Pam Smith, CPA, MBA, Ph.D.
CPA Instructor
Expertise
Education
- Ph.D. in Accounting and Finance from the University of North Texas
- MBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Dallas
- B.S. in Accountancy from Ferris State University
Experience
- KPMG Professor of Accountancy at Northern Illinois University
Overview
Pam Smith is the KPMG Endowed Professor Emeritus of Accountancy and a Distinguished Teaching Professor at Northern Illinois University.
Her specialization in both teaching and research is in accounting and reporting in relation to business ethics, combinations, consolidation, derivatives and hedging, and valuation.
Dr. Smith received her B.S. in Accountancy from Ferris State University, her MBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Dallas, and her Ph.D. in Accounting and Finance from the University of North Texas. She also has over 40 publications for both academic and practitioner audiences.
Pam Smith has received numerous teaching awards not only at Northern Illinois University but also at both national and international levels. These awards include the Wall Street Journal’s Distinguished Professor Award, the American Accounting Association Innovation in Accounting Education Award, the Midwest AACSB Innovation in Business Education Award, the Illinois CPA Society Outstanding Educator of the Year, and NIU’s highest recognition: the Board of Trustee Professorship.
In 2006, Smith led a task force of 60 senior-level executives who served on the dean’s Board of Executive Advisors (BOEA) to create the Building Ethical Leaders using an Integrated Ethics Framework program, also known as the BELIEF Program.
At that time, the NIU College of Business was the only business school in the country (possibly even the world) to develop a model and implementation plan for ethics education in business successfully.
Because of this, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), an international business education organization, commended the program as an international best practice during a global conference and featured the work on their website. Smith became the face of BELIEF and traveled around the world to present the work.
Outside of the classroom, she and her husband are avid dancers, cutting the rug to everything from ballroom to polka, line dances to salsa, and swing to two-step.
Highlights
Acknowledgments:
- Named NIU’s Presidential Teaching Professor in 2013
- Received the NIU Board of Trustees Professorship in 2010
- Received the American Accounting Association Innovation in Accounting Education Award in 2009
- Received the Illinois CPA Society’s Outstanding Educator Award in 2008
- Selected three times by NIU leadership from a pool of over 1,000 outstanding faculty to serve as NIU’s nominee for the CASE and Carnegie Foundation Professor of the Year
Publications:
- One of the authors of the NIU College of Business “Building Ethical Leaders” handbook
- One of the developers of the NIU College of Business’s BELIEF initiative (Building Ethical Leaders using an Integrated Ethics Framework)
