Used to be a budding accountant could get by remembering a few primary rules, such as “Debits on the left, credits on the right.” But on a recent visit to the College of Business, a group of may-be accountancy students discovered there’s more to the profession than mastering a double entry journal.   
     Prior to touring the college, nearly 50 high school students participating in the Kentucky CPA Society’s BASE Camp were treated to an Etiquette Luncheon at the UofL University Club.

      “Your bread is always on the left, and your beverages on the right,” table manners guru Kristi McNally told the students. “And that soup spoon?  Don’t let it be an accident waiting to happen.”
     Away from dining rooms, McNally is HR director for the Louisville and Indianapolis offices of Deloitte & Touche, a Big Four accounting firm. Her etiquette program has become a fixture of the BASE program (Business and Accountancy Summer Education), a week-long camp for exceptional juniors and seniors seeking an overview of college opportunities.
     “It’s a bit intimidating for some of them to sit down at a table with all these plates, glasses and silverware,” she concedes. “Most are used to eating at drive-throughs.”
     She uses a light touch to expose students to some of the realities of the academic and business worlds.
     “Of course you have to have the technical skills, but you need social skills, too,” she tells them.  “Leaving a recruiting luncheon, you want to be remembered as a great candidate, not ‘the one who slurped the soup.’”
     The students peppered McNally with questions covering napkin technique, which way to pass the bread, when to start eating, and where to find the dessert spoon. 
     School of Accountancy Director Dr. Bill Stout opened the luncheon with brief remarks, then joined the students at one of the tables and followed McNally’s instructions. 
     “It’s good to know which fork to use,” he said. 
     Stout will follow Cotton + Allen CPA Michelle Musacchio as chairman of next year’s BASE Camp.  Now four years old, the program drew a record 98 applications this year from students across Kentucky.  For more information about BASE, visit www.CPA2be.org.

(Posted 5/4/08)