KPMG Professor Charles H. Smith retired the end of June 2006.  A reception was held October 27, 2006 and a banquet iin his honor on October 28, 2006 where many of his friends and colleagues gave tribute. 

Charlie first came to Penn State in 1964 to earn his PhD degree, after working in public accounting in Cape Town, South Africa. He returned to Penn State as a member of the faculty in 1987 as the KPMG Professor of Accounting and served as chair of the Accounting Department until 2000.  He has taught the introductory accounting course and Intermediate Financial Accounting I.  Prior to joining Penn State’s faculty, Charlie taught at the Arizona State University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Washington in Seattle, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  He has served the accounting profession in numerous ways, including business consulting, expert witness, editorial boards for professional journals, and participation on committees with the American Accounting Association, AICPA, PICPA, etc.

At his retirement celebration, Charlie was honored as the 2006 Penn State Outstanding Accounting Alumnus Award. Previoulsly, he was received the 2005 Distinguished Achievement in Accounting Education Award from the AICPA and the 2004 Outstanding Accounting Educator award from the PICPA. 

As a volunteer, Charlie has given his time to improve the campus lifestyle for students by serving on several university committees.  He was involved with the creation of both Penn State’s men and women rugby clubs, and coached the women’s team 1991-95.  He currently serves as adviser to the Accounting Society.

Chris Knight, a former student and past president of Beta Alpha Psi, commented “Charlie encouraged me to get as involved as I could.  He said it would not be worth my time to simply sit in the back and passively listen at meetings.  Charlie has achieved the rare status at Penn State of being an institution within an institution.  He has made a major difference in my life, the lives of those who were here before me, and hopefully many more lives to come.”