High School students from Ashland, Canton South, Lucas, Madison and New London attended a High School Career Day at Ashland University to raise awareness of the accounting profession and the day featured the hosting of the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Adrian Jr. Project.
As president of the student accounting chapter at Ashland University, Katelyn Csenar, a senior accounting major, worked with the IRS agents in organizing the event and also participated in the laser simulation exercise as part of the IRS’s Adrian Jr. Project.
According to Dr. Kristine Parsons, associate professor of accounting, the Career Day was co-sponsored by the Ohio Society of CPAs, the Ashland University Dauch College of Business and Economics, and the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) Student Accounting Chapter at Ashland University
Parsons said the Adrian Jr. Project was an interactive forensic accounting program that was held in the University’s Dauch College of Business and Economics building.
“This event actually resulted in high school students dividing into interactive groups and solving a crime,” Parsons said. “The day involved surveillance cameras and laser simulators with students looking for fraud or illegal activity at Casey Scoops Ice Cream Parlor.”
The event also included a speech by Columbus CPA Steve Martin, who is with the MDS CPA Review, as well as lunch and a tour of the Ashland University campus.
According to Todd Weitzel, special agent for the IRS-Criminal Investigation Division in Cleveland, the Adrian Project was developed by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division to provide students with an applied-learning opportunity to investigate financial fraud through forensic accounting.
“This interactive workshop organizes students into small working teams, with oversight and teaching points provided by an assigned ‘coach,’ who is a current or retired IRS CI special agent,” Weitzel said.
Ashland University, ranked in the top 200 colleges and universities in U.S. News and World Report’s National Universities category for 2013, is a mid-sized, private university conveniently located a short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Ashland University (www.ashland.edu) values the individual student and offers a unique educational experience that combines the challenge of strong, applied academic programs with a faculty and staff who build nurturing relationships with their students.
