USC ELAINE AND KENNETH LEVENTHAL SCHOOL OF ACCOUNTING Spring/Summer 2018

LEVENTHAL WELCOMES NEW PROFESSOR RICHARD SLOAN, CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

Leventhal Welcomes New Professor: Richard Sloan USC Leventhal welcomes Professor of Accounting Richard Sloan. He is an esteemed scholar who has received five awards from the American Accounting Association for seminal, distinguished and notable contributions to the accounting literature and, most recently, a lifetime achievement award from the Financial Accounting and Reporting Section. Sloan has also earned two teaching awards during his academic career, which includes appointments at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and, most recently, the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, where he was Emile R. Niemela Chair in Accounting and International Business. He earned his Ph.D. in accounting and finance at the W. E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester.

Can you talk about the research that led to your AAA Seminal Contributions to the Accounting Literature Award in 2016? How was that research impactful?I discovered how investors could use information in cash flows to help generate better forecasts of future earnings. At that time, investors focused too heavily on using current earnings to forecast future earnings, but current earnings were unduly influenced by accounting distortions that could be identified by looking at the cash flows. Investors didn’t seem to fully appreciate the importance of this technique,

Generous Gift From Ronald J. Kuhn ’69 CONTRIBUTION IN SUPPORT OF ACCOUNTING BUILDING RENOVATION WILL NAME FOYER The USC Leventhal School of Accounting has announced a $4 million gift from entrepreneur, philanthropist and alumnus Ronald J. Kuhn ’69. Kuhn’s gift will support the complete renovation of the 90-year-old accounting building into a state-of-the-art facility. The foyer will be named the Ronald J. and Theresa A. Kuhn Foyer in recognition of their longstanding dedication and support of Leventhal.

“Ron and Teri Kuhn have been faithful and generous supporters of the Leventhal School for many years,” said Dean William W. Holder. “In addition to their large endowed scholarship established to provide financial support for our accounting students in perpetuity, their current gift provides for the construction of the grand Ron and Teri Kuhn Foyer in the renovated accounting school building. We are deeply grateful for this generous gift that will benefit our students for many years to come.”

“I am an adamant philanthropist, and my education from USC has been beneficial to me in my success in life,” Kuhn said from his home in Illinois.

“I want to thank the School and the faculty.”

A proud USC graduate, Kuhn was honored in 2013 with the USC Leventhal School of Accounting Distinguished Alumnus Award for his contributions to the advancement of accounting and business.

After earning his degree in accounting at USC in 1969, Kuhn returned to his hometown of Wheaton, Ill., where he transformed a small family construction business, Harry W. Kuhn Inc., into a Chicago road building powerhouse. He served as chairman and CEO until 2011.GENEROUS GIFT FROM RONALD J. KUHN, CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

Impressive student achievements this year include the Iota Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi’s win in the first phase of the highly competitive EY Inclusive Leadership Award. Professor Rose Layton and the talented and dedicated students of Beta Alpha Psi proposed a new Leventhal event for high school students to meet accounting firms on our campus. Working in conjunction with our Leventhal Leadership Program, led by Arthur Alba, associate director of undergraduate advising, Beta Alpha Psi hopes to educate and inspire young people from diverse backgrounds to pursue careers in accounting. This is a mission Leventhal has been supporting for years, and it is uplifting to see our students furthering the effort in innovative ways. Thank you, Leventhal alumni, faculty, students and friends, for all the ways you contribute to our school. Every one of them is meaningful. And every year brings more reasons to be proud of what we are accomplishing together. As we gear up for 2018/19, take time to enjoy the summer — and keep in touch!

Fight on! Best Regards, William W. Holder Dean, USC Leventhal School of Accounting Alan Casden Dean’s Chair

A Word From the Dean To the USC Leventhal Community…

At our graduation ceremony on May 11, we proudly celebrated 240 undergraduates and 177 MAcc, MBT and MBT.WP students. Tim Ryan, U.S. chairman and senior partner of PwC, shared candid, insightful and instructive comments with the graduates, encouraging them to maintain courage and integrity in their personal and professional lives and to demonstrate care and respect for others.

Terese Cannon ’18 and Sofia Roberts MAcc ’18 spoke to their families, friends, peers and professors, sharing memories of Leventhal and dreams for the future. Though Commencement marks the beginning of the next chapter in our students’ lives, no one said goodbye. Our students simply became our alumni — we encourage them to stay connected with their alma mater, to come back to campus as often as they can, and to play a role in the lives of future Leventhal students. In this newsletter, we’d like to keep the celebratory note of Commencement going as we acknowledge some of the Leventhal family’s accomplishments over the last semester of the 2017/18 academic year — starting with a generous gift from one of our alumni. We are deeply appreciative of the longstanding support of entrepreneur, philanthropist and alumnus Ronald J. Kuhn ’69, who recently made a $4 million gift in support of our renovation of the accounting building. With his generosity, students and faculty will enjoy a state-of-the-art facility, and its stunning grand foyer will be named for Ron and his wife, Teri. Faculty and student accomplishments were exemplary as always. One of our newest professors, Richard Sloan, earned his fifth award from the American Accounting Association. The lifetime achievement award from the Financial Accounting and Reporting Section recognizes him as a thought leader who has helped shape the field in significant ways. We congratulate him and look forward to his latest research, which is taking him in several exciting directions as he explores resource allocation in capital markets.

Launch of S. Mark Young’s Trojan Tennis Book New York Times bestselling author and USC Leventhal Professor of Accounting S. Mark Young celebrated the launch of his latest book, Trojan Tennis: A History of the Storied Men’s Tennis Program at the University of Southern California, on April 6 at a gala event at Heritage Hall. The book, which was five and a half years in the making, chronicles the history of the most decorated men’s tennis team in American collegiate history — the USC Trojans. The team has won 21 NCAA National Team titles, the most of any team. Young, who captained the tennis team at Oberlin College in the mid-1970s, has been a lifelong tennis player and fan. As the George Bozanic and Holman G. Hurt Chair in Sports and Entertainment, Young was charged with conducting research in both entertainment and sports. After having written articles and a book on the entertainment industry, the bestselling The Mirror Effect with Dr. Drew Pinsky, he turned his attention to college athletics. A previous connection to Head Tennis Coach Peter Smith led him to follow the men’s team into their astonishing fourth NCAA Team Title in a row from 2009 to 2012. Young then approached Smith with the idea of writing a history of the team.

“In writing my first article about the team, I was struck by the history and legacy of the men’s team,” Young said. “Because USC was a first mover in supporting college tennis in 1899, I began to delve into the team’s history and was astonished that so many big-name players like Tom Bundy, Gene Mako, Alex Olmedo, Dennis Ralston, Bob Lutz and Stan Smith were all Trojan players. I also discovered that no one had ever written a book about college tennis, and since USC’s team is so illustrative, I thought that a book just had to be written.”

Using a combination of interviews with over 60 players going back to the 1940s, archival sources such as newspaper and magazine articles, team records, program guides and the goodwill of many fans, Young began to piece together the history. “Because many of the top players had passed away, I was very fortunate to be able to contact many of their surviving relatives, all of whom were very helpful in providing never-before-seen photos of many of the players, as well as letters, scrapbooks and other

archival information,” he said. Young was fortunate to get connected to Randy Walker, the publisher of New Chapter Press in New York, who

specializes in sports books. Walker, a former University of Georgia player from the 1980s, signed the project very quickly. “New Chapter Press was an ideal imprint to work with,” Young said. “Randy Walker knows tennis very well, and we really clicked. He also gave me huge latitude to write the book I wanted to write and was very generous in allowing me to include over 80 great photographs, which is unheard of in a book of this kind.” At the launch party sponsored by USC’s Athletic Department, emcee Coach Peter Smith welcomed Dean William Holder who gave an opening address, followed by great stories by tennis legends: Bob Lutz (five-time Grand Slam doubles champion), Richard N. Leach (former men’s coach of 22 years), Dennis Ralston (five-time Grand Slam doubles champion, including his first Wimbledon win when he was a high school student!),

“I also discovered that no one had ever written a book about

college tennis, and since USC’s team is so illustrative, I thought that a book

just had to be written.” —Prof. Mark Young

S. MARK YOUNG’S TROJAN TENNIS BOOK LAUNCH, CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

Bob Lutz, five-time Grand Slam doubles champion

Former Head Coach Dick Leach, NCAA Championship Team Member Prakash Amritraj and Head Coach Peter Smith

Ed Majors and Professor Tracie Majors with Mark Young at the book-signing table

32

The Trip of a Lifetime Professor Chrislynn Freed Tours South Korea

Leventhal Professor Chrislynn Freed is normally busy teaching in the spring semester. This spring she took a leave of absence to take a special family trip to South Korea. Freed wanted to share the trip of her life with the

Leventhal family.

