A MODEL OF RECOMMENDED EDUCATION FOR THE; I j. FUTURE GROWTH or CERTIFIED PU‘BLEC ACCOUNTANTS. - I. A f 533333 for the meme 3 3 B, A. ‘ {MECHiGAN 331‘s unmmw 1333033393003»; V ' * ‘ '- 19:2 ' I“.- Micbe'gan State University r! 1' - r- " U , . . J '- o. , 6 Kg m ,3 . J .‘ L) . '~ a); y MAR 37 2:22 ABSTRACT A MODEL OF RECOMMENDED EDUCATION FOR THE FUTURE GROWTH OF CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS BY Louis Conrad Jacoby The education of public accountants on the univer- sity and college level has long been the subject of interest for various individuals and groups. With the advent of collegiate business administration programs with majors in accounting the course recommendations for the accounting curricula have been left primarily to committees of the American Accounting Association and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The recommendations of these committees have greatly influenced the form and content of the accounting curricula of this country's colleges and universities. However, most of these recommendations provide the education necessary for the student to gain his first job. Little evidence is available that these committee recommendations are aimed toward the future growth of the accountant as a professional. Any effective attempt to develop a series of recom- mendations for the education considered necessary for the Louis Conrad Jacoby growth of public accountants needs to consider the percep- tions of accounting practitioners and accounting educators, the literature from various interest groups and considera- tion of what curricula is presently offered by educational institutions. The Objective The primary objective of this research was to describe an educational program that provides not only an adequate preparation for a person entering public account- ing but also prepares him for growth in his profession. Three sub-objectives related to the primary objective are as follows: 1. To inquire into the present curricula of accountancy and to determine what accounting educators and practitioners perceive as the most desirable educational background to achieve the primary objective. 2. To analyze the trends of accounting curricula in the various Michigan colleges and univer— sities over a period of time and to determine what the future trends might be. 3. To compare the perceptions and trends in the first two sub—objectives to the various studies related to accounting education. Louis Conrad Jacoby The Problem The problem addressed by this research was the preparation of a series of recommendations of topic areas of study in general education, general business and account- ing that would provide for the professional growth of the public accountant. The Methodology To develop a model of recommended education for the growth of public accountants several sources of input were utilized. First, a card deck mechanism similar to that used in Horizons for a Profession was utilized to determine the perceptions of accounting educators and practitioners as to the desirability of various courses for the future growth of the public accountant. Second, interviews were conducted with certain of the respondents to the card deck in order to gain an insight into these rankings. Third, literature pertinent to the topic was reviewed for clues as to the direction accounting education should be taking and fourth, college catalogs were reviewed to determine the present typical undergraduate accounting program. Rankings by various respondents to the card deck were prepared and several statistical tests were utilized to establish whether the respondents were ranking in a similar manner. By combining the results of these rankings, the interviews, the literature and catalog reviews, and a set of evaluative criteria, recommendations were then prepared. Louis Conrad Jacoby Conclusions From the analysis of the statistical data and other items of information, certain conclusions were drawn. First, the respondents ranked the general educa- tion courses quite high. These results combined with the interviews pointed out that the public accountant needs more than just an accounting major for his future growth. He needs a background from a variety of areas in general education——science, mathematics, economics and behavioral sciences. Second, general business courses of an advanced level were frequently ranked above the introductory courses. This resulted, according to the interviewees, because the introductory courses frequently were of a survey type and contained little conceptual knowledge. Third, the typical undergraduate accounting courses were in the lower third of the rankings. The marginal benefit of any additional undergraduate accounting courses as perceived by the respondents was quite low. Summary The recommendations were prepared by taking into consideration the results of the card deck responses, the interviews, the literature and catalog reviews, and an evaluative set of criteria. No precise course outline was prepared. Instead, general tOpics of study were recommended along with certain areas under each of these Louis Conrad Jacoby topics. These general topics of study and the areas under each of them are as follows: General Education Logical and objective thinking Communication ability Cultural-ethical development Economic-social-political development General Business Finance Marketing Production Law Business organization and control Accounting Basic course areas Alternative course areas A MODEL OF RECOMMENDED EDUCATION FOR THE FUTURE GROWTH OF CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS BY Louis Conrad Jacoby A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Department of Accounting and Financial Administration 1972 9’ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As the chairman of my dissertation committee, Dr. Floyd W. Windal guided and maintained a very active interest in my work. His contribution has been invalu- able and this acknowledgement is only a small token of my appreciation for his efforts. The other members of my committee, Dr. Melvin O'Connor and Dr. Hal W. Hepler, contributed significantly to this dissertation. Their comments, criticisms, sug- gestions and continued interest are greatly appreciated. Although not a member of my committee, Dr. Gardner M. Jones gave much constructive advice when the original idea of this topic was being formulated. Throughout the academic portion of my stay at Michigan State University financial aid was made available through a graduate assistantship and graduate fellowship by the Department of Accounting and Financial Administra- tion. This support greatly reduced the financial burden that several years of study can place on a student and I am very thankful for this help. A sincere note of appre- ciation is extended to the staff of the Computer Institute ii for Social Science Research and the Office of Research Consultation for their help in preparing, computing and interpreting the data. On a more personal level, several of my fellow students deserve recognition. Joe McHugh always provided the Irish wit and the sage counsel when needed. He was also the willing opponent for many memorable matches on the paddleball court. George Krull frequently took time from working on his own dissertation to look at my writ- ings and make comments which were greatly appreciated. The summer during which the data was collected, compiled and analyzed was made more bearable by John Bales through his droll wit and poignant comments. The greatest debt that I wish to acknowledge is that owed to my wife Barbara. She alone knows what the real costs of this dissertation and degree have been. There have been few years of our married life that I haven't been involved in working on some degree at some college. Yet, through it all she has stood behind me, encouraging and assisting whenever and wherever possible. To her, my most loving thanks. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi LIST OF FIGURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Viii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY . . . . . . . . 1 Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Background of Accounting Education . . . 2 Statement of the Problem . . . . . . . 6 Need for the Study . . . . . . 8 Limitations of the Overall Study . . . . 10 Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . 12 Footnotes--Chapter I . . . . . . . . 15 II. LITERATURE REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . 18 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Section One: Development of Accounting Education . . . . 19 Section Two. National and State Studies . 23 Section Three: Committee Recommendations . 29 Summary . . . . . . . . . . 41 Footnotes-~Chapter II . . . . . . . . 43 III 0 METHODOLOGY 0 O O O O O O O O O O O 46 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Opinion Survey: Question One . . . . . 46 Opinion Survey: Question Two . . . . . 54 Analysis of Opinion Survey . . . . . . 59 Catalog Study and Literature Review . . . 78 Preparation of the Recommendations . . . 81 Footnotes--Chapter III . . . . . . . 84 iv Chapter IV. RESU LTS AND ANALYSIS OF OPINION SURVEY . Introduction . . . . . . Compilation of the Results . . . . Findings from Tables 4.1 and 4.2 . . Statistical Test Results . . . . . Interview Findings . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . Footnotes--Chapter IV . . . . . . V. RESULTS OF CATALOG STUDY AND COMPARISON WITH LITERATURE . . . . . . . . Introduction . . . . . . . . . Section One--Review of Pertinent Curricular Recommendations . . . Part Two--Changes in the Topic Heading Contents . . . . . VI. RECO BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDICES A. Part Three-—Comparison of Catalog Study and Other Studies . . . . . . Footnotes—-Chapter V . . . . . . MMENDATIONS FOR AN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM Introduction . . . . . . . . Review of Card Deck, Catalog, and Literature Findings . . . . . . Criteria . . . . . . . . . . Recommended Areas of Study . . . . Implications for the Study . . . . Footnotes-vChapter VI . . . . . . Illustration of Instruction Card, Data Cards and a Subject Card . . The Ten Largest C.P.A. Firms in the State of Michigan . . . . . . Small C.P.A. Firms in the State of Michigan . . . . . . . . . Letter of Transmittal . . . . . . Follow Up Letter . .q . . . . . Colleges and Universities Included in the Educator Sample . . . . . Page 86 86 86 96 101 118 122 124 125 125 125 140 150 157 159 159 159 167 170 191 200 201 207 210 212 218 220 222 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 3.1 CourSe Topics in Alphabetical Order . . . . 51 3.2 Four-Way Classification of Practitioners by Age and Firm Size . . . . . . . . . . 55 3.3 Four-Way Classification of Practitioners by Age and Firm Size and the Total Population of Each Cell . . . . . . . . . . . 57 3.4 Responses of the Sample Groups . . . . . . 60 3.5 Topic Headings and Related Subjects . . . . 70 4.1 Composite Rankings of All Respondents in Decreasing Order of Importance . . . . . 88 4.2 Comparative Rankings of Major Classes of Respondents . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 4.3 Respondent Classification and Associated Rho Values with Significance Tests . . . . . 103 4.4 Coefficients of Concordance-~All Respondents and the Five Topic Areas . . . . . . . 108 4.5 Coefficients of Concordance of Individual Responses and the Five Topic Areas . . . . 109 4.6 Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test Between Age, Size, and Type of Educator . . . . . . . . . 114 5.1 Ford and Carnegie Reports on Percentage Allocation of Undergraduate Hours . . . . 126 5.2 Various American Accounting Association Education Committee's Percentage Allocation of Undergraduate Hours . . . . 128 5.3 Alternative Programs in Accounting Recommended by the Committee on Education and Experience . 134 vi Table Page 5.4 Comparison of Percentage Allocation of Undergraduate Hours . . . . . . . . . 136 5.5 Required Semester Hours for Graduation with a Major in Accounting . . . . . . . . 141 5.6 1958-1959 Credit Requirements Based on Semester Hours . . . . . . . . . . . 142 5.7 1964-1965 Credit Requirements Based on Semester Hours . . . . . . . . . . . 143 5.8 1970-1971 Credit Requirements Based on Semester Hours . . . . . . . . . . . 144 5.9 Minimum Subject Area Requirements of the Undergraduate Schools (Semester Hours Expressed as an Arithmetic Mean) . . . . . 145 5.10 Number of Michigan Institutions that Changed Undergraduate Requirements in Certain Topic Areas for Accounting Majors from 1958-].959 to 1970-1971 a o o o a o o o 146 5.11 Average Semester Hours Required for Accounting Majors in Selected Areas in Sixteen Michigan Colleges Offering a Major in Accounting . . 151 5.12 Average Semester Hours by Topic Areas and Type of Institutions Compared to Horizons for a Profession . . . . . . . . . . 152 5.13 Comparison of Hypothetical Compositions to Actual Compositions of Undergraduate Accounting Programs . . . . . . . . . 153 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 3.1 Overall Methodology of the Study . . . . . 47 3.2 Data Collection and Analysis . . . . . . . 48 3.3 An Illustration of Ranking by All Respondents in Descending Order of Importance . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 3.4 An Illustration of Ranking by Major Classes of Respondent . . . . . . . . . . . 71 3.5 Worksheet for College Catalog Review . . . . 80 6.1 Format of a Checklist for Program Evaluations . 193 viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY Preface After a brief outline of the objectives of the study an introduction to the background of accounting education on the university and college level as it applies to the beginning public accountant will be presented. The nature of the problem and why this study was undertaken will be indicated. The limitations and assumptions of the study will then be discussed. Objectives The primary objective of this study will be to describe an educational program for universities and colleges in Michigan that provides not only an adequate preparation for a person entering public accounting but also prepares him for growth in his profession. It might be assumed that with certain modifications that the recom- mendations could be utilized in other states. In addition, several sub—objectives of this study are listed below. They are: 1. To inquire into the present curricula of accountancy and to determine what accounting educators and practitioners consider as the most desirable educational background to achieve the primary objective. 2. To analyze the trends of the accounting curri— cula in the various Michigan colleges and universities over a period of years and to determine what the future trend might be. 3. To compare the trends in the first two sub- objectives to the various professional and academic studies related to the education of the beginning public accoun- tant. It is not the purpose of this study to share the responsibility of curriculum building with the respondents of the study; the planning of instructional programs is nominally the function of the faculty of the educational institution. In the case of the professional curricula, where certification requirements must be met, a certain amount of this planning must conform to the rulings of regulatory boards or agencies. The building of a curriculum may utilize the results of this study which is to describe an undergraduate program that considers not only the preparation of the student for his first employment but also prepares him for growth as a professional. Background of Accounting Education Whenever education is discussed two quotations come to mind. One quotation is quite old while the other is comparatively recent. Aristotle, commenting on the educational principles and practices of his time, said: ". . . the existing practice of education is perplexing; no one knows on what principle it should proceeds-should the useful in life, or should virtue, or should higher knowledge, be the aim of our training; all three opinions have been entertained. Again, about the means there is no agreement."1 R. J. Canning in a somewhat more recent article in The Accounting Review stated that, "people really develop themselves and about all we can do is to help them define their objectives, appraise their own talents, and provide some of the tools and techniques which will enable them to develop themselves."2 Thus, as accounting educators, we can see that the educational problems we face today in training professional accountants are not new ones. Argument over the objectives of education has continued for centuries. And, even today, there is not complete agreement as to the proper method of instruction or the best array of courses. Both Aristotle and Canning recognized this fact. While Aristotle's trilogy embodied the essence of our educational aims, Canning realistically recognized that individuals cannot be turned out from the academic assembly line as finished products. The views of Canning and Aristotle are brought together in the educational considerations of accounting study as stated in the 1963 report of the American Account- ing Association's Committee on Educational Standards. As the accounting function in modern society grows, the role of the accountant inevitably becomes larger and more important. The demand for well-educated accountants is currently high and promises to remain strong in the foreseeable future. In this environment the issues that arise in devel- oping a sound program of education for those who intend to pursue accounting careers are of prime importance. Although accounting involves a basic discipline backed by a considerable body of theory, it is generally agreed that one who prepares for a career in accounting must have a background con- siderably broader than merely a thorough understand- ing of accounting concepts and procedures.3 Businessmen are daily immersed in an environment composed of social, political and economic forces which must be understood if a business is to survive. And, accountants, side by side with these businessmen, are positioned at the center of these forces. Their survival is equally at stake. On a less personal scale, the management of these forces is vital to the maintenance of political democracy. Only education and understanding will provide the ability to manage. Therefore, the educa- tion of a professional accountant must be such that it will allow him not only to understand these various rela- tionships, but to work with and within them. How is such an education provided? At present, the most common approach to an accounting education is a four-year baccalaureate degree with a major or concentration in accounting. Of course, there are exceptions to this approach. However, the most recent report by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (A.I.C.P.A.) on the individuals taking the examination for the Certified Public Accountant (C.P.A.) certificate indicated that the baccalaureate degree with a concentration or major in accounting is the prevalent mode of professional education.4 For the professional accountant education is in three areas. First, the broad general knowledge of disciplines