Beta Alpha Psi

Beta Alpha Psi
Beta Alpha Psi is an honorary and professional fraternity for accounting, finance, and MIS students. It was established to recognize academic excellence. Membership provides a benchmark by which most public accounting firms and many corporations judge their accounting and finance applicants. Members benefit from professionals in the community and from participating in such events as the "Mock Interviews" and "Meet the Firm." The top accounting and finance professionals in Huntsville interact personally with students through Beta Alpha Psi.

September 5	Brandon Bowen	Robert Half
September 19	Charlie Kettle, CEO	First Commercial Bank
October 3	Betty King, CPA and Milton Looney, CPA	Management Consultant and Instructors of Federal Contract Accounting
October 6	Mock Interview
October 17	Letisha Watson, Analyst; Erin Schoening, Senior Analyst	GAO
October 31	Christy Nalley, CPA, Treasurer and Controller	Enfinger Steele Development
November 14	Tiffany Scales, CPA	Financial Planner
November 30	Induction Ceremony

Today’s speaker was President and CEO Charlie Kettle of First Commercial Bank in Huntsville. He attended Georgia Institute of Technology where he received his BSIM(Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management) and earned his Executive MBA from Georgia State University in 1984. Mr. Kettle serves on the Huntsville Madison County Library Board, Huntsville Rotary Club, and the Huntsville Madison County Chamber of Commerce, Executive Committee.

Mr. Kettle started his banking career in 1971. After he received his undergraduate degree, he did not know what type of job that he wanted to do. He decided to get involved in banking and chose to work at CNS, the best bank in Georgia at the time. CNS was located in Savannah, outside of the huge bustle of Atlanta, and Mr. Kettle knew that by working in a smaller unit, he would be able to get more individual attention. He was there for seven years, learning to lend money by collecting money to lend, and had the opportunity to work with very troubled accounts. Mr. Kettle, then, transferred to an Atlanta office, where he worked in international business, providing him with an introduction to the world of international finance.

Later, he had the chance to leave CNS and help open an office for a foreign bank, where he worked for five years. Next, he worked at Citibank, which was on the cutting edge of private banking. At the time, there were many individuals who were trying to build up wealth. Citibank tried to capitalize on these by putting the most experienced lenders in its offices and going after these daring individuals. After working at Citibank for five years, he and his wife decided to move out of Atlanta to raise their family in Montgomery, AL, where he worked as a senior loan officer.

In 1994, Mr. Kettle received a call asking him to come be president of First Commercial Bank in Huntsville. It had always been a dream of his to be president of a bank, so he took the offer. First Commercial Bank is able to operate semi-autonomous. Its loan policies, pricing, and locations are all determined by local management but have the strength of 35 holding companies. It operates much like a local bank but is able to provide more services and has the “financial muscle” of holding companies.

First Commercial Bank’s predecessor was started in the 1880s in Columbus, GA when a lady got her dress caught in machinery at a textile mill, revealing money under her dress. Management was surprised to discover that nearly all of the workers carried their money with them to safeguard it. With a need for somewhere to store money at the textile mill, management decided to provide a safe where workers were allowed to put their money and were then given a receipt upon deposit. This became Columbus Bank and Trust. After giving an overview of his banking career, Mr. Kettle gave attendees of the meeting a chance to choose topics for him to discuss. These included the following: subprime financing and liquidity pricing, drop in the Federal interest rate, careers in banking, and personal financial advice to seniors.

Mr. Kettle commented on subprime financing, claiming that it resulted from people who allowed greed to get the best of them by packaging loans that individuals could not afford. They were approving people for mortgage loans who otherwise would not have been approved by stretching credits and inflating earnings and appraisals. Many of these loans were interest only loans, so home buyers were not paying any down payment, giving them no investment in their property. They have been forced to default on loans. Mr. Kettle said that he did not see a liquidity crisis. He claims that lenders are being more discriminatory on lending money, and there is plenty of money to lend. The recent drop in the Federal interest rate is an attempt by the Federal Reserve to send a message that there are more problems with the subprime market than may meet the eye. The drop is to appeal to issues of investment commitment.

There are many careers that can be found in banking. Banking offers frontline opportunities, where individuals deal with customers directly, such as branch managers, tellers, loan officers, etc. There are also back office jobs where individuals work in areas such as accounting, information technology, or treasury. These involve limited contact with customers. The growth market exists in the frontline jobs. Mr. Kettle noted that since he started at First Commercial Bank 13 years ago, the bank is now selling products and services that were not available then.