The trip started with heading to PyeongChang to attend the Winter Olympics. “The South Koreans were incredible hosts for the Winter Olympics,” Freed said. “I spent five incredible days watching athletes from all over the world competing for their countries and medals.” She had the pleasure of speaking with Canadian ice skaters and gold medalists Patrick Chang and Eric Radford during the Short Track Speed Skating competition.

Freed and her family are avid downhill snow skiers who had the opportunity to ski the mountains of South Korea. Her family spent an afternoon at YongPyong ski resort. She said, “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

With all the geopolitical events happening in the Korean Peninsula, Freed thought taking a trip to the Demilitarized Zone would be educational. The trip to the DMZ included a stop at the Yanggu Memorial War Museum. Yannggu is home to some of the fiercest battlegrounds from the Korean War.

“A trip to South Korea should always include a visit to the palaces and the shrine in Seoul from the Joseon dynasty,” Freed said.

She had the pleasure of visiting the Gyeongbokgung Palace after two inches of fresh snow fell the night before her visit. The palace was originally built in 1395 as the main palace for the Joseon dynasty. It was destroyed in 1592 and lay in ruin for nearly 270 years. The buildings are from the 1867 restoration.

Freed said: “I think everyone should put South Korea on his or her bucket list.”

54

so it could be used to develop profitable trading strategies. Since I published the paper, the technique has become widely adopted, and stock prices now seem to incorporate the insights from this technique. Mark Soliman, also at Leventhal and one of my former students, authored the subsequent paper showing how stock prices adjusted to incorporate the technique.

A couple of your former doctoral students are now your colleagues: Mark Soliman and Eric Allen. Can you comment on that new relationship? Can you talk about what it means to you to mentor graduate students?

I have mentored over 25 doctoral students during my years as a professor. I work most actively with my current doctoral students, though I enjoy keeping in touch with my former doctoral students. I sometimes work with my older doctoral students if we discover a project we are both excited to work on, but I concentrate on my current doctoral students. I’m delighted to have Eric and Mark as colleagues, and they certainly played a big role in recruiting me to Leventhal. The most satisfying aspect of having doctoral students is to see them branch out on their own and do their own impactful research.

Why did you want to join the faculty at USC Leventhal?

Foremost because USC has one of the strongest and most active accounting faculties and a strong commitment to accounting research and education. In many other schools, accounting is essentially treated as a service group for general business programs. This is certainly an important role, but as an accounting professor, it is more fulfilling to be in a school that also offers accounting-oriented programs and has strong links to the accounting profession. This also shows up in the breadth of the faculty. For example, I have research-active colleagues teaching auditing and tax, which is not always the case at other top business schools.

What are the highlights of your time here so far?

I spent my first semester teaching financial statement analysis to the MBAs and MAccs, and they appreciated the practical relevance of the material. I really enjoyed my interactions with the students, so that is the highlight so far. Another highlight was presenting to the Leventhal Board members at a luncheon event last fall.

What attracted you to a career in accounting and academia?

I had the fortune to study under Philip Brown as an undergraduate. Philip was a pioneer in capital markets research in accounting. He got me hooked on capital markets research, and I wanted to do more. Fortunately for me, the last 30 years have been the golden years for capital markets research in accounting, so I never looked back. I worked briefly as an auditor after my undergraduate degree, and I worked in equity research for two years at Barclays, but I keep coming back to academia. I really enjoy the challenge of uncovering new insights and helping other people to understand them.

How did your work as managing director of equity research at Barclays inform your research or enhance your teaching effectiveness?

Until that time, I largely had to speculate about what happened in the real world or base it on snippets from practitioners. While at Barclays, I had wide access to a broad cross-section of the finance profession: investors, analysts, traders, regulators, bankers, etc. So I really got to see how things worked and their strengths and weaknesses. One thing I realized was that practitioners of quantitative finance were relying heavily on the academic research. I also learned the importance of marketing. It is not enough to have a good investment idea. What really matters is getting potential clients to believe it is a good investment idea.

Career highlight so far?

I would say the American Accounting Association’s Seminal Contributions Award for my work on the capital market’s pricing of accruals. For me, this paper defined my career more than any other. The initial discovery was very exciting, but the paper then proved incredibly difficult to get published. After publication, the paper gradually gained popularity and ultimately had a big impact on academia and practice. It turns out that my original mentor Philip Brown, who I mentioned earlier, was the inaugural winner of this award back when I was his student. So I always remembered that, and it made it all the more special when I received it myself.

LEVENTHAL WELCOMES NEW PROFESSOR RICHARD SLOAN, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

“It is not enough to have a good investment idea. What really matters is getting potential clients to believe

it is a good investment idea.” —Prof. Richard Sloan

WORLD-CLASS RESEARCHER Richard Sloan’s research focuses on the role of accounting information in facilitating efficient resource allocation in capital markets. He is currently working on several topics:

1The shortcomings of popular quantitative investment strategies that use formulaic rules based on accounting numbers

2The properties of accounting accruals

3Evaluating measures of earnings quality

4Role of accounting information in IPO mispricing

5Determinants of the changing properties of accounting numbers

6Developing better value investing strategies through fundamental analysis

Kuhn and his wife are co-founders of Pillar Rock, a prized cult wine produced from their vineyard in the Stags Leap District of Napa, Calif. Kuhn also founded a successful aviation company chartering private aircraft and served on the board of West Suburban Bank for 24 years.

Talking about the meaningfulness of his most recent gift to the School, Kuhn reiterated his motto: “Remember From Whence You Came.” “I’m just paying it back,” he said.

As a professional snowmobile racer in his 20s, Kuhn suffered an accident that left him in a coma for over a month, requiring him to redevelop the power of speech and the ability to walk. Ever since, Kuhn has been a dedicated philanthropist, providing opportunity to people determined to overcome personal disadvantages through hard work, particularly in the areas of education and healthcare.

Kuhn generously contributes to USC, building on the work he did as a student serving on the Dean Dockson 1968 Advisory Board. The Ronald J. Kuhn Student Fellowship Fund he established in 1995-96 has benefitted more than 120 outstanding accounting students.

He also contributes to St. Francis High School, Northwestern Hospital, Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital, the “V” Foundation, the Naples Winter Wine Festival for underprivileged children and dozens of other health and youth organizations. St. Francis High School, where the couple met, is home to the Ronald and Theresa Kuhn Cultural Arts Center, the Ronald and Theresa Kuhn Music Room and the Kuhn Memorial Sports Stadium.

Kuhn and his wife were celebrated at a dinner in Beverly Hills in April, attended by Dean Holder, members of the Dean’s Cabinet, members of the Board of Advisors and Parks MBT Board of Advisors, faculty and staff.

GENEROUS GIFT FROM RONALD J. KUHN, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

76

2nd Annual Diversity Case Competition

On April 6, SpectrumSC, USC’s LGBTQ+ business organization, hosted their second annual Diversity Case Competition. Led by Marshall senior Austin Hoang, the club’s executive board hosted a full day of exciting events for students, faculty and business pro-fessionals. The jam-packed day consisted of a semifinal and final round followed by a mixer at The Lab Gastropub.

Out of 22 participating teams, a panel of judges had the difficult task of choosing three finalist teams. Throughout the day, teams presented to professionals from EY, PwC, City National Bank and more. Teams discussed their findings on how to improve diversity and inclusion in recruiting and retention practices at Yelp, one of Silicon Valley’s top tech companies. After the final round, judges took time to deliberate, while the students headed across the street to The Lab. At the mixer, students enjoyed delicious appe-tizers and great conversation with professionals from some of LA’s best companies.

This year’s competition was especially poignant for Leventhal Associate Professor Zivia Sweeney. Both of the teams she coached earned top honors: Geetha Somay-ajula, Megan Black and Daniel McCormick earned first place and a $1,000 prize, while William Ciputra, Daniella Topa and Aaron “AJ” Eckstein took third place and a cash prize of $500.

Eckstein knew that his team’s success was due in large part to Professor Sweeney’s mentorship. “Not only did she provide guidance, but also a confidence boost,” the sophomore said. “She truly cared for our success, but even beyond the competition.”

Marshall Assistant Professor of Clinical Finance and Business Eco-nomics Nimfa Bemis was also an active attendee at the event and guided her team to a successful second place award.

During the awards ceremony, speeches from Marshall Assistant Dean of Diversity and Inclusion Debra Langford and Vice Dean for Undergraduate Programs and Professor of Clinical Finance and Business Economics Ty Callahan stressed the importance of diver-sity and inclusion in learning and professional environments.