that will give him an understanding of the present political, economic and social environment; second, the semi-technical knowledge that will make available to him such tools as mathematics, statistics, communication skills, economics and finance; and third, the technical knowledge of the expert accountant. At the present time it appears to be generally understood that the professional accountant will obtain most of his semi-technical knowledge as well as his background of broad general knowledge at the university. The technical knowledge will also be acquired through university training supplemented by firm training programs. Will future accounting education continue this same approach? Based on a review of the literature, it seems as if this trend will continue. Williams, reporting on a survey of individuals taking the C.P.A. examination in 1966, pointed out that 95 per cent of those persons were college graduates.5 Other articles which support a four- year degree as a minimum have appeared in accounting journals. These articles also indicate the desirability of a fifth year to complete the "common body of know— ledge."6’7'8’9 Statement of the Problem What is the content level of education for the typical beginning professional accountant in the state of Michigan? How does his education compare with that recom- mended by the various interested groups of accountants and accounting educators? Does the emphasis in the various schools indicate whether there was, is, or will be a transition in the education for professional accountants? Are we becoming more general in our education and emphasin ing the conceptual understanding rather than procedural details? These questions and many similar ones need answers. However, these questions merely point to the real problem, i.e., what direction must we now take in order to improve our education of beginning public accountants for their growth in their profession? After reviewing the recommendations of the various professional and academic groups that have been studying the problem of what is the recommended education for the , beginning public accountant, several conclusions can be drawn. First, the desired objectives of accounting are to educate the citizen, educate the individual in business and educate the individual in accounting. The career accountant must be a well informed citizen, a wellvrounded businessman and a proficient accountant. Second, as seen by the academician and practitioner, the general education, general business and accounting course requirements that have been recommended are limited to a four-year program. The optimum contribution to the beginning public accountant that can be made in a collegiate program limited to four years casts some serious doubts as to whether such a program can meet the desired objec- tives.lo’ll'12 Third, the proposed fifth year programs of study are new and have never been tried. Therefore, to spell out a form for a curriculum may be presumptuous. However, it is fair to conclude that there is a need for raising educational standards for public practice but this may not necessarily be tied to a fifth year of formal study. The evidence for such a need is derived from several educational committee reports and recommendations of the American Accounting Association (A.A.A.) and the A.I.C.P.A. and from the increased certification requirements of the various states.l3'l4’15’l6’l7 Fourth, for those colleges that presently offer only a four-year degree and do not have a graduate program, what effect will the current recommendations have on their future as suppliers of accounting graduates? They may have to give up any vestiges of accounting education to those schools presently equipped to handle the proposed expansion. Or, they will become suppliers of individuals trained in basic accounting, business and general education areas so that the schools with the larger facilities can polish these individuals with the requisite skills. Or, they will be suppliers of accounting technicians as con- trasted with professionals. Need for the Study In most technological areas there has been, and will continue to be, an explosion of knowledge and infor- mation which creates problems for the business community and educational institutions. The failure to recognize these changes in our society will prevent the curricula in our colleges and universities from being relevant and the resulting graduates from such institutions will face the possibility of being obsolete. Thus, curricula, faculty, and administrators need to relate to these current technological changes and also to the method by which the individual can adjust to these changes. Our particular concern is that accounting educators must consider this increasing complexity when planning the curricula for their particular institutions. While those persons currently employed in the public accounting pro- fession have acquired their knowledge and skills in many ways, there is a need to provide certain of these skills and more of this knowledge to beginning public accountants in the academic classroom. An accidental gathering of skills is no substitute for systematic learning. The basic need for this research is apparent given the following facts and assumptions regarding the education available for public accountants in the institutions that now grant a baccalaureate degree with a major in _accounting. First, although there have been two studies, Ford and Carnegie, on the quality of business education, there has been only one national study, Horizons for a Profes- 18,19,20 £122! on the quality of accounting education. Doyle Williams presented a statistical summary or profile of accounting education based on a survey of C.P.A. candidates but this was descriptive in nature and not qualitative.21 On the state level there have been no studies devoted to the exploration of the cognitive domain covering the requisite knowledge most recommended for the professional growth of the beginning public accountant. There have been state studies but these have usually pro- vided a description of the employment patterns, successes, and failures of accounting graduates, and resource profiles of the accounting education in that particular state,22'23'24’25 Second, college accounting curricula are frequently prepared with the intent of the graduate's employment immediately upon completion of the program. The initiation of these students into their professional careers is given a very firm start at the undergraduate level. The student's professional growth beyond that point is generally over- looked, yet it is his future that is of primary importance. Third, given the pressure by interested academic and professional groups to provide a fifth year of education for the public accountant, those colleges without such a 10 fifth year capability need to provide an education appro- priate for their acCounting graduates within their present four—year programs. This is not to say that these insti- tutions will not expand in the future, but for some of these institutions the feasibility of such an expansion may be marginal, at best. Fourth, educators, practitioners, and students need to be kept informed about the knowledge, skills and intel— lect that are expected of the members of the public accounting profession. This need was eloquently expressed by John Carey when he stated that "the future of the accounting profession will be determined not only by the opportunities which confront it, but by the intellectual capacity, knowledge, and skills of its members."26 Also, the development of accounting education is not the sole responsibility of the academician. He is joined in this task by the practitioner, the graduates of the various accounting programs and the present students. Limitations of the Overall Study When undertaking a study of this type there are certain factors that limit both the input and the output. The major limitations listed below apply to the study as a whole. Other limitations that apply to specific methodological constructs will be found in the chapter on methodology. First, this study does not attempt to prepare a curriculum solely to meet the state requirements for 11 certification as established by the Michigan State Board of Accountancy.27 The educational requirements of the State Board of Accountancy represent a minimum standard of education to be met by those seeking to take the C.P.A. examination and as such these standards are not aimed at future professional growth. Second, some of the data will be gathered by utilizing the questionnaire/interview technique. The problem of the recipient's interpretation of the question while he formulates a reply and the interpretation by the researcher of this reply is recognized.29 Third, this study is limited to exploring the education necessary for growth in the public accounting profession as evidenced in Michigan. This limitation excluded all other types of accountants, e.g., internal auditors, cost accountants and government accountants. Another closely related limitation specifies that the study will concentrate on the beginning staff accountant .and not on any particular speciality such as tax, auditing, or management services. Fourth, a review of the various course offerings of Michigan colleges and universities indicated a necessity of adopting a means of categorizing the courses required for the baccalaureate degree into the five major headings of general education, general business, economics, mathe- matics, and accounting. These headings will be defined in Chapter III—-Methodology. Because of this standardization, 12 the breakdown into these headings and the breakdowns offered by the college catalogs may not agree. Fifth, although, confirmation of the data gathering devices by means of personal interviews would provide additional validity, the financial constraints preclude such activity in any great measure. However, a certain amount of interviewing will be done with certain selected individuals who returned the completed data gathering device along with other interested academicians and prac- titioners. Sixth, only those colleges and universities offer- ing a major or concentration in accounting leading to a baccalaureate degree will be included in the study. Those colleges offering accounting courses but no major leading to a baccalaureate degree will be of secondary interest. Junior colleges will not be considered. The reason for their exclusion is that they are not educating for growth, but merely to meet the present minimum educational require— ments for licensing. Assumptions Certain assumptions must be made in regard to this study. The first assumption is that all future public accountants will be required to have a baccalaureate degree with a major in accounting. The trend in requiring the major in accounting has been increasing in the past years and supports this assumption. As of this writing the most recent compilation by the A.I.C.P.A. of the certifying 13 jurisdictions requiring the degree plus an accounting major showed that 27 out of 53 jurisdictions were to have such an ordinance by mid-1969.29 A second assumption pertains to the selection of the accounting respondents on the opinion gathering phase of the study. It is assumed that the individuals in public accounting and accounting education included in the opinion sample can contribute useful opinions relevant to the education of the beginning public accountant. The third assumption is that practitioners can discriminate among topics suitable for the academic pre- paration of public accountants and that they are able to rank those topics in order of their importance to the future growth of the beginning public accountant. Fourth, it is assumed that useful inferences about the future growth of public accountants can be made by determining the specific knowledge needed by the practi- tioner as perceived by both the educator and the practitioner. Fifth, the cognitive domain will be the area of concentration. Educational objectives and intended behaviors are frequently divided into domains labeled cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. These terms are briefly defined as follows: Cognitive Domain: Includes those objectives which deal with recall or reorganization of knowledge and the development of intellectual abilities and skills. 14 Affective Domain: Includes those objectives which describe changes in interest, attitudes, and values and the development of appreciation and adequate adjustment. Psychomotor Domain: Includes the objectives which emphasIEe some muscular or motor skill, some manipulation of material and objects, or some act which requires a neuromuscular coordination.3O Due to the problems of calculating the validity, reliability, and objectivity as outlined by Krathwohl, Bloom and Masia, the affective and psychomotor domains will not be considered.31 However, it must be remembered that education is a function of all three domains and not of cognition alone. FOOTNOTESH-CHAPTER I lAristotle, Politics (New York: The Modern Library, 1943), p. 185. 2R. J. Canning, "Training for an Accounting Career," The Accounting Review, XXXIII (July, 1958), p. 359. 3American Accounting Association, "Report of the Committee on Educational Standards," The Accounting Review, XXXIX (April, 1969). p. 156. 4Doyle Z. Williams, "A Profile of CPA Candidates," The Accounting Review, XLIV (January, 1969), p. 156. 5 Ibid. 6Edward S. Lynn, ed., "Educational Policies of the A.I.C.P.A.," The Journal of Accountangy, 113 (March, 1963): pp. 87-88. 7Doyle Z. Williams, "Reactions to 'Horizons for a Profession'," The Journal of Accountancy, 127 (June, 1969), p. 68. 8Special Committee on the Report of the Commission on Standards of Education and Experience for CPAS, "Education and Experience for CPAs," The Journal of Accountangy, 107 (June, 1959), p. 68. 9Editorial, "The Objective of Accounting Education," The Journal of Accountancy, 111 (June, 1961), pp. 33-34. 10Robert H. Roy and James H. MacNeill, Horizons for a Profession (New York: American Institute for Certified Public Accountants, 1967), pp. 141-167. 11Committee on Education and Experience Require- ments, Report of the Committee on Education and Experience Requirements for CPAS (New York: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 1969), pp. 41-59. 15 l6 12American Accounting Association, "Report of the Committee to Compile a Revised Statement of Educational Policy," The Accounting Review, XLIII (Supplement), pp. 51-124. 13 Trump and Ball, "Reactions,' p. 83. 14U. 8. Army and the American Institute of Certi- fied Public Accountants, Provisions in CPA Laws and Regulations (New York: The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 1968), pp. 67-73. 15American Accounting Association, "Report of the Standards Rating Committee," The Accounting Review, XXIX (January, 1954), pp. 39-40. l6American Accounting Association, "Report of the Committee on Educational Standards," p. 449. 17 John L. Carey, The Rise of the Accounting Profession to Resppnsibility and Authority 1937-1969 (New York: The American Institute of Certified PuBIic Accountants, 1970), pp. 259-285. 18 Roy and MacNeill, Horizons for a Profession. 19Robert A. Gordon and James E. Howell, Hi her Education for Business (New York: Columbia UniverSIty Press, 1959). 20Frank C. Pierson and others, The Education of American Businessmen (New York: McGraw-Hill PubIIShIHg Company, 1959). 21Doyle Z. Williams, A Statistical Survey_of Accounting Education, 1967-68—TNew York: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 1969). 22Donald E. Keller, A Research Study of Some Aspects of Accounting Education (San Francisco: Calif- ornIa CerEIfied Public Accountants Foundation for Education and Research, 1968). 23Harry Simons, Education for Accountancy (Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles, Bureau of Business and Economic Research, 1960). 24Felix P. Kollaritsch, Opinions, Scholastic Rankings and Professional Progress of Accounting Graduates (Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University, College of Administrative Science, Department of Accounting, 1968). 17 25Committee on Relations with Colleges and Univer- sities, A Profile of Accounting Education in Kentucky (LouisviIIe, Kentucky: Kentucky Society of Certified Public Accountants, 1967). 26John L. Carey, The CPA Plans for the Future (New York: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 1965), p. 258. 271970 Register, State of Michigan, Department of Licensing and Regulationsnyoard of Accountancy (Lansing, Michigan: Department of LICensing and Regulation, 1970), pp. vi-vii. 28Bernard S. Phillips, Social Research; Strategy and Tactics (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1966), p. 117. 29Provisions in CPA Laws and Regulations, pp. 67-73. 30David B. Krathwohl, Benjamin S. Bloom and Bertram B. Masia, Taxonomygof Educational Objectives, The Classification of Educational Goals, Handbook II: Affective Domgin (New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1964), pp. 6-7. 