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Proposal to the UIUC Senate Committee on Educational Policy for Revision of the Curriculum for the Bachelor of Science in Accountancy

SPONSORS:

Prof Clifton Brown
274 Wohlers Hall
3-2849
cebrown@illinois.edu

Prof Ira Solomon
360 Wohlers Hall
3-3808
isolomon@illinois.edu

 

BRIEF DESCRIPTION:

The revised accounting bachelor of science curriculum offers a new approach to undergraduate accounting education with the following features:

  • A conceptual framework that integrates accounting knowledge, as well as general organizational and business knowledge, within a broad-based contracting perspective. This framework emphasizes the utility of information in solving real-world problems, together with information production and dissemination to various stakeholders and decision makers. Further, frontier knowledge gained through research is more effectively incorporated into the learning process of accounting students.

  • Emphasis on the methods and skills of inquiry, analysis, judgment and decision making discovered and developed through experience - - active participation in the process of learning.

  • Emphasis on other skills and capabilities required for entry into the accounting profession: interpersonal skills such as the ability to work with others in groups; communication skills such as the ability to present, discuss, and defend views effectively through formal and informal, written and spoken language; and intellectual skills such as the ability to identify ethical issues and apply a value-based reasoning system to ethical questions.

  • Introductory courses (ACCY 201 and 202) which serve both as a broad introduction to accounting and accountancy for all business students and as a basis for @further study of accounting, and provide a keen comprehension of the relations among accounting, business and society.

In the existing curriculum, the minimum requirements for a bachelor of science in accountancy are 21 hours composed of four specific courses (currently, ACCY 211, 221, 31 1, and 33 1) and three additional accountancy courses. The existing required courses organize accounting knowledge by functional uses of accounting (i.e., financial accounting, managerial accounting, and accounting information systems). In the revised curriculum, the minimum requirements for a bachelor of science in accountancy are 21 hours composed of six, three-hour courses (revised ACCY 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, and 305) and one additional accountancy course. In the proposed required courses, accounting knowledge is organized by accounting processes (measurement, disclosure and attestation) as well as broader functional uses of accounting (decision making, control, and institutional regulation).

JUSTIFICATION:

A variety of forces have combined to put accounting practice and education at the crossroads of change. Among these forces are dramatic increases in the complexity of global business activity, the rapid evolution of information technology, and the enhanced public scrutiny of accounting regulation due to well-publicized securities frauds and bond crises.

While the knowledge, skills and attitudes required for an effective professional accountant have changed substantially during the past twenty-five years, accounting curricula have not kept pace. Many persons believe that the accounting profession fails to attract its share of the most talented college graduates and that unattractive curricula share the blame for this failure. Aimed at preparing students primarily for passing an increasingly rules-oriented CPA examination, accounting curricula have become excessively narrow in content and passive in style. Both characteristics are ill-suited for the needs of the profession. Comprehensive curriculum change is required, both in scope and in pedagogy, to overcome these apparent deficiencies.

In 1986, a Committee of the American Accounting Association (AAA) chaired by Prof. Norton Bedford, the former Head of the UIUC Department of Accountancy, issued a report on the future of accounting education that called for changes in accounting curricula to meet the changing role of accountants within society. The CEO's of the then eight largest CPA firms issued a white paper in 1989 that discussed changes in the capabilities necessary for entering the accountancy profession and called for changes in accounting curriculum. The CEO's donated $4 million to establish the Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC) under the auspices of the AAA to support the development of accounting curricula that are responsive to the needs of the profession. The AECC developed a series of position statements concerning curricula reform, the first of which sets out the AECC's views on the objectives of education for accountants, including a composite profile of the capabilities -- knowledge, skills and attitudes -- needed by accountancy graduates. The UIUC Department of Accountancy's response to these calls for accounting curriculum changes was a proposal, known as Project Discovery, to develop an innovative curriculum prototype that it submitted to the AF-CC for funding. The AECC funded Project Discovery, and the present proposal to revise the UIUC undergraduate accounting curriculum is a direct result of our efforts (See Appendix A for additional background).

