Andrew Hartzler

Andrew Hartzler CV

After graduating from Goshen College in 1998, I began my career as a CPA at Crowe in Northern Indiana.  As a top ten national firm, Crowe’s clients are diverse in both industry and size.  After four years as a financial statement auditor at Crowe, I transitioned to corporate and partnership tax compliance and consulting.  Two years later I moved to south Texas where I joined the regional firm of Burton, McCumber & Cortez (BMC).  At BMC I broadened my tax expertise to include international tax law and compliance.  BMC’s structure included ownership in a Mexican firm and a significant number of their clients are firms that have operations on both sides of the U.S. / Mexico border as well as other parts of North America and the world.

In my sixteen years in public accounting as an auditor and tax consultant, one role that I thoroughly enjoyed was the opportunity to train staff in auditing and tax compliance.  It was always rewarding to see them progress in their understanding and expertise as they learned how to apply  concepts they learned in college to real world situations.  Thinking that I may enjoy training students at the college level, I began taking MBA courses to prepare for that possibility.

In 2014, I accepted the opportunity to teach in the business department at GC.  It has been a very rewarding experience.  I have enjoyed sharing my real life experiences in the classroom and developing close mentoring relationships with my students.  I am passionate about both the learning process and helping students to discover their place in the world after college.  The advantage of studying in a small school such as Goshen is the opportunity to work closely with your Professors.  They become both your personal trainer and mentor throughout your college career.

GC’s vision is to cultivate joy, growth and purpose in students.  This aligns closely with my vision for developing students into the best versions of themselves.  My greatest desire is to mold them into more compassionate, kind, and caring citizens of this world.

Goshen is a diverse community with many opportunities for community involvement.  In addition to a participating in a variety of community engagements, I invest heavily in my local church congregation.  My church community is a significant part of my life and I am a member of the church board as well as a worship leader, Sunday school teacher, and youth leader.  My faith plays a significant role in both my personal and professional life.

I also currently serve on three other boards, the Everence Federal Credit Union Supervisory Committee, the Mennonite Historical Society, and the Mennonite Quarterly Review.

ACC 201 – Principles of Financial Accounting – All business students benefit from understanding the basic Accounting Framework.  This course focuses heavily on recording business transactions in an Accounting Framework.  By the end of this course, students should be able to understand the basic Accounting Framework and begin to see how business transactions are summarized within that framework.  Whether students continue deepening their Accounting knowledge in future courses or move on to emphasize other elements of business, understanding the way in which financial data is summarized benefits future decision-making roles regardless of what type of organization they work for.

ACC 210 – Accounting Information Systems – Students complete this course in a simulated job setting where they come to work and complete a set of accounting records with the Professor functioning as their “boss”.  Students utilize numerous common business documents to record manual accounting transactions and then process similar business transactions in Quickbooks.  This course provides students with a real sense of what working in a basic day-to-day accounting job would be like.

BUS 301 – Analyzing Profitability –  All organizations utilize resources to accomplish their objectives.  Although organizational objectives are divergent, all organizations share common processes and strategic elements that impact their ability to use resources to the greatest effect.  By the end of this course, students should be able to identify and articulate processes inherent in a particular organization and explain the connections between those processes and measurable costs associated with those processes.  As a result of developing this understanding, students should be able to develop financial projections for at least one business model that demonstrate the connectivity between processes, strategies, and costs for that business.

ACC 302 & 303 – Intermediate Accounting I & II – Intermediate Accounting represents the more challenging elements of Financial Accounting.   This includes business transactions that contain more complex economic elements than just basic day-to-day transactions.  Completion of these two courses demonstrates a student’s ability to understand and apply the financial accounting framework to these more complex circumstances.  For those students pursuing their CPA certification, the concepts in these courses are integral to developing the necessary skills to be successful as a CPA.

ACC 405 – Auditing – When people hear the word “audit” they automatically think of an IRS audit.  The type of auditing covered in this course is financial statement auditing.  Financial Statement audits are mandated by financial institutions and regulatory bodies.  Companies must hire independent CPA firms to conduct these audits in order to obtain financing for their business or to meet state or federal regulatory requirements to remain in business.  As a former Financial Statement Auditor, I bring real world examples of this job skill into the classroom.

ACC 434 – Business Taxation – Business Tax law has its foundations in Accounting.  Firms must determine their taxable income by applying accounting rules while considering tax nuances to those rules.  As a former tax consultant and corporate tax compliance expert in public practice, I help students make the connection between accounting and tax rules and prepare them to apply their knowledge in real world settings.