Biography

Usha Rackliffe completed her JD at Georgia State University, College of Law in 1998. She has an MBA in finance and is both a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the bar in the State of Georgia. Prior to joining the faculty, she has served as Chief Financial Officer for the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (USG) for several years, overseeing a $7.1 billion annual budget for Georgia’s public system of higher education, which was comprised of 35 degree-granting colleges and universities. She has been recognized for teaching excellence for graduate and undergraduate programs. She received the Distinguished Core Educator award for excellence from the Evening MBA class of 2022, class of 2020, class of 2019, and the class of 2018. She was recognized as the BBA Distinguished Faculty in May 2021. In May 2020, she received the Provost's Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Education.

She has published in The Accounting Review, the Journal of Legal Tax Research, Journal of Accounting Education, Institute of Management Accountants Educational Case Journal, and Accounting Education: An International Journal.

She has made several media appearances including Fox5, 11 Alive, Georgia Public Broadcasting, and Georgia Public Television.

She serves on various University committees and is the Faculty Counselor for the Finance Committee of the Emory Board of Trustees.

Education

  • Master's JD
    Georgia State University College of Law

Excel in the accounting curriculum: perceptions from accounting professors

Accounting Education
July 10, 2025
2016

Public accounting firms emphasize the importance of accounting graduates being proficient in Excel. Since many accounting graduates often aspire to work in public accounting, a question arises as to whether there should be an emphasis on Excel in accounting education. The purpose of this paper is to specifically look at this issue by examining accounting faculty's perceptions of Excel in public accounting and accounting education. We survey 245 faculty members at over 100 accounting programs. We find that a majority of faculty incorporate Excel in their accounting classes consistent with their perception of Excel importance. However, we find that students are not fully proficient in Excel based on faculty's perceptions. This study contributes to the accounting education literature by identifying possible disconnections between Excel skills faculty include in the accounting curriculum and specific Excel skills faculty believe new hires (i.e. recent accounting graduates) most often use in public accounting.