School of Accountancy
College of Business
Louisiana Tech University
AACSB Accreditation Maintenance
Annual Report for 2008-2009
2008-2009 Progress
The School of Accountancy’s (SOA) strategic management focused largely on issues relating to
assessment of learning (including the implementation of changes to improve our programs),
formalizing the School’s Strategic Plan, and the staffing of high quality faculty. Representatives
of the SOA also participated in the strategic management plan of the College of Business. This
year the College’s strategic management efforts centered on: (1) approval of the Center for
Entrepreneurship and Innovation building renovation and the designing of the new business
building; (2) approval of the Center for Information Assurance; (3) creation of the Center for
Executive and Professional Development; (4) establishment of a full-time Student Services staff
member to focus on enrollment management; (5) development and initiation of programs in the
Shreveport/Bossier area; (6) development of a distance education program, and (7) the creation
of new majors in Supply Chain Management and Sports Marketing. The College’s Strategic
management efforts are discussed in the College’s accreditation maintenance report and are not
considered below except when it is central to the SOA’s efforts.
The SOA’s progress this year included assisting the College in its ongoing processes through
representation by faculty from the School; and more specifically focused on (1) implementing
improvements and monitoring our assurance of learning process; (2) furthering the development
and implementation of our Accounting Advisory Board’s strategic goals; (3) completing the
development of a formal strategic plan for the School; and (4) hiring additional faculty members.
1.
Assurance of Learning Process and Resulting Changes
This year we modified our Accounting 201 (Principles of Financial Accounting) to include
greater coverage of ratio analysis to improve our students’ application of analytical skills in
Accounting 305 (Intermediate Accounting III). Our assessment of our students’ understanding
of financial ratio analysis in Accounting 305 showed a need for improvement. We believe that
the earlier coverage in the financial principles will improve understanding. However,
Accounting 305 is one to two years later in our accounting students’ curriculum (i.e., it will be
up to two years before we know if the change is improving student performance).
We also began to monitor students’ ethics knowledge in Accounting 304 (Intermediate
Accounting II). Our assessment showed ethical awareness to be very good, but the written
communication portion of the project showed some weakness. We believe that additional
guidance in terms of project instructions will improve students’ communication.
Also new for 2009 was the assignment of an audit case designed to offer practical audit
applications such as tick mark usage. This new case was offered in Accounting 513 (Advanced
Auditing). Our initial trial showed that additional coverage of these practical applications may
be needed in Accounting 413 (Auditing). We tried using a pretest in Accounting 513, followed
by additional training and a follow up examination. The posttest showed great improvement
after the added instruction. A final decision on where to cover the practical applications is
forthcoming.
We continue to work on assurance of learning. Assessment across the curriculum is standard
now, and we continue to add assessment of learning goals and make changes where it is deemed
appropriate.
2.
Activities with the Accounting Advisory Board
The Accounting Advisory Board met in October 2008. The Board revisited their strategic
initiatives that would assist the School of Accountancy, focusing on action plans that would lead
to implementation of certain selected initiatives. First, the Board is now providing a letter to
students who make an “A” grade in Accounting 201 (Principles of Financial Accounting). The
letter congratulates these students and tells them about the accounting field. Second, the Board
is assisting with networking opportunities for alumni. A Shreveport event will be planned that
offers CPE followed by a social event for accounting alumni in the Shreveport area. Depending
upon the outcome, other events will be planned in other cities (e.g., Dallas and Houston). Other
initiatives are also being considered such as tailgating opportunities at football games,
particularly when the School of Accountancy is host of the College’s tailgate activities.
Our Advisory Board’s initiatives are similar to some of the School’s goals, and we believe that
this congruence of goals will result in a stronger School of Accountancy.
3.
Completion of the School’s Strategic Plan
Strategic management continued to focus on staffing faculty positions. This year was the fourth
year in a row that we have been in the market to hire a new faculty member. In part, this has
happened because of retirements, but we have also added two positions over the last several
years. Our administration is committed to supporting the School of Accountancy in this regard.
Hence, part of our long range plan centers on the people we choose to meet our mission and
objectives. As of this fall, we are fully staffed, and our focus now will be in maintaining a
strong, productive faculty. This is a major part of our strategy.
In addition to hiring faculty, assurance of learning, and other managerial activities, we have
continued to focus on strategic planning and providing a more formal codification of our
strategic process. Dr. Ted Englebrecht, our representative on the College Strategic Planning
Committee, has been instrumental in the strategic planning effort in the School. After an initial
draft, additional faculty have considered and approved our strategic goals for the School of
Accountancy. These goals are consistent with the missions of the University, College, and the
School, as well as the College’s strategic plan. Our strategic initiatives are as follows:
(1) Attract Diverse, Motivated, and Highly Qualified Faculty;
(2) Maintain a Continuous Improvement Environment with Assurance of Learning Standards
for each Accounting Program;
(3) Strengthen and Nurture Ties with External Constituents; and
(4) Maintain an Environment that Results in Highly Regarded Research.
These initiatives also include several strategies that focus on successfully completing our goals
of the School (for more information see the School’s strategic initiatives document).
4.
HRM Activities with continued Diversity and Research Emphasis
Two additional faculty members were hired this year. The first hire is a female, AfricanAmerican doctoral candidate from Southern Illinois University. She is a member of the PhD
Project and is next year’s KPMG liaison of the PhD Project Accounting Doctoral Students
Association. Her graduation was delayed due to scheduling problems regarding data collection
(data are to be collected from a Big-4 firm soon – changes made by the firm caused some of the
previously collected data to be replaced). Additionally, her dissertation chairman and a
committee member left Southern Illinois, but this should not delay her progress. The second hire
this year replaces a faculty member who was hired by the University of Houston. She is a
female doctoral graduate of Purdue University. She is originally from Taiwan.
Our current faculty comes from geographically diverse universities with no two people from the
same institution. We have eight tenured or tenure-track individuals, evenly divided by gender.
Two of our faculty are from outside the United States. We also have two female instructors with
master’s degrees from other accounting programs than any of the other faculty. Hence, we have
been successful in improving faculty diversity through the variety of programs represented,
gender, and ethnicity.
We are seeing some results from our hiring practices over the last ten years. This year, one of
our new faculty was published in The Accounting Review (the second faculty to publish in this
journal within a year), and additional faculty have been published or have forthcoming papers in
other Category I journals. We believe that diversity is making our faculty stronger in terms of
teaching and research.
2009-2010 Priorities
During 2009-2010, our main focus will concentrate upon the following:
(1) Increasing our student enrollment (particularly as we assist the College)
(2) Continued focus on assurance of learning and ways to improve student learning via program
improvement
(3) Maintaining and supporting a diverse, high quality faculty in the School
(4) Working with the School of Accountancy Advisory Board in Alumni Outreach (part of the
Board’s, the School’s, and the College’s strategy)