31Ibid., pp. 85-91. CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction A review of the evolution of the various profes- sions would provide a great deal of evidence showing the similarity of the evolution of the professions' educational programs. Initially, individuals meeting their social needs acquired a self-taught knowledge. Through continued exposure to the various needs and problems of society, bodies of knowledge grew and were transmitted to others thus resulting in a tradesman-journeyman relationship. Slowly these bodies of knowledge were accumulated and over many years this knowledge was reviewed and improved. Experience gave way to the classroom technique as the means of imparting knowledge. Professional schools developed due to the increased amount of knowledge. Originally these professional schools were strongly oriented toward the practical and less toward the liberal-cultural- general aspects of education. However, these professional schools have, over time, evolved into the more research oriented or investigative type of institution. Less 18 19 practical experience and more emphasis on the reasoning processes of induction and deduction to solve problems has become the rule rather than the exception. Along with this evolution knowledge has increased. To combat this knowledge explosion, curricula are being continually updated and reviewed and the fundamentals of theory and principles are emphasized. Accounting knowledge and collegiate accounting education has followed a similar pattern of development. Section One will review the development of schools of business and the associated departments of accounting while Section Two will deal with the various national and state studies of accounting education. These studies are classified into: (a) studies concerning the quality of accounting education, and (b) studies of a descriptive nature about accounting education. The third section of the chapter will review the recommendations made by the various educational committees of the A.I.C.P.A. and the A.A.A. Section One: Development of Accounting Education The earliest attempt to found a school of commerce on the college level was in 1851 at the University of Louisiana. However, this attempt was abandoned in 1857. A few years later, in 1870, the University of Illinois established a School of Commerce but it too was discontinued in 1880. The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois 20 felt that the school was preparing clerks not future business leaders and such a misallocation of resources for this school was wasteful.l The University of Pennsylvania may lay official claim to being the first American collegiate school of business. In 1881, Mr. Joseph Wharton donated $100,000 to the University. With the grant was a memorandum to the Board of Trustees of that institution outlining a "Project for a School of Finance and Economy to Form a New Department of the University."2 Wharton's desire was that the education in "Finance and Economy" should be of genuine collegiate or university grade. He stipulated that the school should "form an integral part of the university," and after outlining his thoughts on what should be taught in the way of business courses, he stated that "other branches of an ordinary good education must be acquired by the students."3 Thus, Wharton recognized that collegiate education for business should prepare men not only for their field of endeavor but also for being of service to society and the state. The efforts of the American Association of Public Accountants (A.A.P.A.) to establish a college of accounting in the State of New York in the early 1890's was quite energetic but it failed in less than a year. A second attempt by the A.A.P.A. to establish a degree granting college within the jurisdiction of the Regents of the University of New York succeeded for two years, but it too 21 failed. The reasons for failure were too few students, too little support from the business community, and a lack of communication of the school's objectives and pur- poses to the Regents.4 However, by 1907, there were eleven colleges and universities that had patterned themselves after the Wharton School.5 In the six years from 1910 to 1916 the number of these schools increased from 52 to 116.6 Many of these institutions were offering courses which were aimed at the individual who was interested in public accounting. By the 1920's most of the major universities and colleges not only had accounting courses in their curricula but were offering degrees in business with a‘ major in accounting. In the early 1900's the standards for admission to practice as a public accountant in the form of education and experience were quite varied. The states were in complete control of licensing and testing with the result that requirements for entrance into the profession varied widely. Gradually, the state boards of accounting recog- nized the need for not only utilizing a standardized test for the certification of accountants but also the importance of establishing some sort of minimum educational require- ments for these candidates. The state of New York was the pioneer in establishing a college education as a prerequisite for the examination. On January 1, 1938, New York's education requirement stated that the candidate must be a 22 graduate of an approved course of study at the college level and that the content of this course was to be 50 per cent liberal arts subjects and 50 per cent professional subjects with a minimum of 24 semester hours in accounting, 8 semester hours in commercial law, 8 semester hours in finance and 6 semester hours in economics.7 Slowly, other states proposed legislation requiring a baccalaureate degree with a major in accounting from an acceptable institution. It should be kept in mind that these regula- tions were generally minimal and were not necessarily related to the future growth of the professional accountant. Doyle Williams, in a 1969 report, indicated that 95 per cent of those taking the C.P.A. examination in November, 1966 had a college study.8 A separate report prepared jointly by the A.I.C.P.A. and the U. S. Army Audit Agency stated that by mid-1969 27 out of 53 juris- dictions will have the baccalaureate degree with a major in accounting as the minimum requirement for public accounting education.9 Recent policy recommendations of the Council of the A.I.C.P.A. stated that a five-year program of college study should be the standard of educa- tion for the C.P.A.lo With the continuing emphasis on collegiate educa- tion as a requisite for professional accounting practice, the importance of understanding quite clearly the nature of accounting education and its environment becomes apparent. The problem is that data available for 23 constructing either a national or a state profile of accounting education has been very limited. To facilitate a review of the pertinent literature, a distinction has been made between the national and state studies of accounting education and committee or association recom- mendations about various aspects of accounting education. The second section of this chapter reviews the national and state studies of accounting education on the collegi- ate level. Section Two: National and State Studies A. Studies of a Qualitative Nature There have been three studies of a qualitative nature within the last two decades that have had influences on accounting curricula. The first two of these qualita- tive studies were published in 1959 under the separate auspices of the Ford Foundation and the Carnegie Corpora- tion.ll’12 Both these studies had as their major emphasis the study of general business education with comments about major areas of concentration within the domain of general business. The principal results of both the Ford and Carnegie reports were that a more liberal form of business education should be considered with more emphasis on the general or liberal areas, less emphasis on general business courses, and a minimal major or technical area. 24 Certain benefits have accrued to business education in general, and accounting education in particular, as a result of the publication Of these two reports. For example, there has been an ever increasing integration of accounting education with various other disciplines. Introductory accounting courses emphasize a user orienta- tion as contrasted to the older methods that emphasized procedural details. The generation of data by accoun- tants for decision making has gained a prominent role in the education of accountants. Quantitative techniques are becoming more common and are introduced early in the education of future accountants. The use of economic analysis provides the accountant with more tools for use in his decision making and in his advisory capacities. ' Thus, although accounting educators may have frowned on the recommendations of a more general education, the trend has been to reduce the emphasis on procedural detail and incorporate the concepts, where applicable, of disciplines outside the business-accounting world. Immediately after the publication of the Ford and Carnegie reports a committee under the auspices of the A.A.A. was formed to review these reports. This committee emphasized that it might be impossible to think of one set of proportions in which general education, business educa« tion, and accounting could be combined for the ideal education. Schools vary in their student bodies and the communities they serve. Thus, to strive to make one school 25 a copy of another school would ignore the circumstances of their existence.13 The third qualitative study was Horizons for a 14 Profession by Roy and MacNeill. This study was published in 1967 and focused primarily on the educational needs for the beginning C.P.A. A common body of knowledge was pre- sented that the authors felt appropriate for a beginning public accountant. The principal impact of Horizons on accounting education lies in three areas. First, increas- ing the emphasis on conceptual learning; second, increas- ing the applications of quantitative techniques and the computer; and third, pointing the way for formal accounting education to include graduate study. After the publication of Horizons a series of symposiums were held in which leading accounting educators and practitioners discussed the implications of this study. The primary objectives of these symposiums were to analyze the recommendations of Horizons, evaluate the relevance of the findings and consider the appropriate means of implementing these recommendations.15 The participants of these symposiums generally approved of the findings of Horizons and believed that Horizons would best serve as an effective motivator for the improvement of the educational preparation for accoun- tants. However, in endorsing the conceptual elements, the participants agreed that further thought should be under- taken to determine the "respective roles of colleges and 26 universities and the profession in sharing the respon- sibility for the initial education and training of pro- fessional accountants."l6 B. Studies of a Descriptive Nature Descriptive or empirical studies have focused primarily upon the quantitative aspects of accounting education. Over the past two decades five of these descriptive studies have been published. These studies by Simons, Kollaritsch, Williams, Keller and the Kentucky Society of C.P.A.s will be reviewed in this section. To date these studies represent the sum total of the descrip- tive or empirical studies available on the subject of accounting education. Harry Simons' study, published in 1960, detailed the results of a survey of 1,237 graduates from the School of Business Administration, University of California, Los Angeles.17 These graduates were accounting majors who had received the baccalaureate degree over the years 1946-1957. A variety of questions were asked about their interest in accounting, their opinion of their college training, their present occupations, their aspiration realizations and many other related tOpics. The results were compiled and, based upon these compilations, the School of Business Administration at U.C.L.A. had a description of its graduates and their successes and failures. To the school involved the results were highly 27 significant but applicability of the results outside of this school on a national, or even a state level, is somewhat conjectural. In 1968, Felix Kollaritsch reported on a study of 1,220 individuals who had graduated from the Accounting Department of the College of Administrative Science of the Ohio State University between the years 1920 and 1967.18 The results of the study gave a variety of information about the respondent's social, academic, and economic backgrounds; their employment patterns and mobility; salaries and their successes and failures. Like Simons' study, Kollaritsch concentrated on the post- graduate careers of his respondents who were all from one school. Also, like Simons, there is a limited use for these statistics outside of the school involved. Doyle Z. Williams, under the sponsorship of the A.I.C.P.A. surveyed and compiled certain statistics relative to the accounting education for the years 1967- 1968.19 Schools in 28 states participated in a survey questionnaire developed by the Institute that provided data for the preparation of a profile on accounting education. The national profile that was developed described the institutions offering some type of an accounting program, the accounting faculty, their financial support, and the undergraduate and graduate programs of the participating institutions. Williams' study, although exhibiting a broader base upon which to sample, essentially did no more 28 than report the status quo. However, certain of the find- ings did lend support to findings evidenced in Horizons. California was the base for a second study on accounting educators. Keller prepared a profile of cer- tain aspects of accounting education which was published in 1968. The purposes of his study were: (a) to provide a profile of the resources available to instruct account- ing majors; (b) to determine where these accounting majors were going; and (c) to compare the education of these accounting majors With that reported in other studies.20 The primary source of data was a series of questionnaires sent to accounting practitioners, academicians, chairmen of accounting departments, recently recruited accountants, and college placement officers. The results enabled Keller to establish a rather complete profile of the quantitative aspects of accounting education in the State of California. Finally, in 1967, the Committee on Relations with Colleges and Universities of the Kentucky Society of C.P.A.s published A Profile of Accounting Education in Kentucky.21 This study surveyed all of the colleges and universities in the state as to their accounting offerings, accounting curricula and the backgrounds of the accounting educators. The results are a factual listing of the schools that teach accounting, the courses offered and the individual faculty members' vita. Thus, it'can be seen that the studies that have been done at the state level have been primarily descriptive 29 in nature. This is not to say that the information col— lected and reported in these studies is not important. However, studies of a qualitative nature might give the potential user of this information a better base for planning changes in accounting curricula. Section Three: Committee Recommendations The following section will deal with the general development of educational recommendations by both the professional and the academic accounting groups. The precise formulations of policy dealing with courses in the areas of general education, general business, economics, quantitative, accounting and electives are dealt with in detail in Chapter V--Curricula Review. It is the purpose of this section to deal with the general contributions of each of the many committees involved to date in accounting education. A. Development of Educational Recommendations py the A.I.C.P.A. Committee action has been a typical procedure used by groups to study problems in which the committee's has had an interest. Accounting groups do not differ in this respect. In 1907, at the annual meeting of the A.A.P.A., the forerunner of the A.I.A. and the A.I.C.P.A., Dean Joseph F. Johnson of New York University, School of Commerce, Accountants and Finance, read a paper on accounting education. Dean Johnson stated that "I do not 30 believe the profession will receive the recognition from the public which is its due until we recognize the faCt that a very broad and liberal education, a thorough education, is necessary for professional practice."22 As a result of the emphasis on education and the growing number of institutions offering accounting courses, the A.A.P.A. established a committee on education to keep a close watch over the institutions that taught account- ing, the courses being taught, Association members' thoughts on accounting education, and other pertinent matters. For several years the committee acted as an information agency for the association and for the colleges teaching accounting. In 1917, a suggestion was made that, in addition to its previous tasks, the committee on educa- tion should formulate a curriculum to be followed by the schools teaching accounting. However, when such a curri- culum was submitted by the Association to the colleges in 1924, it received little support from the academic community.23 A new committee was formed in 1929 to differentiate, classify and weigh the importance of the type of knowledge and the techniques of application necessary to meet the requirements of practice. This was the forerunner, by 41 years, of the common body of knowledge embodied in Horizons for a Profession. The idea was for the committee to establish courses based on all the facts that would be suitable for the preparation of the students. Yet, when 31 the results of the committee's work were circulated for opinion purposes, there was little favorable response and as a result this project was abandoned.24 Several years later, in 1934, the education committee of the A.I.A. formulated a five-point proposition on education for accountants for adoption by the Institute. Essentially the five points were: first, college or university training for public accountants; second, the education should include liberal and systematic studies; third, the Institute should not formulate detailed curricula; fourth, accept only individuals of high ability into training; and fifth, formal education should be given greater emphasis over experience alone. However, no positive 25 action was taken by the Institute. The 1935 Yearbook of the A.I.A. detailed policy recommendations that essentially would strengthen the educational training for public accounting practice.26 Specific recommendations were made in 1936, and later approved, that outlined a four-year, 120 semester hour requirement equally divided between the cultural-liberal subjects and the professional subjects. The professional subjects would entail 38 semester hours in accounting, 8 semester hours in law, 8 semester hours in finance and 27 6 semester hours in economics. In addition, the com- mittee recommended that ultimately a five-year course of study be implemented--three years of professional work and two years in the liberal arts.28 This was the first 32 mention of a five-year course of study. This five-year plan surfaced again 33 years later as part of the A.I.C.P.A.'s Committee on Education and Experience Require- ments recommendation for institute policy. During the late 1930's and the early 1940's there developed a rather serious objection on the part of the academic community to the A.I.A.'s recommendation about curricula detail. Meeting in 1941, the academic community (represented by the A.A.A.) and the practitioners (represented by the A.I.A.'s Committee on Education) decided it would be very difficult to establish uniform curricula standards. Later, the two groups met again and laid the groundwork for a more permanent cooperation. As a result of these meetings, the accounting academicians were to be responsible for curriculum and teaching methods; the A.I.A. was to be responsible for staff training pro- grams, study conferences and internship programs.29 The early 1950's found the Institute studying education and experience requirements with the result that in 1956 its Commission on Education and Experience pub- lished a report which outlined the characteristics of the profession. The Commission made broad suggestions related to education but in essence followed the A.A.A. Standards Rating Committee report of 1954.30 0 A special committee was formed by the Institute in 1956 to consider the Commission's report and to determine which of the recommendations should be adopted as Institute 33 policy. This special committee diligently reviewed all the literature to date, interviewed various interested persons in accounting practice and academia, and in 1959 published their recommendations. Their recommendations in the area of undergraduate education paralleled those of the Commission.31 Early in the 1960's the A.I.C.P.A. commissioned a study to define the common body of knowledge needed for beginning C.P.A.s. The resulting study by Professors Roy and MacNeill became the first real conceptual analysis 32 of academic preparation for public accounting careers. Horizons for a Profession was widely circulated and later reviewed and debated in several symposiums held throughout the country. As a result of Horizons and the symposiums, the Institute appointed a Committee on Education and Experience in 1966 to formulate Institute policy pertain- ing to the requirements which would become the standards for admission to the public accounting profession. The Committee on Education and Experience recommended the adoption of Horizons as the basis of education for those entering the accounting profession. The Committee also recommended that an equivalent of five years of college study be substituted for the present education and experi- ence requirements.33 The report was adopted by the Institute and the recommendations given the status of "policy." In the same manner that Horizons was debated 34 and discussed in symposiums throughout the country, the Committee's recommendations were likewise considered. Of the many issues discussed in these symposiums, four appeared most frequently in their summary reports: 1. The need for a five program of college study recommended by the Committee. 