The Kansas football team will attempt to put pressure on Oklahoma State this weekend without using the blitz. 1B Over the weekend the KU volleyball team will play two games as it attempts to break out of its current funk. 1B
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2006
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOL.117 ISSUE 40
THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
PAGE 1A
BUSINESS
Accountants in high demand, short supply
BY JACK WEINSTEIN
Life is good for Matt Terrill.
The Overland Park graduate student is getting married next summer. Terrill is nearly a year away from earning his master's degree in accounting, and he already has a job at CBIZ/Mayer Hoffman McCann in Kansas City, Mo.
"It's great," he said about already having a job. "I have friends that are stressing out right now."
Accounting students at the University are finding it easier to gain employment when they finish their degrees because of the increased need for accountants in the industry. Changes in legislation and the current state of the economy has put the accounting profession in high demand. Many students like
Terrill secure jobs well before they graduate.
Eight accounting firms, including the "Big Four" of Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Deloitte and Touche, Ernst and Young and KPMG, will interview students on campus for jobs and internships during the month of October.
Pricewaterhouse Coopers will hire between 3,500 and 3,600 students from college and university campuses in the U.S. this year to work at their offices all over the country, said Jean Wyer, principal at the New York office and one of two people who manage the recruiting process they call "sourcing."
Jennifer Jordan, career services director for the school of business said that 100 percent of the accounting master's students who filled out
the exit survey at graduation this past May were already employed. She added that 82 percent of the undergraduates who were seeking employment had jobs.
The change in the business has been a progression since 2000, said Greg Payne, senior manager for Grant Thornton in Kansas City, Mo.
In 2001, it was revealed that Enron, once one of the nation's leading energy companies had committed accounting fraud by inflating revenue and hiding debt. Enron's auditing firm, Arthur Anderson, shredded documents related to the audits when the Security and Exchange Commission started investigating the fraud.
Enron filed for bankruptcy as a result. Many of its top executives were indicted for accounting
friend and insider trading. Arthur
Anderson was convicted of obstruction of justice in 2002 and was no longer allowed to audit public companies dropping the "Big Five" firms to the "Big Four."
As a result of the scandal, the Sarbanes Oxley Act was passed in 2002. The
public. The need for more accountants is because the act hold com-
100 percent of the accounting master's students that filled out the exit survey at graduation this past May were already employed.
act created stronger penalties for committing fraud and requires that more information be made to the
Enron and Arthur the industry," said A D. Horner/kPMG
JENNIFER JORDAN Career service director for the school of business
pany executives more personally responsible for financial statements making it more important for audits to be done correctly and accurately. External auditors then verify those internal controls for accuracy and effectiveness.
Teaching Professor of Professional Accounting "Accounting got a lot of exposure."
"It's an ironic situation that Anderson helped Allen Ford, Larry G Distinguished
Allen added that the economy doing well right now made the environment good for accounting students.
Allen said it was a "robust market" for accounting students right now and companies were recruiting potential employees as early as their junior year of college.
Jim Heintz, director of accounting and information systems for the school of business, said about 60 graduate students finished the accounting master's program every year and if that output were doubled, accounting firms could still hire everyone.
SEE ACCOUNTING ON PAGE 6A
SPEAKER
Journalists to speak about soldiers' deaths
BY MARK VIERTHALER
For one year, Jim Sheeler and Todd Heisler of the Rocky Mountain News followed around a marine as he notified families of their loved ones deaths.
Sheeler
The two shadowed Marine Maj. Steve Beck as he informed families of the deaths of their children, husbands, fathers and siblings. Beck met with a 23-year-old pregnant widow, the parents of a young marine and the best friends of soldiers killed in battle.
Sheeler and Heisler will be speaking at 8 a.m.
Heisler
Saturday in 110 Budig Hall in conjunction with the school of journalism's Kansas, Editors Day, Maj. Beck
and John Temple, Rocky Mountain News editor/president/publisher, will also be present for the presentation.
The two won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Features and Photography.
Sheeler's story paints pictures of loss and support across the backdrop of one man from Oklahoma whose mission in the Marines is to be the bearer of death. It's Beck's job to stay with the family, from beginning to end. The article tells of Beck being cursed, hugged and blamed.
