KPMG Awards $470,000 to Minority Students Working Phd in Accounting

By Kalen Smith, Big4 Blogger

The KPMG Foundation announced that it has expanded its scholarship offerings to minority students pursuing doctoral degrees in accounting. In addition to the 35 students already receiving scholarships, KPMG will be awarding scholarships to another 12 promising recipients. Each student will be given $10,000, which can be renewed anytime within the next five years.

Jose Rodriguez is the chairman of the KPMG Foundation. Rodriguez said the foundation is proud of the work it has done in helping minorities become tenured faculty members in the nation’s universities. Rodriguez said that the scholarships it provides will be instrumental in helping students earn their PhDs and land esteemed teaching positions.

The KPMG Foundation has been running these scholarships for nearly 20 years. Over that time span, they have helped hundreds of Americans of Hispanic, Native American and African descent earn their doctoral degrees in accounting. Nearly 200 recipients have gone on to become professors at accredited institutions of higher learning throughout the United States.

Stacy Sturgeon, KPMG LLP’s national managing partner of university relations and recruiting, said these scholarships benefit the entire profession. Sturgeon pointed out that the global marketplace is extremely complex. In order to understand the challenges of the global business environment, businesses need accountants with a diverse set of perspectives and experiences. Sturgeon argues that the minority scholarships help them achieve this goal.