Aloha and Welcome to the School of Accounting
Greeting to our friends and alumni. It is my great pleasure to serve our students and University of Hawai'i at Mānoa as the director of the School of Accountancy (SOA) for the Shidler College of Business. The SOA continues to play an essential role in educating students for careers in their accounting and business studies. A significant number of our graduates hold leading positions not only in Hawai'i, but throughout the United States and the world.
Our curriculum and classrooms have continued to incorporate new developments in the fields of accounting and technology. We recently started coordinating with the AICPA to utilize their online resources. Our objective remains to have a curriculum relevant to our stakeholders in the state of Hawai'i while developing necessary skills and integrating entrepreneurship into the curriculum.
In coordination with accounting professionals, the SOA provides flexible, relevant coverage that includes professional development for graduating students and continued professional education seminars for both students and graduates (e.g., in the form of one- and two-credit CPE courses). The following list is a sampling of these flexible offerings:
- Capstone Undergraduate Accounting (ACC 460; four one-credit courses) and Capstone Master's course (ACC 660; Case-Based, covered by local leaders in the accounting profession).
- Governmental Accounting Series
- IT Risk-Management for Non-Techies
- CPA Review Sessions
- Future of IT and Accounting
- Data Analytics
- Non-for-Profit online (in coordination with the AICPA)
- Cybersecurity online (in coordination with the AICPA)
In addition to the School of Accountancy's extensive course offerings, our students enjoy social, academic, and professional development activities through student organizations, study abroad programs, and internships. Many of the SOA students take part in exchange programs offered through the Study Abroad Program. Excellent learning facilities and small class size create an environment conducive to learning, with a maximum of 20 enrolled in writing-intensive and 40 in upper-division courses.
During the last few years, to influence accounting research on a worldwide scale, the School of Accountancy has successfully invited researchers from around the world to Hawai'i Accounting Research Conference (HARC) offered by the Shidler College annually in early January. Conference attendance has continually increased each year and has now surpassed the 300-conference capacity.
The School has also started its direct involvement in accounting research by creating the first three-week-long Ph.D. consortium (Hawai'i Accounting Research Doctoral Institute, or HARDI). The HARDI admits up to 25 Ph.D. students from each top-tier national and international accounting program to the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa for a three-week interactive research seminar. The students develop accounting research proposals based on a professional accounting board's feedback and the direction of selectedprestigious accounting researchers.
Our state's mild climate provides many opportunities to explore Hawai‘i's natural beauty, and we continue to witness increases in the number of students from locations outside the Hawaiian Islands.
I encourage you to visit us in person, on the Internet, or via email (hamid@hawaii.edu) to discover the new developments and take advantage of the opportunities available at the School of Accountancy at the Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.