BUDGETARY AND STAFF IMPLICATIONS:

  1. Additional staff and dollars needed.

    The proposed curriculum revision does not change the minimum accountancy credit hours required for the bachelor of science in accountancy. These requirements are, and will remain, 21 hours in accountancy with a limit of 33 hours that can be counted toward degree requirements. The Department's current FTES, therefore, are sufficient to staff the proposed curriculum. The proposed curriculum revision does imply, however, an evolution in the composition of the Department's FTES. In particular, a number of current adjunct, instructor and visiting appointments are to be upgraded to tenure-track FTE, and most

    Ph.D. students are being moved from full-classroom responsibility to support roles for faculty teaching in the curriculum. Funds to implement the necessary changes in Department FTE composition have been committed by the Dean of the College of Commerce and Business Administration. The Dean has granted the Department hiring authority for four tenure-track positions in the current year, and indicates the intention to grant hiring authority for an additional three tenure-track positions in the future. An additional instructor is needed to fully staff the Professional Development Workshops, and funding discussions are ongoing with the Dean. The nature and extent of workshop implementation will depend upon the outcome of these funding discussions.
     

  2. Internal reallocations.

    Beginning with the current academic year, class-size variance is being reduced, centering on a mean of 52 students per junior- and senior-year course section. Teaching loads have been, and will remain, consistent with the College's teaching load policy. An evolution of the Department's FTE's consistent with that described above should reduce the average student to tenure-track faculty ratio within junior-level accountancy classes.
     

  3. Effect on course enrollments in other departments and explanations of discussions with representatives of those departments.

    The proposed curriculum revision should have no discernible effect on course enrollments in other departments. The revision, however, may have an effect (academic, not budgetary) on other departments that include accountancy courses as part of their degree requirements and/or electives. Letters have been send to the heads and chairs of the departments administering the following programs, informing them of the proposed changes and asking for their comments (see Appendix B for copies of these letters):

Course

Affected Programs

ACCY 201

Required of all undergraduate Commerce majors, which includes the other Commerce departments (Business Administration, Finance and Economics).
Required of undergraduate majors in Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Mechanization, Animal Sciences, Food Industry & Foods in Business, and Ornamental Horticulture.

ACCY 202

Required of all undergraduate Commerce majors, which includes the other Commerce departments (Business Administration, Finance and Economics).
Required of undergraduate majors in General Engineering and in Restaurant Management.

ACCY 211

Listed elective for undergraduate majors in Finance program in Business Finance, Investments, and Financial Institutions and Markets.

ACCY 221

Listed elective for undergraduate majors in Business Administration program in Industrial Distribution Management and in Finance program in Business Finance, Investments, and Financial Institutions and Markets.

ACCY 251

Listed elective for undergraduate majors in Finance programs in Insurance and Risk Management, and Real Estate and Urban Economics.

ACCY 322

Listed elective for undergraduate majors in Business Administration programs in Production and Management Science.

  1. Impact on facilities.

    One feature of the proposed new curriculum is its use of active learning methods. In the classroom, many of these methods involve student teams working on problems and cases and making class presentations. Traditional, lecture-style classrooms are not effective with such methods. To be effective, classrooms in the proposed new curriculum should be equipped with tables and chairs rather than student desks, and should have modern technology such as a computer, network and satellite access, a VCR and a computer-driven overhead projector. The Department estimates the proposed new curriculum will require three such rooms large enough to seat approximately 60 students each. This recent year, the University funded renovation in Wohlers Hall that produced one such room, and the Department has submitted a proposal to the University to obtain two more such rooms as part of the University's classroom improvement program that has scheduled partial renovation of David Kinley Hall. Although this portion of the University's classroom improvement program has been deferred to FY97, renovation in Wohlers Hall has been approved to provide a second classroom by Fall 1996.

    Another feature of the proposed revised curriculum is an increased emphasis on student use of technology in solving accounting-related problems. Proposed courses provide materials, data and other information in electronic form on a network. Students increasingly will be asked to utilize computer and computer-related technology to gain access to data, analyze data to produce information, and disseminate information in an understandable, usable form to decision makers. The Department expects that the University will provide -@ effective and efficient computer network environment and provide students with reasonable access to this network. Student involvement likely will grow as access expands.

 

GUIDELINES FOR UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION:

This proposal for revision of the curriculum in accountancy for the bachelor of science degree meets the guidelines for undergraduate education as specified in the 1972 report of the UIUC Long-Range Planning Committee. Specifically each of the general goals and guidelines stated in the report are goals and objectives that are specified in the AECC's position statement on the objectives of education for accountants. The accountancy faculty employed the educational goals and objectives stated in the AECC's position statement in developing the courses that compose the proposed revised curriculum. Below is a matrix that lists the educational goals and objectives together with the various revised courses and indicates the extent to which each course emphasizes each goal and objective. Also listed below is a matrix that lists teaching methods currently employed by the revised curriculum to achieve active learning objectives. Illustrative information assessing the proposed revision of curriculum, including magazine articles that feature the Project Discovery curriculum are also listed.

