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ERNST & YOUNG FOUNDATION MAKES $500,000 GIFT TO
STEED SCHOOL OF ACCOUNTING IN OU'S PRICE COLLEGE
A $500,000 gift from Ernst & Young Foundation will establish the Ernst & Young Focus on Energy Accounting program within the University of Oklahoma's Price College's Steed School of Accounting. The program - one of the first of its kind in the nation -- will be instituted during the fall 2009 semester.
Within this concentrated area of study, the Ernst & Young Foundation will support Price College faculty in the development of two new energy accounting classes to be taught by Terry Crain, Dale Looper Chair in Accounting and associate professor of accounting. The undergraduate course will focus on basic oil and gas accounting and the graduate class will look at more advanced issues such as accounting for derivatives and oil and gas taxation. Guest lecturers in these classes along with distinguished speaker series events at the college will include Ernst & Young industry leaders.
The Ernst & Young Focus on Energy Accounting program in the Steed School of Accounting will provide an invaluable educational experience for students who are seeking to work for either major CPA firms or in corporate accounting, says Dean Kenneth Evans. Many of the firms who hire our students have either direct or indirect interface with the energy industry.
The Ernst & Young Foundation gift also provides for the development of the Ernst & Young Energy Accounting Center, which will be utilized to host active learning study hall events and other hands-on learning activities for accounting students on current topics in energy, international accounting and other current topics. Additionally, five permanently endowed scholarships will be awarded each year. The Ernst & Young Energy Fellow program will be open to students identified as having an interest in energy accounting. And all students going through the program will be encouraged to participate in an internship with an energy company or on the audit team of a public accounting firm auditing energy companies.
More than 100 OU alumni currently work throughout the United States for Ernst & Young. One of those alumni, Ryan Burke, partner in the transaction advisory services division of Ernst & Young, says, Ernst & Young's commitment to the energy industry and to the University of Oklahoma has never before been so important. This transformational grant will allow significant progress in the development of our next generation of leaders. The Ernst & Young Focus on Energy Accounting program will help meet the growing demand for graduates specifically trained in the growing field of energy accounting. This new focus also will complement a major strategic initiative at Price College within the Energy Management program, which also is a first of its kind program in the country.
The Ernst & Young Foundation was formed in 1937 to provide effective and meaningful philanthropic support to institutions of higher education, primarily in the areas of accounting, tax and general business. Ernst & Young and the Foundation have given more than $100 million to educational organizations throughout the United States. Last year, the Ernst & Young Foundation contributed more than $5 million in matching funds to higher education, matching the eligible contributions of Ernst & Young active and retired personnel.