Bio for: Professor Denise M. Stefano, CPA CGMA MBA
Professor Denise M. Stefano, CPA CGMA MBA currently holds the position of Assistant
Professor of Accounting and Accounting Department Chairperson with Mercy College.
Professor Stefano has also served as the Department’s Graduate Program Coordinator,
and currently serves on the College’s Academic Standards Committee, Faculty Senate,
Multi-year Contract Committee, and School of Business Curriculum and Faculty Search
Committee. She holds a BBA Degree in Public Accounting and MBA Degree in Finance
from Iona College, and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in New York, and
Notary Public in Westchester County. More recently, Professor Stefano received the
Certified Global Management Accountant designation through the American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
Professor Stefano teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and her course
concentration spans Financial, Managerial, Intermediate, Cost, and Advanced
Accounting, Accounting Information Systems, Government and Not-For-Profit
Accounting, and Global Financial Statement Analysis (with a focus on International
Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)). Prior to joining Mercy, Professor Stefano held
adjunct faculty positions with several AACSB-accredited colleges in the TriState area.
Professor Stefano has also served as one of the lead instructors for Kaplan Financial's live
CPA Review Program and currently serves on the company’s Academic Advisory Board.
She has assisted with development of the Program's course materials, and conducted
numerous presentations of the Program and CPA Examination content to top tier business
schools, colleges and universities, as well as accounting firms throughout the Northeast
U.S. More recently, Professor Stefano was contracted to co-author four books with a
major publisher that will target key questions for CPA Examination preparation, and will
also incorporate a unique process for methodically responding to CPA Examination-type
questioning that she designed.
Professor Stefano also dedicates significant efforts to the development and technical
review of CPE (Continuing Professional Education) training courses in the accounting,
auditing, finance, taxation, management, IT, and human resource/legal arena through her
current consultative position as Director of Technical Content and Quality Assurance and
Control with SmartPros, Ltd., a publicly-traded, national NASBA/QAS sponsor and
provider of online and video interactive CPE training courses, products, and services for
Certified Public Accountants, Engineers, and Attorneys. She is both an author and coauthor to several comprehensive courses published by the Company’s live training
subsidiary company, Loscalzo Associates, including a comprehensive course on
International Financial Reporting Standards. Professor Stefano also provides technical
assistance in the preparation of certain accounting analyses that support the Company’s
SEC filings.
Prior to her current professorial position with Mercy College and her Director position
with SmartPros, Ltd., Professor Stefano served as Director of Business Development and
Senior Consultant for Resources Global Professionals (formerly a consulting
arm/division of Deloitte & Touche), an international professional services firm that
provides consulting services in the areas of accounting, finance, information
management, human resources, internal audit, & supply chain management, and as a
Senior Auditor and Business Advisor for another one of the Big accounting firms.
Professor Stefano has over 25 years experience in accounting and financial management,
and has held positions of Chief Financial Officer and Controller for both privately owned
and publicly traded companies.
Currently, Professor Stefano is a member of the AICPA (American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants) and FMA (Financial Management Association) and serves as a
Board Member and Past-President to the NYSSCPA (New York State Society of
Certified Public Accountants) Westchester Chapter, is an Advisory Board Member and
Co-Chair to the Chapter's COAP (Career Opportunities in Accounting Program), CoChairs the Chapter’s Accounting Careers Committee, and serves on several other of the
Chapter’s committees including the Scholarship and Accountants in Industry
Committees. In addition, Professor Stefano previously served as Chair of the Chapter's
Accounting and Auditing Principles Committee. At the statewide level, Professor
Stefano serves on the NYSSCPA Higher Education Committee, Membership Committee,
and is the Society’s PAC (Political Action Committee) Trustee representative for the
Westchester Chapter. Through her NYSSCPA affiliation, she has presented and lectured
on a variety of technical authoritative pronouncements and accounting literature at live
CPE training venues. As a past member of the statewide NYSSCPA's Quality
Enhancement Policy Committee (QEPC), Professor Stefano was involved in the drafting
of two white papers, one that addressed and proposed a universal standard for CPAs in
complying with CPE requirements, and another that addressed audit quality. Professor
Stefano is currently working on development of an Accounting Essentials course series
targeted to the senior level "non-Financial" professional, and is pursuing the Certified
Fraud Examiner (CFE) designation, while also planning for admission into law school,
where her goal is to achieve a JD degree with an LLM in taxation. Professor Stefano’s
research interests include ethics, fraud, auditing, international accounting standards, and
financial accounting and disclosure matters, and she has conducted some preliminary
research to support building a model for ethics training that involves enhancing one's
moral development, reasoning, awareness, and ethical sensitivity through the utilization
of "role play" and other practical moral problem-solving techniques.
Professor Stefano also remains active in a variety of other volunteer activities, currently
serving as a Board Member and Treasurer to the Lakeland Children's Center, a not-forprofit after school program for students in the Lakeland School district's elementary
schools, and sits on the Scholarship Committee for the Broadway Training Center, a notfor-profit performing arts school in Westchester County. Professor Stefano also serves as
Treasurer and Board member to the Canterbury Crossing Condominium Association, and
has served as Treasurer and Board member to the Hudson New York Chapter’s Adoptive
Parents Committee. Recently, Professor Stefano was appointed Treasurer of Malaria No
More, a not-for-profit organization, whose mission is to prevent the spread of malaria
throughout the African continent. Finally, Professor Stefano has provided volunteer
services assisting students with development of reading fluency and literacy skills in the
kindergarten class at Blythesdale's Children's Hospital, and K-3 classes at an elementary
school in the Lakeland School District.