My Professional Edge - Shunda Mack

Shunda Mack
Financial Analyst, Hilton Hotel Corp.
Keller degree: Master of Accounting and Financial Management (MAFM)

My career

As a financial analyst at Hilton Hotels, my job includes monthly financial statement closings in accordance within Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and Hilton Hotels accounting policies for 10 focused service company managed properties. Two properties require me to determine the cash position and recommend a cash call or cash distribution.

I also perform monthly financial reporting and analysis, forecasting, budgeting, asset management, and ensuring compliance of financial aspects regarding legal contracts and agreements. I am also the primary contact for internal/external auditors, hotel personnel and some ownership groups.

Turbocharged career

I believe that I was initially hired by Hilton because I was almost finished at that time with the Keller degree program. After 10 years teaching, I didn't have current experience in accounting.

After just one month of employment, I was asked to be a presenter for the hotel finance portion of the Hilton Internal Controls Seminar. The audience included general managers and controllers from various Hilton properties in the US. After seven months of Hilton employment, I was promoted from a staff analyst to financial analyst. Both of these honors, in rapid succession, were based on my outstanding job performance.

Now that I am finished with my graduate degree program, I expect to move to a senior financial analyst position within the next six months. The Keller degree program has been the key to my advancement.

Choosing Keller

In addition to its exemplary reputation in the business world, a key reason I selected Keller Graduate School of Management was because the degree program incorporated the CPA exam preparation courses. These were not offered as part of the program at other universities I considered. I felt that a graduate accounting degree absolutely should fully prepare students for this important professional certification.

Benefits now and future

My most significant accomplishment to date clearly is earning my Master of Accounting and Financial Management at Keller. I first became a math teacher because I truly have a deep desire to educate children, but I always wanted to become a CPA. I ultimately decided to pursue my goal and obtained this degree to move me closer. My future plans also include going back into the classroom environment as an online professor.

If I consider what the Keller degree program provided, the principal benefit was accounting skills. I am now using in my job the accounting skills I learned throughout the degree program and applying learned internal control concepts. Also, within the next few months, I plan to begin the CPA exam process and I feel confident I am thoroughly prepared to successfully pass the exam based on my Keller education.