Making Augusta State University's business school among the most prestigious in the nation will be a matter of accounting, in more ways than one.

Thanks to a donation with many zeros, the university can take steps toward gaining the elite status of having both an accredited business college and a separately accredited accountancy program. Only 10 percent of American schools hold that distinction, according to Marc Miller, the dean of ASU's James M. Hull College of Business.

The Knox Foundation, run by one of the area's top philanthropic families, has put $2 million toward the cause, university President William A. Bloodworth announced Wednesday. The figure puts the Knoxes tied with the business school's namesake, Jim Hull, for the largest single donation in ASU's history.

The money will set up a perpetual endowment for a School of Accountancy with two professorships, a first step toward accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Businesses. The business college as a whole has been accredited by the association since 1999 and was named among the top 290 business schools in the nation by The Princeton Review last year.

The Knox family sees the donation as an investment.

"Our family lives here," foundation Executive Director Jeff Knox said, "and we care about this community growing and prospering, with young people enhancing the quality of student that comes to this school."

Meanwhile, Mr. Hull has given an additional $1 million, which will fund scholarships for aspiring accountants.

"Mr. Hull has stepped up to the plate," Dr. Bloodworth said. "Actually, he's been running the bases all along."

About two dozen students watched from a stairway as Dr. Bloodworth announced the donations in Hull College's atrium inside Allgood Hall. Dr. Miller said he envisions ASU offering business and accounting majors a private school-quality education for public university prices. He said he wants Hull to one day be considered just as esteemed, if not more so, as the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business.

Along with his wife, Karen, Mr. Hull gave $2 million to ASU in September 2006 for the purpose of growing the business program. The owner of shopping center developer Hull Storey Retail Group LLC, Mr. Hull is the grandson of a co-founder of the city's biggest law firm, Hull, Towill, Norman, Barrett & Salley.

Mr. and Mrs. Hull spoke with Thomson businessman Boone Knox, Jeff Knox's father, about helping the school a few months ago. The elder Mr. Knox, the CEO of the Knox Foundation, was in Seattle on Wednesday and couldn't attend the announcement, but his son; his wife, George-Ann; and his sister-in-law Pat Knox Hudson were on hand.

Among their other charitable contributions and accomplishments, the Knoxes saved Sacred Heart Cultural Center, once a deconsecrated church that the Catholic Diocese of Savannah planned to demolish.

"The Knox seal of approval means something," Mr. Hull said.