Professor Elam

Tuesday July 16, 2013

Today I attended a meeting of the Petroleum Accountants Society of San Antonio PSSA.

You will recall I announced that this group is offering 5 – $1,000 scholarships for accounting students interested in this field. The group has grown from less than 30 to over 70 in the last few years. 

You will recall that I mentioned there would probably not be near as many applicants for the scholarship in that they announced it over the summer with an August 15 deadline. Sure enough, even though the announcement was sent ot half a dozen different universities, only ONE PERSON HAS APPLIED!  Here at TAMUSA I know of only one person that has asked for an application.

AS I SAID IN CLASS, IF YOU DO NOT APPLY YOU CANNOT POSSIBLY BE SELECTED !

Please e mail me for an application. I will leave some printed applications as well at the College of Business desk with Cynthia and Renee this Thursday. 

All student who have been in my classes are aware of my emphasizing the importance of obtaining a certification. Sure enough there is a Accredited Petroleum Accountant Certification Program. APA.

However I see the hurdle to  qualify is  incredibly high. One has to have

an accounting degree -reasonable

five years experience in petroleum industry accounting – this seems onerous as the person is likely doing pretty much the same thing for five years, ie one really has one year experience repeated five times

and one must be a CPA – well in that case why bother, this should be the other way around, allowing someone who is NOT a cpa but who knows this field to qualify, 

So not an alternative for our students but 

I would think many of you should be applying for the scholarship. 

One more thing,  of three people I visited with today at their meeting, none had a business card. 

Do not let this happen to you, have cards printed and put them everywhere, in our back pack, book bag, car, desk at home, purse, pockets of frequently worn jackets, etc.