By Kate Prouty

Launching a new program at Le Moyne College in Syracuse this summer, the Career Opportunities in the Accounting Profession (COAP) program now collaborates with a total of five New York state colleges to encourage minority high school students to pursue a career in accounting.

Since its inception in 1987, the Foundation for Accounting Education’s COAP program has established connections with five colleges and universities that host its summer educational sessions. FAE first introduced five-day residency programs at Pace University and Hofstra University with the goals of recruiting young people into the CPA profession by encouraging them to think beyond college and learn about the business world. The program has since extended its range to Westchester Community College, Long Island University’s Brooklyn campus, and now Le Moyne College, all of which remain commuter programs.

Because all the sessions previously were located downstate, expanding upstate to include Syracuse is a big step for the COAP program. Noting this as a landmark event, COAP hopes to continue its New York expansion and encourage as many potential CPAs as possible. Recruitment for the program is targeted at minority students because they are historically underrepresented in the CPA profession.

At each college or university, between 20 and 50 high school students attend a five-day program that includes field trips to companies like Keyspan and Mastercard and accounting firms such as KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers. COAP focuses on building career skills by offering personal development workshops that cover networking, resume writing and etiquette and communication skills.

COAP aims to give these students some guidance as they enter college and choose a major and, eventually, a career. According to alumni response, it is overwhelmingly successful in this effort.

“I knew that I wanted to major in the business field, but I didn’t know what exactly. But after I went through the COAP program, I decided on accounting,” said Jennifer Chan, an accounting major at Northeastern University who attended Hofstra’s June 2002 program. “Talking to other professionals and taking trips to firms really gave me that extra push.”

The programs are especially effective in exposing students to what a career in accounting actually encompasses. Although some who attend the program do not ultimately pursue accounting careers, they still find the business training helpful regardless of their occupational path.

“I was fortunate enough to receive a few accounting internships as a result of having COAP in my background. Although my first passion, hospitality, was where I ended up academically, the accounting side of my education is continually in use in my current and future positions,” said 1991 Pace COAP alumnus Shonette S. Harrison, who has a management hospitality degree from Pace. “COAP was one of the best decisions I ever made.”

At the very least, COAP encourages high school students to pursue educational and career goals that they may never have previously considered. Sabrina Cupples, a 1997 COAP participant at Pace, felt compelled to continue her education after high school by going to college and pursuing her goal to receive a diploma and a degree in accounting from CUNY at Baruch.

The continued success of the accounting profession lies in the ability of current CPAs to reach out and raise awareness of the profession in young people who represent potential future CPAs. COAP’s expansion to Syracuse is one significant step toward this permanent goal.

If you would like to find out more about the COAP programs, contact Bill Pape, associate director of member relations, at 212-719-8420 or at wpape@nysscpa.org.