Through SpectrumSC’s monumental efforts, all who were involved in the second Diversity Case Competition explored new perspec-tives and left with valuable life lessons.

Geetha Somayajula ’18Marshall School of BusinessThornton School of MusicPresidential Scholar

Professor Zivia Sweeney, Megan Black, Geetha Somayajula, Daniel McCormick

Professor Zivia Sweeney, AJ Eckstein, Daniella Topa, William Ciputra

Multi-University Accounting Research Conference

The Tri-University Conference became the Multi-University Conference in its fourth iteration on April 14 as USC, UCLA and UCI were joined by UCSD at the USC University Park Campus. The event, held for the second time at USC, brings together faculty and Ph.D. students to share their current work and receive feedback from researchers they wouldn’t normally have regular interactions with. Leventhal Assistant Professor of Accounting Eric Allen served as conference coordinator. Forester Wong and Lorien Stice-Lawrence, both also assistant professors of accounting at Leventhal, presented their latest research.

Wong’s paper, “Bank Boards: What Has Changed Since the Financial Crisis?,” examines whether the focus on the corporate governance at financial institutions after the financial crisis has resulted in any meaningful changes. He finds that, at least in regards to the corporate board structure, there doesn’t seem to have been any measurable effect. Stice-Lawrence’s paper, “Base-Ten Threshold Effects in Reported Revenue,” finds that firms show a strong preference for reporting revenues that are just above an exact base-ten threshold, and provides evidence consistent with this phenomenon being driven by managers’ actively managing the reported numbers.

98

Undergraduate Commencement Speaker: Terese M. Cannon Degree: Bachelor of Science in Accounting

Hometown: Pittsford, NY

Plans after graduation: Leventhal’s MAcc program in the fall

Highlight of her Leventhal Experience: “I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to study in the Leventhal School of Accounting. I have learned so much, not only about accounting, but about life in general, from the faculty, staff and students that I have been lucky enough to surround myself with these past few years. The connections that I have made here have helped me grow into a person who is confident in herself and her knowledge. I believe that Leventhal is unique because it truly brings together the best and the brightest in the country, and I am humbled to be a member of such an amazing group of people.” Volleyball Champion: As a member of the Collegiate Beach Na-tional Team for USA Volleyball, Cannon won gold for USA Novem-ber 2017 in China at the Shenzhen International Women’s Beach Volleyball Competition. As a member of the USC Varsity Beach Volleyball Team, she contributed to the team’s winning the 2016 and 2017 NCAA National Beach Volleyball Championship. She was elected team captain 2017-2018, and she was selected to the 2017 NCAA All-Tournament Team. Speech Highlights: “The most important thing I have learned over these past four years is the power of the Trojan Family. … Not only have we received one of the top educations in the country, but we have gained an entire extended family who we can turn to and rely on for the rest of our lives. … I’m so excited to see where the Class of 2018 ends up. We’re prepared and ready to take on the world after spending four years at the most exceptional university in the nation. With the Trojan Family behind us, we are destined for great things.”

PwC’s Tim Ryan Gives 2018 Commencement Address

On May 11 at Epstein Family Plaza on the USC campus, Tim Ryan, U.S. chairman and senior partner of PwC, delivered the commencement address to Leven-thal graduates.

Dean William W. Holder introduced Ryan as someone who embodies the characteristics of a Trojan, saying: “He’s faithful to the memory of his parents who showed him the value of hard work; he’s schol-arly — a first-generation college graduate; he’s certainly skillful in becoming the youngest CEO at any of the Big Four firms and, more importantly, in understanding that accounting is about re-lationships with people; he is courageous for leading the conver-sation as it relates to issues of diversity and inclusion; and he is ambitious for setting the goal of having every Fortune 1,000 CEO pledge the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion.”

Following is a transcription of Ryan’s speech:

Dean Holder, thank you very much, and to the entire faculty, thank you for having me here today. Sofia and Terese, wow! Tremendous job representing the students in this great university, and Sofia, I am really glad you’re joining PwC, and welcome to our family.

Folks, at lunch today Dean Holder had shared with me that he’s an optimist. I too am an optimist, but I like to call myself a realistic optimist. Let me explain.

Realistically, our world has some big challenges: Making our world fully inclusive, where everybody has the same opportunity to succeed no matter where they’re from or who they are. Improving our education across our great nation where everybody has access to the same great resources that we’re so blessed to have here today. Making sure we take care of our planet and climate and protecting the precious resources that we have. Access to health care for everyone. And dealing with income inequality once and for all, where everybody has the right to a high-paying job where they can realize their full potential.

Realistically, those are big challenges. Why am I an optimist? I’m an optimist because I have the privilege of working with 55, 000 great people at PwC. Every day I see the hard work that they do, the work we do in our commu-nities, and I see what our clients are doing to go after those big challenges. And through my eyes, unbelievably great things are happening every day, where accountants — Sofia, to your point — are leaning in to take on those biggest challenges that are out there and truly make a difference. And folks, from my perspective, that gives me great reason to be optimistic.

Now, your school motto — Fight on! — that skill set, that mind set will serve you graduates tremendously when you take on those big challenges. That resiliency is needed to make sure we take on those challenges. What I’d like to do today is share with you another important motto and way of thinking. And that important motto is what I call: “the humility to continue

Timothy F. Ryan

Terese M. Cannon

Sofia Roberts

to learn.” Today is just the beginning. Your lifelong journey of learning just begins another chapter today.

Let me explain what I mean by the humility to continue to learn. A couple of key things for all of us to think about, whether on this side of the stage

[indicating graduates] or this side of the stage [indi-cating audience]: As accountants, as citizens it is our responsibility to be courageous and to carry ourselves with a degree of integrity that people expect of our profession and of citizens.

I came from a family of four children and two working class parents. As Dean Holder mentioned, I’ve been blessed by parents who taught us the importance of hard work and honesty. My mother worked in a bakery, and as children we were taught to work hard and to be honest. Over 30 years ago, I remember the dinner conversation like it was yesterday. One of my mother’s colleagues was stealing from the bakery. My mother knew it wasn’t right, and she was going to say something. We talked at the dinner table about whether she should or she shouldn’t, but my mother already made her mind up. She was going to say something because stealing wasn’t right. My mother reported the individual. But what happened next

was incredibly disappointing. Her colleagues did not respect her decision. Her colleagues did not respect the fact that she stood up, and my mother ended up leaving the bakery and ultimately the supermarket. Graduates, whether you’re working in a bakery, in financial reporting or a nonprofit or public service, you will face your temptations. Your courage and your integrity is second to none. Be humble enough to understand that pro-tecting your courage and integrity and learning from others who carry that torch doesn’t end here. It continues every day of your life, and that’s what accounting and auditing is about.

At that very same supermarket, I worked there for 10 years. One of my most important lessons in my life came when I was 20 years old. I was in the back room, and I was shucking lettuce with two of my buddies. As we were shucking that lettuce, we were making fun of a boy who worked at the su-permarket who was just a little slow. His name was Larry. And as we’re mak-ing fun of him — and I’m embarrassed to tell you I was leading the charge — the store manager walked by. His name was Richie. Richie stopped in his tracks and pointed at me, and he said, “Knock it off. He’s giving you a hundred percent of what he can give you. What more do you want?” With all due respect to my college education, that was probably the most important message I ever had in leading people. It doesn’t matter who’s the best, it doesn’t matter who works the fastest. What is absolutely incredibly important is care and respect. And graduates, throughout your careers you will run into people who aren’t quite like you, they might not work as hard, they might not do it your way, but care and respect is paramount no matter who you’re working with. And be humble enough to understand that that characteristic is important in the foundation of accounting and leading with people.

Another important lesson for all of us to think about: Never go it alone. About midway through my career I was working on a very complicated client. There were a lot of pressures, so — Terese, what you talked about — every skill set that I learned in college and early in my career was tested. And ultimately we needed to give the client a very difficult answer, an answer they did not want. I will never forget when I gave that answer. I had walked across the street and down the road to meet with the chairman of the board to give him that answer. I gave my final answer, and I remember walking back to the offices at PwC in New York, and I remember thinking, My career is over. Who’s going to want the individual who gave a really bad answer to a really big client? I’ll never forget going up to the 31st floor, which was where my colleagues sat. And when I got to that 31st floor, there were over 40 people waiting for me, and what I realized is I wasn’t alone. Graduates, there will be times in your career when you feel alone. You’re never alone. Reach out. Ask for help — that is a sign of strength to ask for help. Never go it alone.

