N.C. A&T Professor Appointed to State Board of Certified Public Accountant Examiners

N.C. A&T Professor Appointed to State Board of Certified Public Accountant Examiners

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Aug. 26, 2024) – Gov. Roy Cooper has appointed Kecia Williams Smith ‘95, CPA, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Willie A. Deese College of Business and Economics at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, to the North Carolina State Board of Certified Public Accountant Examiners.  

As a member of this board, Smith oversees all efforts to ensure that licensed certified public accountants (CPAs) and firms are operating properly under the state regulations and guidelines. The board also approves CPA exam applicants and provides guidance on the exam and licensure processes.  

“My purpose in being on the board is to make sure that quality remains job one because when there are quality audits and when CPAs are operating in high quality, that benefits the citizens that we serve,” said Smith. 

Smith, who joined the N.C. A&T faculty in 2019, brings a wealth of expertise and experience as a practitioner and regulator to this three-year board appointment. She is a tenured professor in the Department of Accounting and Finance and director of the department’s Master of Accountancy program. 

According to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, only 2% of all CPAs in the nation are Black. As director of A&T’s Center for Accounting Diversity, much of Smith’s work and research focuses on the lack of diversity and inequities in the field. She is an avid researcher with explorations in diversity, financial and regulatory communication, and audit quality. 

“Coming back to my alma mater and serving at the board level will hopefully get others to be excited about the profession and to see somebody that looks like them,” she said. “I’ve had three careers in the accounting profession. It has served me very well and I just want others to have the same type of opportunity that I’ve had.”  

Smith is the second A&T faculty member Cooper recently appointed to a state board. Andrea R. Gentry-Apple ‘11, Ph.D., undergraduate Laboratory Animal Science program coordinator and Veterinary Education coordinator in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, was named to the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Board.