NABA co-founder and author Frank Ross encourages students to strive for excellence

Believe in yourself. Strive for excellence. Perform at the highest level possible and always do what is right.

That was just some of the advice Frank K. Ross, director of the Center for Accounting Education at the Howard University School of Business and author of Quiet Guys Do Great Things, Too: A Black Accountant’s Success Story, gave in an address to a group of business students during the annual Richard H. Austin Lecture Series for Accounting Excellence.

The series, designed to coincide with Black history month and discuss diversity while promoting successful careers in accounting, included a luncheon and workshops led by industry professionals selected by accounting firms Plante & Moran, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, KPMG and Rehmann as well as the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA).

Themed Knowing the Bottom Line in 2011, the event drew students, faculty, alumni and accounting professionals to the McGregor Memorial Conference Center on Wayne State’s campus.

“It’s great for our students to be able to network with alumni and professionals in the industry,” said David L. Williams, dean of WSU’s School of Business Administration. “We think that’s a critical part of their experience while in the program.”

He also said that the diversity of Wayne State’s student body, faculty and staff is one of its great strengths.

“It encourages robust ideas, meaningful conversations and a better perspective on Michigan business and the global economy,” he said.

Ross, one of nine co-founders and the first president of NABA, presented the keynote address. Students Anika Echols, past recipient of a Richard Austin Scholarship, and Keirra Williams, president of Wayne State’s NABA chapter, also made remarks as did Richard Austin’s daughter Hazel Austin, School of Business Dean David Williams and Department of Accounting Chair Randy Paschke.

The Richard Austin Lecture Series is supported by the Richard Austin Fund for Accounting Excellence. The fund was established as a tribute to the outstanding career of Richard Austin, the first African-American certified public accountant (CPA) in the state of Michigan. In 1970, he was elected Michigan’s 39th secretary of state and served for a record 24 years. The lecture series advances Richard Austin’s legacy by recognizing and supporting the academic achievements and career potential of under-represented accounting students.

For nearly a quarter of a century, his firm – Austin, Washington and Davenport – was one of few and the only one in Michigan where black Americans could gain qualifying experience to become CPAs.

“When you hear the stories that Richard Austin and his peer group had to go through to get experience just to become a CPA,” said Ross, “it really makes you appreciate the opportunities that you have now. He laid the foundation for us in the accounting profession.”

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