Greg Carnes

Accountancy earns national rankings

by Joe King

While NIU's football team has been grabbing headlines, going undefeated in the Mid-American Conference this fall, it still hasn't accomplished something that is routine for the school's accountancy program: a top 20 ranking.

In fact, in the annual survey of Top Accounting Programs just released by Public Accounting Report, NIU posted all-time high rankings for both its undergraduate (7th) and graduate (16th) programs in accountancy.

"To be ranked so highly by other academics, in a publication that is widely respected within the accounting profession, is a great honor," said Greg Carnes, Crowe Chizek Professor and chair of the Department of Accountancy at NIU.

The survey, conducted for the past 21 years, is based on responses from accounting professors across the country who answer the question, "What are the top five accounting programs you would recommend to a student considering the accounting profession?"

Northern's undergraduate program, which has been a fixture in the survey for more than a decade, has been rocketing up the list the last two years. In 2000 it was ranked 20th, climbed to 13th last year and then to 7th this year - the second biggest jump by any school on the list.

While it is difficult to put a finger on why the program's reputation has risen so dramatically, Carnes suspects it might have much to do with a recent round of hiring in the department.

"For so many years we have been blessed with a faculty filled with all-stars, and I think we sort of got taken for granted for awhile," Carnes said. "During the last few years, however, we have had a number of retirements and have done more hiring than we have in years. As we filled those openings, we attracted candidates from top doctoral programs who were highly coveted by other schools - that tends to get people's attention in academe. Adding those fresh faces to an established faculty with an outstanding reputation reminded people of just how good our program is."

As for the graduate program, which was unranked last year, Carnes attributes much of its rise in the rankings to a dramatic increase in enrollment during the last few years.

"Students now must have 150 credit hours before they can sit for the CPA exam, which essentially means they must earn a master's degree. Prior to that requirement, perhaps 5 percent of our students would immediately pursue a master's degree after earning their bachelor's degree. Now it's more like 40 percent. Enrollment in that program has nearly tripled in the last three years."

Faculty from the department have been asked to speak about the success of that program at several major conferences, pushing it into the spotlight and helping to boost the rankings, Carnes believes. "Once again, I think we were always perceived as a quality program, but our growth the last few years reminded people how strong we are," he said.

Northern's ranking on the lists puts it among some elite schools.

On the undergraduate list, NIU placed ahead of four Big Ten programs (Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan State and Wisconsin, Nos. 9, 10, 11 and 15 respectively) and other major schools such as the University of Pennsylvania (12), Virginia (13) and Florida (16). At the top of the list were Texas, Illinois, Brigham Young, Notre Dame, Michigan and the University of Southern California.

"Every school on that list is a quality program," said Carnes, noting that NIU is one of the smallest schools ranked. "Nearly every other school we are ranked alongside is a flagship institution or major private university, so we are in some great company."

Among the graduate programs ranked, NIU placed ahead of Michigan State, Arizona State, Wisconsin and Miami (Ohio). Topping that list were Texas, Illinois and Brigham Young.

"We've always known, regardless of our ranking, that we have an excellent program," Carnes said, "but it's nice to have that opinion confirmed by your peers."