The role of the Accounting Club is to bring in speakers from different companies to speak about their firm and the work they do. 

“We bring in speakers for students who are doing their majors in accounting,” stated Sarah Prendergast, president of the Accounting Club.

Prendergast works alongside Vice President Tom Kunzer, who also helps organize guest speakers for the club. 

“We get speakers from different sectors of accounting such as audits, tax and student tools. We also get professionals from the Big Four and smaller firms as well,” Prendergast said. 

The Big Four are the four biggest professional services networks in the world, consisting of Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The accounting club was not as active as it would have liked to be in the last few years, but ever since Prendergast and Kunzer have taken it on, they have been much more involved in the Simpson community.

The club only meets up when a speaker comes to campus. 

“Last semester we had six speakers come to campus and this semester we have one so far,” Prendergast said. 

Currently, there are around 23 students in the club, all with either minors or majors in accounting. Accounting professors promote the club because it gives students the opportunity to not only meet people in the industry, but get internships and jobs.

Prendergast said the Accounting Club helps provide students with tools to be successful in accounting exams.

“They are necessary tests you need to process in a career in accounting, and the student tools are needed if you are going to pass,” Prendergast said.

Prendergast recalled how the Accounting Club helped her land her current internship. 

“We like to bring the speakers out to dinner before they come to the college to speak. Doing this resulted in me getting an internship with KPMG in Des Moines from next January to March. Tom also got the internship as well,” Prendergast said. 

The club is open to everyone but is mainly aimed at students focusing on future careers in accounting.