Professing Accounting: A Portrait of the Accountant as a Young Man

Abstract

In 1972 the author joined the accounting faculty of a private urban university which had an established reputation for quality in professional accounting education. This paper describes the evolution of accounting education at that university as well as selected aspects of the author's professional experience over the ensuing thirty years. Programmatic highlights include the achievement of accounting accreditation under the standards of the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business as well as the subsequent abandonment of that accreditation. Aspects of faculty development are discussed from the perspective of an accounting faculty member, a department chair, and an associate dean. Lessons derived from these experiences may be helpful to other accounting academics in responding to continuous change in higher education, in planning successful and fulfilling careers, and in advancing the cause of professional accounting education.