STATEMENT FOR BULLETIN:

Curriculum in Accountancy for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Accountancy

Organizations are a nexus of contracts, implicit and explicit, among resource owners who contract with each other to the benefit of all. In most complex organizations, these contracts specify who has the knowledge, and thus the rights, to make decisions about the use and control of the contracted resources. The effectiveness and efficiency of decisions regarding initiation, execution and monitoring of organizations' contracts depend on the quantity and quality of information available. The accountant assists in the development, accumulation, evaluation and dissemination of the information necessary for contracting parties to make effective and efficient contracting decisions. Organizations, in turn, contract with various segments of society such as labor unions, capital markets, regulatory agencies and governments. The accountant assists in the development, accumulation, evaluation and dissemination of the information necessary for ensuring that organizations comply with the terms of their social contracts.

Study in accountancy is designed to 'prepare individuals for entry into the accounting profession independent of subsequent specialization. This preparation includes knowledge of the activities of organizations, businesses, and accounting practices; intellectual, interpersonal, and communication skills; and personal capabilities and professional attitudes. Specialization in accountancy includes such fields as financial accounting, management accounting, accounting information systems, taxation and auditing. Specialization in an accounting field requires additional graduate education and practical experience.

Minimum requirements for the bachelor of science degree in accountancy are:

HOURS

REQUIRED COURSES

3

ACCY 300 - Professional Development Workshop

3

ACCY 301 - Accounting Measurement and Disclosure

3

ACCY 302 - Decision Making for Accountancy

3

ACCY 303 - Accounting Institutions and Regulation

3

ACCY 304 - Accounting Control Systems

3

ACCY 305 - Assurance and Attestation

ELECTIVE COURSES

3

Take any one 300-level accountancy course above ACCY 305.

21

TOTAL

 

Accountancy courses may not be taken on a credit-no credit basis unless the degree requirements have been satisfied. A limit of 33 hours of accountancy courses may be counted toward the bachelor of science degree in accountancy.

MINOR CHANGES:

To accomplish the course renumbering required to implement the proposed revision of the curriculum for the bachelor of science in accountancy, the following minor changes are requested:

  1. Change the course title of ACCY 290 from "Cooperative Accounting, Education Practice" to "Internship Development Project." The new title more accurately describes this course.

  2. Change the course number of ACCY 36 1, Public Sector Accounting, to ACCY 321 with the same course title and description.

  3. Change the course number of ACCY 300, Social Economic Management as Public Policy to ACCY 322 with the same course title and description. This course is cross-listed as BA 300, Political Science 300, and Social Science 300, and letters of information are being provided for these departments.

  4. Change the course number of ACCY 371, Introduction to International Accounting, to ACCY 323 with the same course title and description.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

The first sophomore courses from the revised curriculum were taught on an experimental basis during AY 1992-93 to 84 volunteer students. Subsequently, these students took the revised junior- and senior-year courses and graduated in May 1995. A second class of approximately the same size volunteered to participate in the experimental revised program, and will graduate in May 1996. A third class approximately twice the size volunteered for the experimental revised program, and will graduate in May 1997.

The Accountancy faculty voted unanimously in December 1995 to replace the existing undergraduate accountancy curriculum with the revised curriculum subject to university approvals. The number of students who will graduate in May 1998 is uncertain: we propose to offer as many sections of junior-year revised curriculum courses as students will voluntarily elect (we anticipate at least 160 students will volunteer). We recognize that the university has an obligation to continue to offer programs to students which were in existence at the time the student was admitted to the program. Thus, during a transition period of approximately one year (1996-97) we will continue to offer sections of the non-introductory accountancy courses required by the existing curriculum. The department proposes to fully convert to the revised curriculum beginning August 1997.

PROPOSED REVISION OF UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM

Note: R=Required; E=Elective for accountancy major; C=change in course content; #=change in course number; T=change in course title.

Ordered by Existing Curriculum

Ordered by Revised Curriculum

Matrix of Accountancy Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes

Students Capabilities Checklist for Courses in PROJECT DISCOVERY

Students Skills, Knowledge, and Professional Orientation Matrix Capabilities are adopted from Accounting Education Change Commission Statement Number 1.

