Thanks CDO!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the folks in the Career Development Office (CDO) located across campus in Gregory Hall. CDO Director, Judy Elwinger, and her staff do yeoman's work to help us better prepare our accounting students for life after Fredonia. From counseling students on career opportunities and the choices they have to presenting workshops on résumé preparation, interviewing techniques and Meet The Accountants Night prep to scheduling and providing facilities for on-campus interviews, they work both day and night to serve our students. I'm sure any of the hard working counseling staff of Marjorie Plaister, Chris LaGrow and Tracy Collingwood (our new internship coordinator) would welcome your questions about how they can serve your needs as a current student, as a former student or as an employer of our students.

Olsavsky Participates In Assessment Conference

John Olsavsky participated in the 2006 Annual Fall Assessment Conference held at the Center for Tomorrow, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY on Friday, October 27. The conference was presented by the SUNY Training Center and University at Buffalo's Center for Teaching and Learning Resources.

Group & Peer Advising Sessions Held

On Thursday, October 26 at 5:00 PM in W101 Thompson Hall, the Fredonia State accounting faculty held a group advising session for all accounting majors. A brief presentation was made by John Olsavsky on Fredonia's accounting program history, the 150-hour requirement to become a CPA in New York state, the current Fredonia degree requirements, the recommended course sequence and other miscellaneous advising topics. During a question and answer period, other accounting faculty members Kathryn Barker, Linda Hall and Ken Plucinski added their own tips on how to make the most of the student's one-on-one meetings with their academic advisor next week.

After faculty left the room, a small group of accounting seniors took over and held a peer advising session in which they passed on their collective wisdom to freshmen, sophomores and juniors on how to survive/succeed in the various accounting and business courses required of accounting majors.

Seniors Visit Firms for Second Interviews

With visions of job offers and signing bonuses, several senior accounting majors are visiting Western New York CPA firms for their second interviews. Firms are making offers to seniors for jobs beginning anytime from June 2007 to September 2007. Because of the short supply of accounting graduates choosing public accounting careers, some firms have added a new wrinkle to the hiring process. For those candidates signing acceptance letters now for positions starting next year, firms are paying a signing bonus of approximately five percent of a candidate's starting annual salary with one-half of the bonus being paid upon signing and the other one-half being paid in ninety days. Working in public accounting is no day-at-the-beach, but it must be nice to be young and in demand.

Accounting Society Holds 10/24/06 General Meeting

The Fredonia State Accounting Society held its general meeting at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, October 24 in room S104 of the Williams Center. President Emily DelMonte opened the meeting by presenting information on upcoming events and projects to the eighty-one students and two faculty members in attendance, including :

• the 17th Annual Educational Field Trip to Toronto,
• the planned "Promote the Accounting Profession Campaign" on campus and
• the 26th Annual Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program scheduled for the spring semester.

Program Chair, Ashley Trexler, introduced the evening's guest speaker, 2006 alum Heather Poliseno, an accountant with Freed Maxick & Battaglia, CPAs, Buffalo, NY. She spoke about "My First Year In Public Accounting".

2006 Fall Look Book Available Online

The 2006 Fall Fredonia State Accounting Look Book is available online in PDF format for you to peruse. This booklet contains copies of the résumés of our accounting seniors and juniors. Some of them also maintain updated résumés on the Fredonia State University Web site. Please visit the Career Development Office Web site and click on Quick Exploration Service (Quest). The free registration will provide you with résumés of accounting majors, as well as résumés of students in other majors.

Accounting Alumni Gather at Homecoming

Accounting alumni and faculty gathered Friday, October 20 at Heenan's Pub, a local downtown Fredonia establishment, to celebrate the Fredonia State Homecoming Weekend. Mark Nickerson '05, Scott Dill CPA '02, Carol Gugino '02 and Jean (McMinn) Bilinski '00 were also celebrating Carol's new position as Chautauqua County's Deputy Director of Finance. They were joined by professors Linda Hall, John Olsavsky and Ken Plucinski.

Olsavsky Attends Coursecasting Conference

John Olsavsky participated in the "Casting a Wide Net" conference held on the University at Buffalo North Campus on Friday, October 20. The purpose of this one-day conference was to discuss and disseminate recent findings and experiences about academic coursecasting and its cousins - podcasting, webcasting and other digital/distance education technologies. The focus was on large scale digital video applications for the creation and distribution of instructional content. This conference was funded through SUNY's Conferences on Computing in the Disciplines.

