KPMG Partners And The KPMG Foundation Endow Smeal Accounting Professorship

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (March 5, 2008) – A recent gift of about $460,000 from the KPMG Partners and The KPMG Foundation has permanently endowed the KPMG Professorship in Accounting in Penn State's Smeal College of Business. The professorship had previously been funded on an annual basis for more than 20 years.

The KPMG Professorship, held by Steven Huddart, provides income for teaching and research materials, salary supplements, and travel assistance. The title also recognizes the holder's significant contributions to Smeal in teaching and research.

"This marks a great day for both Penn State and KPMG and further strengthens the relationship between both organizations and the joint commitment to the profession," said Manny Fernandez, KPMG's national managing partner for university relations.

"Endowed professorships are vital to our success in that they allow Smeal to continue to attract and maintain the best faculty members in their respective fields," noted Smeal College Dean James B. Thomas. "Our college has enjoyed a long relationship with KPMG and its partners, in recruitment of our students, support of our academic programs, and service on our advisory boards. We're grateful for the firm's continual support and delighted that it has lent its renowned name to one of our faculty."

KPMG hires a total of approximately 80 interns and full-time recruits each year from Smeal, according to Dan Givoly, chair of the Department of Accounting. The firm also typically hires about 15 non-accounting graduates and offers about 5 to 10 internships to non-accounting students.

Smeal has a devoted group of alumni among the ranks at KPMG. For example, David Otteni, a member of the class of 1975 and managing partner of KPMG's office in Raleigh, N.C., serves on the college's Accounting Advisory Board.

"Just as important as the Smeal graduates who join KPMG are the ongoing contributions of the Penn State faculty in research and support of the accounting profession as a whole," said Otteni. "The KPMG Professorship reflects the strength of our relationship and our shared commitment to the profession."

The late Eugene O'Kelly, a 1972 Smeal graduate and former CEO of KPMG, was named an Alumni Fellow by the Penn State Alumni Association in 2003. O'Kelly, with his wife, Corinne O'Kelly, and author Andrew Postman, penned the New York Times best-seller Chasing Daylight: How My Forthcoming Death Transformed My Life, which details the last 100 days of O'Kelly's life, from the time he was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in the spring of 2005 until his death on Sept. 10.

Additionally, Bernie Milano, president of the KPMG Foundation, was selected as the 2004 Distinguished Friend of Smeal's Accounting Department, an award recognizing the contributions and professional achievements of the department's most eminent non-alumni friends and supporters. Milano said he has been involved with Penn State for more than 40 years and it is one of the best sources of accounting graduates for the profession.

Steven Huddart was named KPMG Professor of Accounting in June 2005 after the retirement of Charles Smith, who previously held the appointment. Huddart joined the Smeal College faculty in 1999 and focuses his research on how information and incentives affect decisions. He holds a Ph.D., M.A., and M.Phil. from Yale University, and a bachelor's degree from the University of Waterloo.

About The KPMG Foundation
The KPMG Foundation was created in 1968 to support quality education in accounting, specifically through its Matching Gift Program. Over the years, the foundation has provided support and direction to numerous initiatives that have greatly impacted business higher education. The Foundation's flagship program (now a separate not-for-profit organization), The PhD Project, has been the principal reason that the number of minority business professors has tripled in the past 13 years. The foundation began its Professorships program in 1974.

About the Smeal College of Business
Since its inception in 1953, more than 64,000 students have graduated from Penn State's Smeal College of Business. With a current enrollment of more than 5,500 students in its undergraduate and graduate programs combined, Smeal is one of the largest business schools in the world.