2. Alternative routes by which the five years of college study could be completed. 3. Problems of implementing the five year program. 4. Faculty development required to implement the program of study outlined in the Committee report.3 Other general observations made in relation to the Committee report were on: 1. The C.P.A. certificate as evidence of basic competence in accounting. 2. That Horizons is authoritative in delineating the common body of knowledge for C.P.A.s. 3. That at least five years of college study are needed for the common body of knowledge and this education could eliminate the experience requirement. 4. That student internships are desirable and should be encouraged. 5. The accounting educational programs should be flexible and adaptive and this is best achieved by entrusting their specific content to the academic community. B. Development of the Educational Recommendations of The American Accounting Association \ The American Accounting Association has always had a basic interest in the education of individuals in 35 accounting. The A.A.A. has tried over the years to raise the quality of collegiate education and reduce the educa- tional disparities that have existed in the hundreds of colleges and universities in the United States that offer instruction in the area of accounting. However, it has only been since the late 1940's that a concerted effort through extensive committee work has produced reports attempting to outline standards of education for persons interested in accounting as a career. In 1949, the Committee on Standards Rating was formed to deal with the academic problems of accounting education. The Committee devoted itself to studying several specific and pressing needs. First, the ultimate objectives of the education of the accountant were out- lined. These objectives were: (1) education for the citizen; (2) education in business; and (3) education in accounting.36 Second the committee outlined standards that it felt to be necessary for education in accounting. These standards were for staff, students, undergraduate and graduate curricula, and two-year programs. These proposed standards, or norms, were not rigid but were established for general conformance and were flexible enough to permit reasonable deviations. For the purposes of this research, only the standards involving the undergraduate program in accounting will be reviewed in the following paragraphs. Keeping in mind the three objectives of accounting education, the Standards 36 Rating Committee outlined a program that was divided into 50 per cent liberal, cultural, or general non-business studies; 25 per cent in general business; and 25 per cent in accounting. Accounting studies would include intro- ductory, intermediate, advanced, cost, auditing, and tax . I 36 courses as requirements . The liberal area would provide the broad training for citizenship, an understanding of the society in which the student lives, and an appreciation of human knowledge and activity. The business area would provide training for the broader aspects of business while the accounting offerings were to give the student a basic knowledge in the field of accounting. A special task committee in the area of education was formed by the A.A.A. to study accounting instruction. The Committee on Standards of Accounting Instruction, the successor to the Standards Rating Committee, was to deter- mine what studies were a part of the undergraduate account- ing curriculum and make any recommendations they deemed necessary. The committee first gathered data about the present accounting curricula in several colleges and found that the results formed a "typical" curriculum which followed very closely the outline presented by the Standards Rating Committee.38 ' The Committee on Standards examined in detail the courses, their content, and the sequence of their offer- ing and then made several recommendations. First, no more than 25 per cent of a student's undergraduate program should 37 be in a major field. Instead of increasing the number of undergraduate hours to provide for more accounting course work, provision should be made for such additional work to be taken on the graduate level. Second, at least 24 semester hours of qualitative work is needed for an adequate major and the maximum should be no more than 30 semester hours. Third, the first course in principles is the keystone to the entire sequence. The principles course should come early in the academic career of the undergraduate and be followed by the intermediate and advanced level sequences. Specialized courses in account- ing have a definite place; however, it is questionable whether such courses should appear as a part of the under- graduate program as a diversity of courses could mean a decline in the quality of instruction. Fourth, constant review of course content should be maintained to insure that there is no duplication of work and that each course is genuinely worthwhile.39 In order to determine the changes in curricula that had taken place over the five-year period 1954-1959, the Committee on the Scope of the Four Year Accounting Major was instituted to study these changes and make any 0 O 4 recommendations 1t deemed necessary. 0 The Scope Commit- tee, through the use of questionnaires, found that the undergraduate hours were approximately 50, 25, and 25 per cent in the liberal, general business, and accounting areas, respectively. They found a slight reduction in 38 required accounting and a slight increase in the number of required courses in business and liberal arts. In addi- tion, the Scope Committee reaffirmed the semester hour percentage as outlined by the 1954 Standards Rating Committee but expanded the accounting and business objec- tives to permit the accounting major to (1) develop an inquiring mind; (2) obtain a thorough understanding of accounting concepts and principles; (3) acquire an appre- ciation of the role of accounting in business; (4) become familiar with the environment in which business operates; and (5) have a knowledge of the functional areas of business.41 In 1962, the Courses and Curricula Committee: Accounting Courses for Accounting Majors, was charged with 42 The committee developing criteria for selecting content. suggested goals for an accounting curriculum rather than specific recommendations for achieving these goals. Certain objectives to be achieved by a university account- ing curriculum develOpment were then outlined. The outline was divided into three basic elements: 1. Thorough development of the purposes, classified as to managerial purposes, legal purposes, and/or social purposes which accounting serves. 2. Descriptions of accounting practices, classified in the same manner in which accounting purposes are classified. 3. Appraisal of each area of accounting practice in terms of the extent to which it fulfills its stated purpose.43 39 This committee, unlike preceding committees on accounting education did not provide any percentages of semester hour distribution but instead dealt with the development of curricula to meet the future demands of the profession, expanded college enrollments and increased interest in academic standards. The Committee on Educational Standards was asked in 1962 "to develOp standards of education suitable for persons to perform the accounting function in modern "44 It was thought that disparities in the quality society. of accounting education should be narrowed among the institutions of higher learning. Therefore, the purpose of the committee's study was to formulate some guidelines pointing to educational standards that should prevail in any institution of higher learning involving a major in accounting. The Committee reviewed the findings of the 1954 Standards Rating Committee and retained the parts of the 1954 report which were considered still valid. The standards the 1962 Committee proposed were similar to the 1954 Committee except that general business studies were allocated 25 to 30 per cent of the hours and the liberal studies remained at 50 per cent of the total hours. The development of the general education and general business knowledge included in an accounting major's college curriculum was the task of the Committee on Courses and 45 Curricula-~General. This committee analyzed the (qualities needed for success in an accounting career and 40 the proper role of college education in the development of these qualities. Based on this analysis, the Curricula Committee outlined five categories of knowledge that should be included in the college curriculum. These five cate- gories in liberal arts and general business are as follows: Liberal Arts and General Business Knowledge (75-80%) 1. Development of basic skills in logical and objective thinking (philosophy, or logic, mathematics, statistics, and natural science). Development of communicative abilities (composition and logic, both written and oral). Cultural-ethical-physical development (art, music, religion, history, philosophy, ethics, geography, and physical education). Understanding the socio-economic-political framework of business in a free enterprise system (behavioral sciences--psychology, social psychology and sociology; political science, economics, and law). Understanding the organization, functions, and problems of business--a basis for objec- tive analysis of business situations and professional reaction (production, marketing, finance and business organization, and control).4 In developing this curriculum, the Committee sensed the need for a certain degree of integration of subject matter from the various fields of knowledge. The student should be required to bring knowledge from various fields to liberal and general business to bear upon solutions to business problems. The realization of the work of all the committees that worked on the problems of accounting education from 41 the late 1940's to the 1960's appeared in a supplement to the 1968 Accounting Review.47 The purpose of this supple- ment was to update all previous committee efforts on accounting educatin by the A.A.A. With regard to the sections of this supplement pertinent to this reSearch, all of the suggestions and recommendations by previous committees were reviewed and reconsidered in the light of current thinking. Certain modifications were made, but in general there was a reaffirmation of the work of the previous committees. Summary This review of the pertinent literature in account- ing education has illustrated several points. First, there has been a continuing concern about the education of accountants by both practitioners and academicians. The practitioners were originally concerned about the supply of adequately trained individuals in the skills of accounting and attempted to prescribe curricula to the academicians. Gradually the responsibility for curriculum selection was left to academicians by the practitioners. However, the practitioners still maintained an active interest in the academic realm. Second, the academic aspects of accounting education are not just a statement of credits to be earned or courses to be taken. The academician, in combination with the practitioner, wishes to provide an education that would allow certain opportunities for growth of the individual. 42 To this end, thoughtful consideration has been given to the best means of creating these capacities through under- graduate education. Third, certain descriptive and empirical studies have been prepared on accounting education. These studies have pointed out that most schools are following or are trying to follow the various committee recommendations. However, these studies have generally been retrospective in the scope of their coverage. FOOTNOTES-~CHAPTER II 1James D. Edwards, History of Public Accounting in the United States (East Lansing, Michigan: Bureau of Business and Economic Research, School of Business, Michigan State University, 1960), P. 60. 2Richard Emory Johnson, The Wharton School: Its Fiftinears, 1881-1931 (Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press, 1931), P. 7. 3 Ibid., p. 9. 4Carey, The Rise of the Accounting Profession from Technician . . ., p. 42. 5 Ibid., p. 97. 6Edwards, History of Public Accounting, p. 135. 7Ibid., p. 179. 8Williams, "A Profile of C.P.A. Candidates," p. 156. 9U. S. Army Audit Agency and the American Insti- tute of Certified Public Accountants, Provisions in C.P.A. Laws and Regulations, pp. 5-39. 10Report of the Committee on Education and Experi- ence Requirements for CPAs (New York: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 1969): P. 12. 11 Gordon and Howell, Higher Education for Business. 2Pierson and others, The Education of American Businessmen. l3American Accounting Association, "Report of Committee on Ford and Carnegie Reports," The Accounting Review, XXXVI (April, 1961), pp. 193- 4. 14Roy and MacNeill, Horizons for a Profession. 43 44 15Williams, fReactions to 'Horizons for a Profession'." 16Ibid., p. 83. Y 7Simons, Education for Accountancy. 18Kollaritsch, Opinions, Scholastic Rankings and Professional . . ' 19Williams, A Statistical Survey of Accounting Education, 1967-1968. 20Keller, A Research Study of Some Aspects of Accounting Education. 21Committee on Relations with Colleges and Universities, A Profile of Accounting Education in Kentucky. 22Carey, The Rise of the Accounting Profession, 1896-1936, p. 97. 23 Ibid., p. 264-65. 241bid., p. 266. 25American Institute of Accountants Yearbook-- 1934 (New York: American Institute of Accountants, 1934), p. 256. 26 . . Amer1can Institute of Accountants Yearbook-- 1935 (New York: American Institute of Accountants, 1935), p. 285. 27American Institute of Accountants Yearbook-- 1936 (New York: American Institute of Accountants, 1936), p. 441. 28Ibid., p. 442. 29Carey, The Rise of the Accounting Profession to Responsibilityiand Authority: 1937-1969, pp. 124-25. 30Standards of Education and Experience for CPAs (Ann Arbor, Michigan: Bureau of Business Research, 1956), p. 128. 31Special Committee on the Report of the Commission on Standards of Education and Experience for CPAs, "Education and Experience for CPAs," p. 69. 2Roy and MacNeill, Horizons for a Profession. 45 33Report of the Committee on Education and Experi- ence Requirements for CPAs, pp. 6-7. 34W. Thomas Porter, Jr., Higher Education and the Accounting Profession, A Summary Report on The Haskins & Sells 75th Anniversapy Symposiums Fall and Winter 1970-71 (New York: Haskins & Sells, 1971), pp. 11-16. 35 Ibid., pp. 16-24. 36American Accounting Association, "Report on the Standard Ratings Committee," p. 39. 37Ibid., p. 43. 38American Accounting Association, "Report of the Task Committee on the Standards of Accounting Instruction," The Accounting Review, XXXI (January, 1956), p. 36. 39 Ibid., p. 41. 40American Accounting Association, "Report of the Committee on the Scope of the Four Year Accounting Major," The Accounting Review, XXXV (April, 1960), p. 203. 41 Ibid., p. 204. 42American Accounting Association, "Report of the Committee on Courses and Curricula: Accounting Courses for Accounting Majors," The AccountingiReview, XXXVIII (July, 1963), p. 601. 43Ibid., p. 603. 44American Accounting Association, "Report of the Committee on Educational Standards," p. 447. 45American Accounting Association, "Report of the Committee on Courses and Curricula--General," The Accounting Review, XXXIX (July, 1964), p. 721. 46Ibid., p. 724. 47American Accounting Association, "Report of the Committee to Compile a Revised Statement of Educational Policy," The Accounting Review, XLIII (Supplement), pp. 51-124. CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY Introduction Data gathering for this research utilized four techniques--an opinion survey, interviews, a catalog study, and reviews of the related literature. Figure 3.1 outlines the overall methodology of the dissertation while Figure 3.2 is a schematic diagram of the data collection and analysis portion thereof. Essentially, the data collection and analysis phase consisted of asking two questions related to the objectives of the research; preparing, testing and mailing the opinion gathering devices aimed at answering these questions; computing the results from the returned data; testing some hypotheses related to the two questions; and relating these questions to the literature, the catalog study and the interviews. Each of these data collection and analysis steps required some delineation and will be discussed in detail in the latter part of this chapter. Opinion Survey: Question One What are the opinions of accounting educators in the various colleges and universities in Michigan offering 46 47 spasm no msofiumuflEfiA mapmufipo .mcsum one mo hmoHOUOBumz Hamnm>o|l.a.m musmflm mcoeumoHHmEH .1 mcofiumpcmfifioomm a spasm no msoflpmfidmmd Amaflmump Mom m.m musmfim wmmv mammamsfi tam coeuomaaou sumo up um H i. spasm no mm>epomflpo Emanoum mzu mo psmfimumum I. coauospouucH All spasm MOM pomz “a 48 .mflmmamsm paw noflpomaaou wpmall.m.m mHsmHm madammm 3mH>mm msfipmma memmnuommm paw mmcflxcmm MHHflHw musumnmpwq _smz pao 3mz pHo HHmEm mmumq _ mEuHm mcfluasoood usansm IIOBE GOHummdo J1 la! , I, Hmcoflpmoo> Hmsummosoo 1H mHOpmospm onepssooom pumammaaou Itmco soflpmmso U1 1H1) xomo pumo ma> >m>usm coasflmo 49 a baccalaureate degree with a major in accounting, concern- ing the most appropriate education for the professional growth of persons entering public accounting? The hypo- thesis to be tested was that there is no difference between the topic emphasis recommendations for the professional growth of beginning public accountants made by accounting educators from conceptually oriented and those recommenda- tions made by educators from vocationally oriented colleges in the state of Michigan. The alternative hypothesis was that there is a difference in the topic emphasis recom- mendations. A. Methodology forguestion One. A sample of educators was taken from the accounting faculties of the various colleges and universities that have offered an accounting major as part of a baccalaureate program since 1958. In 1971, there were sixteen schools 1’2 The names of the members that fitted this criterian. of the full-time accounting faculty of these sixteen schools were gathered from current catalogs and from the three major textbook publishers which service these schools. To gather the opinions of these accounting educa- tors, a card deck mechanism similar to that used in 3’4 The card Horizons for a Profession was constructed. deck mechanism consisted of preparing a deck of I.B.M. cards that contained an instruction card, a data card and a series of course topic cards. Each topic card had a 50 course title and a brief description of that course printed on that card. Appendix A provides an illustra- tion of a data card, an instruction card and a course topic card. Originally, 55 topics were proposed with the course titles and descriptions selected from a review of college catalogs and the tOpics utilized in Horizons.5 These titles and descriptions were reviewed by a panel of individuals composed of accounting academicians from several schools and accounting practitioners and fellow doctoral candidates who had either teaching experience or public accounting experience. The panel was asked to review the card deck for the aptness of the topics and their related descriptions in relation to the objectives of this research, phrasing of the descriptions, redundancy of the topics and/or descriptions and any other pertinent factors. The panel's comments were analyzed and the card deck was reduced to 47 topics and the descriptions rewritten where necessary. The descriptions for each topic were made as brief and yet as explicit as possible so that the respondents would not spend an excessive amount of time reading the descriptions and subsequently losing interest in ranking the topics. Table 3.1 gives an alphabetical listing of the topics finally selected. The primary advantage of using the card deck versus a questionnaire is that such a technique allows the extremes to be considered by ranking all of the courses from most to least important in the respondent's opinion. A second 51 TABLE 3.l.