A little later in my career, I had the privilege to be sitting around the table with some of our black professionals. As we’re talking about what life was

Graduate Commencement Speaker: Sofia Roberts

Degree: Master of Accounting

Hometown: Pacific Palisades, CA

Plans after graduation: Working in the Los Angeles PwC office in their Capital Markets and Accounting Advisory Practice.

Highlight of her Leventhal Experience: “Although I studied at USC for four years prior to my Master of Accounting, pursuing a bachelor’s degree, it was not until this master’s program that I truly found my Trojan Family.”

International business experi-ence: As a business major in the Marshall School, Roberts spent a semester abroad at HEC School of Management in Paris. Prior to that, she was a financial services intern in both Romania and Argentina.

Speech Highlights: “Accounting is the basis of all enter-prise. It is the basis of our econo-my, and it is the basis of economic development. Accounting or a lack thereof has led to the rise and fall of nations. So the skills and knowl-edge we have learned from USC are important; they matter. … When we do our job well, it makes the world better. … We look forward with hope onto a world that we want to help create. … I know that we will all change the world in unique ways, and I’m excited to see it all happen.”

TIM RYAN GIVES COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS, CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

1110

New Chair of the Recent Alumni Board of Advisors: Adam Kleinert ’08 ADAM KLEINERT ’08, AUDIT SENIOR MANAGER AT DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP, HAS SERVED ON THE RECENT ALUMNI BOARD OF ADVISORS SINCE NOVEMBER 2016. HE BECOMES CHAIR ON JUNE 30. One of your most notable contributions to the Recent Alumni Board of Advisors was working with the faculty Technology Committee. Can you talk about why this is vital for students? How is Leventhal doing in this area? Technology is really changing our industry because it’s giving us access to be able to evaluate full population sets. Whereas before we would look at samples and try to glean information from that, now we can look at the entire populations to identify trends, look for outliers and identify risk. We know that technology is going to continue to advance, but the critical evaluation skills that are required to evaluate that information and present it in usable ways for decision making, that is really important, no matter what the technology is. The combination of the critical evaluation skills and the accounting skills is really the benefit of Levethal’s current curriculum. What are your goals or priorities as incoming president? The current Recent Alumni Board members have distinct backgrounds and a lot of different experience, so I think that one of the things that we can do is engage with current accounting students and potential accounting students to show what an accounting degree can enable them to do and how we’re using technology. Accounting is one of the fields that’s on the forefront of leveraging data analytics, and harnessing this technology is becoming a staple of how we do business. I think that is going to be attractive to new students, and that is one way we can help the Leventhal School. Do you envision that sharing of information as events on campus? Yes, professors have invited us to speak in classes. This semester I participated in a professional networking luncheon that [Assistant Professor of Clinical Accounting] Julie Suh put on — it’s another opportunity to show the diversity of what an accounting degree can do. I think providing a lot of real-world examples is a good way of attracting people to the profession.

Are you involved in other ways on campus? I am actively involved from a recruitment standpoint. I participate in a lot of interviewing and recruiting on campus. In January, I met with both Beta Alpha Psi and the Accounting Society where we had a chance to meet students ahead of Meet the Firms.

Why is it important for you to be involved with Leventhal as an alumnus? One of the more selfish reasons is that I want to get the best people possible on my audit teams. I know that if I’m on campus trying to get the best people into the School, those are the next candidates we’re going to hire for our internships and full-time offers at Deloitte. I think it is a really rewarding opportunity. How long have you been with Deloitte, and how did Leventhal help you get where you are today? I’m coming up on 10 years at Deloitte. Two really good things about the Leventhal School are Meet the Firms and the Accounting Society, which

helped me get introductions to the different firms and showed me what a career in accounting could be. I think it’s unique how structured Leventhal has made this process. Of course, the technical skills I learned, as well as soft skills — how to develop a resume and how to respond in an interview — those are definitely things that helped me get my foot in the door and made me successful as I continued my career at Deloitte. What do you love about audit? The people I work with. I work with such driven, like-minded people that, even when we’re going through tough times or situations, we still want to hang out with each other afterwards. Tell us something about yourself outside of accounting. I have a 7-month-old daughter, so family takes a lot of my time now, and I’m really happy about it. When I get the opportunity, I also love skiing. Park City is ideal; they have a little bit better snow than Big Bear, but that’s great for proximity and quick weekend trips.

The Leventhal Family volunteered for the Salvation Army’s Adopt-a-Family program this winter. This program assists families who are in crisis as a result of unemployment, homelessness, medical issues or other difficult circumstances.

Beta Alpha Psi Wins First Phase of EY Inclusive Leadership AwardThe Iota Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi won the first phase of the EY Inclusive Leadership Award this year. They received $500 to help fund the program outlined in their proposal and are eligible for one of five grand prize awards. Beta Alpha Psi has approximately 330 chapters internationally, and the award was given to eight chapters.

Professor Rose Layton and Celia Li, the 2018 spring president of Beta Alpha Psi, worked on the abstract proposal, which involves assisting Professor Ruben Davila, LSOA Diversity Officer, and As-sistant Director of Student Advising Arthur Alba with implement-ing a new Leventhal event that invites local high school students to meet with accounting firms.

Specifically, they proposed:

• Holding career development workshops through partner-ships with the Big Four and other accounting firms to bring awareness to their early-start programs.

• Empowering Beta Alpha Psi students to serve the local community through resume building, professional develop-ment and networking workshops in preparation for future career fairs.

• Negotiating with public accounting firms for potential cooperation in the near future to have additional career fair opportunities for high school students to be introduced to the accounting profession.

“Through the steps proposed above,” they wrote, “the Leventhal School of Accounting and the Iota Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi hope to bring greater awareness of career opportunities to the local com-munity and provide more prospects and inspiration for our local students to pursue careers in accounting, thereby contributing to the diversity of the workplace for future generations.”

News From VITA Tax season is a busy time for Leventhal students. USC VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance), a student-run organization that provides pro bono tax assistance to families and students with moderate to low incomes in the Central Los Angeles community, prepared 1,285 returns this year. They also added a second location, at the USC Credit Union’s main office, to their first location at Gateway using the Neighborhood Academic Initiative training facility. Volunteers are trained by accounting professionals and IRS-certified.

Returns prepared: 1,285 Federal refunds: $1,116,475 Earned Income Credit: $282,029 Volunteer hours logged: 2,387 Active volunteers this season: 94

1312

New MAcc/MBT Recruits Leventhal hosted Preview Day on Jan. 12, bringing dozens of students from all over the country to campus for a day of activities aimed at helping them learn more about the Leventhal MAcc and MBT programs, the University and how we can help them achieve their goals. After a welcome from Associate Dean Shirley Maxey, students sat in on ACCT 526: Global Accounting Experience, where they learned more about the class and the trip to China the class would be taking. Next, a panel of current students shared their experiences, ranging from moving to Los Angeles for the first time to participating in our Summer Intensive Program to taking part in Leventhal’s recruitment process. At a lunch with faculty members, Dean Holder greeted the students, and Alex Edington, a current MAcc student, shared how the MAcc program has impacted his life. After a campus tour, students sat in on three presentations from faculty about the elective classes they teach. Here they met Professor of Clinical Accounting Patti Mills, Professor of the Practice of Accounting John Owens and Joseph A. DeBell Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Accounting T.J. Wong. At the end of the day, students met at The Lab Gastropub to mingle and chat with staff, faculty and current students. So far, 23 of the 29 participants have committed to USC for the Class of 2019.

Analytical TypeRyan Pompilio ’18 stays at Leventhal to join first cohort of MAcc D+A

The Master of Accounting with Data and Analytics (MAcc D+A) launches this fall at USC Leventhal, and Ryan Pompilio ’18 will be in the first cohort. He is the only person in the program who is also a USC Leventhal undergraduate. And he’s on track to get both degrees in four years, thanks to a semester and a half of AP credits and a course load of 18 to 20 credits a semester.

As a high school student in Camarillo, Calif., Pompilio was obviously planning ahead. He’s been doing the same thing at USC Leventhal.

“In my first couple of years as an accounting major, there was a common theme: accounting in five years will be completely dif-ferent than accounting now; innovation will take over the indus-try,” he said. “Knowing this, I wanted to set myself apart in some way. When I was presented with the opportunity to apply to the MAcc D+A, I knew this would allow me to be on the leading edge of the change occurring in my profession.” Pompilio is participating in the MAcc D+A through KPMG, where upon completion of the master’s degree, he’ll be working for the downtown Los Angeles office. Pompilio realized KPMG was a great fit through the KPMG Discover Leadership Program. “It was an amazing experience where I networked with a multitude of KPMG professionals and learned more about what KPMG and public accounting is all about.”

