Leaders of School of Accountancy's Tax Clinic Honored

Dr. Melanie McCoskey, an associate professor in the School of Accountancy, and Andrew Bernat, visiting assistant professor of practice in the Department of Finance, have been honored for their leadership of the award-winning School of Accountancy's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Tax Clinic. The clinic received two awards — “Commitment to Excellence” and “Setting the Bar for Success” — from the Columbus Region territory manager of the Internal Revenue Service.

As a service to the community, the School of Accountancy’s VITA tax Clinic prepares local, state and federal tax returns for more than 1,000 low income taxpayers (including domestic and international students) each year and brings back more than $1 million annually to the Akron community in terms of tax refunds and saved tax filing fees.

There are more than 300 VITA clinics in the Columbus Territory. Of that number, only seven clinics were honored for “Setting the Bar for Success” and about 30 were honored for “Commitment to Excellence.” The College of Business Administration’s George W. Daverio School of Accountancy stands out as the only university on the IRS honor roll in the Columbus Territory.