The podcast Journeys of Accountancy is all about the real day-to-day lives of accountants. Its co-host, Mark Cowan, Boise State professor and director of the Master of Science in Accountancy-Taxation programs, co-created it to show that accountants do more than add columns of numbers.
“We’ve had stories of people going out to count the french fries at Simplot, having to go onto the factory floor and observe the inventory,” Cowan said about guests on the podcast. “We’ve had alumni who’ve told us their clients are these tech companies that are doing things that have never been done before and that they had to figure out how to account for them. We’ve had local CPAs explain how they’ve helped grieving families settle estates — reducing their stress at a difficult time. And we’ve heard time and again the importance of building relationships with others.”
Boise State instructors now use the podcast as a teaching tool and an introduction to the discipline. Cowan hopes it will encourage more students to enter “the pipeline” and join the field. He knows more students will choose accountancy if he shows it can be an accessible, exciting and satisfying career. That’s part of why he recently chose to take advantage of Unbridled: The Campaign for Boise State’s Scholarship Endowment Bridge program to put more money into a scholarship he created for accounting students a decade ago: the Cowan Family Scholarship.