‘A TROJAN SINCE BIRTH’USC Leventhal was not a random choice either. “I’ve been a Tro-jan since birth,” he said. “Both of my parents are USC alumni: my mom was a communication major and my dad received a doctor of pharmacy degree. Also, my grandfather, uncle, cousin and most recently my older sister, who graduated in 2015, attend-ed USC. My sister has been an inspiration to me my whole life, and she is the reason I went to USC. We definitely are a Trojan Family.”

Fortunately, USC is close to Camarillo, where more than 30 members of his family live. “They have been such an important part of my life growing up that I couldn’t see myself going too far from home.”

Pompilio has a laundry list of reasons for choosing accounting, once again proving he is an analytical type who doesn’t leave anything to chance. He likes that the career path for accounting is highly structured, and the field is a solid choice in a fluctuating job market. More importantly, “accounting is genuinely interesting and

impactful given that I can solve thorough and complex problems that provide information to ensure that an everyday individual can make informed investing and financing choices.”

He believes USC Leventhal can help him achieve his goals. “USC Leventhal is an incredible school known for its impressive professors, unbelievable networking opportunities and strong postgraduate employment rates.”

GLOBAL AND TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCESAt USC Leventhal, Pompilio truly got a global education. His Learning About International Commerce (LINC) trip to Sydney, Australia, introduced him to professionals from Google, Costco, Apple and KPMG. “LINC was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said. “My friends and I are even featured on the wall on the third floor of Fertitta Hall!” Through USC Marshall’s Winslow-Maxwell Global Summer In-ternship program, Pompilio spent 10 weeks in Prague, working as a data research intern for an RSM office, investigating restrictions and tax laws foreign trust clients faced while investing in the Czech Republic. The learning experience was transformative.

“The highlight of this program was the opportunity to complete-ly break out of my comfort zone,” he said. “I did this internship following my freshman year while I was still nervous to speak publicly and lacked confidence in my technical abilities. After this experience both in the RSM office and traveling and living on my own in a foreign country, I became a whole new person.”

As part of a nine-month internship with Wag Labs Inc., an app that connects dog walkers to people who need their dog walked,

Pompilio handled bookkeeping, inventory control and payroll tasks. He also worked directly with the CFO and controller par-ticipating in high-level decisions as the company grew from a start-up through multiple funding rounds and grew in revenue, employees and transaction num-bers. During summer of 2017, he participated in an audit and tax internship at CBIZ, assisting with audit work paper construction and tax return preparation.

Freshman year Pompilio start-ed RN Media, a photography/videography business, with a good friend from his dorm, and

co-founded the Make-a-Wish Foundation at USC with two friends he met at a Leventhal welcome event. “In our first three months, we raised $10,000 and were able to fund the granting of a wish!” he said. “The wish we granted was for a 10-year-old girl from the South Central, Los Angeles area who suffered from a rare form of anemia. Her wish was to go to Disney World, and our club made it happen.”

As Pompilio prepares for the MAcc D+A and his career with KPMG, he also has plans for his personal life. “My personal goals include expanding my huge Italian family, traveling the world for both work and leisure, and continuing to support the impactful missions of major non-profit organizations.”

Ryan Pompilio

THE NEW MASTER OF ACCOUNTING WITH DATA AND ANALYTICS

Launching fall 2018, the MAcc D+A will take advantage of two highly rated and prominent departments: the USC Leventhal School of Accounting and the Data Sciences and Operations Department within the USC Marshall School of Business. MAcc D+A students will join Leven-thal’s Master of Accounting students as well as Mar-shall’s MBA students and Master of Science in Business Analytics students in classes taught by faculty from both departments.

“This program enables students to obtain a working knowledge of how to analyze the vast arrays of data that exist within a company and its economic environ-ment,” said John Owens, professor of the practice of accounting and director of the program. “The Master of Accounting with Data and Analytics program is the best preparation for the audit profession that I have ever seen.”

THE MACC D+A OFFERS:

• Specialized Knowledge: The curriculum combines advanced accounting with specialized courses on technology and D&A, including hands-on use of soft-ware tools and data sets currently used by seasoned professionals.

• Highly Experiential: Hands-on Friday lab sessions couple with working trips to major public companies both in fall and summer term to assure students ac-tively connect what they are learning to the real-world business environment.

• Work Experience: Students must have a winter/spring internship to apply for the specialized em-phasis of the Master of Accounting. KPMG, Deloitte, PwC, EY and Armanino have arranged internships for successful applicants.

Students joining the program at USC will enter for the fall semester, have a 16-week full-time winter/spring internship, and complete their coursework during the summer before joining their firms full time in the fall.

1514

Ruben Torres (member of the 2002 NCAA championship team), Prakash Amritraj (member of the 2002 NCAA championship team), Kaes Van’t Hof (an accounting major and winner of the 2010 NCAA Doubles Title), Luke Jensen (former French Open Doubles Champion) and Rick Leach (nine-time Grand Slam champion in doubles). The event drew more than 150 guests, including many other former star players and faculty members, students and staff from Leventhal, the Marshall School of Business and the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, as well as many of Young’s friends from around the country. Thus far, the book, whose two forewords were written by tennis legend Stan Smith and current USC star player on the pro tour, Stevie Johnson, has received rave reviews. Two-time U.S. Open singles champion Tracy Austin noted: “Trojan Tennis is the only comprehensive book ever written about college tennis. As someone who has been a lifelong devotee to tennis, I was only aware of parts of SC tennis history. I am so glad that Mark Young has been able to capture recollections of so many luminaries of the sport. The book is a fun read with amazing photos, and I know tennis and sports fans everywhere will enjoy reading it.” George Taylor, a member of the 1969 National Championship team, said: “What a great book. Thanks so much for recording so many years of Trojan Tennis teamwork!” And it’s not just tennis enthusiasts who will appreciate the book. Carol Styx, a graduate student in Marshall’s EMBA program and director of sourcing and procurement at The Walt Disney Company, said: “I’m not a tennis player and understand very little about the sport. But this book was a great read and really helped me gain a better appreciation of the sport.”

Global Accounting Experience MAcc and MBT students make inaugural trip to Brussels

Leventhal MAcc and MBT students visited Brussels in March as part of ACCT 526: Global Accounting Expe-rience, in which they studied cross-border transac-tions in the global economy, examining accounting, legal and tax environments, economic and political systems, and cultural differences. Brussels is the latest destination for graduate students in a list that has included China and London/Dublin.

“The two most important international regions impacting the Unit-ed States and the world order in business, accounting, financial and the world economy are Asia and Europe. Our class focused on Europe; the other Leventhal international class focused on China,” explained Tom Ryan, professor of the practice of accounting.

Why Brussels? “Brussels is considered the de facto capital of the European Union, the dominant legal and economic force in Eu-rope,” Ryan said. “The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is the dominant joint political and military entity providing stability to Europe, headquartered in Brussels.”

The itinerary included visits to the European Council, the Europe-an Parliament: House of European History, and the European Eco-nomic and Social Committee, in addition to NATO headquarters.

Through visits to the firms that hosted Leventhal’s visit, EY Brus-sels and PwC Brussels, students received firsthand insights into the assistance those firms are providing to companies facing rapidly changing regulatory, political and economic challenges and opportunities in Europe. Among the most pressing concerns: Brexit, changes in taxation of multinationals, further pressure and threats by Russia on Eastern European countries, and the challenges associated with the refugees driven to Europe by the Syrian civil war.

Dinner at the Park Jourdain restaurant after a long day of visits to the European institutions.

Manneken Pis is a landmark small bronze sculpture in Brussels.

Allied Powers USC Visit

BETH HEIN MACC ’18 Most impactful professional visit: Although I really enjoyed all the visits to the EU institutions and agencies, our visit to PwC had the most impact on me. The partners and managers who spoke to us were incredibly hospitable, knowledgeable and fun to talk with. We were able to learn about international tax issues, including the OECD and the impact of U.S. Tax Reform on the EU member countries. That topic was interesting to hear about from the European tax expert’s perspective. Most important thing you learned: The most important thing I learned was at our first visit. We were talking with an employee of the Council, and he explained the legislative process for the European Union. My newfound knowledge has made it easier for me to understand news stories and current events in a more comprehensive way. Fun cultural or social experience: A group of us went to a karaoke bar where most of the people were French-speaking Belgians. Everyone was welcoming and excited to have Americans sing and dance along with them, and we had a ton of fun trying out the good Belgian beer while listening to people rock out to their French karaoke songs.