Mr. Kettle assists in interviews for those applying for officer positions or for a position that will grow into one. There are 3 things that he looks for when considering someone for a position. First, he looks to see if the applicant has the skills and talents for the job or has the intellect to pick up on them. Second, he looks for “fire in the belly,” a hunger for the position. Third, he looks to see that the applicant’s values will mesh with the organization’s culture. In addition, applicants must be good with numbers, enjoy working with people, and be willing to deliver bad news.

Mr. Kettle ended his presentation by giving some personal financial advice to seniors. His first piece of advice was to invest your time and energy into learning financial strategies- how to use your money. Appreciate the rule of compound interest, and learn to rely on yourself for investment after retirement. He then suggested working to cultivate your communication skills. Make sure you learn to speak and write correctly; don’t forget to self-educate yourself by reading.

Today’s speaker was Brandon L. Bowen, a Recruiting Manager with Robert Half Finance & Accounting. He graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and earned his MBA from the Rollins College Graduate School of Business with dual concentrations in both Finance and Marketing. Mr. Bowen now lives in Birmingham and not only works as a Recruiting Manager but also owns and operates Business of Wealth LLC, which specializes in financial consulting for small businesses and churches. In addition, he teaches graduate level Finance courses for the University of Phoenix Online.

Mr. Bowen came to present his ideas on how to successfully make the transition from college to a career. He pointed out that in today’s society, you should look at all jobs as temporary; therefore, always be forward thinking, since your first job will more than likely not be where you spend your career. Be sure to evaluate yourself, determining where you are today, where you want to be in the future, and how you are going to get there.

In order to have a successful transition, you must combat job search challenges. Look for ways to improve you by stepping out of your comfort zone to network with other people. Never be too proud to ask for help because you need the help of others to land a job.

It is important to learn how to sell yourself to employers. Mr. Bowen emphasized the fact that you should decide how best to differentiate yourself from other job seekers. Another part of selling yourself is to utilize all resources, such as staffing agencies, search firms, and employment agencies. Call contacts and find out how others got started in their fields. Make sure that you keep records of your findings for now and future reference. Once you’ve decided how best to sell yourself, identify your strengths. This includes not only assessing your abilities but your interests as well and then looking for careers that offer both. Come up with, as Mr. Bowen suggested, the “Elevator Pitch.” If you were to step into an elevator with an executive of a company that you were interested in working for, what would you say to sell yourself for a position in that company?

Prospecting the job market includes looking to the visible, formal job market. Try visiting www.indeed.com which is an online research tool that pulls all online job postings together. The invisible, unadvertised job market is another way to prospect. This would include networking. It is estimated that 2/3 of open job positions are filled through word of mouth. Never wait till you need a job to start networking. You can try networking online at www.meetup.org or at www.ecademy.com. Be conversational wherever you go. You never know what connection someone may have! Help grow your contact list by attending industry events and events outside your industry. Even your family functions or parties with friends may contain valuable contacts.

A resume is another important key to finding a job. Mr. Bowen explained that your resume serves the purpose of getting you an interview. You should create multiple resumes to tailor to the differences in job requirements. When writing your resume, make sure your resume is easy to understand and try to put the most impressive things first. Always avoid cute phrases, typos, spelling errors, misrepresentations, vagueness, and overkill.

Mr. Bowen concluded with the steps to a successful interview. He advised researching a company’s history, CEO, competitors, and financial situation. First impressions count, therefore, make sure that you are dressed appropriately. It is better to be overdressed than under. Always be polite to everyone you meet. Keep in mind that the hiring manager will be evaluating your abilities and motivation. Practice responding to common interview questions. Lastly, follow-up your interview with a handwritten thank-you note to the hiring manager and then a phone call. You can even email a news clip of interest. Your goal is to make a lasting impression on the hiring manager.

Today’s speaker was Chris Anderson of Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC). PwC is the largest of the “big 4” accounting firms, handling 33% of the “fortune 500” revenues and 75% of the global “fortune 500” revenues. PwC employs about 142,000 partners and staff in 149 countries.

PwC has three primary services: audit (assurance), Tax and Advisory (consulting). The global revenues for these three categories are $13.1 billion, $5 billion and $4.3 billion, respectively.

Chris Anderson outlined his progression with PwC, which he claimed is a “natural progression” for someone who wants a career with PwC. He did an summer internship in 1988, started full-time in 1999, became a senior associate in 2001, a manager in 2004, expects to be promoted to senior manager this year or next year and will be eligible for partner around 2012-2013.