--Course Topics in Alphabetical Order. KOODQOWQUJNH O FJH F40 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. Accounting pracice and procedure (intermediate) Accounting practice and procedure (advanced) Accounting theory Algebra Auditing practice Auditing principles Business and industrial management--introductory Business and industrial management--advanced Business law Business mathematics Calculus Corporation finance--introductory Corporation finance--advanced Cost accounting--introductory Cost accounting--advanced Data processing--introductory Data processing--advanced Differential equations Economics--introductory Economics--advanced English literature Finite math for business Geometry, trigonometry Humanities--introductory Humanities--advanced International economics Law Managerial accounting Managerial economics Marketing--introductory Marketing--advanced Money and banking--introductory Money and banking--advanced Natural science--introductory Natural science--advanced Operations research Personnel and labor relations Philosophy, logic Production--introductory Production--advanced Statistics--introductory Statistics--advanced Social science Tax--introductory Tax-~advanced Work study Written and oral english 52 advantage is that the topic-description mechanism over- comes much of the problem of the recipient's interpretation of the question and the researcher's interpretation of the recipient's answer. The results from the sample of accounting academi- cians from the sixteen schools were analyzed in the manner suggested by the first hypothesis. The schools were divided into conceptually and vocationally oriented accounting departments. To determine such a distinction between the departments an adaptation of a reputational 6’7 Selected members from the ranking form was utilized. sixteen departments of accounting were asked to classify the departments of accounting of the sixteen schools, exclusive of their own department, as either conceptually oriented, vocationally oriented or no opinion. Two members who had at least five years experience in that particular school were chosen from each department. It was assumed that within this five-year time span the member would have had contact with other schools of account- ing in the state and would have formed an opinion as to the "type" of school this might be. The terms "conceptually" and "vocationally" oriented were defined for the respondents in the following manner: ‘ Conceptually oriented department: A conceptually oriented department is primarily concerned with the development of the student so he can deal with concepts not necessarily related to concrete situations. The department is secondarily con- cerned with the teaching of principles and methods of recording financial transactions. 53 Vocationallyioriented department: A vocationally oriented department is primarily concerned with teaching the principles, methods and related skills of the profession and secondarily with the conceptual relationships. With the results of the reputational ranking a division of the schools into conceptually and vocationally oriented was made to provide the basis for testing the related hypothesis. From the total population of full- time accounting faculty a random sample was drawn equally from the vocationally and conceptually oriented schools. There were twenty randomly drawn from each type of school giving a total sample size of forty. The method of sel- ecting the sample size will be discussed under the methodology for question two. ‘ Each of the card decks was put in a random order and mailed to the prospective respondent along with a covering letter and a stamped, return envelope. Each prospective respondent was asked to (1) complete the data card, (2) read the instruction card, (3) arrange the cards in the order of importance to the professional growth of the beginning public accountant with the most important card on top, and (4) place the cards in the return envelope and mail to the researcher. B. Limitations for Question One The principal limitation of the methodology for Question One is in the selection of the course titles. Although an attempt was made to be as inclusive and as 54 representative as possible, it is recognized that not every possible course was included and as a result certain respondents might have felt that there was not enough selection in a given area. A second limitation is in the method of selecting vocationally and conceptually oriented schools. Such a ranking technique leaves much to be desired in the way of sophistication yet, it is the only means available to make the needed distinction. Opinion Survey: Question Two What are the opinions of practicing public accoun- tants in the state of Michigan concerning the most appro- priate education for the professional growth of persons entering public accounting? The hypothesis to be tested is that there is no difference in the topic emphasis recommendations for the professional growth of beginning public accountants by public accountants in large and small firms in the state of Michigan. The alternative hypothesis is that there is a difference in topic emphasis recommendations for the professional growth of beginning public accountants in large and small firms in the state of Michigan. Four secondary hypotheses were tested using the data from the practicing public accountant section: H1: There is no difference in topic emphasis o . . . . recommendations for beginning public, accountants by old Certified Public Accountants (C.P.A.s) in large and small firms. 55 Hi: There is no difference in tOpic emphasis recommendations for beginning public accountants by neg C.P.A.s in large and small firms. - Hi: There is no difference in tOpic emphasis recommendations for beginning public accountants by old and new C.P.A.s in large firms. 4 H = There is no difference in topic emphasis recommendations for beginning public accountants by old and new C.P.A.s in small firms. Table 3.2 shows the secondary hypotheses in a four-category classification. TABLE 3.2.--Four-Way Classification of Practitioners by Age and Firm Size. Age of Practitioner CPA--Old CPA—-New Large Firm Large Firm Firm Size CPA--Old CPA--New Small Firm Small Firm A. Methodology for_gpestion Two Individuals who fit into the category "practicing public accountant registered by the state of Michigan" were selected from a master list containing the names, addresses and certificate numbers of such persons, both in and out of the state, who hold a Michigan C.P.A. certificate. 56 This master list was the 1970 Register of the Board of Accountancy of the State of Michigan.8 From this total population of registered C.P.A.s, four subpopulations were derived. These four subpopula- tions corresponded to the four way classification illus- trated by Table 2.2. To determine the firms to be included in the large firm population a list of those firms registered to practice in Michigan for the year 1970 was prepared. This list was circulated to accounting faculty members and public accountants who were asked to select the ten largest firms practicing in the state. From the responses a clear cut distinction was made between large and small firms. Appendix B lists the ten largest firms and Appendix C lists those firms in the small cate— gory. The age of the respondent was determined by their certificate number. To be classified as an "old" C.P.A., the year 1955 was chosen as the cut-off date. The reason for selecting 1955 as the cut off date was that this period of fifteen years was deemed a sufficient amount of time for opinions on accounting education to solidify. Those whose certificate numbers were issued prior to December 31, 1955, were placed in the "old" category. Those whose certificate numbers were issued after January 1, 1956, were placed in the "new" C.P.A. category. Byknowing the firm size and the age of the C.P.A.s the four subpopulations were determined. Care was taken to 57 insure that each person who was eligible was included in one of these four subpopulations. Table 3.3 illustrates the classification cells and the populations (in paren- thesis) of each cell. TABLE 3.3.--Four-Way Classification of Practitioners by Age and Firm Size and the Total Population of Each Cell. Age of Practitioner CPA--Old CPA--New Large Firm Large Firm (202) (1,441) Firm Size CPA--Old CPA--New Small Firm Small Firm (312) (546) To determine the sample size for both the accounting and the educator respondents, several consultations were held with members of the Office of Research Consultation at Michigan State University. The principal constraint that limited the overall sample size was economic. The cost of this research, printing the card decks, mailing, etc., were borne by the researcher and this limited the total number of decks to 200. Forty individuals were assigned to each cell for the accounting respondents for a total of 160 and the 58 remaining forty were assigned to the educators. A fixed number per cell was chosen for two primary reasons. First, it reduced the weight exerted by the C.P.A.--New, Large Firm cell which contained about 58 per cent of the total C.P.A. population. Second, equal sized samples are required in certain of the statistical tests used in the analysis. Each member of the four subgroups was sent a card deck in exactly the same manner and on the same date as the sample group of educators. There were 200 card decks mailed. Forty were sent to the sample members of the academic group and 160 were sent to the practitioner sample group. The card decks were mailed using first class postage and included a covering letter and a first class return envelope. All of these decks were mailed from East Lansing, Michigan on June 21. 1971. Two and one-half . weeks later a follow-up letter was mailed to the sample group members requesting those recipients who had not responded to do so and thanking those who has responded. A c0py of the original letter and the second request letter are shown in Appendix C and D. The cutoff date for inclu- sion in the study was July 31, 1971. Prior to this date a third attempt was made to contact either by telephone or by letter those who had not responded to determine if there would be any additional returns after July 31, 1971. This third attempt did little to stimulate any non-respOndents to return their card deck. Table 3.4 illustrates the 59 responses by each sample group and the reason for some of the non-usable responses. As noted in Table 3.4, there was an overall return rate of 65 per cent. Due to retirements, the usable return rate was 63.5 per cent. B. Limitations for Question Two The first limitation that is recognized is in the sample size. As stated before, due to the economic con- siderations involved only a sample of 160 was taken. The second limitation relates to the card deck that was sent to the practitioners. Since this was the identical card deck that was sent to the academicians, the same limita- tions about course titles apply that were detailed for Question One. Analysis of Opinion Survey A. Classification of Respondent The responses to Questions One and Two were analyzed together since the same statistical techniques were used for both groups of respondents. The data card is the principal source for determining which category of respon- dent arranged the deck and returned it plus other pertinent items of information. Prior to the mailing of the cards, each topic was assigned a number corresponding to the topic title. This number was keypunched into each card so that topic identification by the computer could be accomplished. The topics and their corresponding identification numbers 60 .mamfimm mo wxmm I mums suspmn panama .mHmEmm mo amp I mums cusumu Hamnm>o mmm ma mm ea mm ea wmm m mm b mm m pmsusumm uoz - I mm H xm H m N I I I I pmuwumm I I mm H xm H mm a m H m a mapmnm>aamplcoz mufiaflnmsso: How mcommmm mum hm om em om em on mm om Na om NH mausumm mHDMmD mood ow wooa ow mooa ov wooa ow wooa om wooa om mnwm mamfimm w a w c m c w s w c w c mmmucmoumm paw HmnEsz pao.HHmEm pHo.HHmEm pao.mmnmq pHotmmumq .umoo> .mmosou mefluMUAMHmmmHU «mo «so «mo «mo .ospm .ospm pampcoammm .mmsouw mHmEmm may mo mmmsommmmll.v.m mqmda 61 are shown in Table 3.1. Each of the returned card decks was given an identifying number and the returned cards were numbered and keypunched sequentially so that the order of respondent ranking was not lost. The rankings and additional information were keypunched into new data cards. The additional information is as follows: 1. 12. C.P.A.: C.P.A.: C.P.A.: C.P.A.: Educator: Educator: Educator: Educator: Educator: Educator: Old or New Large or Small Duties--Audit, Taxation, Management Services, Other. Administrative Level--Partner, Manager, Senior, Junior, Other. Education--Associate in Arts,- Bachelors, Masters, LLB, Doctorate. Years of Experience. Vocational or Conceptual Years of Experience in Teaching C.P.A.--yes or no Education--Associate in Arts, Bachelors, Masters, LLB, Doctorate. Primary Accounting Courses Taught-- Auditing Theory, Introductory, Intermediate, Advanced, Taxation, Cost, Managerial, Other. Time teaching graduate courses (per cent of the classroom hours). Time teaching undergraduate courses (per cent of the classroom hours). Although all of this information was not used in this study, it is available and classified for future use. There are four major categories of respondent which ‘were used to test the primary hypotheses. These categories are: 62 1. Accounting Educator--Conceptual. 2. Accounting Ed.cator--Vocationa1. 3. Public Accoun ant--Large firm, all respondents. 4. Public Accountant--Small firm, all respondents. The latter two categories of public accountants are broken down into four subcategories corresponding to the classi- ficatians illusirat i ir Tables 3.2 and 3.3. These four sub—classifications were used to test the four secondary hypotFeses and are as follows: 1. Public Accountant, Large Firm--New. 2. Public Accountant, Large Firm--Old. 3. Public Accountant, Small Firm--New. 4. Public Accountant, Small Firm--Old. In addition, the educators added another dimension and when they were inclu ed for co-parison with the accountants there were twenty-one combinations of respondents that were examined. B. Analysis of the Data-~Introduction data will be discussed in three. (L’ The analysis of t? sections. Section One will discuss a composite ranking of all respondents and the statistical tests used to measure the association between the different categories of respondents. Section Two will discuss the comparative rankings by the category of respondent and subject class--' general education, general business, accounting, quanti- tative and economics. In addition, certain statistical 63 ltests were employed to establish the association of topics with the respondents. Section Three will discuss tests of the two major hypotheses stated on pages 46 and 54. C. Analysis of the Data--Section One Section One of the analysis was a composite rank of the responses of all respondents. Initially the respon- dents were compiled by subject, rank, i.e., the number of respondents ranking a given subject first, the number ranking it second, etc. were tallied. For each subject three measures were calculated: the median (that rank above which and below which an equal number of respondents ranked that subject); the 25th percentile (the rank above which 75 per cent of the respondents ranked the subject) and the 75th percentile (the rank below which 75 per cent of the respondents ranked the subject). The subjects were ranked in median order and in case of a tie the one with the smallest inter-quartile range were ranked ahead of the other. The rank spread is the difference between the interquartile ranges and is shown in the right hand column of Figure 3.3. This figure is an illustrative format for this ranking technique. Certain nonparametric statistical tests were performed on this data. The reasosons for selecting the nonparametric statistical tests are discussed in the following paragraphs. A common problem for statistical inference is to determine in terms of probability, whether observed 64 Interquartile Range Median Order Subject Ranking Title 25% 50% 75% Spread 4 Auditing Principles 5 10 l7 l3 Figure 3.3.