AICPA Core Competency Framework Research Articles

Addressing the AICPA core competencies through the usage of the monopoly™ board game

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the learning outcomes of students enrolled in an introductory financial accounting course through their experience of playing the Monopoly™ board game and map those outcomes to a selected number of individual competency types addressed in the AICPA Core Competency Framework. Design/methodology/approach A longitudinal qualitative analysis was performed to analyze self-reported learning outcomes collected from undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory financial accounting course. Content analysis and participant observations were utilized to inform the analysis process and derive research findings. Findings The findings reveal a connection between the learning outcomes and a selected number of individual competency types addressed in the AICPA Framework. The findings also reemphasize the importance of utilizing some of the basic functions and features of Excel to augment foundational financial accounting knowledge and enhance professional skills. Originality/value Although the use of board games in accounting education was examined in prior research, this paper provides an empirical evidence on the alignment of self-reported learning outcomes of a popular board game to a notable profession-driven framework. In addition to bridging a potential gap between the accounting education and profession, this study informs academics as to the implications of engaging students in a class activity that applies basic financial accounting and computer knowledge.

Developing student competencies: An integrated approach to a financial statement analysis project

This paper presents an instructional resource for an integrated financial statement analysis project. The project requires a quantitative analysis of a company's financial statements and a written research report. The project is designed to develop students' critical thinking and analytical capabilities through the application of course concepts to a real company, while also providing opportunities to develop professional competencies. Following Anson's Instructional Design Model (2007), the integrated project includes supporting activities, which are designed to aid students in achieving the project's learning goals. The supporting activities include in-class instruction on financial ratios, a computer lab session on Excel, draft papers, peer reviews of writing, and paper revisions. The integrated project also serves as an example of an assignment that is consistent with two recent education frameworks, the Integrated Competency-Based Framework (Lawson et al., 2014) and the AICPA Core Competency Framework (2015), which both advocate for increased integration of professional competencies within the accounting curriculum. Our instructional resource provides project instructions, supporting activities, as well as implementation guidance and a grading rubric. The paper discusses adaptations to tailor the project to various courses and audiences. The resources in this article are useful for instructors implementing a financial statement analysis project into accounting, finance, financial statement analysis and investment courses targeted at either the undergraduate or graduate levels.

An instructional assignment for student engagement in auditing class: Student movies and the AICPA Core Competency Framework

Abstract Student engagement can improve any accounting class, including the auditing class. Auditing concepts are often abstract, difficult to learn, and even considered a bit boring for many undergraduate students. For the past six semesters student teams in my auditing classes have recorded short movies about auditing concepts and/or audit-related situations. The students have created humorous movies with various themes including Batman, Star Wars, Charlie’s Angels, families making moonshine, and Scooby-Doo. While the themes have varied, each of the movies has related to an auditing concept. As the students prepare the script, they learn the relevant auditing concepts well enough to rephrase them and write them into a situational comedy. Most importantly, this instructional assignment provides for student practice on many of the competencies found in the AICPA Core Competency Framework for Entry into the Accounting Profession ( AICPA, 2005 ).

Developing Broad Business Perspective Competencies By Partnering With Practitioners

The CPA Vision Project - 2011 and Beyond) is a blueprint for the accounting profession of the 21st Century. From this visioning process the AICPA Core Competency Framework for Entry into the Accounting Profession (1999) was developed. It is from this framework that accounting educators are invited to adjust curriculum to provide students with the opportunity to develop these functional, personal, and broad business perspective core competencies so that students can meet the accounting profession challenges of the 21st century. This paper provides a specific model for developing broad business perspective competencies by partnering with a practitioner. Although using professionals in the classroom is not a new idea, this paper offers a unique perspective of the process by juxtaposing the perspectives of the academic and the practitioner in the processes of developing the partnership, planning the classroom event (which includes developing the broad business perspective competencies), designing and collecting student feedback, and evaluating the results of the classroom event and partnership.

