No. 12 accountancy program adds to high business school rankings

By: Laura Houser

Posted: 11/28/06

The end of a year filled with recognitions for the Richard T. Farmer School of Business is being marked by the Miami University department of accountancy's No. 12 ranking on a national list of the most admired undergraduate accounting programs in the country.

This announcement comes at the tail end of a reward-laden year for the Richard T. Farmer School of Business. For not only is the school seeing a considerably higher numbers of applicants, last April Business Week named the school as one of the top 25 undergraduate business programs in the nation.

This past September, The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine also ranked Miami's Thomas C. Page Center for Entrepreneurship 19th.

Climbing one spot from the 2005 list, the accountancy department was ranked by the Public Accounting Report (PAR), an independent accounting newsletter, in their 25th annual survey of business schools across the country. The rankings, which also listed Miami's master's degree program in accountancy at No. 15, were announced Nov. 9.

The survey asked various accounting professors and department heads from across the country to name which schools offer the best degrees.

"This is really a compliment to Miami," said Marc Rubin, chair of the department of accountancy. "It's hard to get noticed since we don't really have a major MBA program."

Rubin pointed out that schools that traditionally do well in the PAR rankings usually have bigger programs, as well as strong MBA and Ph.D. programs. Still, even though Miami does not offer a Ph.D. in accounting, it was ranked above many schools known for their graduate programs.

However, PAR's ranking was only a reflection of the growth in Miami's business program, with the entire school ranked 17th by Business Week last April - the seventh highest ranked public business school on the list.

"It appears more students are applying to Miami University because of the strength of the business school," said Roger Jenkins, dean of the Richard T. Farmer School of Business. "We're very excited and proud of the momentum we have going right now."

The Business Week ranking is based off surveys that ask graduating seniors to evaluate their respective programs. Rigor of curriculum, selectivity of the program and outside activities are also considered. It is, as Jenkins noted, "the gold standard for undergrad programs."

With leadership development programs and extensive opportunities for real-world experience, the Richard T. Farmer School of Business tries to provide a MBA-like experience at the undergraduate level, Rubin said. However, as Jenkins pointed out, graduating nearly 1,000 students a year could be a potential drawback.

"Many of the top 25 schools have very low enrollment," Jenkins said. "We have the largest enrollment of any of the top 25 schools. It's much more difficult to have such a large program of high quality to merit such a high ranking."

Both the PAR and the Business Week ranking will be used to attract high caliber students and faculty in the future, Rubin said.

"Being in the national news brings more interest from potential students, their parents, and certainly for future potential faculty," Jenkins said.