Report plots accounting’s future

Members of the American Accounting Association and the American Institute of CPAs are looking to improve their profession, primarily through educational efforts at the university level.

“The Pathways Commission, Charting a National Strategy for the Next Generation of Accountants,” is a compilation of key recommendations by more than 50 accounting professionals and academics from over two years of discussions.

Released last month and sponsored by the two national accounting groups, the report”™s seven recommendations include:

Ӣ integrating accounting academics, research and practice, similar to the medical profession;

Ӣ solving the shortage of professors by creating multiple career paths;

Ӣ rewarding high-quality teaching;

Ӣ adapting curricula to be flexible to changes in technology and practice;

Ӣ attracting high-quality students;

Ӣ creating an entity to track information about the field; and

Ӣ creating a process to easily make future changes to education.

Initial implementations will take place over the next three years.

“There needs to be a stronger sense of the profession for everyone involved,” said William Ezzell, a co-commissioner and former Deloitte L.L.P. partner.

Nearly all information about money is dependent on accounting, which should hold the profession to a high standard of ethics and obligation to the market, Ezzell said. In light of the many recent financial scandals, accountants could benefit from having a stronger connection to the profession that has a set code of ethics and culture.

A key takeaway is that there needs to be a closer link to universities and professionals, Ezzell said. In medical school, students are taught by practicing doctors and medical researchers actually work with, for example, surgeons to improve technical procedures. In accounting, the real world isn”™t necessarily brought into the classroom and research isn”™t impacting how companies apply accounting.

“Communities are changing more today than they have ever have before,” Ezzell said. “The education has to move more quickly to meet those challenges.”

Many of the recommendations are directed at education, but companies can also give feedback about whether graduates need better critical thinking or communication skills and assist in forging relationships with universities. One idea the commission suggested was taking employees out of firms and swapping them with professors. For a semester, the employee could teach and the professor could work in corporate America to strengthen ties, viewpoints and connectivity.

At the University of Connecticut, many of the commission”™s recommendations are already followed, said Mohamed Hussein, head of the college”™s accounting department.

The department has followed the commission”™s work from the start and plans to discuss the report further at its fall advisory council meeting. The council includes employees from public accounting firms and companies that review the school”™s curricula.

The school”™s introductory accounting course is one of the most popular in the university and has persuaded many students to change their major to accounting.

“I (would) hope accounting education would continue to be adaptive to changes in what society needs from accountants,” Hussein said. “That it provides students with the skills that help them be successful in careers that might span up to five decades.”