Dr. Emanuel Saxe Outstanding CPA in Education Award
This award pays tribute to the outstanding contribution by CPAs who have dedicated their life’s work to accounting education. These individuals have demonstrated a passion for and commitment to the profession by providing an educational foundation for generations of CPAs. This award acknowledges excellence in teaching and a contribution to and promotion of the accounting profession.
In his nearly half-century career, Frank J. Aquilino has seamlessly intertwined his roles as an academic, practitioner and NYSSCPA member. Currently professor of accounting at Montclair State University’s Feliciano School of Business, his academic home since 1978, he served as chair of MSU’s accounting department for 22 years (1992–2014), before stepping up to a four-year term as associate dean. During his tenure, Aquilino upgraded the accounting program to an academic major and led the establishment of the M.S. degree in accounting. For his many achievements and contributions to accounting education, Aquilino was honored with the 2024 Dr. Emanuel Saxe Outstanding CPA in Education Award.
As the academic adviser for accounting majors for more than 45 years, Aquilino “provide[s] dedicated guidance and mentorship to 50 accounting majors each semester, emphasizing support for over 50 percent first-generation college students and individuals from the BIPOC [black, indigenous, people of color] demographic,” wrote Frank J. DeCandido, a fellow member of the Society’s Staten Island Chapter, when nominating Aquilino for the award. He added that Aquilino “demonstrate[s] a profound commitment to the professional growth and career readiness of aspiring CPAs by innovatively incorporating Career Services programs and events into the curriculum, offering extra credit to motivate students to engage in valuable career development opportunities.”
In addition, Aquilino served as MSU’s Accounting Society adviser for 30 years. DeCandido credited him with fostering substantial growth in membership, elevating the caliber and quality of meetings and industry connections: “As a result of Aquilino’s work as a professor and department chair, thousands of students have excelled as CPAs within major accounting firms and private CPA practices. Many of these students have returned to MSU to pay it forward by recruiting students of Aquilino, and as major alumni donors. A notable success story includes former students who are partners and senior executives at Deloitte, returning to MSU as major donors of a classroom.”
DeCandido noted that, as a faculty member, Aquilino successfully revised the MSU accounting program to align with the CPA Evolution Model, played a pivotal role in the university’s accreditation with the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), chaired the graduate performance review committees, established the Strategic Advisory Board, and developed a department advisory board to foster industry connections as a means of ensuring the relevance of education to real-world business needs. He also served as the first chair of the school’s Department of Hospitality & Tourism, “showcasing adaptability and responsiveness to the evolving needs of the business landscape,” wrote DeCandido
It is fitting that Aquilino received an award named for someone who is most responsible for his becoming a CPA.
Growing up on Mulberry Street in Lower Manhattan, Aquilino attended St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral School and Power Memorial Academy. He enrolled at St. John’s University, where he struggled, at first, with the accounting curriculum. Then a friend who was attending Baruch College introduced him to the textbook, Fundamental Accounting: Theory and Practice, first published in 1951 and authored by Stanley B. Tunick and Emanuel Saxe. That textbook was instrumental in his success as an accounting student and as a CPA. “If I didn’t have that book, I wouldn’t be [here] now,” he said. “The book helped me move along.”
Aquilino received his accounting degree in 1965 and began working in the public sector, including a four-year stint at Coopers & Lybrand. He then received his MBA in finance from St. John’s University in 1974 and obtained his CPA license in 1976.
Aquilino also started looking for teaching positions, and in 1974, Brooklyn College asked him to start teaching as an adjunct professor when a professor took ill. “So, I stepped in,” he said. “I had enough of being in industry. I could teach with the knowledge I had gained working.” He quickly discovered that he “liked the night job better than the day job.”
Aquilino joined Montclair State in 1978, the same year he started his accounting firm. The firm provides accounting, auditing and taxation services on a limited basis, as he teaches a variety of courses in the same subjects. That experience of private practice informs his teaching.
“Aquilino’s unique vantage point enables him to infuse real-world challenges and pertinent business scenarios into educational settings, fostering the optimal development of future CPAs,” said DeCandido.
In addition to his teaching, Aquilino still conducts research, with a long list of publications to his credit. He is currently at work on a study of the impact of money laundering on the U.S. tax system economy and its effect on terrorism.
But all of that pales when he is asked what he likes best about what he does for a living.
“You don’t see it right away, but I help people in their careers,” he said, adding that many of his students have become partners in major accounting firms. “They come back and tell me. You can’t just put a dollar amount on that.”
The decades in public accounting and academia have also made him a source of expert advice to young accountants.
“I tell all the accounting students to start, if possible, in public accounting,” he said. “They may leave if they don’t make partner, [but the experience] will open doors [and they can bring that experience] to the private sector or to nonprofit.”
He also encourages students to get involved in the Society, where “they’ll [get to know] professionals that they cannot know in school, they’ll get perspectives, expand their knowledge, and meet people across the country.”
Aquilino has served as an NYSSCPA vice president, treasurer and director as chapter representative; a Foundation for Accounting Education (FAE) trustee; and as a member of the AICPA Council. He also served the Staten Island Chapter as its president and as an executive board member.
Calling his own career experiences “wonderful,” Aquilino remains humble about his honor, considering the esteem in which he is held. “I never thought that I would get this award, looking at all the competition across New York state,” he said.
“Aquilino’s extraordinary contributions to the NYSSCPA and his unparalleled leadership in higher education exemplify the qualities deserving of the Dr. Emanuel Saxe Outstanding CPA in Education Award,” wrote DeCandido. “His legacy of transformative initiatives and commitment to shaping the future of the accounting profession make him a distinguished nominee for this prestigious accolade.”
“I’ve been teaching at MSU since 1978,” said Aquilino. “I never felt teaching was a job. When it starts to feel like a job, I shouldn’t be doing this. It still doesn’t feel like a job.”
ssteinhardt@nysscpa.org