Buffamante Whipple Buttafaro On Campus

John F. "Jack" Whipple, Jr., CPA, CVA a shareholder and CEO of Buffamante Whipple Buttafaro, PC, CPAs of Olean and Jamestown, NY, visited Fredonia State's Career Development Office on Wednesday, October 18, to spend the day interviewing several seniors for positions with their firm.

Date Set for 2007 MTAN

The date of the 2007 Meet The Accountants Night for Fredonia State University accounting majors has been set for Wednesday, September 26. Mark your calendars. More details will follow. If you have any questions, contact Dr. Linda Hall.

Viva Las Vegas for Dr. Hall

Dr. Linda Hall presented a paper, co-authored with John Olsavsky, entitled, “Are We Short-Changing Accounting Majors?” on Monday, October 16 at the International Academy of Business and Economics 2006 Annual Conference in Las Vegas, NV. In addition, this paper has been accepted for publication in the 2006 conference proceedings.

2006 Fall Look Book Distributed

Printed copies of the 2006 Fall Edition of the Look Book were mailed today to almost one hundred firms. These potential employers of our accounting graduates and sponsors of our accounting interns will receive early next week a booklet containing the résumés of over fifty of our junior and senior accounting majors. We still have some printed copies of the Look Book remaining. If you are interested in receiving one, send an email message to John Olsavsky containing your name, position, firm name, firm address, phone number and email address. I'll drop one in the mail to you.

Lumsden & McCormick On Campus

Stephen T. LoVullo, CPA, Partner in Charge of Commercial Businesses for Lumsden & McCormick, LLP CPAs of Buffalo, NY, visited Fredonia State's Career Development Office on Thursday, October 12, to spend the day interviewing several seniors for positions with their firm.

Accounting Society Holds 10/10/06 General Meeting

The Fredonia State Accounting Society held its general meeting at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, October 10 in room G144 of the Williams Center. Guest speaker, Richard E. Erickson, CPA, spoke about "Moving From A CPA Firm To A Not-for-profit Organization". Richard, the controller for Chautauqua Institution, shared with the over eighty accounting students his experiences working in public accounting, in manufacturing accounting and currently in not for profit accounting. His heartfelt stories and words of wisdom left a lasting impression on his audience.

Accounting Alumni Return Home to Fredonia

Last week at the 2006 Meet The Accountants Night (MTAN) held in the Williams Center, faculty had the pleasure to welcome back to campus several of our former students. Below is a list of MTAN attendees that call Fredonia their alma mater.

• Buffamante Whipple Buttafaro, PC CPAs
• Norma J. Lombardo, CPA CVA, Manager
• Peter J. Morgante, CPA, Supervisor
• Sarah M. DelMonte, Staff Accountant
• Brock Schechter & Polakoff, LLP CPAs
• John M. Hobel, CPA
• Defense Contract Audit Agency
• Kenneth B. Sicker, CPA, Branch Manager
• Dopkins & Company, LLP CPAs
• James Sciarrino, CPA, Partner
• Eldredge Fox & Porretti, LLP CPAs
• Jennifer Gentner, Attest Department Manager
• Freed Maxick & Battaglia, PC CPAs
• Heather Poliseno, Staff Accountant
• Lake Shore Savings Bank
• Lynn Skrzypek, Financial Analyst
• Lumsden & McCormick, LLP CPAs
• Eileen M. Connor-Costilow, Director of HR
• R. A. Mercer & Co., PC CPAs
• Denise D. (Boss) Veloski, CPA, Manager
• Meaghan McLaughlin, Staff Accountant

Carol Gugino, '02 Accepts New Position

Carol V. Gugino '02, formerly of Johnson Mackowiak Moore & Myott, CPAs in Fredonia, has accepted a new position of Deputy Director of Finance with Chautauqua County beginning October 30th. Congratulations and good luck in your new venture, Carol!

Freed Maxick Battaglia On Campus

Justin Reid, CPA and Heather Poliseno, '06 of Freed Maxick and Battaglia, LLP, CPAs of Buffalo, NY, visited Fredonia State's Career Development Office on Monday, October 2 to spend the day interviewing several seniors for positions with their firm. Freed Maxick is listed as number ninety-six in the Public Accounting Report’s Top 100 for 2006 list of America’s 100 Largest Public Accounting Firms.