When it comes to social responsibility, Emily Booth is getting down to business.
Booth will graduate with distinction this May with concurrent bachelor's and master’s degrees in accounting and a certificate in Socially Responsible Enterprise from the Leeds School of Business at CU-Boulder.
From a highly competitive pool of hundreds of candidates from top U.S. business schools, Booth was selected to be a post-graduate technical assistant for the Financial Accounting Standards Board in Norwalk, Conn. Booth is one of just six postgraduates in the country to be selected for the prestigious program.
“I’m excited about this for a number of reasons,” said Booth. “The opportunity is so unique and so rare. Most accounting majors tend to go to work for public accounting firms while I’ll be contributing to accounting laws. When some multimillion-dollar company reports their revenue, the accounting standards they follow could be something I’ve worked on.”
FASB was established to write rules that govern and improve the generally accepted accounting principles for nongovernmental entities. During the one-year assistantship, Booth will have the opportunity to work on major agenda projects and to be at the forefront of all stages of major standard-setting issues, from research to analysis.
The Leeds School of Business is one of the few undergraduate business schools in the country that emphasizes socially responsible conduct in business throughout its curriculum.
For the experiential learning requirement of the certificate, Booth spent time in China last year teaching business classes at Xi’an International Studies University in Xi’an, China and conducting a mentorship program for businesswomen.
Booth was a teaching assistant for business classes and serves as student body president for Leeds. She is a member of Gamma Phi Beta sorority serving for a year as financial vice president and is active with the professional business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi.
“There’s such a strong emphasis at CU for students to create their individual educational path,” she said. “All the resources to help you achieve your goals and be successful are readily available. I never closed the door on an opportunity, because many of the things I’ve done have come from other opportunities or recommendations. It’s important to keep those communication channels open.”
Booth, from Broomfield, Colorado, is a member of a CU-Boulder family. Her parents met at Kittredge residence hall when they were CU students. She and her three siblings attended CU at the same time.
“When I was growing up, CU was a big part of our family,” said Booth. “We went to all the games and I always got a Buff sweatshirt for Christmas. So CU-Boulder was the perfect fit me.”
Next year, when she finishes the FASB assistantship, Booth plans to pursue a career in forensic accounting with an eye toward thwarting financial misdeeds.
“I’m passionate about making the business world a better, safer, more ethical place,” she said. “That’s where my social responsibility certificate comes into play. I could definitely see myself working for the Securities and Exchange Commission trying to detect fraud.”