--An Illustration of Ranking by All Respondents in Descending Order of Importance. differences between two samples signify that the populations sampled are themselves really different. Whenever two groups of scores are collected by random methods it is likely that the scores differ to some extent. Differences occur simply because of operations of chance. How then can it be determined whether the observed differences are merely due to chance or not? The procedures of statistical inference enable the researcher to determine, in terms of probability, whether the observed difference is within the range which could easily occur by chance or whether it is so large that it signifies that the two samples came from two different pOpulations. The first techniques of modern statistical infer- ence which appeared were those that made many assumptions about the nature of the populations from which the scores were drawn. These population characteristics are "parameters" thus giving rise to the techniques called 65 parametric statistics. For example, a technique of infer- ence may be based on the assumption that the scores were drawn from a normally distributed population. Or, the techniques of inference may be based on the assumption that both sets of scores were drawn from populations hav- ing the same variance. More recently techniques of inference have developed which do not make numerous or stringent assump- tions about parameters. These newer, nonparametric, techniques result in conclusions which require fewer qualifications. By using these techniques one may say that "regardless of the shape of the population(s) we may conclude that . . ." Non parametric tests were utilized in this research. The advantages of using nonparametric statistical tests are summarized as follows: 1. Probability statements obtaining from most nonparametric statistical tests are exact probabilities, regardless of the shape of the population distribution from which the random sample was drawn. 2. If samples are small as n = 6 are used, there is no alternative to using a nonparametric statistical test unless the nature of the population distribution is exactly known. 3. There are suitable nonparametric statistical tests for treating samples made up of observations from several different populations. None of the parametric 66 tests can handle such data without making certain unrealistic assumptions. 4. Nonparametric tests are available to treat data which are inherently in ranks as well as data whose numerical scores seem to have the strength of ranks. That is, the researcher may only be able to say of his subjects that one has more or less of the characteristic than another, without being able to say how much more or less. 5. Non parametric methods are available to treat data which are simply classificatory, i.e., are measured in a nominal scale.9 The Spearman rank correlation coefficient (rho or rs) will be used to test the measure of association between the different categories of respondent, i.e., large and small firms, old and new C.P.A.s, vocational and conceptual educators, etc. The actual calculations will utilize the Computer Institute for Social Science Research (C.I.S.S.R.) routines at the Michigan State University.10 The C.I.S.S.R. routines are patterned after the formulations presented in Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences by Sidney Siegel.ll The formulation for the Spearman rank correlation coefficient is as follows: as "542 Q N Z I Z 67 where di = the difference between the two rankings N = the number of subjects. Occasionally, two or more subjects will receive the same score on the same variable. When tied scores occur, each of them is assigned the average of the ranks which would have been assigned had no ties occurred. If the proportion of ties is not large, their effect on rS is negligible and the above formula may still be used for computation purposes.11 However, if the proportion of ties is significantly large, then a correction factor must be incorporated in the calculation of rs. This formulation is as follows: N N N 2 xi + z yf - 2 3f rs=l=l i=1 1:]. 2 2 2 2X Zyl N where Z x2 = N3 - N - 2T 1:1l x 12 N 2 3 =N- -T iglyl N ZY 12 ET or ZTX indicates the sum of the values Y of T (ties) for the x and y groups of observations; N = the number of subjects; d. = the difference between the two rankings. 68 where there is a significant number of ties the effect is to inflate the rs. The C.I.S.S.R. program uses the above formulation so that the effect of ties is automatically calculated.14 If the subjects whose rankings were used in com- puting rS were randomly drawn from some population, those scores may be used to determine whether the two variables are associated in the population. In other words, the null hypotheses that these variables are not associated in the population and that the observed value of rS differs only from zero by chance, may be tested. In this research N is larger than ten. Therefore, the null hypothesis may be tested by using the following formulation: where N - the number of subjects H II Spearman rank correlation coefficient t = Student's t. Thus, for N large, the value defined by this formula is distributed as a Student's t with degrees of freedom (df) equal to N - 2, i.e., df = N - 2.15 The associated pro- bability under the null hypothesis of any value as extreme as an observed value of rs may be determined by computing the t associated with that value from the above ' 69 formula and then referring to the appropriate table of values of t found in most standard statistical texts. D. Analysis of the Data--Section Two Section Two was the comparative rankings by cate- gory of respondent. The eight categories of respondent, as outlined on page 54 were compared by topic class. There are five topic classes: general education, general business, quantitative, economics and accounting. The subjects under each of the topic classes are listed in Table 3.5 and the format of the respondent categories and the associated rankings is shown in Figure 3.4. By using the device illustrated by Figure 3.4 it will be possible to visualize the correlation, or lack of correlation, that exists through the various categories of respondent. To be more precise in establishing the association of topics with respondents, the Kendall coefficient of 16’17 When there are k sets concordance (W) will be used. of rankings, the association among them may be established by using the Kendall coefficient of concordance. To compute the value of W the following formula is used: S W = 2 1/12 k (N3 - N) the sum of squares of the observed where s deviations from the mean of R., that . 2 . ' 15 S = R. - R. where R. 15 the ’ < J _1> J N 70 TABLE 3.5.--Topic Headings and Related Subjects. General Education Mathematics English literature Algebra . Humanities-~introductory Business mathematics Humanities--advanced Natural science--introductory Natural science--advanced Philosophy, logic Social science Written and oral english General Business Calculus, differential and integral Differential mathematics for business Finite mathematics for business Geometry, trigonometry Statistics and probability introductory Business and industrial Statistics and probability management--introductory advanced Business and industrial management--advanced Accounting Business law Corporation finance-- introductory Corporation finance-- advanced Data processing-- introductory Data processing-- advanced Law Marketing--introductory Marketing--advanced Operations research Personnel and labor relations Production--introductory Production--advanced Economics Economics--introductory Economics--advanced International economics Managerial economics Money and banking--introductory Money and banking--advanced Accounting practice and procedures--introductory Accounting practice and procedures--advanced Accounting theory, prin- ciples and postulates Auditing practice and procedure Auditing principles, standards ethics Cost accounting-- introductory Cost accounting--advanced Taxation--introductory Taxation--advanced Managerial accounting Work study 71 .pcopsommmm mo mmmmmau sown: mp maexsmm mo coeumuumsHHH cmm o» 0>Hw Eoum mmB wmaflpcmoumm BuMHMImunm>mm can BuMHMImpsmzu mtu coosumn pmmumm mgu coaumuumsaafl wasp mo mmmo mtp SH .m.m musmflm CH pmumnu Imsaafl moans mafluumsvumpsfl mtp Op mumme pmwnmm map pmnu pan nunsom mmamflonflum msfluflpnd pmxsmn musmpsommmu may Ham umnu mp CHSOB pumno menu wo GOHDMpmHQumpsH ens ”muoz ma v .cfiHm .Usm mcflpssooom munmwad moflmewtumz .sflum wmmmm mom .mmMIdem .pflq .mcm .ospm .cmu UHO .oo> _.osou HHmEm pao momma 3oz 302 HHmEm mound HHmEm momma mnoumospm mHTQOHuHuomHm pmmHmm xsmm pomhnsm .mmmm Ham 72 sum of the ranks in each column or a k times N table k = number of sets of rankings, e.g., the number of judges N number of objects to be ranked 2 (N3 - N) = maximum possible sum 18 1/12 k of the squared deviations. When tied observations happen, the observations are assigned the average of the ranks they would have been assigned had no ties happened. Tied ranks have the effect of depressing the value of W. With only a few tied observations, the effect is negligible but if the proportion of ties is large, then a correction factor must be included in the formula for computing W. The formula adjusted for ties of a significant number would be: S (N3 - N) - kZT T 1/12 k2 where ZT directs one to sum the values of T for T all the k rankings of T = [(t3 - t) . Due to the distinct possibility of ties, the calculations of W were made using the above formulation in the C.I.S.S.R. routines. 73 A high or significant value of W may be interpreted as meaning that the observers are applying essentially the same standard in ranking the N objects. However, a high or significant value does not mean that the orderings are accurate. It is possible that a variety of observers can agree in ordering subjects because they all employ the wrong criterion. The significance of any observed value of W is tested by determining the probability associated with the occurrance under the null hypothesis of a value as large as the s with which it is associated. When N is larger than 7, the expression given by the following formula is approximately distributed as chi square (x2) with degrees of freedom (df) equal to N - 1. 2 _ s 1/12 k N(N + l) where k, N and s are defined in the same manner as the variables of the Kendall coefficient of concordance.20 In other words, the probability associated with the occurrance under the null hypothesis of any value as large as an observed W may be determined by finding chi square with the preceding formula and then determining the probability associated with so large a value of chi square by referring to a table of critical values of chi square. If the value of chi square equals or exceeds that shown in the table of values for a particular level of significance and a 74 particular value of degrees of freedom equal to N - 1, then the null hypothesis that the k rankings are unrelated may be rejected at that level of significance. The findings of Sections One and Two will not be completely comparable to the results found in Horizons. A precise comparison cannot be made for four reasons. First, 47 topic titles were used in this research whereas 52 topic titles were used in Horizons. Second, the descriptions accompanying the titles of this research do not correspond to those used in Horizons. Third, the sample for this research did not include government accountants, executives, or practitioner specialists. Fourth, the objectives of Horizons and the objectives for this research are not the same. However, where possible, use will be made of the results from Horizons educator and C.P.A. categories to note any similarities or differences. E. Analysis of the Data--Section Three The third part of the analysis tested the four major hypotheses. These hypotheses and the related alternative hypotheses can be stated as follows: HO: There is no difference in the subject emphasis recommendations by public accountants in large firms and small firms in Michigan. H1: Large firm respondents rank subjects in a different manner than small firm respondents. 75 H : There is no difference in the subject emphasis recommendations by age groups of public accountants in Michigan. Hi: Older accountants rank subjects in a different manner than younger respondents. Hg: There is no difference in the subject emphasis recommendations by accounting educators from conceptually oriented and vocationally oriented colleges and universities in Michigan. Hi: Conceptually oriented educators rank subjects in a different manner than vocationally oriented educators. Hg: There is no difference in the subject emphasis recommendations by accounting educators and public accountants in Michigan. H1: Accounting respondents rank subjects in a different manner than accounting educators. The statistic chosen to test this data was the 21 This is a test of Kolmogorov-Smirnov two sample test. whether two independent samples have been drawn from the same population (or from populations with the same dis- tribution). The test is concerned with the agreement between two cumulative frequency distributions. If the two samples have been in fact drawn from the same popu- lation distributions, then the cumulative distributions of the two samples may be expected to be fairly close to each other. If these two sample distributions are "too far apart" at any point, this suggests that the samples came from different populations.22 Therefore, a large deviation between the two sample cumulative distributions is evidence for rejecting the hypothesis of "no difference," 76 i.e., the null hypotheSes. As in previous sections, the appropriate C.I.S.S.R. routine was used. 23 To apply the Kolmogorov-Smirnov two sample test, a cumulative frequency distribution is prepared for each sample of observations using the same intervals for both distributions. For each interval, then, one step function is subtracted from the other thus focusing on the largest of these observed deviations. For the two sample test the test may be stated as: D: maximum [Snl (X) - Sn2 (X)] for the one tailed test, and D: for the two-tailed test. maximum Sn1 (x) - Sn2 (X)‘ 24 The terms of these formulations are defined as follows: 5 (X) = n1 S (X) = the observed cumulative step function of one of the samples, that is, Snl (X) = K/nl where K = the number of scores equal to or less than X. the observed cumulative step function of the other sample, that is, Sn) (X) = 2 K/nz. the difference between these two step functions. The one-tailed test is used to decide whether or not the values of the population from which one of the 77 samples was drawn are systematically larger than the values of the population from which the other sample was drawn. The two-tailed test is sensitive to any kind of difference in the distribution from which the two samples were drawn. With the one-tailed test, the maximum value of D in the predicted direction is calculated and that for a two-tailed test the maximum absolute value of D is calculated.25 Since the data for this research necessitated using the small sample technique, the following paragraph out- lines the techniques that were followed. When nl = n2, and when both n and n are 40 or less, the null hypo- l 2 thesis may be tested by using Table L in Siegel.26 The body of this table gives various values of KD’ which is defined as the numerator of the largest difference between the two cumulative distributions for various N values. By knowing nl = n2 which is equal to N, and calculating K the researcher is able to accept or reject the null D’ hypothesis at a given level of significance. A companion program in the C.I.S.S.R. routines for the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test can be utilized to print plottings of the cumulative distributions for each of the major groups being tested.27 These plottings will provide a visual means of comparing the rankings by each of the eight groups for each of the 47 topics. The observed distribution is plotted along with 10 per cent, 5 per cent, and l per cent confidence limits. These plottings will 78 allow not only a direct visual comparison among groups related by size and age but it will also allow a cross comparison among groups. For instance, the cumulative frequencies of the large-old practitioners can be com- pared to the conceptually oriented school or the large-new practitioner can be compared to the small-old practitioner. Catalog Study and Literature Review To determine the changes in curricula of the schools involved in the study, a review of the pertinent sections of college catalogs was undertaken. The curri- cula changes were classified into five areas correspond- ing to the major topic headings shown in Table 3.5. There are 91 institutions of higher learning in 28’29 Of this number, 16 have the state of Michigan. offered either a major or concentration in accounting as part of a baccalaureate degree since 1958. Appendix F lists these institutions. These 16 institutions were reviewed for curricula changes over the academic years 1958-59, 1964-65 and 1970-71. These three time periods were chosen as the representative periods over which changes in curricula composition would have taken place due to both internal and external forces in the academic area. It was assumed that the external forces could be the various studies and reports by interested groups, regulatory agencies of the government, and research by groups outside of the business-accounting realm. Internal ) 3 79 forces, perhaps more than the external forces influence curricula change. These internal forces may be changes in faculty composition or departmental administration. To obtain the data from the catalogs of the 16 institutions, letters were sent to the registrars of the respective institutions requesting a copy of their catalog for each of the three academic years in the study. Where a catalog was not available for distribution, the perti- nent sections were reproduced and mailed to the researcher. For each school the data were assembled on a worksheet similar to that illustrated by Figure 3.5. In each of the cells the maximum credits applicable to that cell were calculated. The accounting cell also listed the courses that were available to the accounting major. From these worksheets calculations were made showing the changes, if any, for each of the schools in the study over the three time periods. From this data a typical or average curri- cula was calculated for each of these three time periods. The 1970-1971 typical curricula then served as the basis 3 for comparison with other studies and committee reports. The studies and committee reports utilized for these comparisons were as follows: 1. Ford and Carnegie Reports 2. American Accounting Association a. Standards Rating Committee b. Committee on Scope of Four Year Accounting Major (Recommendations and Findings) 8O .3me>mm moflmumo mmmaaoo MOM ummtmxnozll.m.m mesmem musom HmummEom Hence mm>fluomam mosh moHEosoom T>Humuflusmso msflussoooé mmmcflmsm Hmuwsmw coaumospm Hmumsmw Hmmw 81 c. Task Committee on Standards of Accounting Institutions d. Committee to Compile a Revised Statement of Educational Policy e. Committee on Courses and Curricula: Accounting Courses for Accounting Majors 3. American Institute of Certified Public Accountants a. Commission on Standards of Education and Experience b. Horizons for a Profession c. Report of the Committee on Education and Experience Requirements for CPAs (The Beamer Report) 4. American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business There are certain limitations to the Section Four analysis. First, not all the topics listed in the college catalogs are taught. Some topics appear in the catalog because of faculty resistence to course reductions in their particular area of specialization. Second, catalog titles ’and descriptions offer a rather wide range of coverage for the individual instructor and the instructor is frequently left to decide the extent of such coverage. Thus, teacher emphasis can never be cataloged. Third, a common mold that all