TIFFANY BALABEGIANS MBT ’18 Most impactful professional visit: At the PwC office, we met with professionals who presented on U.S. tax reform and its current and projected impacts on global accounting and business practices. We learned about BEPS, transfer pricing and organizations like OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) that are working to figure out how to best approach some of the new challenges clients will face. Our hosts were extremely enthusiastic about the material and presented their insights with such liveliness that you couldn’t help but wonder where global business is headed and where our place will be in that discussion. Most important thing you learned: It was interesting to hear about U.S. tax reform from the EY foreign tax professional’s perspective. Transfer pricing is a major focus abroad. I was surprised to learn that since the individual tax rate is so high, professionals do not have high income but get paid in other means. For example, EY gives each employee a car. Fun cultural or social experience: On our last day in Belgium, [Associate Director of Masters Programs] Sara McLachlan and I visited Bruges, a town in northern Belgium. When you get out of the train station and walk towards the main part of town, it’s like you’re walking into another century. Every building, alley and waterside walkway is more photogenic than the next. There is a church in a courtyard overflowing with yellow daffodils, and the Benedictine nuns who live there sing church songs a cappella daily. Swans are everywhere!

Dennis Ralston, the prodigy who won the

Wimbledon doubles championship with Rafael

Osuna in 1960 when he was 17.

Stevie Johnson was named Pac-12 Men’s

Player of the Century for his outstanding

achievements at USC including two NCAA

singles titles in 2011 and 2012.

Prof. Mark Young and Coach Peter Smith did an interview about the book with

Brett Haber at the Tennis Channel in May.

S. MARK YOUNG’S TROJAN TENNIS BOOK LAUNCH, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

1716

Kevin Tsujihara 86 Receives Alumni Merit Award Kevin Tsujihara ’86 received an Alumni Merit Award from the USC Alumni Association for his professional achievements and legacy of service at the 85th Annual USC Alumni Awards on April 28 at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown. Tsujihara is chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. and the first Asian American to run a major Hollywood studio.

Joe Ucuzoglu 97 Receives Distinguished Alumnus Award Joe Ucuzoglu ’97, chairman and chief executive officer of Deloitte & Touche LLP, received the Leventhal School of Accounting Distinguished Alumnus Award at the annual awards dinner on April 18 at Town & Gown on the USC Campus. “I have always been proud to be an alumnus of the USC Leventhal School of Accounting,” said Ucuzoglu. “From its commitment to academic research to rigorous preparation of students to succeed in a rapidly changing profession, USC Leventhal is one of the premier academic and professional accounting programs in the country. I am truly honored and humbled to be named a Distinguished Alumnus. Without a doubt, USC is an incredibly special place for educating and preparing the auditors and accountants of the future.” Ucuzoglu has not only distinguished himself in his career, but also in his dedication to the Leventhal family and its mission. He serves as an executive committee member of USC’s SEC Financial Reporting Institute, which helps foster the interaction between business and accounting executives and policy setters from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Accounting Standards Board and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. As Leventhal has sought to innovate and advance, Ucuzoglu has taken an active role in helping to build that future: first, as part of the Deloitte USC alumni effort to raise the necessary funds for a state-of-the-art Deloitte Foundation Technology Center, which will be a part of the redesigned accounting building; and second, through Deloitte’s sponsorship of students in the Master of Accounting with Data and Analytics (MAcc D+A) program.

Gregory S. Moore 81 Receives Distinguished Leadership and Service Award Gregory S. Moore ’81, a senior assurance partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, received the Leventhal School of Accounting Distinguished Leadership and Service Award at the annual awards dinner on April 18 at Town & Gown on the USC Campus. “As a proud Trojan, I’m humbled to receive the USC Leventhal School of Accounting Distinguished Leadership and Service Award,” Moore said. “My education at USC has been the foundation of a rewarding career in public accounting at PwC. It’s been an honor to serve my alma mater and give back to the University.” Throughout his career at PwC, Moore has been actively involved in recruiting activities at USC. Since 2014, he has been co-chair of the annual USC Leventhal School of Accounting Holiday Dinner. During the 1984 Olympics, he served as coordinator of the USC Olympic Village main entrance.

Gregory S. Moore ’81 is a senior assurance partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in the firm’s Los Angeles office. He was admitted to the partnership in 1992 and has been with the firm for 38 years. Moore has held various leadership roles at PwC and is currently a risk management partner for the firm’s West region. He was formerly the Southern California assurance leader and consumer and industrial products market team leader. He also served in the Accounting & SEC Directorate of PwC’s national office in New York. Moore combines a pragmatic, client-focused approach with a strong background in technical accounting, auditing and the SEC. He is a unique partner in his ability to work across multiple industries, including consumer products, engineering and construction, financial services, industrial products, oil and gas, and power and utilities. His clients include, among others, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Edison International/Southern California Edison Company, Exelon Corporation, First American Financial Corporation, FirstEnergy, Hawaiian Electric Industries, Schlumberger, Tetra Tech, Toyota Motor North America/Toyota Motor Sales USA and Unocal Corporation. Moore is a Certified Public Accountant in California and Hawaii. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Alexis de Tocqueville Society of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles. He is also a board member of James Storehouse, a community-based nonprofit that partners with public and private child welfare GREGORY S. MOORE ’81, CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

Award-Winning Alumni

Kevin Tsujihara ’86 made history in 2013, when he became the first Asian American to head a major motion picture studio. As chairman and CEO of Warner Bros., Tsujihara oversees worldwide operations, including the production, marketing and distribution of film, television and video games, for one of the most innovative and successful entertainment companies in the world. Under Tsujihara’s leadership, Warner Bros. is the only studio with leading positions in film, television and video games, as well as highly successful home-entertainment and consumer-product divisions. Warner Bros. is also home to DC Entertainment, creator of the world’s most popular and valuable superheroes. Reflecting the studio’s global perspective, Tsujihara has also made diversity and inclusion a companywide business imperative; to that end, he is working to create a workforce and film, TV and digital content that reflects the studio’s diverse global audience. The youngest of five siblings, Tsujihara grew up in Petaluma, Calif., where he worked for his parents’ egg-distribution business. After graduating from USC, he began his career as a manager in Ernst & Young’s entertainment division, where he worked on audits, mergers and acquisitions for many clients, including Warner Bros. In 1994, Tsujihara joined Warner Bros. as a director, special projects finance, and helped manage the company’s interest in the amusement park corporation Six Flags. Eleven years later, he was named president of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; in this position, he established new digital delivery platforms and business models. In addition, he managed talent, assets and growth through acquisitions to create Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, the only studio-based video game company, which generates annual revenues exceeding $1 billion. A member of the USC School of Cinematic Arts Board of Councilors, Tsujihara also serves on the American Film Institute Board of Trustees, the Motion Picture Association of America Board of Directors, the Motion Picture & Tele-vision Fund Board of Governors, and the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council. He is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles Coalition for the Economy & Jobs. Tsujihara earned his MBA from Stanford University.

Joe Ucuzoglu ’97 is the chairman and chief executive officer of Deloitte & Touche LLP. As the leader of the U.S. Audit & Assurance practice, he is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the organization, including execution of quality, innovation, growth and talent strategies. He maintains significant audit client responsibilities, serving as the advisory partner for selected client engagements, and is a frequent speaker on issues impacting the audit profession and regulatory landscape. He also serves on Deloitte’s Global Board of Directors. Recognized as a leader in the public accounting profession’s drive to continuously improve audit quality, Deloitte’s public company audit clients in the United States total over $7 trillion in market capitalization and include 23 percent of Fortune 1000 companies. Previously, Ucuzoglu was Deloitte’s national managing partner for government, regulatory and professional matters. In this role, he was responsible for Deloitte’s interactions with regulators and elected officials as well as overseeing the government affairs, public policy, independence and ethics functions. Prior to rejoining Deloitte, Ucuzoglu served as senior advisor to the chief accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), advising on complex accounting, auditing and public policy matters, and interacting frequently with other governmental agencies and Congress. Ucuzoglu serves on the board of directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the board of trustees of the SEC Historical Society, and the executive committee of USC’s SEC Financial Reporting Institute. He is a member of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, an independent research organization dedicated to enhancing the competitiveness of U.S. capital markets and ensuring stability of the U.S. financial system, and is active in the Center for Audit Quality, an autonomous group devoted to fostering high-quality performance by public company auditors.

“I met friends at USC who helped me figure out how to be a better person

and are still helping me today. I would not be the CEO of Warner Bros. today

if I had not decided to go to school at USC.”

— Kevin Tsujihara

Ucuzoglu tries to connect each year with the USC interns that are employed with Deloitte. “Meeting with them, sharing a vision for the future of the profession, and hearing about their passion, interest and excitement for a career in accounting has been fun,” he said. He also remains connected through annual visits to campus to speak with students and alumni in accounting classes. “And I always look forward to attending a game or two during the football season to cheer on the team!”