Concept Mapping—an Empirical Study in Introductory Financial Accounting1

The AICPA's Core Competency Framework advocates a skills-based curriculum, based on the rapidly expanding body of knowledge in accounting and developing preferred skills for succeeding in the accounting profession. To address this concern, concept mapping is experimentally used in an introductory financial accounting course. Concept mapping is a learning tool involving a process of externalizing, through drawing and diagrams, the mental connections and association patterns students make on knowledge learned. Widely used in other disciplines, prior research suggests concept mapping develops more complete and organized knowledge structures, leading to more meaningful learning and higher-order thinking skills. This study tests the hypothesis that student learning in an introductory financial accounting course increases, as measured by examination scores, when traditional methods of instruction are supplemented by concept mapping activities. Extraneous variables, such as gender, SAT scores, major, and extra-credit work are tested validating no differences in the control and experimental groups potentially contributing to differences in learning outcomes. The results of the study show no statistically significant evidence supporting the stated hypothesis. A survey administered to the experimental group shows that concept mapping provides a positive student experience and is a useful learning tool. Two significant results arise from the survey response: (1) concept mapping is rated as a valuable learning tool by good concept map creators; and (2) better students indicate a preference for mapping software rather than creating maps manually.

Activity-Based Management in a Medical Practice: A Case Study Emphasizing the AICPA's Core Competencies

ABSTRACT: Activity-based management uses information from an activity-based costing (ABC) system for both recurring and nonrecurring management decisions. In this case study, an ABC system that assigned only indirect costs to the final cost objects has already been created and students must expand this ABC system to include the assignment of direct costs to the cost objects, and then compare these total unit costs to the revenue collected for each cost object. Students then analyze this cost and revenue information to give advice to management about case mix, capacity constraints, and mergers. In the health care industry, most medical practices have little control over customer demand for services or the amount that a practice will be reimbursed for its services. Students are asked to comment on the ethical and social implications of this fact, in the context of the results of their profitability analyses for a particular thoracic surgery practice. This case assists students in the development of a large number of competencies found in the AICPA Core Competency Framework.

Out-West Products, Inc.: A financial modeling and decision analysis case

The Out-West Products, Inc. instructional case requires students to build a comprehensive financial model to support planning and decision-making. Part 1 of this team-oriented Excel project requires students to construct a baseline model, while Part 2 provides sensitivity analysis and decision-making extensions. The case incorporates cost-volume-profit, accounting income versus cash flow, and benchmarking analyses. Case objectives provide students with a realistic financial modeling experience that includes: building models; linking data across financial statements; testing solutions and analyzing scenarios; and improving critical thinking skills. These objectives closely align to the AICPA Core Competency Framework for Entry into the Accounting Profession. The case can be used in introductory and upper-division managerial accounting, upper-division cost accounting, and MBA managerial accounting courses, and can be modularized to achieve instructor-specific objectives.

Assessment of Internship Experiences and Accounting Core Competencies

This article presents examples of assessment tools created as part of an internship program that have been integrated into program assessment. Although these tools represent only part of the multiple assessment activities and measures used in the assessment process for accounting majors at Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO), these tools comprise an important component of that process and provide data not easily obtained through other means. The interaction and evaluations that occur among students, practitioners, and faculty during and at completion of the internship can be invaluable in measuring outcomes of the internship program and the professional competencies required for entry into the accounting profession. In addition to the on-site internship experience that must involve a relevant professional experience, student interns at SEMO must maintain a diary/journal of activities and of the learning which they believe is occurring; send bi-weekly e-mails to the on-campus coordinator concerning activities and progress; undertake a self-assessment survey, compose a written paper concerning the internship experience and the profession, and make an oral presentation to students, faculty, and others interested in the internship experience. Employing supervisors also complete evaluations/surveys. Information gathered from the use of these tools has provided important insights from the perspective of the student intern and the external internship supervisor. That feedback has been available for use in promoting and improving the internship program as well as the overall program for accounting majors. By sharing the tools used in evaluating the internship experience, students' learning, and satisfaction with the internship program, the author wishes to acknowledge how the assessment of internship experiences and students' performance can provide valuable data for analysis, discussion, and possible action. The tools shared in this article can be adapted by faculty at other institutions to focus on the mission, goals, and objectives of their programs and could be integrated with the AICPA Core Competency Framework for Entry into the Accounting Profession, core competency models designed by other international, professional organizations, and assessment activities for accreditation.

