When she first moved to the region to begin her role at Kearney & Company, Megan Rosler, MS Accounting ‘23, had never heard of George Mason University before. In a similar situation, neither had Rebecca Kinzinger, MS Accounting ’24. For both, that all changed once they started working at the firm.
New employees at Kearney & Company quickly learn of the firm’s close partnership with the university, specifically the Costello College of Business, and how they support employees who decide to pursue academic degrees. An official member of the Costello Corporate Partners Program, Kearney & Company’s involvement at the Costello College of Business dates back many years and has included establishing scholarships and sponsoring workshops and certificates.
Kearney & Company has a tuition reimbursement plan that alleviates much of the burden for their employees who decide to enroll at George Mason. However, the firm’s support is not strictly financial. “As soon as my managers found out that I was going to be doing the program, they made sure that I knew that I was able to log off when I needed to work on my schoolwork, especially during busy season,” says Rosler. “They helped me manage those two workloads and were very supportive.” That support carries over to other parts of her job, which is why the people have always been her favorite part of working at Kearney & Company. “I’ve gotten really lucky that the team that I was put on when I started in 2021 is the team that I’m still on,” she says. “No question is too stupid to ask anyone.”
“What really drew me in, and what stood out to me was being able to do the master's program and in the same timeframe getting that graduate certificate,” says Kinzinger. Her team was also immensely supportive of her going through the master’s program, including when she was required to attend in-person classes. Additionally, she appreciates how supportive the Costello faculty and staff were prior to her enrolling. The director of graduate programs had even invited her to campus to tour facilities, meet faculty, and ask questions. Also, an analytics professor invited her to sit in on a class so that she could get a feel for it. “Kearney’s always been there,” says Kinzinger. “My team’s always been there, and I always felt like George Mason was also offering support at every turn.”
Among the most impactful things that Kinzinger did in her classes was getting experience with SQL, Alteryx, Python, and other analytics tools. “The thing that drew me most specifically to George Mason is that that they offered that specific program in person, and I am more of a hands-on learner,” she says.
Besides Rosler earning a promotion to senior audit associate, the biggest impact that she’s noticed from completing the degree program is how it has helped her time management skills. “Being able to juggle the projects at work with the projects at school set me up to be able to manage my work between multiple projects at work,” she says. “It’s given me opportunity because my managers have seen that I can handle work on multiple projects.”
Kearney & Company is the largest CPA and consulting firm exclusively focused on the government. The firm has five international trips a year, giving everyone an opportunity to travel on one or two of them. So far, Rosler has visited India and South Korea, in addition to traveling to Texas a few times per year. “I don’t think I would have gotten those valuable experiences if I had gone to a competitor,” she says. When she’s not traveling for business, she usually works remotely because of her client’s office space.
Kinzinger has been at Kearney & Company now for five years and counting. She appreciates how the firm encourages employees to pursue their passions and what truly interests them. “Their culture at its core had so many of those things that I was looking for in terms of community involvement,” she says. “I was able to join things like the community service committee to be able to fulfill that part of myself.”
In addition to earning master’s degrees in accounting, Rosler completed the forensic accounting certificate and Kinzinger completed the accounting analytics certificate. Kearney & Company’s support helped each of them build upon their expertise and make it easier to advance their careers through education. In exchange, the firm now has employees who are upskilled and have gained confidence in their abilities. These win-win partnerships help provide Costello students with the remarkable learning experiences that they have come to expect.