Dr. Rebecca Shortridge has been a member of the UTC faculty since 2021. Photo by Angela Foster.
Dr. Rebecca Shortridge, Gary W. Rollins Endowed Chair and head of the Department of Accounting at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, has always been mindful of finances. Shortridge, who joined the UTC faculty in 2021 after 16 years at Northern Illinois University, developed an interest in finance at a young age.
“When I was a kid, maybe in middle school, I had classifications for money,” Shortridge said. “I had little notebooks that I would keep records in. I had babysitting money. I had gift money from birthdays, Christmases and allowances. I also had this box, which my mom talks about all the time, that I called my gold. It was bicentennial money—money from 1976, the bicentennial of the United States.
“I would count all that money in different ways and allocate it. Babysitting money could be used for certain things and gift money could be used for certain things. I did that from an early age. I always thought it was interesting.”
As a result, choosing accounting as her major at Indiana University was easy.
Upon graduation, Shortridge worked as a certified public accountant (CPA) at Arthur Young, eventually becoming Ernst & Young—currently one of the “Big Four” accounting firms. After the merger, Shortridge joined an Indianapolis firm to focus on smaller businesses.
“Small companies were more appealing to me because I felt like I was helping the business owners,” Shortridge said. “They frequently struggled with tasks including balancing their cash register, processing transactions and determining their income. I felt like I helped them run their businesses successfully.”
Shortridge comes from a family of educators and entrepreneurs.
Her mother, who earned a Ph.D. in business education from Indiana University, taught business education in high school before working for a local community college. She also worked as a financial advisor at Edward Jones.
Her father, originally a Marine pilot, worked in both education and manufacturing—spending five years in the teaching profession.
Shortridge’s grandmother also melded the two professions.
“She grew up on a farm and went to Indiana University,” Shortridge said. “She returned to her home and bought a Presbyterian church where she had a kindergarten because it wasn’t in public schools.”
While working in public accounting, Shortridge taught an accounting class at Ivy Tech community college in Indianapolis. She enjoyed teaching and, with many connections to education, she started her Ph.D. program at Michigan State University.
Shortridge’s hope at UTC is to continue growing the accounting department by dispelling myths about the profession while also highlighting its virtues.
“Most people don’t know what accountants do,” she said.
Some of the perceptions of accounting come from TV shows and movies, she said. Most people, including high school students, think that accounting is math or that accountants only prepare taxes.
In contrast, accounting professionals can work in multiple industries; they have an innate understanding of how organizations work. There is room for vertical growth, as many high-level accountants can advance to partner roles within organizations and hold the position of chief financial officer.
“If you’re an accountant you can run a business,” Shortridge said. “You can work for the Tennessee Titans. You can work in forensic accounting and solve crimes. The FBI hires many accountants. If you are passionate about service, there are opportunities in government and non-profit organizations. Essentially, there are endless career paths for accounting majors.”
Dr. Rebecca Shortridge is the Gary W. Rollins Endowed Chair and head of the UTC Department of Accounting.
During Shortridge’s time in academia, she has been a member of multiple organizations to improve accounting teaching practices.
Currently, Shortridge serves as the president of the Leadership in Accounting Education section of the American Accounting Association. The Leadership section offers development opportunities for university accounting chairs and graduate program directors nationwide. The group recently developed a series of webinars to inspire and train new department heads.
In addition, she also serves as chair of a national task force focused on teaching principles of accounting as part of the Future Accountants Sponsoring Organizations (FASO).
FASO has 10 primary sponsors, including the Big 4 accounting firms, the AICPA and the American Accounting Association. Shortridge and her team developed three overarching goals during this process by collecting information from educators, disseminating relevant information to educators nationwide, and establishing partnerships with industry professionals to increase career knowledge and excitement.
After gathering key ideas, the group developed principles for accounting bootcamps to share with educators. One bootcamp was hosted by the Tennessee Society of CPAs in Brentwood to share these ideas with accounting educators in Tennessee.
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Since joining UTC, the accounting department has already felt the impact of the new practices.
A Friday lab session was added to the principles of accounting courses to provide additional opportunities for students studying for exams or seeking homework help. Part of this process has been enhancing the support for students pursuing an accounting degree.
For students interested in exploring accounting beyond the classroom, Shortridge said they can join Beta Alpha Psi (BAP) or the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), where outside professionals share their stories.
The department has also added multiple excursions to local businesses, allowing students to observe accountants at work in various industries.
The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, in conjunction with the Urban League of Chattanooga, has been a valuable tool allowing students to gain hands-on experience.
“Students prepare tax returns for low-income households in the Chattanooga community,” Shortridge explained. “Last year, 40 students were involved in that and we generated over a million dollars of refunds for these clients. That goes back into the Chattanooga community and helps the clients.”
The department hosts “Junior Kickoff” for students entering upper-level courses, where they can hear from current upperclassmen and recent alums. Since these programs were implemented, enrollment in the intermediate accounting course has increased by 50%.
Substantial changes have been made to the graduate program, moving to an entirely asynchronous format. Accounting students are often recruited out of their undergraduate program, so making time for a graduate program can be difficult. According to Shortridge, this change allows students the opportunity to pursue their education while working full time.
The department has also seen an increase in students pursuing its master’s degree. Enrollment is expected to grow from 12 students in fall 2021 to approximately 60 in fall 2025.
“The faculty in the department have implemented many innovative strategies to help students think about the possibilities,” she said.
“The MAcc program has also expanded to include an executive concentration, making it more accessible for professionals who hold a degree in a field outside accounting.”
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