The “big four” accounting firms all have 4 areas of specialization: financial services, HE/NFP (higher education/not-for-profit), CIPS (a catch-all for manufacturing, retail, construction, industrial, production, mining, etc.), and the health-care industry.

The remainder of the discussion focused on differences between auditing a government agency (UAH) and a public-sector company (Avocent).

As for standards that drive the audit, GASB applies to UAH while FASB applies to Avocent.

Mr. Anderson outlined three steps to audit preparation and the differences between UAH and Avocent.

The first step is “getting into the mindset,” which Chris said is much different between the two entities mentioned.

Step 3 is to look at the industry, any trends, regulations that apply and who are the primary users of the financial information.

These three steps help the engagement team develop a risk profile which enables them to execute a focused approach, to target specific accounts and ultimately drive how the report will be presented.

Another difference is the time frame allowed – with a public company, there are just X amount of days allotted before the financial statements must be published. With a government agency like UAH things are more relaxed.

With Avocent the auditor is concerned with SOX 404, which is a compliance-type audit to give an opinion on internal controls.

With UAH the auditor is concerned with A-133, which is a compliance-type audit of internal controls to make sure the entity is satisfying compliance with respect to government grants.

As for deliverables, UAH gets a financial report whereas Avocent will require a 10K report, which is more detailed, especially with regard to notes and disclosures.

Somebody asked if an employee of PwC gets much training. Mr. Anderson replied, “Oh yeah and plenty of it!” First and second year associates are rarely left alone. It is desired that all employees have their CPA licenses within two years. Each year, there are 40-80 hours of additional training.

According to Chris Anderson, a good accountant is one that thinks logically, is a problem solver and a free thinker.

Compared to audit, people in the tax department make about 5-10% more, but they are more specialized. An auditor has a better understanding of business in general.

After Mr. Anderson was finished with his presentation the new officers elected for the 2007-2008 school year were as follows: President – Sabrina Wenning, Vice President – Pamelia Wren, Secretary/Reporter – Lindsey Taylor, and Treasurer – David Bennett. Dr. Bryson will continue to serve as the Faculty Advisor. Also determined were the new signers for the account at Alabama Credit Union during the 2007-2008 school year, who are as follows: Dr. Bryson – Faculty Advisor, Sabrina Wenning – President, and David Bennett – Treasurer.

Today’s guest speaker was Dr. Dorla Evans from UAH. Dr. Evans is the current Chair of the UAH Accounting and Finance Department. Her specialty is corporate finance and lately her expertise has been expanding into the area of commercial banking.

Discussion: Pros and Cons of “meet the firm” night were discussed and students who did not participate were asked, “Why not?”

If you are not on the email distribution list and would like to be, please email Dr. Evans at Dorla.Evans@uah.edu.

Dr. Evans discussed the recent changes that have been made to the accounting and finance curriculums (curricula). Current students have the option of continuing under the previous or the new catalog.

UAH has the distinction of being a smaller institution where the teaching is more “hands-on.”

Banking is primarily a “selling” function. Large banking institutions usually take the MBA’s out of ivy-league schools. If you specialize in banking at UAH you will probably end up in a selling function for a firm like Merrill Lynch. However, a previous UAH graduate has recently opened a new local bank, so the possibilities are up to you.

If you want to be in a big corporate environment, then you may want to double major in accounting and finance. Otherwise, you can take the concentration in corporate finance.

Attached are the overviews of the new finance and accounting concentrations. They will also be posted on the CAS webpage under academics and on Dr. Evans’ personal webpage. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Evans at Dorla.Evans@uah.edu.

Today’s speaker was Nate Haynes from the Huron Consulting Group. Nate is currently working on a project here at UAH. Mr. Huron started his career with Arthur Andersen (AA) in 2002. Before AA disintegrated in the midst of the Enron debacle, Nate and a group of fellow employees branched off and started the Huron Group.

Mr. Haynes’ focus is on sponsored projects; He helps universities to manage government projects for grants, projects, etc. UAH, for example, receives about $70 million per year from NASA, the government and others. Nate is currently on assignment here at UAH.

Huron has about 1000 employees and @150 of those are involved with higher education. Depending on the needs of the client, the size of the team will vary. For the current needs of UAH, it is just Nate and one subordinate. He has worked on projects by himself and with groups as large as eight. He once did a 9-10 month stint as the interim director of an Oregon research facility.

