SBU to add new accounting major

Bolivar-based Southwest Baptist University's Accounting Department has added an accounting and information assurance major, to begin in the 2011-12 academic year.

Students taking the major would focus on a balance in traditional accounting theories, and practices and core concepts of information assurance, which is a way of insuring organizational information is assembled, accessed, digitally stored and electronically delivered securely and reliably, according to a news release.

"Information assurance helps individuals who are professionally responsible for handling of sensitive information subject to accounting practices," said Tim DeClue, chairman of the SBU Computer and Information Sciences Department and a teacher of information assurance, in the release. "Any discipline which deals in information must at some level address security issues. Information that cannot be secured also cannot be trusted for accuracy."

Some of the courses to be taught in the major include systems analysis and design, database management, principles of information assurance and digital forensics.

Students who complete their accounting and information assurance degree at SBU would have the 150 credit hours needed to take the certified public accountant exam, the release said.

Wayne Clark, CPA and chairman of the SBU Accounting Department, pointed to recent reports to illustrate the importance of accountants having information technology and data security training.

"According to a 2011 survey from Robert Half Finance and Accounting, 27 percent of chief financial officers said software/technology knowledge is the second highest trait they look for in a candidate," Clark said in the release. "Additionally, a Deloitte LLP white paper focusing on the role of internal auditors found that 90 percent of audit committee members surveyed felt internal auditors should have increased IT skills and knowledge by 2015.”[[In-content Ad]]