  • H denotes an explicit course objective which is easily determined from the syllabus

  • M denotes a more subtle objective which underlies the syllabus

  • L is an indirect outcome and is not a major aspect of the course

Active Learning Examples

Illustrations of Active Learning Across the Curriculum

ACCY 199 - Students analyze a passage and provide evidence as to whether the actor is using logic.

ACCY 199 - Students analyze a case as a team, solve an unstructured problem, and provide evidence for their conclusion.

ACCY 199 - After reading articles on corporate morality and social responsibility, students identify the ethical issues and propose solutions.

ACCY 201 - Students groups analyze cases in class and submit a team response.

ACCY 211 - Students develop the ability to read, understand, and synthesize materials by presenting their conclusions to the class. They develop skills to deal with ambiguity by debating advantages and disadvantages of alternative solutions. Students are required to justify their solutions.

ACCY 331 - Problem-oriented discussion techniques are employed throughout the semester. In class, students work in groups to explore issues and formulate a solution to questions and issues posed by the instructor. Solutions are discussed and analyzed.

ACCY 331 - Process-oriented homework discussion requires students to use group activities to evaluate homework solutions and to compare the processes and methods used to arrive at the solution. The relative merits of different approaches are discussed.

ACCY 331 - Concepts of probability estimation, forecasting, and decision making under uncertainty are demonstrated using several estimation exercises and two competitive bidding auctions. In the estimation exercises, student forecast uncertain events and must interpret feedback on their accuracy. The bidding exercises illustrate problems associated with overconfidence in forecast accuracy and assessment of preferences for risk.

ACCY 221 - Students, both individually and in groups, analyze cases and problems and prepare solutions. Groups present their assignments and they are discussed and analyzed by the class. The cases are chosen to develop skills of problem identification, information search, evidence analysis and evaluation, and decision making.

ACCY 221 - Student teams conduct a field research project in which they identify, empirically investigate, and evaluate an existing accounting control system in an existing entity.

ACCY 221 . - Student groups are given sides in an issue and they must prepare positions and debate them in class.

ACCY 311 - Students read articles or view a video regarding an accounting issue or a regulatory problem and then must prepare a written reaction paper. Working in groups, students prepare and present a group presentation.

ACCY 311 - Working in groups, students participate in a mock utility rate hearing to illustrate the role of accounting in regulation. Groups represent different constituencies and argue the rate case before a student group representing the utility commission.

ACCY 311 - Students are assigned applied professional research problems in which they must identify the accounting issue, develop alternatives, conduct research on the propriety of the alternatives, choose a solution, and defend their choice.

ACCY 341 - Students participate as a buyer or seller in a computerized market to illustrate the value of attest services in society. Students experience how a demand for attestation arises in a market setting.

ACCY 341 - An attest engagement proposal project allows students to apply their understanding of the value of attestation by identifying an industry and a type of a non-financial-statement assertion. Student teams develop a written proposal and make an oral presentation.

ACCY 341 - Students apply attestation concepts and techniques by '"working" on hypothetical attestation services. These database projects focus on risk assessment, selection of a referent on which an assertion can be based, hypothesis generation, developing a sampling plan, and conducting the sampling and evidence gathering process. Students actually experience the planning, execution, and interpretation of the results of verification procedures.

ACCY 341 - Students prepare position papers which report on their investigation of a fundamental attestation concept or a contentious issue.

ACCY 251 - Students conduct applied research on tax issues and prepare solutions to the cases. Solutions are presented and discussed in class.

ACCY 312 - Students participate in role playing cases in which they are required to develop support for a position that has little conceptual support. Students present and defend their positions in class.

ACCY 312 - Students prepare group position papers on accounting topics which are timely and/or controversial. Each student is expected to be prepared to discuss the issues and present his/her perspective,

ACCY 312 - Students clarify and refine their values frameworks by considering cases with inherent ethical challenges and preparing their perspectives on the issues.

ACCY 342 - Students practice identifying potential high-risk audit areas by analyzing actual financial statements and comparing the results to appropriate industry statistics.

ACCY 342 - Students develop their attestation skills through experiential exercises that focus on audit planning, evaluating internal control, determining applicable professional standards, and choosing and applying statistical sampling techniques.

 

Illustrative Assessment Information

Project Discovery Assessment Summary Report

Memo from Dan Stone and Marjorie Shelley
Date: September 21, 1995

We've now completed a substantial portion of the analysis of the differences between the Spring, 1995 graduates of the Department of Accountancy's Project Discovery and nonProject Discovery programs. Some of the results that we obtained are:

Student Characteristics

  • There were no differences in the ethnic composition of students choosing to enter the Project Discovery program relative to our traditional undergraduate accounting program.