institutions will fit completely does not exist. Therefore, any comparability is reduced. However, in the absence of data to the contrary, some comparability may be assumed. Preparation of the Recommendations Provisions of education for the beginning public accountant that would maximize his future growth as a 82 professional would rely upon the data collection and analysis sections. These recommendations would be based on the data collection and analysis sections and a set of evaluative criteria. The purpose of the criteria was to give the researcher an authoritative base upon which to build the recommendations. These criteria were derived from the Report of the 1964-67 American Accounting Accocia- tion Committee to Compile a Revised Statement of Educational 30,31 Policy and the Horizons for a Profession. These two sources were chosen because they represent the most up-to-date, complete studies available and are representa- tive of both groups concerned with the problems of accounting education--the academician and the practitioner. This frame of reference is outlined in detail in Chapter VI--Recommendations. Specifically, to derive the recommendations the following steps were taken. First, the data from the "Analysis of Opinion Survey" section of this chapter were reviewed. Analysis of the Data--Section One provided the overall opinion rankings of the practitioners and the academicians along with the related statistical tests. Analysis of the Data--Section Two analyzed the data by type of respondent and topic area. Statistical tests were also performed on this data to test the related hypotheses. Analysis of the Data--Section Three tested the major hypotheses that there were no differences in topic emphasis 83 recommendations by either accountants or educator respondents. Second, the determination of where we are now in our education for accountants required analysis of the college catalogs from the 16 institutions involved in this research. The catalog survey enabled a "typical" accounting program to be devised and also gave a basis of comparison with other studies. Third, the literature on accounting education makes it possible to estimate where we should be in our education for the growth of professional accountants. These three steps generated the raw material from which the recommendations were made. An additional input, 'however, was a set of evaluative criteria. As stated before, the criteria provided an authoritative base upon which the recommendations were built. It is not intended to imply that the criteria are the ultimate measure and that the recommendations were prepared solely on the basis of the criteria. This would ignore the results of the research completely. Rather, the criteria acted as a reference point for the preparation of the recommendations. FOOTNOTES --CHAP TER I I I lEducation Directopy: Part 3--Higher Education (Washington,-D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1969-70), PP. 189-203. 2 Max Russell, Editorial Director, The College Blue Book 1969-70: 13th Edition (New York: C.C.M. Information Corporation, 1969), pp. 2-3. 3Roy and MacNeill, Horizons for a Profession. p. 173. 4Correspondence with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. 5Roy and MacNeill, Horizons for a Profession, p. 173. 6John K. Hemphill, "Leader Behavior Associated with the Administrative Reputation of College Departments," Journal of Educational Psyphology, 46 (November, 1955), p. 389. 7Ralph M. Stogdill and Alvin E. Coons (eds.), Leader Behavior, Its Description and Measurement: Research Monograph #88 (Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University, Bureau of Business Research, 1957). 81970 Register, State of Michigan, Department of Licensing and Regulations, Board of AccountancyiTLansing, Michigan: Department of Licensing and Regulation, 1970), pp. 1-103. 9Sidney Siegel, Nonparametric Statistics for Behavioral Sciences (New York: McGraw—Hill Book Company, Inc., 1956), pp. 32-33. lOComputer Institute for Social Science Research, Technical Report No. 47: Rank Correlation Coefficients (East Lansing, Michigan: The Michigan State University, 1967)] pp. 2‘3. llSiegel, Nonparametric Statistics . . ., pp. 202-213. 84 85 lZIbid., p. 206. l3Ibid., pp. 207-210. 14 pp. 4-5. Computer Institute, Technical Report No. 47, 15Siegel, Nonparametric Statistics . . ., pp. 210-213. 16 Ibid., pp. 229-239. 17 pp. 4—5.. Computer Institute, Technical Report No. 47, l8Siegel, Nonparametric Statistics . . ., p. 221. 19 Ibid., pp. 233-235. 2011013, pp. 236-237. 211bid., p. 127. 221bid., p. 128. 3Computer Institute for Social Science Research, Technical Report No. 44, Nonparametric Measures of Random- ness and Goodness of Fit: Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Runs Tests (East Lansing, Michigan: The Michigan State University, 1967), pp. 6-9. 24Siegel, Nonparametric Statistics . . ., p. 128. 25Ibid., pp. 128-129. 261bid., p. 278. 27Computer Institute for Social Science Research, Technical Report No. 44.2: Printed Plots of Cumulative Distributions and Kolmogorov Confidence Intervals (East Lansing, Michigan: The Michigan State University, 1967), pp. 1-3. 28Education Directory: Part 3, pp. 189-203. 29Russell, The College Blue Book 1969-70, pp. 2-3. 3OAmerican Accounting Association, "Report of the Committee to Compile a Revised Statement of Educational Policy," pp. 76-87. 31 Roy and MacNeil, Horizons for a Profession, pp. 191-267. CHAPTER IV RESULTS AND ANALYSIS OF OPINION SURVEY Introduction This chapter will detail the data gathered by the card ranking device from 127 respondents from the account- ing profession and accounting academicians and the results of several statistical tests that were performed. The tests examined the rankings between various groups of respondents and among the respondents within the groups. In addition, the results of a certain amount of personal interviewing with some of these respondents will be reported and certain inferences will be drawn based on these interviews and the statistical tests. Compilation of the Results As outlined in Chapter III--Methodology, 200 card decks were sent to a sample group of accounting practi- tioners and accounting educators. One hundred thirty-six responded by returning the card decks of which 127 decks were usable and were analyzed by various statistical tests. Initially the results were compiled by rank, i.e., the number of respondents ranking a given subject first, 86 87 the number ranking it second, etc. For each subject, three points were calculated: the 25th percentile, the median, and the 75th percentile. The median is that rank above which and below which an equal number of respondents ranked that subject. The 25th percentile is the rank above which 75 per cent of the respondents ranked that subject and the 75th percentile is the rank below which 75 per cent of the respondents ranked the subject. After determining the medians and interquartile ranges, the subjects were ranked in order of median values. On several occasions subjects had the same median value. When this occurred the subjects were ranked according to the spread of the interquartile range, i.e., that median value with the smaller interquartile range was ranked above an identical median value with a larger interquartile range. This range is shown as the righthand column in Table 4.1. As an illustration, the subject Introductory Statistics will demonstrate the method of interpreting the informa- tion found in Table 4.1. Of the 127 reSpondents, 63 placed the subject at or below the sixteenth rank; the other 63 placed it at or above the sixteenth rank. There- fore, sixteen is the median. One quarter of the 127 ranked the subject higher than eleventh; one quarter ranked it to a position below twenty-first. 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IImHspmooum paw OOHuomHm OCHucsooo< mmHucsoooa HHOEO OOHOH HHOEm mOHmH Bmz OHo HHmEm mOHmH .ocou .oo> HH< muommnnm OmumHmm 332 zmz pHo OHo Ocm oHOoe mumsoHpHuomHm mHouwonpm OOOOOHO pcmpcommmm .UmssHpcooII.N.w MHmNB 96 Findings from Tables 4.1 and 4.2 The most outstanding result was the consistently high ranking of Written and Oral English by almost all respondents. It was in the first place position in almost all groups. This degree of concurrence was not achieved by any other subject. When observing the rankings it is important to look not only at the ranking but also at the interquartile range. One cannot meaningfully interpret the results by looking at the average rank of a subject without also considering whether the respondents agreed on the general level of its rank. The most meaningful comparison would be to take the topic headings and the related courses and look at these as classified by the respondent categories. This is illustrated in Table 4.2 and the references in the next sections will be to this table. General Education The overall ranking of the eight subjects in the General Education area shows a wide range in the ranks from first to twenty-fifth. Certain differences exist between the educators and the practitioners. In particular, the vocationally oriented educators seem to differ rather radically from the overall median rankings in six out of the eight subjects whereas the conceptually oriented educa- tors differ from the overall median ranking in only four out of eight subjects. It might be noted that all of the Q .. F O O '9 O v w .0 - . fl 1 - C '- .9 h- v - - 97 general education subjects are ranked in roughly the upper half of the total list of subjects. The most surprising result is the overall second place ranking of Naturay Science--Introductory. The data was rechecked for any possible errors. Since no errors were found it can only be surmised that sciences play an important part of the development of the thinking abilities of public accountants. Later in the chapter, some of the interview results tend to substantiate this ranking of natural science. General Business The subjects found in the general business area also exhibit a wide range of rankings from seventh to forty-first. The majority of the ranks with three excep- tions would fit in the middle third of the overall rankings. It is also noted that the closeness of rankings between the introductory and advanced courses of Business and Industrial Management, Corporation Finance and Data Proces- sing might be at odds with normal thinking. In four instances the advanced courses ranked above the introductory courses. This is possible as the directions given to the respondents did not prohibit such a ranking from being considered. Also, when the card decks were assembled, no advanced and introductory cards for a given subject were placed next to each other. A first approximation from such results would indicate that for the future growth of public accountants the respondents felt certain advanced courses rt :.|I- 98 in business would be of benefit to them. When the rankings by class of respondent are observed it is noted that the vocationally oriented educator again differs rather markedly with his conceptually oriented colleagues and also with the rankings by most public accountants. Economics This area contained only six courses, which were widely separated in the rankings from third to thirtieth position. It is difficult to say why Money and Banking-- Introductory and Advanced should rank in such a high position except that when these results are compared to the offerings of the colleges, these two courses are not in the usual requirements for an undergraduate major. Also, banking has become one of the controversial areas for accountants in the past few years and as a result, the practitioners ranked this subject relatively high. Per- haps this interest in banking and the lack of any course . work in the typical undergraduate program might be con- sidered as reasons for the high rank preference. Mathematics Typically, the more sophisticated mathematics courses were ranked in the bottom third of the total course list. The inclusion of statistics in the upper third of courses, with the advanced course ranked above the intro- ductory, illustrates the growing importance statistics is to the future of public accounting. The educators were in 99 general agreement on the rankings with themselves, but differed significantly on several subjects with the public accountants. Accounting Of the eleven subjects reported in this category, seven were in the bottom third of the rankings. Only Taxation--Introductory and Advanced and Work Study were in the upper third of the rankings with Management Account- ing approximately in the middle. A question might be raised as to why the accounting courses were ranked so low. Again, the purpose is to look at the future growth of the accountant and as such, the accounting respondents viewed the accounting subjects as skills already learned and for their growth would look to other areas. However, a question arises as to the reversal of this thinking when the tax courses, which were ranked fifth (Introductory) and twelfth (Advanced) are reviewed. It is difficult to say precisely why this happened. Of the 103 respondents in the accounting area, 26 were tax specialists as reported by their data cards. Therefore, it cannot be inferred that these specialists could overly influence the rankings. It might be assumed that due to the increased emphasis on taxation at all levels that, for the future, this is an area in which more emphasis is needed. The audit practice and principles subjects might intuitively be assumed to be of importance. However, the rankings did not bear out such an assumption. Work study ranks high possibly because of 100 its ability to give a student some insight into the applica- tions of his knowledge and perhaps even to serve as an initial weeding out device by the employing firms. Educa- tors agreed that work study was important by ranking it second. However, the public accountants ranked work study from first to thirtieth. Summary The opinions of 127 educators and public accountants have been reflected in their responses to the subject cards. The specific detailed order of their rankings as individuals or as a group is subordinate to the over-all picture. These respondents have given top priority to Written and Oral English. Communications is a skill that is needed by all individuals concerned with report preparation, client or group presentations and briefings. Also, the ability to read and comprehend a variety of technical journals and reports requires an ability to understand and assimilate written materials. The absence of technical accounting subjects in the top level of rankings reflects the fact that the basic skills have been assumed to be understood and it is in other areas of learning that the respondents feel the beginning C.P.A. needs development for growth as a profes- sional. The presence of general education courses and certain economics courses in the top half of the rankings point to the fact that knowledge in behavioral, scientific, and certain mathematical areas is deemed important. In 101 particular, Natural Science received a second place ranking. The respondents evidently perceived that the training received in Scientific methods is applicable to the deVelopment of problem solving in the business world. The C.P.A. is going to deal with peOple and as such he needs knowledge in the areas of human relations, philOSOphy, ethics and the economic environment in which he is living. It is not surprising that the general low level of the ranking of mathematics exists. This is probably due to an overall dislike of mathematics by the various respondents. However, in this time of expanding use of computers and the related fields of analysis and applica- tion of quantitative techniques it would seem that more recognition of mathematics would be expected. Only statis- tics, introductory and advanced were in the upper third of the ranking scale. And, advanced statistics was ranked higher than the introductory course. This ranking points to the recognition of all respondents regardless of classification of the importance of this singular tool area. Statistical Test Results The following pages will detail the results of the Spearman rank correlation coefficient and Kendall coeffi- cient of concordance. The Spearman test will show the agreement between respondent categories. For instance, it will demonstrate the similarity (or non-similarity) of 102 large-small accountants or vocational—conceptual educators and their respective rankings of the course topics. The Kendall test will show the agreement among the respondents in each respondent category. As an illustration, it will show how the large accountants agree (or disagree) with themselves. By using both the Spearman and the Kendall you can get a sense of agreement between respondent cate- gories and among the respondents within the categories. §pearman Rank Correlation Coefficient The first statistical test to be applied on the data was the Spearman rank correlation coefficient. This coefficient, rho, measures the association in rankings between the different categories of respondent with the actual calculations being made by the Computer Institute for Social Science Research (C.I.S.S.R.) routines. There were six basic categories of respondent--vocationa1 and conceptual educators, large, small, old and new accountants. By combining these six basic categories 21 combinations of respondents were calculated. Table 4.3 shows the combinations of these respon- dents and their rho values. In addition to the rho values, the critical values for each of these combinations was calculated. The critical values were calculated using the Student's t test and a significance level of .0005. The Student's t test was used because N, the number of subjects, was larger than ten. Thus, the probability under the null hypothesis of any value as extreme as an observed value of O O “O O c o O O ‘0 o O o ’v . Q '1' I O .. ‘ - 7- I'. V ‘fio ‘ i - I|O.. 103 TABLE 4.3.--Respondent Classification and Associated Rho Values with Significance Tests Rho Value Respondent Class (Correlation) t value* Large-Small .89 13.0938 Large-Old .93 16.2431 Large-New .92 15.7469 Large-Vocational .71 6.7633 Large-Conceptual .64 5.5873 Small-Old .96 22.9994 Small-New ' .92 15.7469 Small-Vocational .79 8.6436 Small-Conceptual .62 5.3008 Old-New .85 10.8240 Old-Vocational .74 7.3803 Old-Conceptual .68 6.2213 New-Vocational .67 6.0643 New-Conceptual .58 4.7761 Vocational-Conceptual .46 3.4752 All Respondents-Large .94 18.4822 All Respondents-Small .96 22.9994 All Respondents-Old .97 26.7659 All Respondents-New .92 15.7469 All Respondents-Vocational .79 I8.6436 All Respondents-Conceptual .71 I6.7633 *All calculated on a one-tailed basis with degrees of freedom equal to 47 and the level of significance at .0005. 