PMG AND ALUMNI GIVE $250,000 TO THE ROBERT H. SMITH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

College Park, MD - May 5, 1999 - Thanks to the generosity of alumni and a corporate foundation, the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park, can boast another prestigious faculty position: the KPMG Professorship in Accounting. Alumni of the University of Maryland and other University System of Maryland institutions now working at KPMG LLP have committed $100,000 to establish the professorship. The KPMG Foundation has committed an additional $150,000 to support the professorship's endowment, for a total gift of $250,000.

The KPMG gift is part of the Smith School's effort to raise $30 million in endowment funds as part of Bold Vision Bright Future: The Campaign for the University of Maryland, a $350 million fund-raising effort.

"We are proud and excited that our firm will be associated with the Smith School of Business in this way," said John Keenan, managing partner of KPMG's Baltimore office and a 1975 Smith School graduate. "We see this as a wonderful opportunity to help the Smith School strengthen its standing among the nation's best business schools."

"This wonderful gift will enhance the prominence of our accounting faculty and of the school," said Howard Frank, dean of the Smith School of Business. "We appreciate the generosity of our alumni and of KPMG."

The Smith School's accounting faculty has achieved prominence in a number of areas. The faculty includes a member of the federal Cost Accounting Standards Board and the co-editors of the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, a highly regarded publication in the accounting field. In addition, the accounting faculty, along with the Smith School's finance faculty, is a select member of the prestigious Financial Economics and Accounting Research Consortium.

KPMG LLP is one of the world's largest professional services firms, operating in more than 840 cities in 155 countries. The global advisory firm offers a range of services, including accountancy and auditing, tax, management consultancy, and corporate finance.

About the Robert H. Smith School of Business

The Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research for the digital economy. The school offers cross-functional study options in its six academic departments, which include accounting and information assurance; decision and information technologies; finance; logistics, business, and public policy; management and organization; and marketing. More information about the Robert H. Smith School of Business can be found at http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu.