Pathways Commission Update
Charting a National Higher Education Strategy
for the Next Generation of Accountants
Sponsored by the American Accounting Association (AAA) and the
American Institute of CPAs (AICPA)
AAA Annual Meeting, Denver
August 2011
Official Statement
• All views presented today are our own and do
not reflect the official views of the Pathways
Commission, our organizations, AAA, or AICPA.
Pathways Commission (AAA and AICPA)
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U.S. Treasury Recommendation
• In 2008, the U.S. Department of Treasury
Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession
(ACAP) made a number of recommendations.
Part VI. Human Capital recommendation #5 was:
• “Encourage the AICPA and the AAA jointly to form
a commission to provide a timely study of the
possible future structure of higher education for
the accounting profession.”
Pathways Commission (AAA and AICPA)
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Sponsoring Committee
• AAA – Gary Previts, Case Western Reserve
University, Former AAA President
• AAA – Tracey Sutherland, Executive Director
• AICPA – Denny Reigle, Former Director
Academic and Career Development Team
• AICPA – George Krull, Grant Thornton
(Retired)
Pathways Commission (AAA and AICPA)
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Challenges for Profession and Academia
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Globalization of business and markets
Escalating complexity of business
Lack of financial literacy
High profile frauds eluding regulatory scrutiny
Increasingly sophisticated technology
Increasing need for fair value, predictive and
non-financial information
Pathways Commission (AAA and AICPA)
Pathways Commission Objective
• To meet these challenges we need to develop
strategies and then structures to ensure that
we have an adequate supply of the best,
diverse talent to sustain the accounting
profession, broadly defined, over the longterm.
Pathways Commission (AAA and AICPA)
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Pathways Commissioners
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Bruce Behn - Chair (University of Tennessee)
Bill Ezzell (Deloitte)
Leslie Murphy (Murphy Consulting, Inc.)
Judy Rayburn (University of Minnesota)
Jerry Strawser (Texas A&M University)
Mel Stith (Syracuse University)
Pathways Commission (AAA and AICPA)
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A Collaborative Structure
• Scope of the Commission
– Attract individuals with high potential to excel in accounting, at any
point in their lives
– Enable higher education to provide the best possible educational
experience
– Support the need for ongoing educational experiences throughout the
professional accountants’ careers
• Three Supply Chains each to focus on several different aspects
of the challenges
• Work Groups emerged within and across the three Supply
Chains
Pathways Commission (AAA and AICPA)
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Supply Chain Organizations
Supply Chain 1
Supply Chain 2
Supply Chain 3
Santa Fe College
U. of Rhode Island
North Carolina State U.
Ernst & Young
KPMG Foundation
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Wake Forest University
Dixon-Hughes
Bailiwick Data Systems
Belmont University
DiSanto, Priest & Co.
CitiGroup
Austin Comm. College
Univ. of Arkansas
Univ. of Memphis
Kansas State Univ.
Arizona State Univ.
FSA
DeVry University
Creighton University
AACSB
National Business
Education Association
Financial Executives
International
NASBA
Colorado State Univ.
Association of
Government Accts.
Institute of Management
Accountants
Beta Alpha Psi
National Association of
Black Accountants
Institute of Internal Auditors
Colorado State Society
Assoc. of Latino
Professionals in F&A
Minnesota State Board
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Supply Chain Representatives
Supply Chain 1
Supply Chain 2
Supply Chain 3
Susan Crosson (L)
Mark Higgins (L)
Scott Showalter (L)
Ken Bouyer
Bernard J. Milano
Holly Paul
Jack Wilkerson
Larry Evans
Bill Travis
Del DeVries
Ernie Almonte
Steve Young
Tracie Nobles
Karen Pincus
Carolyn Callahan
Dan Deines
Harriet Maccracken
Martha Doran
Beth Rescigno
Jack Krogstad
Jan Williams
Madge Gregg
Robert Walker
Melanie Thompson
Margarita Lenk
Jeanette Franzel
Dave Burritt
Cindy Cruz
Gregory Johnson
Paul Sobel
Mary Medley
Manny Espinoza
Kate Mooney
Pathways Commission (AAA and AICPA)
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Overall Pathways Statistics
• 639 Years of Practice Experience
• 585 Years of Education Experience
• Many people wear different hats (examples)
• Ernie Almonte, past AICPA chair, former Rhode
Island Auditor General, now DiSanto, Priest & Co.