1918

JINGJING XIA Hometown: Beijing

Jingjing Xia graduated USC Leventhal with her Ph.D. in accounting in May and will join City University of Hong Kong as an assistant professor. Why did you want to pursue a Ph.D. in accounting? My mother works in academia so pursuing a Ph.D. was a natural choice for me. I’m interested in accounting because I’ve always been curious about how people make economic decisions and accounting being the “language of business” communicates a company’s economic activities and outcomes to both inside and outside parties, which provides a basis for people’s decision-making. Why at USC Leventhal? Leventhal’s accounting Ph.D. program is well organized and provides rigorous training to the students. The department also has a very strong group of researchers who are willing to work with students. What was your area of research focus? My research focuses on information transfers and economic networks in the financial market. What were the highlights of your USC Leventhal experience? Over the Ph.D. program, I have learned a lot from both the faculty and my fellow students. I enjoy discussing new ideas with them, and to see a project finally mature as a full-blown paper from a mere idea is certainly the best moment. What are your future plans and dreams? I will continue doing research that I enjoy and hopefully provide new insights to the field.

ALLISON KAYS Hometown: Gainesville, Florida

After graduating with her Ph.D. from USC Leventhal in May, Allison Kays will be heading to Emory University to start as an assistant professor in the practice of accounting in the fall. For her, it’s a dream job. “I am very excited to start my career as a professor in accounting!” Why did you want to pursue a Ph.D. in accounting? I’ve always loved school, and the idea of getting paid to essentially stay in school for the rest of my career sounded pretty great. I probably could have been very happy getting a Ph.D. in any subject because I just love to learn, but accounting is what I knew so I went with that. I’m also a super nerd who actually thinks that accounting is beautiful. At its heart, accounting is logical reasoning, and the way that everything balances out just makes my very logic-oriented brain happy. Why at USC Leventhal? Because Mark Soliman is the king of recruiting, of course! Honestly, I never anticipated living in Los Angeles, but it’s been a really fun adventure! My classmates are wonderful and supportive. My advisor is very involved and always pushing me to do better. The faculty here are very smart, and the undergraduate and master’s students that I’ve worked with have been a lot of fun and very motivated. What was your area of research focus? Predominantly tax, but not so much the technical side of tax but more the implementation side. I enjoy reading about tax authority policies and thinking through the implications and possible outcomes. My research tries to find side effects and the less obvious outcomes of these policies. What were the highlights of your USC Leventhal experience? As a Ph.D. student, your experience is mostly: read, think, calculate, reread, rethink, recalculate, write, repeat. It is a very demanding degree, but the support at Leventhal is wonderful. I will never forget how much kindness, empathy and support the staff at Leventhal gave me over the past four years. The faculty have also been amazingly supportive. I am taking a less traditional career path that many schools would not support, but my dissertation committee has been extremely understanding and nothing but helpful in my job search and helping me achieve my goals. The biggest highlight was teaching BUAD 280 last fall. I had a really great group of motivated, curious and fun students who I will always remember as my first class. What are your future plans and dreams? I love to teach and I love to learn, and I hope to instill that love of learning into my students. I also hope to always stay curious and keep learning myself.

2017-18 Ph.D. Graduates

PwC Blind Spots On Feb. 2, USC Leventhal hosted the newly minted PwC Blind Spots event, an inspiring luncheon and networking event that brought together students, faculty and PwC professionals to engage in roundtable discussions about fighting bias in the workplace. In contrast to last year, the Blind Spots discussion did not only touch on issues of diversity and inclusion, but encouraged participants to dig deeper and identify the root cause of inequity in our world — blind spots, or inherent biases that affect our judgment. Associate Professor Zivia Sweeney collaborated with Marshall Admissions, Leventhal staff and a PwC team to execute an exciting event that was attended by more than 100 participants. The two-hour event took place at Town & Gown, where after checking in, all participants enjoyed a delicious lunch provided by USC Hospitality. After a welcome and introduction, PwC diversity leaders launched into a multimedia presentation about confronting our inherent biases and assumptions. Then, participants engaged in discussions with their tablemates — discussions were moderated by a trained PwC professional and were supported by Leventhal faculty. Groups of eight to 10 participants discussed questions that included:

• What challenges might “fit” present for our ideas of who is a leader? • How can you manage the impact of first impressions on future interactions? • Do you agree with the idea that not all biases are bad? Why or why not?

Listening to students and professionals share how their perspectives had changed and how they plan to create inclusive spaces inspired everyone in the room. Following the event, participants were invited to a PwC reception and networking event at The Lab Gastropub. As students smiled and laughed with professionals, enjoyed their delicious appetizers and new PwC gifts, and continued the social justice-driven conversations they had begun earlier in the day, it was clear that the event was a success! —Geetha Somayajula ’18 Marshall School of Business Thornton School of Music Presidential Scholar

Greeks Meet the FirmsOn Feb. 6, Alpha Delta Pi sorority hosted the annual Greeks Meet the Firms event at their house on The Row. Greeks Meet the Firms is a three-hour networking opportunity with the Big Four firms for students in any Greek letter organization, including Pan-Hellenic Council, Interfraternity Council, National Pan-Hellenic Council, the Multicultural Greek Council and Asian Greek Council. The event was also open to professional Greek-lettered fraternities and to those interested in accounting or consulting. Zivia Sweeney, Alpha Delta Pi’s faculty advisor and associate professor of clinical accounting at the USC Leventhal School of Accounting, along with the sorority’s schol-arship chair, Danielle Kaiser, and house di-rector, Sandi Neustadt, organized and led the event.

Greeks Meet the Firms provided an opportuni-ty for students to meet, build relationships with and submit their resumes to the Big Four firms: Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC. The firms focused on recruiting freshmen and sophomores who were interested in joining the firms for summer leadership programs, juniors working to get a head start on fall recruiting or pursuing summer internships, and seniors hoping to land full-time positions after graduation. Top campus recruiters were in attendance and included Kelsey Page from Deloitte, Jackie Devitt and Greg Share from EY, Lauren Marker from KPMG and Angie Nastasi from PwC.

Over 125 students attended the event and enjoyed Mendocino Farms sandwiches and appetizers, which were sponsored by Deloitte, while building relationships with top recruiters and student ambassadors from each of the Big Four firms. Greeks Meet the Firms provided for a smaller, more personal networking opportunity that allowed students to form close con-nections with the recruiters. Now, as students attend other networking events and continue to meet with recruiters from Deloitte, EY, KPMG or PWC, they already have a foot in the door.

2120

ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATIONSarah Bonner, Tracie Majors and Stacey RitterSarah Bonner, Tracie Majors and Stacey Ritter’s paper, “Prepopulating Audit Workpapers With Prior Year Assessments: Default Option Effects on Risk Rating Accuracy,” was accepted for publication in the Journal of Accounting Research. Mark DeFond and Clive LennoxMark DeFond and Clive Lennox’s paper (with Jieying Zhang), “The Primacy of Fair Value Accounting: Evidence from Regulators and the Courts,” was accepted for publication in Accounting Horizons. Clive LennoxClive Lennox’s paper (with Xi Wu), “Review of the Archival Literature on Audit Partners,” was accepted for publication in Accounting Horizons. Ken MerchantKen Merchant’s paper (with C. Stringer and P. Shantipriyan), “Setting Financial Performance Thresholds, Targets and Maximums in Bonus Plans,” was accepted for publication in the Journal of Management Accounting Research. Richard SloanRichard Sloan’s paper (with Dan Amiram, Zahn Bozanic, James D. Cox, Quentin Dupont and Jonathan M. Karpoff), “Financial Reporting Fraud and Other Forms of Misconduct: A Multidisciplinary Review of the Literature,” was accepted for publication in the Review of Accounting Studies. K.R. SubramanyamK.R. Subramanyam’s paper (with A. Liu, J. Zhang and C. Shi), “Do Firms Manage Earnings to Influence Credit Ratings? Evidence From Negative Credit Watch Resolutions,” was accepted for publication in The Accounting Review.

Regina Wittenberg Moerman Regina Wittenberg Moerman’s paper (with Jae Kim, Pervin Shroff and Dushyantkumar Vyas), “Credit Default Swaps and Managers’ Voluntary Disclosure,” was accepted for publication in the Journal of Accounting Research.

APPOINTMENTSMark DeFondMark DeFond was appointed to a visiting professorship at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. DeFond was elected to the Board of Directors of the American Accounting Association as vice president of research and publications.Chrislynn FreedChrislynn Freed was elected vice president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the CalCPA Education Foundation, on which she has been serving as a trustee.Clive LennoxClive Lennox was named an associate editor at the Journal of Accounting and Economics.Ken MerchantKen Merchant accepted the position of co-chair of the Programs Committee of the L.A. Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD).

