A History of U.S. Higher Education in Accounting, Part II: Reforming Accounting within the Academy

2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn Van Wyhe
Keyword(s):  
State Legislatures ◽  
Accounting Education ◽  
Certified Public Accountants ◽  
American Institute ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Credit Hours ◽  
Education Change ◽  
Accounting Scandals ◽  
Cpa Exam ◽  
History Of

In the 1970s, efforts to reform accounting education revolved around the movement toward schools of accountancy (or independent departments). These efforts were largely unsuccessful. However, in the 1980s, the movement to expand accounting education beyond a four-year undergraduate degree resulted in American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) members passing a rule mandating 150 hours of education for AICPA membership. The reaction to this rule was varied. Many state boards of accountancy and state legislatures adopted rules requiring 150 hours; however, the requirements for taking the CPA exam and licensure varied across states. After the rule's passage academicians responded by creating the Accounting Education Change Commission, whose purpose was to improve accounting education regardless of the number of credit hours students earned. Also, the AICPA shifted its attention to the possibility of expanding certification to practitioners who were not accountants. Both of these efforts were forestalled, and public attention shifted to the highly publicized accounting scandals of the 1990s. Efforts to reform accounting education since then have been led primarily by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA).

Development of an Integrated Course in Accounting: A Focus on Environmental Issues

2000 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Jacque Grinnell ◽  
Herbert G. Hunt
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Accounting Information ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Accounting Education ◽  
Certified Public Accountants ◽  
Environmental Strategy ◽  
American Institute ◽  
Education Change ◽  
Points Of View

Environmental issues provide a unique, timely, and important focus for an integrated course in accounting and demonstrate how accounting information is, or can be, used to support corporate environmental strategy and assess environmental performance. This type of course offers an opportunity to add value to the educational experience of both accounting and nonaccounting majors. In this article, we describe the development and structure of one such course, discuss our experiences in offering it, and summarize the perceived benefits and difficulties associated with this endeavor. Overall, we conclude that, despite some challenges in designing and offering this type of course, the benefits are significant from both instructional and professional development points of view. Furthermore, the course attempts to achieve several of the objectives laid out a decade ago by the Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC) and more recently, by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) in its forward-looking CPA Vision Project. Perhaps most importantly, this course helps to counter the tendency, by both students and faculty, toward disciplinary insularity, a concern prominently noted by Patten and Williams (1990).

A Half Century of Close Encounters with the First Course in Accounting

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 759-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doyle Z. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Assistant ◽  
Accounting Education ◽  
Certified Public Accountants ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
American Institute ◽  
Half Century ◽  
Senior Scholar ◽  
Education Change ◽  
Leadership Group ◽  
Assistant Lecturer

ABSTRACT This paper describes the author's encounters with the first course in accounting in his half century of study, teaching, and service on five campuses, as a student, doctoral teaching assistant, lecturer, professor, accounting department administrator, business dean, and senior scholar. Also described are his encounters with issues surrounding the first course in accounting in a variety of leadership roles with the American Accounting Association, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Accounting Education Change Commission, Association for Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business, the Accounting Programs Leadership Group, and the Federation of Schools of Accountancy. Changes in the nature, content, and teaching of the first course in accounting are discussed. Observations for the future of the first course in accounting are offered.

The Ongoing Debate of and Direction for Future Research about the Impact of the 150-Hour Education Requirement on the Supply of Certified Public Accountants

2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 503-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence J. Gramling ◽  
Andrew J. Rosman
Keyword(s):  
Additional Research ◽  
Accounting Education ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Certified Public Accountants ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
The Public ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Cpa Exam ◽  
Additional Education ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT: In this paper we reflect on two streams of research on CPA examination candidacy and accounting enrollments that include studies by Allen and Woodland (2006), Gramling and Rosman (2009), and Allen and Woodland (2012). In our response to the more recent Allen and Woodland (2012) article, we observe that the literature is split on causes for declines in accounting enrollments and CPA exam candidacy. The reversal of both of these declines in a relatively short period provides further evidence to question whether the 150-hour education requirement was actually the cause of decreases in accounting enrollments and CPA exam candidacy. With the adoption of 150-hour requirement in virtually all jurisdictions, we recommend that research refocus the questions to address how to structure the additional education to maximize the benefits of the increased education to the public, academe, students, and the profession. The continuing need for research into the content and the implications of the 150-hour requirement for members of the CPA profession is discussed and we call for additional research in a number of areas, including a concerted examination of the effects of changing delivery of accounting education on performance on the CPA exam and in practice.

MAURICE STANS' VIEWS ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE ACCOUNTING PROFESSION

2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Stevenson Smith
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
General Public ◽  
American Institute ◽  
Accounting Profession ◽  
Social Responsibilities ◽  
Accounting Scandals ◽  
History Of ◽  
Responsibility Accounting

Maurice Stans (1908–1998) is remembered for his role in the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, but he was also an early contributor to the literature on the accounting profession's obligations to the general public. His writings and speeches in this area have a place in the history of social responsibility accounting. The paper discusses his writings as well as his comments collected in an audio-taped interview about his role in the accounting profession as president of the American Institute of Accountants, senior partner in Alexander Grant (now Grant Thornton), and one of the first well-known practitioners to discuss broadly the importance of the accounting profession's social responsibilities. Today when accounting scandals have created questions about the credibility and integrity of financial reporting, it is reflective to see how concerns about financial reporting were once articulated.

