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Faisal Said Professor Palmer ACCT 3100.551 21 February 2013 Informational Interview Write up Rebecca Knickel is a tax instructor at Brookhaven College located in Farmers Branch. She is a member of the American Institute of CPA and has both a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from Southern Methodist University and a Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of North Texas in Dallas. She minored in Math as an undergraduate student and minored in Economics as a graduate student. I had the tremendous opportunity to interview her; she helped me understand what it takes to be an accountant and how to become an accounting instructor. The first question I asked her was, What are the course and work experience requirements to be employed as an accounting instructor at Brookhaven College or in any community college. She explained to me that in order for someone to be considered for employment in a community college as an instructor he or she needs eighteen graduate credit hours in the field of accounting, a Masters degree, and at least three years of field-related work experience (in this case accounting work experience). If someone did not have a fulltime job in the field of accounting, she says, it could be substituted with two years of part time field related work experience. Her list explains what a person has to have in his or her resume to obtain the opportunity for employment as an accounting instructor in a community college; however, a traditional four year university, such as the University of Texas at Dallas would usually want more work experience. I asked Ms. Knickel what the general work responsibilities are for an accounting instructor. She said that an accounting instructor has to develop the syllabus for the class, find ways to improve students comprehension of the class lecture, and provide feedback to students about their progress using email or communicating with each student individually. She emphasizes that the most important skillset utilized by an accounting instructor is communication skills: the ability to communicate effectively with students to teach course material, and to delegate tasks, especially with regards to group projects. Her advice was very beneficial to me. Before the interview, I thought that the most important skillsets an instructor had to have was grading students assignments. She was right. Communication skills are the most important skillsets that an instructor should have. I remember my Business Calculus II instructor and how he was able to motivate his students to strive to learn the material and was very influential in my understanding of math because he shares his academic and career experiences in class. His ability to find ways to connect the mathematical concepts to real life circumstances helped me succeed in the class and become a better student. One of my questions focused on understanding how she eventually became an instructor in Brookhaven College. She explained to me that she has over ten years of work experience with KPMG, one of the largest accounting firms in the country. She then pursued employment in a

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community college because she wanted more flexible hours since she had children to take care of. Her first position was a teaching adjunct in Richland College where she taught students how to use QuickBooks. She explained that she was able to get the position through a friend, she met at a volleyball game that her daughter was attending, and her friend worked at Richland College looking for someone who could teach QuickBooks in the campus. The last question I asked her pertained to my career plan. I wanted to know what I needed to do now as a student to attain a good accounting job in the future, and after attaining experience, become an accounting instructor. She made me think more about the courses I was taking (do they matter to my major?), and to consider taking certain courses more seriously, such as Intermediate Financial Accounting I and II, because most of the knowledge embedded in such courses are tested on in the CPA exam. Her emphasis helped me understand what I needed to do when it came to developing my accounting skills. As an undergraduate, I have to take core and elective courses that do not pertain to my major in any way just to obtain my Bachelors Degree. I am thankful for her input, since focusing on very critical major related courses to attain improved comprehension is a must if someone wants to be an efficient accountant. Her next piece of advice concerned accounting related work experience. Getting an accounting job generally requires some work experience or a high GPA. She advised me to attain an accounting internship, paid or unpaid, to make valuable use of my time. Such experience would allow me to attain entry-level positions in accounting and help me work my way up to senior level occupation in this field. I have an internship experience as an administrative assistant intern at Seideman Law Firm. While I learned a lot from this experience, the tasks accomplished in that internship did not prepare me for a full-time accounting job. Her last advice involved my career pursuits. She advised me to always think about my options when deciding about the industry I want to be involved in when working as an accountant. She explained how the oil, retail and healthcare industries need accountants to manage their financial records, and that the government also employs accountants to help manage their finances and make them comply with new federal and state regulations. Her last piece of advice was important to me because I always thought that accountants would be employed mostly by corporations or accounting firms. Her input made me think about nonprofits, small businesses and government agencies. Such broad thinking enabled me to understand my options when I graduate from University of Texas at Dallas. Knowing that virtually all companies need accountants, enables me to be more motivated to study hard and develop my skills to be the best accountant I could be. I learned a lot from the interview experience. Understanding so much about the accounting career was very helpful to me. Many students in the accounting field think of accounting as a job. I think of accounting as a life-fulfilling career that allows a person to understand finance in so many ways. Accounting is a means to understand finance and use such financial principles to obtain profit and ensure integrity in the financial management of a corporation. In this increasingly global world, it is crucial for a company or a firm to have financial accuracy and integrity. There are debates within the accounting community that a new and international standard of accounting might be taught in college campuses across America. Currently we are taught the GAAP method of accounting, however in the future, we might learn about the FASBI method of accounting. I learned about such topic during one of my accounting capstone class in Richland College.

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Contact Information
Accounting Instructor Name: Email:
Office Phone:

Rebecca Knickel bknickel@dcccd.edu

972-860-4167