Professional Program in Accounting Moves to New Offices

PPA Students with Amy and Elizabeth
(From left:) PPA Director Amy Troutman, Associate Director Elizabeth Pigg and students moved into their new space in late March.

The Jindal School’s Professional Program in Accounting recently held an open house in its new office space on JSOM’s first floor, near the atrium. The area includes study space, interview rooms for corporate representatives meeting with PPA members and the office of Elizabeth Pigg, PPA’s associate director. PPA is a competitive program that gives top-performing accounting undergraduates an opportunity to fast-track their BS and MS in Accounting degrees; take smaller, honors-style classes; and gain access to high-profile accounting internships.

Sophomores are encouraged to connect with PPA, although only juniors and seniors may take advantage of all the PPA offerings. One of the new programs PPA is facilitating is a Leadership Internship, offered by many accounting firms to rising juniors during the summer. These short internships, from a few days to a week in length, give students a taste of daily life in an accounting firm. Students who receive an offer for a full internship between their junior and senior year, Pigg says, will be at the top of the list for acceptance into the PPA program.

“This space helps our students with networking and studying,” Pigg says of the new PPA office. “If for no other reason, a PPA student with homework issues can stop by this office for peer assistance. And students can study here and help out their fellow students. It’s like instant study group space.”

A major goal of PPA is to help its students pass the CPA exams. PPA started at JSOM in 2007 with just 33 members. It now has 220 members and alumni working in all public accounting firms as well as corporate offices in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and around the nation.

Amy Troutman, the associate coordinator of the Accounting Area and longtime PPA director, says students already have benefited with this space. “The PPA used to basically meet in my office. Now that the program has grown so much, and we’re looping in sophomores who aspire to join PPA, it’s time that they get a home of their own where students can offer each other tips and support that makes a program like PPA so beneficial.”

2 PPA Students
PPA Students with Amy
PPA Students

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