Nancy Bagranoff is changing what it means to educate students in accounting. The professor and former dean of the Robins School of Business has been selected to receive the Distinguished Achievement in Accounting Education Award from the American Institute of CPAs.

"I know of no one who has devoted more time and energy over many decades to improve both the accounting profession and accounting education,” said Joe Hoyle, associate professor of accounting and Robins Teaching Fellow. “Accountants everywhere, as well as the entire business community, owe her a debt of gratitude.”

Bagranoff, who served as dean and professor of accounting at the Robins School of Business from 2010-2019, recently returned to the classroom, where she teaches “Fundamentals of Financial Accounting” and “Cybersecurity for Business,” a course she developed because she felt graduating business school students need to understand the risks and measures to reduce and eliminate the damage from data breaches.

“Accounting education is changing so much that the AICPA has embarked on a CPA evolution project that entails significant changes to the certification exam and professional accounting preparation,” she said. “Accounting faculty need to evolve more rapidly than ever before, particularly when it comes to becoming technically proficient in areas such as data analytics, business intelligence, risk, and cybersecurity.

The American Institute of CPAs dates to 1887 and has more than 431,000 members in 130 countries and territories. The national award also has a long history and has been presented to some of the best-known accounting educators in the world.

Bagranoff, who will receive the award in August, is a former president of the American Accounting Association, former president of the Information Systems Section of the American Accounting Association, and former vice president for education for the American Accounting Association. She also has served on the AICPA Board of Directors and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business Board of Directors. She co-chaired the AACSB Business Accreditation Task Force, which developed accreditation standards for more than 800 business schools.

She’s earned the AICPA Certificate in Cybersecurity for Finance and Accounting Professionals and completed Harvard’s Certificate Program, Cybersecurity: Managing Risk in the Information Age. 

“She is a teacher who wants to remain at the cutting edge of the discipline and is willing to do the work necessary to maintain that goal,” Hoyle wrote. “Dr. Bagranoff did not leave the dean’s office in order to slide quietly into retirement.”

Photo: Nancy Bagranoff (right) speaks with Lynne Doughtie, former chair and CEO of KPMG, during the 2017-2018 Robins Executive Speaker Series.