Nate is not an accountant – he is more of a financial consultant. Nate said that consulting in general offers much independence, but you must be able to “think on your feet” with confidence.

One big issue (challenge) for universities that Nate deals with is faculty compensation. There are very strict federal rules on how much federal money can be charged for research as part of faculty salaries. Salaries must be declared annually and cannot be changed until the following year. The compliance risk is that salaries be justifiable should the federal auditors show up. Mr. Haynes helps universities to understand and comply with the federal regulations.

Nate’s first challenge here at UAH was to figure out how all the offices that facilitate the research work together, the goal being improvement on the existing model.

In answer to the question, “What do you do?”, Mr. Haynes replied that his job is to make being compliant easy and customer-friendly. He tries to find the best way within a particular culture to disseminate information that will help all involved.

Huron has about 80 ongoing projects. The best employees, in Nate’s opinion, come right out of college. Huron will hire @150 new graduates this year. If you don’t mind being on the road 4-5 days/week, then Huron might be the place for you.

This is a great time to be entering the accounting industry! Nate encouraged the students to find a company with people (especially the managers) who are successful and to whom they can align themselves.

Other areas of business that Huron is involved include the health-care industry, strategic sourcing, mergers and acquisitions, and the legal business consulting practice.

In regard to the health-care industry, Huron works both sides of the street (i.e. hospitals and the insurance companies), assuring that the prior is not underpaid or the latter is not paying too much, depending on who is paying for the services.

Strategic sourcing is simply working with all the vendors of an establishment to save money. For example, a Huron representative might call Dell and hustle a better price on laptops for UAH.

In the Mergers & Acquisitions Department, the bankruptcy of United Airlines is an example of a typical project.

Helping to quantify a litigious situation or determining the value of a patent and providing expert testimony are examples of what is being done in the Legal Business Consulting Practice Department.

One last example of something that Nate has worked on in the past: Duke University bought a Raleigh Hospital that had $33 million of unpaid insurance claims. What they did was to hire @six temps to call the insurance companies about all the unpaid claims and literally hound them until they decided to pay. Nate called this activity “cash acceleration” and it worked because in a short time they had recovered @$25/33 million.

If you are an accounting or finance major and are interested in working for the Huron Consulting Group, just google Huron and follow the yellow brick road…

Today’s guest speaker was Mecia Harris, an auditing specialist from the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA). Marcia hails from UAH and has the record in the state of Alabama for the highest overall score on the CPA exam. She gives much credit to the quality level of instruction she received at UAH.

At DCAA, they don’t do much financial auditing – once per year they do financial capability reviews (LEARN YOUR RATIOS) – other than that, they audit contract proposals. There are ten control areas that they focus upon. The folks at DCAA work hard and have to track productivity. If their goals are not met then their head person must answer to Congress. The possibility of being outsourced is always a threat.

Starting salaries are at the GS-7 or GS-9 rate, depending upon the level of education, plus “locality pay” for living in Huntsville (extra pay to cover the cost of living). In three years one can potentially make GS-12, earning $63,900/year plus locality pay. One can stay at that level without going into management and continue to increase in pay scale.

New employees spend the first two weeks training on a computer. During the first year, they will spend two weeks in Memphis for technical indoctrination, and a week studying intermediate contract auditing. The second year there will be a week of statistical sampling and a week of effective writing (KNOW WORD AND EXCEL). Free online Excel training is available. During year three each person will spend a week studying cost-accounting standards and 2 days of regression analysis. Beyond year three, 80 hours of continuing professional education (CPE) is required each 3 years with a minimum of 20 hours/year. DCAA will pay for your CPA review courses and for your Master’s courses.

Flexible schedules are offered and some work, called telework, can be done at home. For those with corporate ambitions, you can expect lots of money with no life. There are opportunities to go into the private sector.

The DCAA website address is www.dcaa.mil or you can find personnel-related information at www.opm.gov. Send your resume if you are interested in the May-June jobs coming up. You can get a copy of the requirements from Dr. Bryson. Your resume should include the “usual” – of course! – also, include your social security number, experience, names of institutions attended, types of degrees received, GPA, whether you are a US citizen, and geographic preference. DCAA does have offices around the world; you may get to Hawaii, but the overseas jobs usually require GS-11 and above.

Many of the jobs do not require a security clearance, but some do and you may need to pass a polygraph test.

DCAA has a strong support structure with plenty of camaraderie. Mecia and the co-workers she brought along all enjoy working there.