Recognition of Passive Activity Losses in a Complete Redemption of S Corporation Stock

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-57
Author(s):  
Claire Y. Nash
Keyword(s):  
Certified Public Accountants ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
American Institute ◽  
Administrative Authority ◽  
Legislative History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Public Accountants ◽  
Section 302 ◽  
Treasury Department

ABSTRACT Under Section 302(b)(3), a taxpayer who redeems all of the stock he owns in an S corporation is treated as having surrendered his stock in a fully taxable exchange. The taxpayer generally recognizes the gain, or loss, realized on the exchange. Moreover, if the interest he redeems is an interest in a passive activity, Section 469(g) re-characterizes a loss on the exchange, and suspended passive activity losses (PAL) from the activity, as losses not from a passive activity, thus freeing up the suspended losses. However, when the taxpayer and the S corporation are related parties, Section 469(g)(1)(B) prohibits recognition of suspended PAL until the S corporation disposes of the “interest acquired” in a taxable transaction. Following a redemption, disposition of the “interest acquired” is not literally possible. Consequently, taxpayers question whether related-party S corporation shareholders lose the ability to recognize suspended PAL when they redeem their stock. For several years, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Tax Division has requested guidance from the Treasury Department regarding this question and listed this issue as the top priority item affecting S corporation taxation. The AICPA posits that following a 302(b)(3) redemption, suspended PAL of related-party shareholders disappear. Is the AICPA's literal application of the statute the correct approach? The legal analysis herein answers the question raised by the AICPA and taxpayers and provides guidance to Treasury in drafting administrative authority that is consistent with existing statutes and the legislative history of Section 469. Although Section 469(g)(1)(B) is problematic for related-party S corporation shareholders, their suspended PAL do not disappear. Section 469(g)(1)(B) postpones the recognition of suspended PAL in accordance with the aggregate approach when there is a complete redemption of a related-party S corporation shareholder's interest under Section 302(b)(3).

THE RECENT HISTORY OF CORPORATE AUDIT COMMITTEES

1986 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda S. Birkett
Keyword(s):  
Securities And Exchange Commission ◽  
Audit Committees ◽  
Recent History ◽  
Certified Public Accountants ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
American Institute ◽  
History Of ◽  
Public Accountants

This article explores factors in the financial, legal and social environments that have significantly influenced the development of corporate audit committees. Particular emphasis is given to the actions of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

ALVIN R. JENNINGS: MANAGING PARTNER, POLICY-MAKER, AND INSTITUTE PRESIDENT

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin E. Persson ◽  
Vaughan S. Radcliffe ◽  
Mitchell Stein
Keyword(s):  
Policy Maker ◽  
Certified Public Accountants ◽  
American Institute ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Public Accountants

Alvin R. Jennings (1905–1990) was a rare breed of an accountant. He was trained as a practitioner and rose to become a managing partner at Lybrand, Ross Bros. & Montgomery, but he kept a constant watch on the academic field of accounting research. Jennings served on the influential American Institute of Accountants' Committee on Auditing Procedure (1946–49) and later as the president of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (1957–58). This paper explores these activities and Jennings' contribution to the professional, academic, and institution discourse of the accounting discipline.

DIGITIZING THE ACCOUNTING HISTORIANS JOURNAL: A SHORT HISTORY

2006 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Royce D. Kurtz ◽  
David K. Herrera ◽  
Stephanie D. Moussalli
Keyword(s):  
Full Text ◽  
Certified Public Accountants ◽  
University Of Mississippi ◽  
Short History ◽  
American Institute ◽  
Federal Grant ◽  
Public Accountants ◽  
The University ◽  
Copyright Permission

The University of Mississippi Library has digitized the Accounting Historians Journal from 1974 through 1992, cover-to-cover. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' gift of their library to the University of Mississippi was, fortuitously, the impetus for the AHJ digitizing project. A complicated chain of events followed which included discussions with the Academy of Accounting Historians for copyright permission, an application for a federal grant, negotiations with software vendors, and decisions about search capabilities and display formats. Each article in AHJ is now full-text searchable with accompanying PDF page images.

USING A WHITE-COLLAR PROFESSION IN ACCOUNTING COURSES: APPROACHES TO ADDRESSING DIVERSITY

2006 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
William D. Samson ◽  
Cheryl L. Allen ◽  
Richard K. Fleischman ◽  
Ida B. Robinson-Backmon
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Role Models ◽  
White Collar ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Accounting Education ◽  
Accounting Students ◽  
Accounting Profession ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Individual

Accounting educators no doubt agree that diversity is an important and much neglected part of accounting education. They further recognize that it is difficult to incorporate this important topic into the accounting curriculum. This paper describes the efforts of various professors to expose business and accounting students to the evolution of diversity issues related to the accounting profession by using the book A White-Collar Profession [Hammond, 2002]. A White-Collar Profession: African-American CPAs Since 1921 is a seminal work which presents a history of the profession as it relates to African-American CPAs and documents the individual struggles of many of the first one hundred blacks to become certified. This paper describes efforts of faculty at four different colleges to utilize this book in their teaching of accounting. Instructors found that students not only developed an enhanced awareness about the history of the accounting profession, but that other educational objectives were advanced, such as improved communication and critical thinking skills, increased social awareness, and empathy for others. African-American students, in particular, embraced the people in the book as role models, while most every student saw the characters as heroic in a day when the accounting profession is badly in need of role models and heroes. This is encouraging given the profession's concern with diversity and the attention and resources directed at increasing the number of minorities entering the profession.

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