Accounting school receives AACSB accreditation

Ora Nelson Troy’s School of Accountancy announced its Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation Jan. 30, enhancing the value of degrees from Troy and the College of Business, according to Chancellor Jack Hawkins. “It’s a tremendous honor to be accredited by AACSB International,” said Dr. Steve Grice, the director of the School of Accountancy. “Earning the supplemental AACSB accounting accreditation places the Sorrell College of Business in an elite group of 188 other institutions.” Grice said accounting is the only major in the business school that offers another, specialized accreditation for the program. “Everyone associated with the school of accountancy worked very hard for this recognition, and I could not be happier for them,” Grice said. Hawkins commended the dedication of the faculty in achieving this significant recognition for Troy University and its students. “Dr. Grice, my accounting teacher, was very invested in it,” said Ellie Norton, a sophomore global business major from Birmingham. “He would tell us about it in class because he wanted us to understand that it was a big deal, and that (the School of Accountancy) had worked very hard to get it for us.” Many students already realize the value the accreditation adds to their degrees. “I feel like (accreditation) is the type of thing that jobs look at first when they get ready to hire,” said Maya Anderson, a junior marketing major from Montgomery. “When you graduate from an AACSB school, it’s recognition to employers that you received a high-quality education,” said Dr. Judson Edwards, the dean of the Sorrell College of Business. “It gives students a leg up if they came from other schools (that weren’t AACSB accredited).” “Being accredited, it shows that our school is trying to do something and be something different than other universities,” said Ariel Jackson, a junior accounting major from Daphne. “It shows that our (students’) degree wasn’t given to us. “The accreditation will show that we had to earn it.” The accountancy accreditation, like the business accreditation, lasts for five years until another visit from an AACSB team.