What classes and subjects helped Mecia the most? Auditing (risk and controls), ACC 470 Seminar – Finance (time-value of money and ratio analysis), cost accounting, managerial accounting, and AIS (input, output). For electives she recommends finance, MIS, statistics and management courses.

After your first assignment, the government will usually pay for all moving expenses, should you decide to relocate.

And the best news of all I have saved for last: After 15 years of service, you will accrue 12 hours of leave every 2 weeks – that is nearly 2 months of vacation per year!!

Announcements: All who plan to attend ‘Meet the Firm’ night are asked to send a copy of their resumes to Jason Miller before January 31 at jlm0001@uah.edu .

If you are planning to participate in the VITA program - please email Anna Roberts as to your availability. Mandatory training is scheduled for Saturday, February 17, from 1-3pm. We will be offering tax assistance to UAH students on March 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, and April 7 &14.

Today’s speaker was Donald Nalley, Jr. of Beason & Nalley. Beeson & Nalley is an accounting firm that focuses on government contract accounting because there is great need which will continue to grow and because the ‘cost of accounting’ is 5-6 times greater for government contractors than it is for commercial businesses (2½ to 3% vs. ½%). For example, with a typical business you might spend an hour setting up a Quick Books program, but with a government contractor you could spend months setting up GCS premier or Cost Point software – that is a whole lot of billable hours!

Mr. Nalley pointed out that Huntsville is the #2 city for prime government contracts, led only by Washington, D.C. BRAC will be bringing 5000 or more jobs to Huntsville. Thirty percent or less of the people currently holding those positions will relocate from Washington D.C. Each employee seat will create 2-3 jobs.

Right now Huntsville keeps about 18% of the dollars that flow through the area. It is hoped that we can double that figure by securing more of the contracts locally – that would mean that we could double the effect that BRAC will have on this region. Washington, D.C. firms are buying up Huntsville firms ‘like hotcakes’ so as to not miss out on the action.

There will be an increasing need for accountants in Huntsville, especially in the area of government contract accounting. There will be opportunities here that could not be found in Atlanta, Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, etc. However, governmental accounting is like no other and one must really know what he/she is doing or the results could be catastrophic. For example, the U.S. government is the only client to whom you must explicitly define ahead of time the manner in which you will bill them and if you do it differently, you will end up paying them money.

Mr. Nalley pointed out that there are huge opportunities in this arena. For example, his firm has come up with a growth incentive sharing plan (GISP). Under this plan certain key players (e.g. CFO) are issued a ‘unit’ which tracks the value of a business over time and from the first day of employment, that person would have the right to a predetermined percentage of the company growth.

Mr. Nalley ended his speech by encouraging us to learn the industry. He stressed the need for knowledge in the area of cost accounting and said it would be better to take a job with a big contractor, where one will learn the ropes by working under more experienced accountants. In contrast, if you take a job with a small firm you may be one of only a few people in the accounting department and that is not a good place to be as government contracting is complicated.

Visiting with us today were Mr. Roger Watkins and Mr. Rick Walker from Boeing Finance in Huntsville. Mr. Watkins is deputy director of the contracts, Pricing and Estimating department and Mr. Watkins is an up-and-coming protégé.

The introduction consisted of a 5-10 minute film depicting the many products that Boeing makes or has involvement. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a worldwide company that employs over 78,000 people. The Huntsville Finance location is considered a synergistic center of excellence (HQ for business people).

Mr. Watkins was filling in for the person who usually does the presentation. Roger did a great job of describing the seven departments within Huntsville Finance:

The most interesting topic concerning UAH students is the BSRP program. Although nobody knew the exact meaning of the acronym, BSRP was described as a three-year rotation program for new hires. Initially a college graduate would be hired into one of the seven departments previously mentioned. Years two and possibly three will be spent working in different departments, unless after the second year the employee decides that he/she would prefer returning to the original “function”. After the period of rotation, the employee will return to the original function and will have the option of applying for a position in one of the other functions. This is a great program that benefits both the employee and the employer.

Mr. Walker described his own experience in the BSRP program. He also discussed the many benefits that are enjoyed by Boeing employees. He mentioned that Boeing is real big on continuing education and training and that Boeing will actually pay educational expenses up-front. Huntsville Finance has both an on-site finance library and a Boeing library for those who wish to increase their knowledge. He is very happy he chose Boeing and encourages others to do the same.

