NEWSLINE - Summer 1999

Revisions to Accounting Accreditation Standards Head for Vote This Fall

The most significant changes in a decade may be in store for AACSB's accounting accreditation standards this fall. That's when a mail ballot will go to Accreditation Council members with accounting accreditation, asking their approval.

The revisions are necessitated, some say, because the growing variety in types of accounting education makes less relevant the standards that were developed for the more homogeneous programs of a decade ago.

"Dramatic business and technological changes have occurred and are continuing to change the practice of accounting," said Gary L. Sundem, chairman of the department of accounting at the University of Washington. Sundem chaired the 1998-99 AACSB Accounting Accreditation Committee.

The Accounting Accreditation Committee, under the oversight of the AACSB Board of Directors, has been hard at work over the last several years to revise the accounting standards. Accounting administrators, deans and practitioners from around the nation provided extensive input to previously circulated drafts and, in general, provided very favorable reaction. There will be additional opportunities for input and discussion at the fall AACSB regional meetings. 

"The proposed revisions reflect changes in the accounting profession and the effect of these changes on the education process," said Doyle Z. Williams, University of Arkansas business dean who chairs the 1999-2000 AACSB Accounting Accreditation Committee. "As the profession of accounting has evolved, a wider array of educational preparatory paths has resulted," he said. "Rather than attempt to define at a moment in time, and for every specific institution, what constitutes the practice of accounting, and consequently the relevant preparatory education, the proposed standards require every applicant institution to consider this question in light of its own mission and market."

Sundem said traditional references to accounting units or departments have been eliminated in the draft standards, not because they are ineffective structural vehicles, but because the theory and practice of accounting is being taught outside of the traditional framework. "Similarly, historical references to specific courses, for example financial and managerial accounting, have been eliminated because the discipline now is often conceived much differently," he said.

Other proposed changes relate to the professional interaction and experience standard for faculty members. The revisions are intended to heighten awareness and understanding of this standard and to enhance the quality of the substantiating experiences. The proposed changes encourage administrators to plan strategically in this area, taking into account the breadth of the portfolio of faculty experiences and the relation of the experiences to subject matter instruction.

"These proposed changes provide more discretion to individual institutions to structure accounting educational programs relevant to their mission and market," said Williams. "Clearly, understanding one’s customers and demonstrating outcomes will be increasingly important," he said. "The rationale and proposed changes are similar to those made with regard to the business administration accreditation standards several years ago."

Accounting accreditation standards must continue to stimulate quality enhancements in future accounting programs without knowing exactly what the accounting programs of the future should look like, said Sundem. "For example, both practice and education in accounting are becoming more integrated with other fields, and schools are developing programs targeted to specific segments of the accounting market. To say that integrated or specialized programs do not warrant accreditation because they do not fit the normal mold would be self-defeating," he said. "Accreditation would become a signal of conformity not quality. If that were to happen, accreditation would lose value."

Williams believes accounting accreditation must change with the times in order to maintain its value. "Accounting accreditation has produced some very real benefits that are worth preserving," he said. "In the over 15 years since the debut of accounting accreditation, more than 140 programs have been accredited. These programs and others have voluntarily sought the benefits of accreditation by electing to pursue improvements in the quality of their accounting programs through participation in this self-evaluation and peer review process. I believe that revising the standards can preserve those benefits."