty, and聽staff in the College of Business.

鈥淭his gift from Landmark makes our college stronger in a number of important ways,鈥� said Michael B. Hargis, dean of the BT天堂College of Business. 鈥淥ur students will have greater聽access to聽learning opportunities outside the classroom as well as enhanced professional development opportunities for students.聽Learning inside the classroom will improve as well, as our faculty will have more funding to attend聽professional development opportunities and additional training聽to ensure聽our curriculum remains聽current and聽rigorous.鈥�

Landmark is a full-service public accounting and business advisory firm with four offices throughout Arkansas in Little Rock, Rogers, Fort Smith and Russellville.

In addition to the gift to support the BT天堂College of Business Enhancement Fund,聽Landmark supports the Department of Accounting through the Blake Payne Memorial Endowed Scholarship, available to juniors and seniors majoring in accounting. The scholarship honors the memory of Payne, who was a BT天堂College of Business alumnus and worked at Landmark.

The BT天堂College of Business has more than 1,600 undergraduate and graduate students. It offers 14 baccalaureate degrees, two master鈥檚, one graduate certificate and one technical certificate across four academic departments and houses the state鈥檚 only insurance and risk management program. The BT天堂College of Business is accredited by the聽聽(AACSB). Visit聽uca.edu/business聽for more.

Mengyu Ma, Ph.D., and Qifeng Wu, Ph.D., were both hired as assistant professors of accounting.

Ma was an instructor of accounting at Florida International University. Her research interests include financial reporting quality, information environment, equity markets, debt contracting and financial analysts. She earned a bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 in accounting from the Max M.聽Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University and a doctorate in business administration from Florida International University.

Wu was previously an assistant instructor at the University of Texas at El Paso. He conducts research on financial reporting quality, corporate governance and auditing. He earned a bachelor鈥檚 in computer information systems from Idaho State University, his master鈥檚 in accounting from the University of Idaho and a doctorate in accounting from the University of Texas at El Paso.

The BT天堂College of Business has more than 1,600 undergraduate and graduate students. It offers 14 baccalaureate degrees, two master鈥檚, one graduate certificate and one technical certificate across four academic departments and houses the state鈥檚 only insurance and risk management program. The BT天堂College of Business is accredited by the聽.