Today Jeff Thompson spoke to us about BRAC (Base Realignment and closure) 2005 and its implications for Alabama and Madison County, in particular.

Mr. Thompson pointed out that although Huntsville is a bit higher in per capita income and a bit lower in unemployment rate, in general it follows the trend of Alabama State as a whole. He pointed out that Alabama is a great place to live. Jeff talked about Redstone Arsenal and how, economically, it directly affects everything within a 50 mile radius.

Right now Redstone consumes about 14% of the federal budget and about $30 billion goes through the Arsenal annually.

BRAC will be bringing many new people to the area: there will be an estimated influx of 9,000 children alone. Many people will not follow their jobs and there will be many job openings available, especially in the year 2009.

The biggest event associated with BRAC 2005 for the Arsenal is that the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) will be sending a four-star General. Mr. Thompson said that this is a “very big deal.” Apparently, this is like having the President come to stay and Huntsville will have to “bone-up” in preparation.

Mr. Thompson concluded by saying that although Redstone has been chosen for realignment, we have only made it to half-time and we still have to play the second half well in order to succeed. He really hopes that Alabamians will take advantage of the upcoming opportunities so that the Arsenal will not give the work to outside contractors. There will be openings at all levels.

Speaking to a full house was Raymond Zicarelli, Special Agent for the FBI. Special Agent Zicarelli majored in accounting, became a CPA and later went to Law school.

In 1984, the “year of the spies,” Raymond was working foreign counter-intelligence in Norfolk, Virginia. He was part of a team that uncovered a family that was spying for the U.S.S.R. He continued in counter-intelligence working out of Baltimore, Maryland. During that time he was involved in the investigation and arrest of two spies, both of whom are serving life sentences. One of them was working for the NSA.

In 1994, he moved to Mobile, Alabama where he investigated corruption, organized (mob) and “white collar” crime. Starting in 1996 he became the legal advisor/recruiter for the Mobile office. Special Agent Zicarelli moved to Birmingham, Alabama in 2004 and is currently serving as their legal advisor/recruiter.

He named ‘auditing’ as the best description of how the FBI investigates. These investigations might include multi-million dollar SEC-type investigations of banks or companies like Health-South.

Mostly, a special agent will interview people. The best information comes from the interview because the truth can be verified and a lie is nearly as good as a confession. The agents always travel in pairs, so it will never be “my word against yours.” An accounting major could use auditing skills to build a case, at which point he/she could obtain grand-jury subpoenas to obtain financial statements. A court order is needed for tax records, but this is possible as there is no attorney/client privilege in the federal system. Also, there is no such thing as an accountant/client privilege, when corruption is suspect.

There are two types of jobs available with the FBI, either Special Agent or Professional Support. In order to qualify for Special Agent, one must be between 23-36 years old, a US citizen, physically fit, have a 4-yr degree plus 3 years of professional experience and be able to pass both a background check and a polygraph test. Military service qualifies as experience. There are four exceptions to the experience qualification. People with a CPA license, computer-science majors, attorneys and people who speak a second language desirable to the FBI do not need experience to apply.

The other type of job is that of professional support, where one might be a financial manager or a financial analyst. For this there is no age limit. The main difference between this and special agent is that professional support personnel usually work in only one office whereas Special Agents will be transferred after 2-3 years. A special Agent will probably not work in his home area unless he does so by seniority, later in life.

The FBI has an Honors Intern program for juniors who have at least a 3.0 GPA. Next years slots are filled, so today’s sophomores can look ahead to next year’s applications, due October 10, 2007. Those chosen will work in Washington, D.C. for 10 weeks at the rate of $700/week. Upon their return, they will become spokespersons for the FBI, willing to share their experiences.

Training for Special Agent consists of 16 weeks at Quantico, Virginia. After 4 weeks they will ask for a ‘wish list’ of where one would like to work. As long as it is not in his/her home town, they will do their best to accommodate.

During those 16 weeks, participants will learn about pertinent violations which the FBI is most interested in, report writing and documentation, how to use firearms (all Special Agents are required to carry guns), domestic/international terrorism (the FBI’s primary concern), arrest situations, handcuffing techniques and the like. And of course, there will be extensive and rigorous physical training.

The FBI is very supportive of continuing education and once per year they will send CPA’s, for example, to a wonderful place like Las Vegas for a week of fun and…oh yeah, updating certifications.

Beginning salaries start @60-65K/year and cap out at GS-13. For more information, check out the website at www.fbi.gov.