Business Accreditation

The vote to ratify the Global Standards for Business Education (and the 2026 Accounting Standards) will take place on 14 April 2026 during the International Conference and Annual Meeting (ICAM) in Seattle, Washington, USA. Voting rights are held by the Accreditation Council, which is composed of AACSB-accredited schools. The ratification vote will take place at the Annual Meeting from 1:20 p.m. PT. A positive vote will result in the standards becoming effective on 1 July 2026. Please note, if you are not attending ICAM, you may designate a proxy to vote on your behalf. Instructions will be provided when the voting notice is sent to accredited schools on 20 March 2026.

Yes, the Accounting Standards are being revised. The main updates are:

• Reordered and modernized the standards to align with the structure of the Global Standards for Business Education.
• Digital Agility is a standalone, strengthened standard: focused not only on what technology is being deployed, but on how technology is being used to solve accounting problems, exercise professional judgment, and respond to real-world accounting contexts.
• Added Standard A6: Impact of Accounting Scholarship which explicitly calls out the expectation that accounting scholarship should meaningfully inform or influence accounting practice, professional standards, regulatory oversight, public policy, governmental and nonprofit accounting, etc.
• Disaggregated the former Table A6 into two distinct tables: 1) Table A3, aligned with Business Standard 3, focusing on the professional qualifications of accounting faculty, and 2) Table A5, aligned with the new Accounting Standard A5 on Digital Agility, focusing on technology expectations in accounting education.
• Increased expectations around professional engagement for all accounting learners.

CIR schools with visits between January 2027-June 2027 can contact their AACSB Accreditation Manager if they are interested in being a pilot school.

If you have a CIR visit during the phase-in year (2026-2027), you may choose to go up under the 2020 standards or the new 2026 standards. We will be looking for a small pilot group of CIR schools interested in going up under the revised standards. If you're interested in being part of that pilot group, reach out to your AACSB accreditation manager or email [email protected]. Initial accreditation schools will be visited under the 2020 standards in 2026-27.

For CIR schools with visits in 2027-2028 and beyond, the 2026 standards will be required. For initial accreditation schools with visits in 2027-2028 or later, your accreditation manager will work with you on a case-by-case basis to determine which standards apply, depending on your visit timeline.

Initial Accreditation Schools: Your accreditation manager will proactively reach out to you with specific guidance after the vote. Your accreditation manager is listed on the Contacts tab in myAccreditation if you have questions in the meantime.

The 2026 standards state: " Normally, a minimum of 40 percent of a school’s faculty resources are SA, and 90 percent are SA+PA+SP+IP across the entire accredited unit. A minimum of 40 percent of SA is also expected in disciplines in which the school offers degrees or majors, and 90 percent SA+PA+SP+IP in all disciplines." Faculty not meeting the school's own faculty classification definitions will be listed as Additional faculty as this designation remains.

Schools should demonstrate teaching effectiveness as defined by their own criteria and in alignment with Standard 7. Examples of criteria that demonstrate teaching effectiveness may include:

• Faculty currency of subject matter expertise
• Use of current and relevant technology in the classroom
• Meaningful and regular engagement with the business community
• Learner preparedness to enter the workforce or advance in their current employment
• Innovative pedagogical approaches in instructional delivery

Yes, schools will be given time to align with this new requirement. The implementation timeline is shown below.

2026–27 (Year 1 – Pilot Year)

• Approximately 30 volunteer pilot schools.
• Remaining schools continue under 2020 standards.
• Technical refinements based on pilot experience.

2027–28 (Year 2 – Transition Year)

• 2026 standards effective.
• Schools classify faculty under Standard 3 as they were under 2020 standards.
• Schools describe how they are developing and piloting teaching effectiveness criteria.
• No peer review evaluation of teaching effectiveness application yet.

2028–29 (Year 3 – Transition Year)

• Continued refinement and local testing of teaching effectiveness criteria.
• Schools discuss progress in reports.
• Still no formal evaluation of teaching effectiveness with these visits.

2029–30 (Full Implementation of TE in Standard 3)

• First cohort evaluated on application of school-defined teaching effectiveness criteria.
• Work will have been completed during the self-study year.

2030–31 and Beyond

• System fully operational across all schools.

This phased approach honors our principles-based philosophy, allows for global contextualization, and ensures peer review teams are appropriately trained before formal evaluation begins.