Assessing Student Learning Outcomes in the Introductory Accounting Information Systems Course Using the AICPA's Core Competency Framework

This paper describes a unique learning outcome process for the assessment of an undergraduate course in AIS. Learning expectations targeted for assessment are the “functional competencies” promulgated in the AICPA's Core Competency Framework for Entry into the Accounting Profession (Framework) (1999). This paper first frames the importance of assessment for motivating faculty to foster “continuous improvement” in student learning, as well as demonstrating accountability to public officials, accreditation bodies, and university administrators. The paper then focuses on a specific example (case study) of AIS course assessment. Evidence of student learning is observed, albeit imperfectly, through triangulation of multiple direct measurements, supplemented by indirect measures such as student self-assessments. Results indicate that students became more competent in certain functional competencies and also reflect that the expected emphasis on certain competencies to be gained in the AIS course required modification to the assessment plan. AIS instructors were also able to leverage assessment information for improving the consistency of course content and pedagogy in future semesters. Triangulation, therefore, provides evidence that the AIS course achieved its student learning goals while meeting departmental objectives, including successfully supporting the AACSB's maintenance of accreditation review for the College of Business.

Compliance with Title IX at Kingston State University: A Case Study on Cost Allocation and Ethical Decision Making

We present a case that focuses on the allocation of costs between men's and women's sports. At issue is whether large portions of indirect costs can or should be allocated to women's sports to keep a university in compliance with Title IX, the federal law promoting gender equity in collegiate athletics. Students are instructed to use an ethical decision-making model when addressing the cost allocation issue and deciding whether it is ethical for accountants to “play” with numbers to achieve certain objectives. The cost allocation alternatives generated by students are appropriate for managerial accounting courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The case also helps students to develop a systematic approach when solving ethical dilemmas. Students are required to identify potential stakeholders of the decision to reallocate costs and to assess the interests of the different stakeholders. After developing potential alternatives and determining how each decision could affect the stakeholders, students must make a cost allocation decision that is consistent with the fundamental qualities of the accounting profession—honesty, competence, objectivity, and integrity. In addition to gaining exposure to cost allocation methods and ethical decision making, students are exposed to several core educational competencies identified in the AICPA Core Competency Framework (AICPA 1999).

SPUD's - A Computer-assisted Interactive Project for use in Intermediate Accounting Courses

This paper discusses a new, computer-assisted teaching tool that has been developed by three professors at a western university to enhance the effectiveness of the first Intermediate Accounting course. This teaching tool centers on an integrated project that can be combined with any traditional textbook. The paper discusses the need for such a teaching tool, then briefly describes the objectives and features of the package. Next, the paper evaluates the package by mapping it to the AICPA's Core Competency Framework (AICPA, 1999), offers observations and discusses future development plans.

Designing Class Assignments to Address Issues in Fraud Prevention and Detection and the AICPA's Core Competency Framework

The purpose of this paper and the conference presentation will be to share some assignments utilized in a fraud examination course that address issues related to both course content and development of desired core competency skills. The conference presentation should generate discussions among faculty that may be useful in facilitation of development of materials that support fraud education in an accounting course.

Using a stakeholder-based process to develop and implement an innovative graduate-level course in management accounting

Abstract Accounting programs have been challenged (e.g., W.S. Albrecht, R.J. Sack, Accounting Education: Charting the Course Through a Perilous Future, Accounting Education Series, vol. 16, American Accounting Association, Sarasota, FL, 2000; AICPA Core Competency Framework for Entry into the Accounting Profession, AICPA, New York, NY, 1999) to create innovative, cross-disciplinary courses/curricula and to tie such offerings to institutional strategic plans (e.g., I.T. Nelson, J.A. Bailey, A.T. Nelson, Issues in Accounting Education, 13 (1999) 301; AACSB International, Standards for accounting accreditation (April 21, 2000), AACSB, St. Louis, MO, 2000; AACSB International, Final draft – Eligibility procedures and standards for accounting accreditation 2004). This paper provides details about both the process used to develop an innovative graduate-level accounting course and the modules (Strategic Cost Management, Planning, and Performance Measurement) comprising the course. The paper therefore describes how one accounting program responded to the aforementioned challenges. At a strategic level, the paper discusses a three-stage process (planning, implementation, and assessment) that guided new-course design. Of particular interest is the impact of our business school's Strategic Plan and the AICPA core competency framework for entry into the accounting profession. (AICPA, New York, NY, 1999) on the development of educational objectives for the new course. Selected implementation issues (e.g., resource commitments needed to support delivery of the new course) are discussed. We also provide details regarding an assessment plan for the course and how data collected for the first three offerings of the course have guided course improvements. Because of its focus on process , this paper should be of interest to other accounting educators, particularly those interested in a stakeholder-based approach to developing and implementing new courses and curricula.