Using a management accounting perspective to evaluate the production of future accounting professionals

Abstract

In its final report of 2008, the Treasury Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession (ACAP) made a recommendation that the American Accounting Association (AAA) and the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) work together to form a commission to study the future structure and content of accounting education. The Pathways Commission is entrusted with the responsibility of fulfilling the ACAP's goals on human capital requirements. In its future course of work, the Commission will have to face the task of questioning whether the new structure and content will produce “better” accounting professionals. In management accounting, “better” means the benefits outweigh the costs. The current study addresses the cost–benefit aspect of the way the accounting profession produces its future professionals now.

In an effort to provide empirical evidence on the costs and benefits of the 150-hour education requirement of the United States, a national survey of accounting program administrators’ cost–benefit perceptions of their 150-hour program has been performed. This chapter reports on the results of the U.S. survey.

Citation

Lee, J.Y. (2011), "Using a management accounting perspective to evaluate the production of future accounting professionals", Epstein, M.J. and Lee, J.Y. (Ed.) Advances in Management Accounting (Advances in Management Accounting, Vol. 19), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 161-171. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1474-7871(2011)0000019013