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New study abroad program to Argentina and Chile offered for accounting master's students.

Publish Date: Friday, February 19, 2010

This May, 19 Master of Science in Accounting students will travel to Chile and Argentina to get hands-on experience doing business internationally.

"The goal of the trip is to make the students more globally aware and receptive to the possibility of working for an international firm," said Joe Anthony, professor of accounting and information systems. "There is certainly interest and demand for these kinds of experiences on the part of the large international firms that hire many of our students."

As a part of the newly launched program, students will spend 11 days in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Santiago, Chile, meeting with firms, listening to speakers and interacting with local accounting master's students.

The program also includes six weeks of classes at MSU before the students depart. They will cover topics including Chilean and Argentinean social norms, language, culture and business practices.

Anthony said the group will meet people at U.S. firms that have operations overseas, as well as large Chilean and Argentinean firms, so students will experience some of the problems and issues of doing business as a multinational, particularly in Latin America.

It is a good time for students to learn more about Latin America, because the region is increasingly important for U.S. businesses. Recently, Chile recently signed a tax treaty with the U.S. that will promote increased trade, Anthony said.

On January 1, Chile adopted international financial reporting standards, which the U.S. is planning to adopt in the next five years, Anthony said. This trip will be a good way to see how the country is adopting and implementing these standards, which will be useful in the U.S. in the future for these students.

Anthony is setting up joint class activities with the University of Chile, including meeting high-ranking members of the Chilean government with a Chilean class of accounting master's students. The partner professor at the University of Chile, Freddy Coronado, is an alum of the MSU accounting Ph.D. program.

Anthony, who has previously led executive MBA programs to Europe and Asia, believes that these kinds of international experiences are essential. "The world has simply changed. The idea that you are only going to work in a local or domestic market is past history," he said.

MSU-CIBER and the Department of Accounting & Information Systems provided travel support to plan Anthony's exploratory trip. MSU-CIBER offers grants to faculty, doctoral students and staff for curriculum development, professional development and research.

For more information on the study abroad program, visit the Study Abroad Office website: http://studyabroad.msu.edu/.