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Passion for accounting

Liliana Hickman-Riggs has brought her award-winning, dynamic teaching style to the classroom for more than 26 years. She takes so much pleasure in introducing new scholars to the basic principles of accounting, as she has enjoyed teaching and preparing candidates for the rigors and intensity of the CPA exam at Becker Professional Education facilities in Dallas.

Teaching philosophy

“I realize I cannot force the scholar to pledge time, talents, and skills to the cause of learning - just as I cannot force a horse to drink after it has been led to the water. However, I strive to make the horse thirsty with tempting pictures of water, hoping to reach the scholar who chooses not to commit.” 

Accomplishments

In academic year 2022-2023, Hickman-Riggs had a year of incredible pain and wonderful rewards. She lost her husband in the Fall of 2022, she was then awarded HOPE Professor of the Year, and was featured in SMU Look. More on the award here. Read the article in SMU Look here. 

Before SMU Cox, Hickman-Riggs taught intermediate, audit, governmental, and advanced accounting to masters/MBA scholars at the University of Texas at Dallas for 17 years.  She has also taught for many years at Richland College and various other local colleges and universities. 

For decades, she has co-owned with her husband an accounting firm based in Plano.  Additionally, she has owned and managed her own CPA course that became integrated with Becker in 1998, the year she joined the company.  Since then, she has held multiple positions at Becker, including regional manager and creator-national director final review, and she continues to remain a contributing editor.  Prior to that, in 1996, she was part of the first group of seven instructors certified and authorized by the Texas State Board to teach ethics.  Her course, “The Power of Choices”, became part of Becker’s CPE catalog.

She has developed and conducted numerous CPE seminars and workshops such as financial accounting, segmental profit, taxes, and ethics for a long list of clients.  Among them are some major firms:  The Associates, AT&T, Central and Southwest Corporation, EDS, Tandy, PwC, J.C. Penney, Travis Wolff, Lane Gorman Trubitt, PriceKubecka, Weaver, Padget and Stratemann, and TXU. 

Frequently, she is a guest speaker at various organizations including the Texas Society of CPAs Annual Texas Accounting Educator Conference, NABA, ASCEND, ALPFA, and others.

Despite such active involvement in the field of accounting in addition to the demands of a full-time job, Liliana Hickman-Riggs has managed throughout her life, by choice and will, to be in a classroom with her scholars.

Professional designations

Certified Public Accountant – Texas
Certified Management Accountant
Certified Internal Auditor
Certified Fraud Examiner
Certified Information Technology Professional
Forensic Certified Public Accountant
Chartered Global Management Accountant

Professional affiliations

She is affiliated to all the organizations related to her certifications

Teaching distinctions

"Distinguished Professor Award", 91��Ƭ�S�ϼ�, Beta Phi Chapter of Delta Sigma Pi – Spring 2013
"Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award", University of Texas at Dallas – 2006-2007 and 2001-2002 years
"Excellence in Teaching Award – Outstanding Instructor of the Year", Richland College – 2006-2007 and 1996-97 years
"Outstanding Accounting Educator Award" Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants’ – 2004

Uncommon factoid

Hickman-Riggs has successfully taught her four small dogs - long coat Chihuahuas – very basic journal entries:

• one bark for debit, two barks for credit
• challenging project in progress:  learning the three sections of The Statement of Cash Flows.  The dogs are currently training to raise the left paw for the Operating section, raise the right paw for the Investing section, and wiggle their tail three times for the Financing section.