Faculty Profile: Yvonne Hinson

Dr. Yvonne Hinson, a PricewaterhouseCoopers Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor, is an expert on tax policy and fair value accounting. Hinson has a large collection of published works, including articles in the Journal of Small Business Management, Journal of Managerial Issues and Tax Notes. Hinson grew up in Charlotte, where her father was also an accounting professor.

She worked and recruited for Arthur Anderson before returning to school for her Ph.D. Hinson earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting and her MBA from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee before joining Wake Forest University in 1997.

“I am thrilled to be a part of such an outstanding educational institution and well-known accountancy and business programs,” she says. “I feel that I must constantly challenge myself to make sure I hold up to the high standards set by WFU. I was always impressed with my professors who had worked in public accounting or industry. I feel that my time in public accounting shaped my teaching style quite a bit. I am very much a big believer in experiential learning because I feel you learn best by doing.”

Hinson is proud of the way she has incorporated experiential learning into several of her courses over the years including tax and business valuation. “I also have been able to weave research into classes as well to give the graduate students a better understanding of the research side of our careers and the value of considering an academic career path at some point,” says Hinson, whose husband, Chuck Bamford, is a professor and Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurial Studies at Queens University of Charlotte. He also teaches for Notre Dame in their Executive MBA programs.

Hinson directs the undergraduate and graduate accountancy programs in the Schools of Business. Graduates in that program have consistently had the highest first-time passing rates in the nation on the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam. Since the school began offering a master’s degree in accounting in 1997, its graduates have achieved the top national pass rate ranking multiple times. “Our emphasis on small class sizes, personal instruction and professional internships prepares our graduates to excel in their careers, from the CPA exam to the real-world situations they will face beyond,” she says.