• Jack Krogstad, Creighton University, former
Academic Fellow at the Office of the Chief
Accountant
Pathways Commission (AAA and AICPA)
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Supply Chain Leaders
• Supply Chain #1---Susan Crosson, (Santa Fe
College)
• Supply Chain #2---Mark Higgins, (University of
Rhode Island)
• Supply Chain #3---Scott Showalter, (Retired
KPMG partner and N.C. State University)
Pathways Commission (AAA and AICPA)
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A Collaborative Process
• Information gathering and sharing to level-set
all participants
• Development of key questions for exploration
• Build-out of perspectives on key issues
• Leading to implementable recommendations
Pathways Commission: Charting a National Strategy for the Next Generation of Accountants
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Feedback Received from Presentations
by Members of the Pathways Commission
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AAA 2010 Annual Meeting San Francisco
TSCPA Accounting Education & Career Awareness Meeting
Tennessee Accounting Educators Conference
AAA 2010 Northeast Region Meeting
2010 AICPA Fall Council Meeting
AAA 50th Anniversary Region Meeting
NASBA 2010 Annual Meeting
Michigan Association of CPAs Educators Conference
AAA November 2010 Executive Council Meeting
AICPA Board of Directors Meeting
Accounting Sponsoring Organizations
2011 Maryland Accounting Educators Conference
2011 AICPA Board of Directors Meeting
2011 AAA FARS and IAS Section Meetings
3rd Annual On-Line TLC Section Midyear Meeting
2011 APLG/FSA Annual Meeting
Pathways Commission (AAA and AICPA)
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Feedback Received from Presentations
by Members of the Pathways Commission
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20 11 South Carolina Association of Accounting Educators
Tennessee High School Educators’ Symposium
NASBA CPE Conference
AAA 2011 Southwest Region
AAA 2011 Southeast Regional
AAA 2011 Mid-Atlantic Region Meeting
AAA 2011 Western Region Meeting
Indiana CPA Society’s
2011 Educators Conference
Michigan Association of CPAs Spring Advisory Forum
AAA 2011 Ohio Region Meeting
2011 TACTYC – Keynote Speaker
AICPA Spring Council Meeting
2011 Virginia Society of CPAs Educators’ Symposium
CPE Society Executives Interchange Conference
Pathways Commission (AAA and AICPA)
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Commission and Supply Chains
have Developed the Following Working Issues
using Feedback from Presentations
1. What is the Value Proposition
of a Broadly Defined Accounting
Profession?
6. Strengthen bi-directional links
between business/profession and the
educational community (research and
teaching)
5. Assess Faculty
Supply/Demand Status
2. Identify the Current and Forecast
Future Markets for Accounting
Information And Professionals
3. Strengthen quality and
quantity of high potential
accounting students
4. Broaden and improve the
speed of curricula and pedagogy
innovation in a rapidly changing
complex global environment
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1.What is the Value Proposition of a
Broadly Defined Accounting Profession?
