The Hokies landed at No. 22 in both the undergraduate and master’s rankings (up from No. 29 and No. 30 in 2015, respectively) and debuted at No. 24 in the doctoral rankings. – Public Accounting Report

Virginia Tech’s undergraduate and graduate programs in accounting broke into the top 25 for the first time in all three degree categories ranked by the Public Accounting Report.

“The Hokies landed at No. 22 in both the undergraduate and master’s rankings (up from No. 29 and No. 30 in 2015, respectively) and debuted at No. 24 in the doctoral rankings,” the report said in its August 2016 newsletter, which discussed the findings of its annual survey of accounting professors.

The survey also compares the schools in groups of similar size of full-time faculty, and Virginia Tech’s rankings are even better among large schools, those with 22-plus full-time faculty: No. 14 for undergraduate programs and No. 13 for master’s.

“One of our goals was to get into the top 20 among large schools, and we have easily passed that goal, thanks to the efforts of the faculty and staff of the Department of Accounting and Information Systems,” said Pamplin College of Business dean Robert Sumichrast.

He recognized in particular the leadership of Reza Barkhi, who returned to full-time teaching and research this summer after serving as department head for five years.

Barkhi said the department has undergone a transition due in part to a number of faculty retirements in recent years and a vigorous recruitment program. “We are on a very positive trajectory with Jack’s leadership,” he said, referring to Jack Maher, who succeeded him in July.

Virginia Tech accounting graduates, who include Lynne Doughtie, KPMG’s first female chief executive, are among the university’s most successful and supportive alumni.

The Public Accounting Report is an independent newsletter of the accounting profession, available by subscription. Its annual professors’ survey is open to accounting professors at U.S. colleges and universities that offer accounting degrees. This is the 35th year of the survey, which was conducted in April.