AWARDS & HONORSMark DeFondMark DeFond has been named the recipient of the inaugural Foster School Distinguished Ph.D. Alumnus Award and will formally receive the recognition at the Ph.D. graduation ceremonies at the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington in June. Chrislynn Freed Chrislynn Freed’s alma mater, Florida University, has established an award for graduate accounting students: Chrislynn Freed Outstanding Masters of Accounting Student Award.

Richard SloanRichard Sloan will receive a lifetime achievement award from the Financial Accounting and Reporting Section (FARS) of the American Accounting Association (AAA) in recognition of his trailblazing thought leadership in financial accounting research throughout his career.S. Mark Young S. Mark Young’s paper (with Fei Du, Kelsey Kay Dworkis and Kari Joseph Olsen), “It’s All About All of Us: The Rise of Narcissism and Its Implications for Management Control System Research,” published in the Journal of Management Accounting Research: Spring 2016, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 39-55, won the Impact on Management Accounting Practice Award from the Management Accounting Section of the American Accounting Association, 2017. The award is cosponsored by CGMA, the joint venture between the AICPA and CIMA.

MEDIA MENTIONSS. Mark YoungS. Mark Young and USC Head Tennis Coach Peter Smith did an interview about Young’s new book, Trojan Tennis: A History of the Storied Men’s Tennis Program at the University of Southern California, with Brett Haber at the Tennis Channel in May.

PUBLICATIONSPatricia MillsPatricia Mills updated the chapter (10B: Tax Aspects of Real Estate and Real Estate Sales) regarding the new tax law in a treatise called Powell on Real Property published by LexisNexis.S. Mark Young S. Mark Young’s book, Trojan Tennis: A History of the Storied Men’s Tennis Program at the University of Southern California, was published by New Chapter Media, New York, 2018.

FACULTY

Richard SloanMark DeFondPatricia Mills Chrislynn FreedRegina Wittenberg Moerman

STUDENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS Yunwen “Jacinta” Tian was one of five graduate accounting students nationwide who was awarded a 2017 Masters Scholarship by the CalCPA Accounting Education Committee. • The Iota Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi won the first phase of the EY Inclusive Leadership Award this year. Professor Rose Layton and Celia Li, the 2018 spring president of Beta Alpha Psi, worked on the abstract proposal, which involves assisting Professor Ruben Davila, LSOA Diversity Officer, and Assistant Director of Student Advising Arthur Alba with implementing a new Leventhal event that invites local high school students to meet with accounting firms. (See story on page 11.) • On April 6, SpectrumSC, USC’s LGBTQ+ business organization, hosted their second annual Diversity Case Competition. Both of the teams coached by Leventhal Associate Professor Zivia Sweeney earned top honors: Geetha Somayajula, Megan Black and Daniel McCormick earned first place and a $1,000 prize, while William Ciputra, Daniella Topa and Aaron “AJ” Eckstein took third place and a cash prize of $500. (See story on page 6.)

agencies to expedite the safe placement of babies and children, support children in foster care and assist teens as they transition out of foster care. Moore married his wife, Sheree, in August 1979. They are very proud of their two children, Sarah and Andrew, son-in-law Brennan (all college graduates) and grandchildren Finn, Scarlett, Scout and Marlowe. He and Sheree have been actively involved in church, have served as leaders in the Young Life organization and have participated in mission trips to Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Costa Rica; Biloxi, Mississippi; and Watts, Los Angeles. He enjoys spending time with his family and friends, collecting wine, reading and golfing.

GREGORY S. MOORE ’81, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19

2017-2018 FACULTY AWARDS SMRITY RANDHAWA Community Achievement Award from Undergraduate Student Government JULIE SUH, BUAD 280 Golden Apple Teaching Awards, Core Course Teaching Awards SMRITY RANDHAWA Elective Course Teaching Award MARK DEFOND Dean’s Award for Research Excellence CLIVE LENNOX Dean’s Award for Research Impact ZIVIA SWEENEY Evan C. Thompson Faculty Mentoring and Leadership Award Leventhal Diamond Teaching awards: MAcc Core - SARAH BONNER MAcc Elective - RICHARD SLOAN MBT Core - PATTI MILLS MBT Elective - SHIINGWU WANG ROSE LAYTON, FACULTY ADVISOR FOR VITA USC VITA’s 10-year certificate of appreciation as part of VITA’s Milestone Recognition Program

like for them, one young man said, “Tim, when I have my suit on” — and trust me, his suit was way nicer than mine — “I feel safe here. But when I’m going to a softball game in Central Park, and I take my jacket off, I take my shirt off, and I walk down the hallways with my T-shirt and my lid and my tatts are showing, I don’t feel safe here.” I don’t feel safe here. And here I am the senior partner of a firm that prides itself on inclusivity, yet that’s how one of my people felt. It’s one of the things that inspired me to realize we all can do better. We all have the responsibility to make our world, our workplace, our homes and our communities truly fully inclusive. And as graduates, be humble enough to realize that just because people have different skill sets, don’t look, don’t walk and don’t talk like us, as leaders who are going to change the world, building a fully inclusive world is a big part of who we are. And never forget that responsibility to make people feel welcome, be included and realize their full potential as well.

My last humble lesson. This past fall I was sitting in my kitchen. I was doing reading, trying to get ready for work the next week coming up. It was a Sat-urday afternoon, and as I was sitting in the kitchen, one of our six children was sitting in the other room playing video games. His name is Luke. He’s sitting right there in the front row. And as Luke was playing video games, I all of a sudden heard Luke drop the F bomb. Remember that, Luke? So I got up and I ran into the living room, and I said, “Luke, what gives?” And Luke looked at me with those 10-year-old eyes, and he said, “Dad, I hear you say that in your work calls all the time.” So I slowly walked back to the kitchen and I sat down, and it was that time I realized that all of us are leaders. People are watching us whether we realize it or not, and as you go into the business world, please understand that regardless of where you’re sitting, whether you’re a CEO, whether you’re a first-year associate, whether you’re a parent giving back to your community, everybody’s watching all the time. They’re watching to see how you exhibit your courage and your integrity. They’re watching to see how you respect and care for others. They’re watching to see if you’re an inclusive leader and living the values you’ve learned so well here. And they’re watching to make sure that you are treating people with the same respect that you wanted.

Graduates, I leave you with this one message: When I look at you, I see nothing but optimism. I think, despite whatever challenges are out there, our future is incredibly bright. I want to applaud you for what you’ve ac-complished. I want to applaud you for the humility to thank your parents and your families and your friends and your faculty who have done remark-able things. But I also want to close by saying: My money’s on you. Fight on! Timothy F. Ryan is U.S. chairman and senior partner of PwC. He has over 28 years of diversified experience serving clients in the financial services industry in the United States and internationally. In addition, he serves on PwC’s U.S. Board of Partners and Principals and its Global Board. Ryan previously served as vice chair, having responsibility for PwC’s strate-gy function and stakeholder relationships, including investor relations, reg-ulatory affairs, public policy, corporate responsibility and human capital. Prior to that, he led the firm’s Assurance practice, and before that, he led PwC’s U.S. Financial Services Practice and Consumer Finance Group. Ryan has been published and quoted in numerous publications and is a frequent contributor to industry events. He plays an active role in the Cen-ter for Audit Quality — a non-partisan, nonprofit group dedicated to en-hancing investor confidence and public trust in the global capital markets. Over the past year, Ryan worked with a small group of CEOs to launch the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ — the largest-ever CEO-driven busi-ness commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Ryan is a Certified Public Accountant in Massachusetts and New York and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He serves on the Board of Trustees for the Securities and Exchange Commis-sion Historical Society and the Children’s Aid Society. He graduated from Babson College, where he studied accounting and communications, and joined PwC after graduation. Ryan is a Boston native, marathon runner and proud father of six children.

TIM RYAN GIVES COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

2322

August15 – 17 MAcc/MBT Orientation16 Big Four Diversity Event17 Undergrad Welcome Lunch20 Welcome Week Event24 Leventhal Undergrad Orientation24 Chairs Dinner

September20 Meet the Firms

October11 Risk Management Conference12 – 15 Trojan Family Weekend23 Mid-Semester Event

CALENDAR

USC Leventhal School of Accounting3660 Trousdale Parkway ACC 101Los Angeles, CA 90089-0441

Phone: (213) 740-4838Fax: (213) 747-2815Email: LeventhalDeansOffice@marshall.usc.edu

November9 Board of Advisors Meeting15 MAcc/MBT Thanksgiving

December7 MAcc/MBT Holiday Party