(Posted February 15, 2001)

Accountants know how to evaluate numbers and Juniata College has had uncommon success at placing students in its accounting program in internships and jobs at four of the "Big 5" accounting firms in the United States, according to Patricia Weaver, professor of business and economics at Juniata.

The "Big 5" accounting firms are Ernst and Young, KPMG, Deloitte and Touche, Arthur Andersen, and PriceWaterhouse Coopers. "Fewer than 2 percent of the accounting students nationwide get internships or job offers from these top accounting firms, and four students from our program have received offers in the past two years," explains Dominick Peruso, assistant professor of business and economics at Juniata College.

Brandy Workinger, a junior from Dallastown, Pa., is the latest accounting student to receive an internship offer from a top accounting firm. She will work for the PriceWaterhouse office in Harrisburg starting in May. "Generally, if you work as an intern for a top accounting firm, they will extend a full-time job offer if you have performed well," Peruso says

Workinger also was named a first-team Division III All-American volleyball player for the Juniata Eagles volleyball team as an outside hitter. She was voted onto the team by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. Workinger also teaches the laboratory classes for the Excel spreadsheet portion of the college's managerial accounting course.

Juniata senior Tim Scanlan, from Ebensburg, received and accepted a job offer from the Pittsburgh office of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm. He will go to work after graduation in May.

Brandon Zlupko, a native of Altoona, Pa. and a 2000 graduate of Juniata, works for Ernst and Young in that firm's Philadelphia office.

Jeff Craft, a native of Washington, Pa. and a 2000 graduate of Juniata, works in the Pittsburgh office of the Deloitte and Touche accounting firm.

Peruso says the typical starting salary at one of the five major accounting firms for a recently graduated accounting major can range from $37,000 to $42,000.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.