Robert Morris has become the first school in Western Pennsylvania to earn the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) Accountant Accreditation.

The University joins Lehigh, St. Joseph’s and Villanova as the only schools in the state with the accreditation.

According to the AACSB, there are six different Criterion and Standards that the school must meet.

They have to encourage and support ethical behavior by students, faculty, administration, and professional staff. They must also maintain a collegiate environment and show a commitment to respond, demonstrate, engage and respond to current corporate social responsibility issues.

The school must be a member of the AACSB International and be a well-defined and established entity, in good standing with the AACSB and be structured to ensure proper oversight, accountability, and responsibility for the school’s operations. All degree programs must demonstrate continuing adherence to AACSB accounting accreditation standards.

Along with the different eligibility standards, they also have to meet different innovation, learning, teaching and professional engagement standards.

Robert Morris then had to submit an executive summary of a self-evaluation report to the AACSB. The self-evaluation report is reviewed by the AACSB Peer-Evaluation Team Report Evaluation and Commendations which checks to ensure that all of the standards are being met.

Evaluators applauded the accounting department for its clear focus on professional preparation and the school’s annual “Accounting Day.”

Jacob Peng, the Richard J. Harshman professor of accounting and head of the RMU Department of Accounting and Taxation, said that the process to receive the distinction took over five years while having to meet different criteria areas.

“We are gratified and excited to receive AACSB accounting accreditation and see it as the natural next step in our continuous pursuit of excellence in accounting education,” Peng said. “This achievement is consistent with our accounting program’s long history of quality and the reputation that the program enjoys in the Pittsburgh professional accounting community.”

Robert Morris was originally given the AACSB Accreditation for the School of Business in 2009 and is one of 27 other schools in the state.

Acting Dean of the School of Business Prasad Vemala also shared his thoughts on the distinction for the Department of Accounting and Taxation.

“I applaud the faculty in the Department of Accounting and Taxation, along with the entire School of Business faculty and staff, and student affairs units across the university, for their efforts in helping us to launch,” Vemala said. “The future is now, and this accreditation is the springboard for our next 100 years.”

The AACSB is a nonprofit organization that is a voluntary nongovernmental process that seeks to review a school’s mission, faculty, qualifications, curricula and the ability to provide the highest-quality programs.