Marketing and Accounting Departments Collaborate on Course

By Brandon Wallace '17

One of the best attributes that the Foster College of Business has to offer is its versatility in electives, such as the class Marketing 658 - Topics in Marketing. The course, which wrapped up at the end of the ‘14 Fall semester, was on professional services marketing.

The accounting and marketing departments collaborated to put together a special class section that focused on how accounting firms can market their services to clients. This is the third time the class has been offered.

“We created the course to show our students that accounting is more than just a "numbers" business,” said Accounting Department Chair Simon Petravick. “Technical skills are important, but so are soft skills. Even if students do not work in public accounting, they will still have to propose ideas and make their case. Hopefully through courses like this, they can learn how this process is done and be able to hit the ground running.”

This year, the students’ main project was to make a pitch to provide professional services to the Red Cross. Students put a great deal of work into this final project. They completed a written proposal, a 20-minute presentation and many of them even printed business cards to make their appearance more realistic.

“We had to work as we would in the real world by researching the potential client and highlighting the suggested services that would provide the most benefit for the client and impress them to purchase said services,” said Accounting 3:2 student Bryce Ricketts ‘15.

The Foster College of Business is able to offer unique electives like this because of its multi-talented faculty. Dr. Donna Hill provided the marketing expertise for the course while Shondra Johnson provided the accounting expertise. The course was available as an elective to 3:2 Accounting majors and traditional M.S. in Accounting students.

“Prior to this class, I had never really thought about how I needed to market myself within the workplace, especially since I was not planning on going into public accounting,” said Accounting 3:2 student Amy Zimmerman ‘15. “This class showed me how it is possible to market myself within a company and just how necessary it is.”