Issues
• Definition of our
profession
• Define a signature
pedagogy
• Identify benefits and
contributions of
accounting to our
economy
• Stress the breadth of the
profession - accounting
goes beyond auditing
Impediments
• Public perception of
accounting careers as
“less than exciting”
• Lack of understanding
of important role of
accounting to our
economy
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2. Identify Current and Forecast Future Markets
for Accounting Information And Professionals
Issues
• Gather supply and
demand data for all
accounting
professionals
• Identify necessary
current and future
competencies for each
area of practice
• Conduct research to
identify demand,
considering outsourcing
trends
Impediments
• Currently bits and
pieces of job market are
tracked
• Lack of national data
base to track job market
for all accounting
students and careers
• No “Meta”-Professional
accounting organization
that cuts across
functional areas
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3. Strengthen quality and quantity
of high potential accounting students
Issues
• Career Perceptions
• Brand identity and careers
beyond auditing
• High schools: Dual
enrollment and AP
• The first course as a
recruitment tool
• Placement of accounting
course in curriculum
Impediments
• Students discover
accounting too late in
their career choice
process
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3. Strengthen quality and quantity
of high potential accounting students
Issues
• Curriculum
• Educational paths for less
“traditional” entrants and
career options
(paraprofessionals)
• Less traditional
educational paths for
traditional entrants
(Rutgers program)
Impediments
• Diversity of accounting
professionals does not
mirror diversity of US
population
• Under represented
populations lack role
models and mentors
• Diversity
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4. Broaden and improve the speed of
curricula and pedagogy innovation
in a rapidly changing complex global environment
Issues
Impediments
• Inventory accounting
curricula at high schools,
community colleges, and
universities
• Integrate cutting edge
practices, IT/systems, and
global/cultural experiences
• Cost of development of
teaching materials
(simulations) to facilitate
experiential learning
• Difficulty of integrating IT
changes into the
classroom
• Lack of national
clearinghouse for
innovation in curricula
and pedagogy.
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4. Broaden and improve the speed of
curricula and pedagogy innovation
in a rapidly changing complex global environment
Issues
• Understand learning
patterns of different
generations of students
• Rethink textbooks and
other learning materials
Impediments
• Inadequate integration
of educational research
findings into PhD
programs and faculty
awareness
• Slow process of
updating textbooks and
integrating new
material
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5. Assess Faculty
Supply/Demand Status
Issues
• Continue to actively recruit
Ph.D. students from practice
for specialized disciplines
(audit and tax)
• Review current Ph.D.
programs and processes
(program length and foci)
• Improve integration of
professionally and
academically qualified faculty
• Gather data on supply and
demand for Ph.D. graduates
Impediments
• One-size fits all PhD
program design
• Lack of national (global)
PhD program
clearinghouse
• Distance between
accounting research
and practice
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6. Strengthen bi-directional links between
business/profession and the
educational community (research and teaching)
Issues
• Internships/externships
• Collaborative research
and data sharing
• Integration of
professionals into
classrooms and
academe
• Professional
experiences for faculty
by specializations
Impediments
• Research disconnect
between accounting
professionals and
academia
• Difficulty of obtaining
data for research
• Narrow focus of
academic accounting
research reward
systems
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6. Strengthen bi-directional links between
business/profession and the
educational community (research and teaching)
Issues
• Continuing educational
opportunities for faculty
• Advanced, professional
degrees (post-MS
specialist, leadership
Ph.D.)
• Professional
certifications and
licensure
Impediments
• Faculty time constraints
• Lack of easily available
and affordable
mechanisms to update
faculty
• Only partial integration
of clinical faculty into
academia
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Next Steps
• Initial recommendations by Summer/Fall 2011
• Final recommendations by November/December
2011
• Final Report targeted for January 2012
• Phase 2 planning in process now – focus on
implementation
Pathways Commission (AAA and AICPA)
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Potential Discussion Questions
• How do we overcome impediments?
– Higher education?
– Practice?
• Sustaining change is hard
– How can innovation become
institutionalized?
– Other?
Pathways Commission: Charting a National Strategy for the Next Generation of Accountants
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We Need Your Input
Send your input via the Pathways Commission space:
http://pathwayscommission.org
Or send your input to Bruce Behn (bbehn@utk.edu)
Pathways Commission (AAA and AICPA)
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