CHAPTER 19 - Changes in Accounting Education in the United States: The Impact of the Accounting Education Change Commission

Abstract

This chapter discusses the changes in accounting education in the United States. The two decades from the mid-1960s until the mid-1980s were the golden age of accounting education in the United States. The steadily increasing demand for accounting graduates led to rapid expansion of accounting programs. The quality of accounting education was also improving over the same period. In the 1970s and early 1980s, accounting faculty and administrators were preoccupied with the problems and opportunities created by rapid growth. While accounting educators were focused inwardly at the problems and opportunities on campus, the profession of accounting was undergoing dramatic changes. To foster change in accounting education, in 1989, the American Accounting Association formed the Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC). Accounting programs have traditionally focused on teaching the body of knowledge explosion, the proliferation of information-processing technology, and exponential growth in rules and regulations have made this goal impossible to achieve. There are many different sets of courses that can prepare students for entry to professional accounting careers. No one model curriculum should be put forth as best. But every professional accountant should have some education in each of four areas: general education, business and organizational education, general accounting education, and specialized accounting education. The AECC has pointed the direction for change. Colleges and universities, with the help of the profession, are now rising to the challenge of implementing the needed changes.