Attitudes and Beliefs about Instruction

  • PD students believe the accountancy faculty provided better advice (both career and personal) and are better teachers than do nonPD students.

  • PD students believe that the accounting classes they took improved their communication skills, interpersonal skills, business knowledge, and creativity and problem solving ability, more than did the nonPD students.

  • PD students are happier with the accounting education they received at the UI than nonPD students.

  • According to surveys of students, different instructional approaches are used in PD and nonPD classes. Students in PD classes more frequently analyze cases in groups, make presentations, and participate in in-class discussions. Students in nonPD classes more frequently attend lectures by faculty and work structured homework problems.

Attitudes and Beliefs about Accounting

  • PD students believe that communication and interpersonal skills are relatively more important to success in accounting than do nonPD students.

  • At the beginning of their senior year, Project Discovery students believe they have stronger communication and interpersonal skills and weaker technical accounting skills relative to the nonProject Discovery students.

Knowledge and Skill-Administered Measures

  • The results of a structured problem solving case suggest that, relative to our traditional undergraduate accounting students, Project Discovery students are better at identifying accounting information resources and ethical issues.

    In addition, the Project Discovery students show evidence of better problem structuring and writing skills. We found no differences in the technical accounting skills of Project Discovery and nonProject Discovery graduates.

  • Cognitive complexity is the ability to differentiate the distinct attributes of a problem and to integrate these attributes into a cohesive solution (e.g., Streufert & Swezey, 1986, Complexity, Managers, and Organizations). Based on responses to the essay question, "Why is accounting important to a business?," Project Discovery students show evidence of a higher level of cognitive complexity than do nonProject Discovery students (t(201) = 3.0, p<.01). There were no differences between Project Discovery and nonProject Discovery students in the accounting content of the responses to this question (Wilks' Lambda F(4,198)=".98," p=".23").

Knowledge and Skill - May, 1995 CPA Examination Performance

  • While improving CPA examination performance was and is not an objective of Project Discovery, data on CPA examination performance are a relevant measure of student teaming. 66 Project Discovery and 193 nonProject Discovery students from the University of Illinois students took the May, 1995 CPA examination and released their grades to us. These data indicate:

    • The average national rate for first-time candidates passing all sections of the CPA examination for the period May, 1989 to November, 1994 is 18.5% (range = 14 to 22%). The pass rates of both the Project Discovery and nonProject Discovery students far exceed this rate. Specifically, 47% of the Project Discovery students passed all sections of the May, 1995 CPA examination while 39% percent of the nonProject Discovery students passed all sections.

    • The average rate for University of Illinois first-time candidates passing all sections of the CPA- examination for the period May, 1989 to November, 1994 is 40.1 % (range = 18 to 53%). The 47% pass rate of Project Discovery students was slightly above this historic rate while the 39% pass rate of nonProject Discovery students was not significantly different from this rate.

    • The CPA exam scores of Project Discovery students were better than those of nonProject Discovery students. The average score on all sections of the CPA examination for Project Discovery students was 74.8%, while for nonProject Discovery students this score was 71.6% (t (258)=2. 1, p=.03). The largest difference between Project Discovery and nonProject Discovery students was on the Auditing section of the CPA examination (t (258) = 3.1, p <.01).

Employment Placements

  • While we are just beginning to organize and analyze data on employment placements, early evidence suggests that Project Discovery students were very successful in obtaining positions in both public and private accounting. In addition, some Project Discovery students were hired by nontraditional employers of our graduates. For example, four Project Discovery students took positions in investment banking.

Assessment - the Next Phase

While we will continue many of the assessment activities that we have implemented in the past 2 years, we plan an extending these activities to investigate the employment success of Project Discovery and nonProject Discovery students. Specifically, We have requested that the Big 6 Firms give us access to personnel evaluation data on our graduates so that we may track their post-graduation success.

Thanks Again

A special thanks to the faculty and Ph.D. students who have cooperated with our assessment activities! Faculty members and Ph.D. students who have contributed to the assessment activities include Paul Beck, Nancy Desmond, Dick Dietrich, Phil Drake, Anita Feller, Cathy Finger, Ananda Ganguly, Susan Hinkle, Jane Morton, Karl Muller, Rama Ramamurthy, Josh Rosett, Ira Solomon, Theodore Sougiannis, Dave Ziebart, and Dick Ziegler.

UIUC College of Business Department of Accountancy