Dear Sir or Madam:

I know Miss XXX very well because I have been her teacher in two courses—The Principles of Accounting— in her second academic year and Accounting Simulation in the third academic year. As Miss XX is quite a unique student in the class, I have paid special attention in observing her performance and in interacting with her. I believe my in-depth knowledge of her is sufficient to present you with a detailed account of her as a student.

Miss XX’s scores in those two courses are definitely among the top notch—93/100 for the Principles of Accounting (ranked top 5) and 99/100 for Accounting Simulation (ranked top 1) in the entire department. Quick-mindedness, serious thinking and the readiness to pose interesting questions have been some of her most important qualities. In addition, she does not accept ready conclusions and established theories. While taking the Accounting Simulation, she raised her doubts about the answers and the explanations provided by the software we were using and proposed her own understanding about the questions. This made my colleagues and me re-examine the issues and we made necessary revisions. I was truly impressed by her rigorous academic attitude.

To the best of my knowledge, Miss XX has performed equally well in other core courses of accounting and finance like 94/100 for Intermediate Financial Accounting and for Financial Management, and 91/100 for Management Accounting, quite distinguished scores indeed. All the outstanding coursework she has done in accounting and finance points to her strong foundation in those two fields and the hard efforts with which she did her coursework.

While in the Principles of Accounting I concentrated on giving lectures, in the Accounting Simulation, I focused on the improvements of the students’ hands-on abilities by studying case analysis and addressing accounting issues in the real world. What is noteworthy about Miss XX is that she had the consciousness to develop herself into a research-oriented student. For one thing, she has exploited her good command of English to read a lot of accounting literature in English so that she has kept herself well informed of the recent developments in the academia and broadened her horizon of knowledge. For another thing, Miss XX has made self-conscious attempts to seek research opportunities. She participated in a research project led my one of my colleagues in which she analyzed the investment plan of a double-tracking railway construction and as I learned she was the sole undergraduate working together with graduate students on the project. Taking part in this research project helped her develop her interest in the financial issues in China’s railway industry and she has been making some tentative research in this field. During this process, she has come to consult me on how to perform accounting and financial analysis. As far as I know, she has published a research paper in a leading scholarly journal — “A Tentative Analysis of the Method in Preparing the Proposed Fixed Asset Write-Down in Railroad Transportation Enterprises” in China Economic and Trade Herald (Issue 11, 20XX) and has submitted another “The Problems and Countermeasures in the Joint Venture Railway Development in China” to the Technology Economics. Considering the fact that few undergraduates have publications, Miss XX’s research achievements should indeed set her apart from most of her fellow students.

According to my observation, Miss XX’s most prominent academic quality is her inquiring mind. As China opens its financial market, many international accounting and auditing firms, as well as financial institutions, are opening business in China. In addition, many international corporations have also penetrated into the fabric of China’s industrial and service sectors. There are important differences in terms of accounting standards and financial practices between China and the mainstream international community and those problems deserve to be studied carefully. Under such circumstances, Miss XX’s current application is indeed a well-considered one, deserving your full deliberation. I would be most happy to see her admitted into your prestigious program.

Yours sincerely,

Xiao XX
Associate Professor
Department of Accounting, School of Economics and Management
Beijing XXX University