The business Accountant

Curtis Taylor '09

The leadership opportunities Curtis Taylor took advantage of while a business student at MBU turned out to pay great dividends shortly after he graduated this past spring.

Taylor, '09, graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. Simply put: He left MBU prepared to work.

"My experience at MBU made me confident," Taylor said. "I learned practical information, but I also learned how to translate the knowledge I gained in a real work environment."

Today, Taylor is a staff auditor at Brown Smith Wallace, the second-largest locally owned CPA and business advisory firm in Missouri. There, he works with a range of St. Louis-area companies-from not-for-profit organizations to high-profile corporations-to ensure his clients' records and reports are valid and the information is fairly presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.

It's the type of position Taylor has been eyeing since he began his college career. Shortly after coming to MBU, Taylor, who is from Humble, Texas, quickly got involved with the University's award-winning chapter of Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) organization. SIFE students use the conceptual and theoretical knowledge learned in the classroom to make executive decisions while planning and implementing outreach projects in and around the St. Louis community. The students use market economics, entrepreneurship and business ethics to help benefit the community. Those projects are ultimately judged against other institutions worldwide.

Taylor is the past president of SIFE and a state award-winner for his role in the MBU Accounting Club. He also won MBU's annual outstanding student award for both SIFE and Accounting.

It was ultimately the network Taylor made though his involvement in SIFE that scored him an interview with Brown Smith Wallace. Taylor asked the keynote speaker at MBU's bi-annual SIFE Chapel, the president of UniGroup, for coffee. As networking goes, the chapel speaker offered to make some calls for Taylor.

Three interviews later, Taylor had scored his first job post-college-in the field he had been aiming to enter for more than four years. Networking was vital, but so was the wealth of knowledge-with an emphasis on practicality-he received in his classes.

"My professors had real experience," Taylor said. "They've done what I am doing now, and they did a good job relating what they learned in the field. I've already seen a lot of stuff they talked about, and I feel prepared because of it."

Not only does Taylor feel prepared, he feels passionate about what he's doing.

"I have endless amounts of information at my fingertips," Taylor said. "I get to use that information to make sure people are being treated well and processes are working properly."