Heisler's accompanying photos paint a haunting collage of death, pain and grief. In one, the pregnant wife of a soldier throws herself across the casket of her dead husband. In another, the parents weep as they open the box holding their son's uniforms.
"The whole process was difficult," Heisler said in a phone interview. "We were with people who were grieving. These were people at the worst moments of their lives. Here I am, taking photos of them."
SEE SPEECH ON PAGE 6A
ORGANIZATIONS
Queers and Allies celebrate National Coming Out Day
BY COURTNEY HAGEN
In the midst of the same sex marriage debate, members of Queens and Allies are mobilizing to make campus a more tolerant place for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.
Queers and Allies will celebrate National Coming Out Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today on Wescoe Beach. Members of Queers and Allies will set up a make-shift closet door for others to walk through, symbolizing the coming out process. Those that walk through the doorway will receive a free "Gay? Fine by Me" T-shirt.
"Anybody is welcome to walk through the door," David Ta, Queens and Allies events chair and Wichita senior, said. "By walking through, you are saying to whoever sees you that you support queer rights issues."
The T-shirts are designed to help stimulate a more gay-friendly environment at the University. Not only are the T-shirts for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individuals, Ta said allies who wanted to support the LGBT community also wear the
SEE COMING OUT ON PAGE 6A
index
Classifieds... 7B
Crossword... 6B
Horoscopes... 6B
Opinion... 7A
Sports... 1B
Sudoku... 6B
All contents, unless stated otherwise,
© 2008 The University Daily Kansan
HEALTH
An ingredient in marijana may be the best treatment for Alzheimer's, according to a recent study by the Scripps Research Institute. THC, the active ingredient in marijana, was proven to be more effective in treating Alzheimer's than the leading Alzheimer's drugs.
Study shows marijuana ingredient may help treat Alzheimer's disease
BY ANNA FALTERMEIER
Photo Illustration by Anna Faltermier/KANSAN
The active ingredient in marijuana, THC, may be the most effective drug for treating the declining effects of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study
done by the Scripps Research Institute.
Bill Smith, public health educator at the KU Wellness Resource Center, said the study's results seemed promising. Smith said it not a
The study found that THC "competitively inhibited" the formation of harmful plaques in the brain. THC stopped the plaque build up of AChE, the enzyme
"Marijuana has been used medicinally for thousands of years for a variety of things, and it does have some uses, but there are also some negatives."
in marijuana, a compound called THC.
BILL SMITH Public health educator at the KU Wellness Resource Center
cure, but at least a good treatment could come out of it.
The study, which appeared in the Oct. 2 issue of Molecular Pharmaceutics, isolated a synthetic form of the active ingredient
that speeds up the formation of harmful plaques in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease.
THC was more effective than the two leading drugs for treating Alzheimer's, donepezil and tacrine. It almost completely reduced ACHE from forming harmful plaques, whereas donepezil and tacrine did so only 22 percent and 7 percent of the time.
Perhaps to the dismay of sup-
porters to legalize the drug, Smith said this didn't mean students should go out and smoke marijuana.
"Marijuana has been used medicinally for thousands of years for a variety of things, and it does have some uses, but there are also negatives," Smith said.
He said long-term problems related to marijuana use could include symptoms of chronic bronchitis, difficulty sustaining and shifting attention and difficulty registering, processing and using information. Short-term problems related to marijuana use could include memory and learning problems, distorted perception, difficulty in thinking, loss of coordination, increased heart rate, and anxiety and panic attacks.
Laura Green, executive director of Drug Policy Forum of Kansas, said she thought the study was just another in a long line of studies that show the beneficial properties of marijana.
According to the Alzheimer's Association Web site, about 4.5 million American's have Alzheimer's. It's estimated this number will more than double by 2050. The average cost of care for an Alzheimer's patient is $174,000.
"It shows what a lot of people have known for a long time, including the U.S. government, that marijuana has properties that are beneficial to people's health," Green said.
Green said marijuana was legal for medicinal purposes in 11 states. In Kansas there is no protection for any use of marijuana.
Some people are hopeful that new treatments will come out of this study.
"I think what this study is showing is that if you can isolate the good effects of it, then that's a healthier way to do it," Smith said.
Kansan staff writer Anna Faltermeier can be contacted at afaltermeier@kansan.com.
- Edited by Jacky Carter