104 any rho was determined by computing the t value and then determining the significance of that value by referring to the appropriate table in any standard statistics test. For this research, Table B-—A Table of Critical Values of t--in the Appendix of Siegel's Nonparametric Statistics 1 for the Behavioral Sciences was used. The highest level of significance which was avail- able for comparison purposes was .0005. At this level all of the combinations were significant. Thus, if you were to state the null hypothesis, i.e., there are no differ- ences in ranking for the combinations of respondents illustrated in Table 4.3., the null hypothesis would be accepted for each of these combinations. The interpreta- tion of accepting the null hypothesis is that there are no significant differences in the rankings by the 21 classes of respondents. The alternative hypothesis, i.e., that there are differences in rankings by the respondents, then cannot be accepted based on these results. The only com- bination that even came close to rejecting the null hypo- thesis was the Vocational-Conceptual grouping. By using the Spearman test it is easier to see how the various groups agree (or disagree) on the rankings of courses. Putting the overall ranks in this perspective enables comparisons to be made easier than by observing the rankings portrayed in Tables 4.1 and 4.2. Certain comments could be made concerning the values of rho and the associated pairs of respondents. As might be expected 105 the large-old and large-new respondents have similar values of rho and in the same manner so do the small-old and small- new. Similarly, large-old and small-new exhibit exactly the same rho values. When ages are compared there is not as high a rho value as with the previous comparisons. Also, when sizes are compared, the rho value is lower than that of ages. However, as stated before these are all signifi- cant at the .0005 level and the null hypothesis was accepted. In other words there are no differences in rank- ing by the various respondent classes indicated in Table 4.3. The lowest rho value achieved was the comparison of rankings between vocational and conceptual educators. This is just barely significant. When the educators are compared with the public accountant respondents it can be seen that the conceptually oriented educators differ rather signi- ficantly from the accountants. The rhos are also con- sistently lower when the same comparison is made with the vocationally oriented educators. In summary, the Spearman rank correlation coeffi- cient test that was applied to the card deck data demon- strated that ell respondent groups, when compared in various combinations, did not rank the subjects in a significantly different manner. The highest correlations were found when the accounting respondents were compared with each other whereas the lower correlations were found when the educators were compared to each other and with the accountants. 106 Kendall Coefficient of Concordance The second statistical test to be employed on the data was the Kendall coefficient of concordance. This test is a measure of relationships among the rankings by the respondents in each respondent category. It indicates how the respondents within each category agree (or dis- agree) with each other. In other words, it is a measure among the respondents in a given category and not a measure between categories of respondent. As pointed out in Chapter III--Methodology, the Kendall coefficient (W) is a measure of relation among several rankings of N subjects. A Kendall coefficient of concordance was cal- culated for each of three groups. The first group was all respondents and all subjects. This gave an overall measure of the relations among the rankings by the various respondents. Group two utilized all respondents and the five topic areas (general education, general business, economics, mathematics and accounting) to measure the coefficients. The third group was classified by type of respondent and the five topic areas. The results were tabulated and are as follows. When all respondents and all subjects were compared the W was fairly high. For this first group the W equaled .883. Using the chi square test for significance these results were significant at the .001 level. The inter- pretation of this statistic for the first group is that there is a fairly high agreement among all respondents on 107 all subjects. This supports the overall median ranking exhibited in Table 4.1. For the second and third groups the results are tabulated in Tables 4.4 and 4.5, respectively. Each of the coefficients were tested for signi- ficance at the .001 level using a chi square test and each was found to be significant. Thus, it may be con- cluded, with considerable assurance, that the agreement among the various respondents in each category is higher than it would be by chance. The very high probability under the null hypothesis associated with the observed values of W enables an acceptance of the general null hypothesis that there is no difference in subject rankings by various judges within the respondent groups. There is little support for the alternative hypothesis. In other words, the large firm accountants do not disagree signi- ficantly on the markings of subjects under the various tOpic headings. . Another significant point that should be emphasized is that these scores, particularly those reported in Table 4.5, indicate agreement within the respondent cate- gory. Therefore, by using the W, it can be stated that the respondents agreed among themselves on the rankings. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient showed only the agreement between respondent categories on the rankings. Thus, by using these two statistical tests we have the agreement between respondent classes and agreement among the 108 TABLE 4.4.--Coefficients of Concordance--All Respondents and the Five Topic Areas. Coefficient Level of Topic Areas of Concordance Significance General Education .894 Sign. at .001 General Business .871 Sign. at .001 Economics .868 Sign. at .001 Mathematics .878 Sign. at .001 Accounting .912 Sign. at .001 respondents within each class or category. To illustrate what this means, consider the rho for vocational and conceptual educators. From Table 4.3 it can be seen that this value was .46 and was just barely significant at the .0005 level. When the two respondents are compared by the Kendall coefficient of concordance, it is noted that both the vocational and conceptual educators do not differ when their inter rankings are compared. In other words, the respondent vocational educators agree among themselves and the respondent conceptual educators agree among themselves. They do not agree as strongly as other respondent classes when they are compared as a group with each other and this is shown by their respective rho values in Table 4.3. In summary, the Kendall coefficient of concordance as applied to the data demonstrated that in general all respondent classes exhibit internal agreement. All public 109 I .E [1“ I .usmonHaOHm mum unmno mqu cH s3osm mmsHm> may HHm wosmonHsOHm mo Hm>mH mHnH pH .HOO. pm umm mm3 mosmonHcOHm Ho Hm>mH wnw can mnmsvm HBO one OQHms an Ompmmu mm; Hm>mH mocmonHGOHm TBBO SOS. wSS. SOS. NwS. wOS. NH u M Hmsummosou OOS. OOO. HwS. HNO. OOO. NH u x HmsoHHmoo> OOO. wSS. wOS. OOS. OSS. Hm u x Bmz OwO. HOO. OOS. NOS. wOS. Nm u x pHo OOO. OOS. SOS. HNO. OOS. Hm u x HHOEO HwO. OOS. HOS. OOO. SOS. Nm u x wOHmH OsHucsooom OOHumEmtumE mUHEosoom mmwsHmsm soHumoswm ucmpsommmm Hmumcmw Hmuwsmw UHQOB .mmmnm UHQOB 0>Hm OEH UQM mmmflommwm HQDUH>HUQH MO OOGMCHOOCOU MO WHCOHOHMMOOUII. m. v mqm4fi 110 accountant respondents consistently had higher coefficients than did the accounting educators. This indicates that the accountants, within their respective categories, are more consistent in their rankings than are either of the two categories of accounting educators. However, the concep- tually oriented educator had more internal consistency than did his vocationally oriented colleague. When the Kendall results are combined with the Spearman results, there is a picture of the rankings between the categories of respon- dent and among the respondents in each category. Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test The purpose of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test is to determine whether there is any agreement between two sets of sample values. If two samples have in fact been drawn from the same population distribution, then the cumulative distribution of both samples may be expected to be fairly close to each other. If the two sample cumula- tive distributions are "too far apart" at any given point, this suggests that the samples come from different populae tions. Thus, a large enough deviation from the two sample cumulative distributions is evidence for rejecting the null hypothesis. This third set of statistical techniques was used to test the four major hypotheses. These four hypotheses are as follows: 111 Hi: There is no difference in the subject emphasis recommendations by public accountants in large and small firms in Michigan. Hi: There is no difference in the subject emphasis recommendations by age groups of public accountants in Michigan. Hi: There is no difference in the subject emphasis recommendations by accounting educators from conceptually oriented and vocationally oriented colleges and universities in Michigan. Hi: There is no difference in the subject emphasis recommendations by public accountants and accounting educators in Michigan. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov two-sample test is a test of whether two independent samples have been drawn from the same population. This test is concerned with the agreement between two sets of sample values. Since the sample size was less than forty in each group, the small sample technique was used in the K-S test. This use of the small sample test means that n (the number of respondents in 1 one category) must equal n (the number of respondents in 2 the second category). For the accounting respondents nl = n = N = 24, i.e., there will be 24 accountants in each of the 4 categories--1arge, small, old and new. The educator respondents will have 12 in each of their cate- gories--vocational and conceptual. Thus, for the educators, nl = :12 = N = 12. When all educators are compared to all accountants N will equal 24. Since the small sample test is being used, Table L--Table of Critical Values of KD in the Kolmogorov-Smirnov Two-Sample Test--in Siegel's 112 Nonparametric Statistics will be utilized.2 The body of the table gives various values of K which is defined as DI the numerator of the largest difference between the two cumulative distributions of respondent rankings. Table 4.6 illustrates the results of the K-S test as applied to the rankings of the respondents of the 47 subjects. Since the test must be run on a course subject by course subject basis, each subject is shown along with its significance at the .01 level. The null hypotheses will be rejected if the value of KD for the largest deviation in the predicted direction is so large that the probability associated with its occurrance under H0 is equal to or less than .01. The predicted direction is indicated by the alternative hypo- theses which are stated as follows: Hi: Large firm respondents rank subjects in a different manner than do small firm respondents. Hi: Older accounting respondents rank subjects in a different manner than do younger respondents. Hi: Conceptually oriented educators rank sub- jects in a different manner than do vocationally oriented educator. 4 H1: Accounting respondents rank subjects in a different manner than do accounting educator respondents. Since the alternative hypotheses predict the direction of the differences, the region of rejection is one-tailed. For the practitioner group where N = 24, if K 2 11, the D null hypotheses can be rejected at the .01 level. By the same token, for the educators where N = 12, if KD 3 8, the I _._ 113 null hypothesis will also be rejected at the .01 level. When accounting respondents and educators are combined, N = 24, and if KD 3 11, the null hypothesis will be rejected at the .01 level. From Table 4.6 several relationships can be seen. First, when size was considered, 40 out of 47 subjects were statistically significant at the .01 level. This can be interpreted as meaning that for 40 subjects there was no difference in ranking between the large and small accounting firm respondents, i.e., acceptance of the null hypothesis. And, for the other seven subjects, the null hypothesis was rejected. Also, it can be stated that the alternative hypothesis, that large firms rank the subjects in a different manner than small firms, was rejected on 40 subjects and accepted on 7 subjects. Second, when age was considered, 39 out of 47 subjects were ranked in a Similar manner. The interpretation is that there was no significant difference in rankings between old and new accounting respondents. In other words, the null hypothesis that there were no differences in rankings by old and new accounting respondents was accepted for 39 subjects and rejected for 8 subjects. The alternative hypothesis, that old accountants rank subjects differently than new accoun- tants was rejected for 39 subjects and accepted for 8 subjects. The third set of relationships is concerned with the educator respondents. 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MiChigan Institutions l970~197l Non- A11 16 A.A.C.S.B. A.A.C.S.B. Topics Schools Schools Schools Horizons Accounting 29.75 30.74 25.44 26.8 Economics 9.08 9.30 11.11 10.6 Quantitative 10.38 .10.38 10.33 11.0 General Business 28.69 27.30 24.66 23.9 General Education 37.91 37.94 37.77 41.4 Free Electives 10.52 10.18 12.00 13.8 Total Average Semester Hours 126.33 125.84 121.31 127.5 153 TABLE 5.13.--Comparison of Hypothetical Compositions to Actual Compositions of Undergraduate Accounting Programs. General General Education Business Accounting (Includes (Excludes (Includes a Econ. & Intro. Intro. Study or Report Quant.) Account.) Account.) Fordl 55 - 67%% 25 - 35% o — 10% Carnegie2 62% - 67% 22% - 27% 12% - 15 AAA Standards 3 Rating Committee 50 25 25 AICPA Council Recommendations4 50 25 25 AAA Education Standards Committee5 50 25 - 30 20 O 25 Horizons6 49 19 21 AICPA Committee on Education and Experience7 4 year modelb 50 32 16 5 year modelb 4O 36 20 Michigan studyC 45 23 24 1 Robert A. Gordon and James E. Howell, Higher Education for Business (New York: Columbia Univer51ty Press, 1959), pp. 147-213. 2Frank C. Pierson and others, The Education of merican Businessmen (New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 1959), p. 226-7. 3American Accounting Association, "Report of Standards Rating Committee," The Accounting Review, XXIX (January, 1954), p. 40. 4Edward 5. Lynn, "Educational Policies of AICPA," The Journal of Accountancy (March, 1963), p. 87. 5American Accounting Association, "Report of the Committee on Educational Standards," The Accounting Review, 6Robert H. Roy and James H. MacNeill, Horizons for a Profession (New York: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 1967), pp. 164-168. The percentages listed in the above table total 89 per cent due to the inability to allocate 11 per cent. 7Report of the Committee on Education and Experience (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants), p. 58. 154 of the total hours must be taken in areas outside business and economics.16 Using Table 5.11 as a guide, the typical 1970-1971 Michigan institution meets the A.A.C.S.B. requirement if the free electives are included as part of the credits outside the business and economics area. It is fair to assume that this would be the case as the electives that could be used in general business, account— ing or economics have been allocated where possible leaving the remainder as free electives in either the general education or quantitative areas. However, such a generaliO zation should be carefully considered. When the three Michigan A.A.C.S.B. member instin tutions are separated from the 16 institutions some rather striking similarities are found between these schools and the Horizons study. These similarities are noted in Table 5.12. The number of semester hours in general business, economics quantitative, accounting and the free electives are rather close. The primary difference is that in the general education area Horizons showed four more credit hours than the Michigan A.A.C.S.B. schools. When the non- A.A.C.S.B. schools are compared to Horizons, significant differences appear in the general education, general business, accounting and free elective areas. Thus, there is more similarity between Michigan A.A.C.S.B. institutions I and Horizons than the non-A.A.C.S.B. institutions and Horizons. 155 Other reports and studies concerning the most desirable composition of undergraduate accounting education were referred to in Part One of this chapter and were illustrated in Tables 5.1 through 5.4. These tables are summarized in Table 5.13 along with the findings of gagigong and the Michigan catalog study. Axvept for thu gunwrdl business area, the national 5.9, approximated the suggested allocation made by the A.A.A. Education Standards Committee. If it is assumed that the free electives of 11 per cent were taken in the area of general business, then there is little difference between the recommendations of the A.A.A. and the tmtional average 16:11..)(Hf1k5d in iflflfi‘ With the exception of the general education area, the Michigan catalog study also a‘mn'oximafed the A.A.A. recommendations. Neither horizons, the various A.A.A. committee I-’:’("f()Hilm.‘H(lr11,101”) «)1; Hm. Mi<.’l‘11(‘]al'1 catalog study approached the Ford or Carnegie recommendations. In particular, the emphasis on general education by Ford and Carnegie is not evidenced by the recommendations of the A.I.C.P.A., the A.A.A., the results of EQEiEQEE or the Michigan catalog study. Nowhere does it appear that more than 50 per cent of the course content should be in the general area and both the Horizons and the Michigan catalog study indicate less than 50 per cent of the total semester hours are allocated to general education. 156 In the area of General Business, the Michigan results are slightly less than the A.A.A. and Ford recommendations but compre favorably with the Carnegie recommendations. The national averages of Horizons are somewhat lower than all the recommendations and the Michigan study. Accounting presents the severest separation between the recommendations and the results of various studies. The recommendations vary from 10 to 15 per cent of the total hours by the Ford and Carnegie reports to 20 to 25 per cent as recommended by the A.A.A. Nationally, Horizons reported 21 per cent and the Michigan study 24 per cent as the portion of total hours in accounting. FOOTNOTES-“CHAPTER V 1Gordon and Howell, Higher Education for Business, 2Ibid., p. 133. 3Pierson and others, The Education of American Businessmen, p. 227. 4American Accounting Association, "Report of the Standards Rating Committee," p. 40. 5American Accounting Association, "Report of the Task Committee on the Standards of Accounting Instruction," p. 41. 6American Accounting Association, "Report of the Committee on the Scope of the Four Year Accounting Major," p. 204. 7Ibid., p. 205. 8American Accounting Association, "Report of the Committee on Educational Standards," p. 447. 9American Accounting Association, "Report of the Committee to Compile a Revised Statement of Educational Policy," pp. 51-124. lOIbid., p. 115. 11Standards of Education and Experience for CPAs, p. 128. lzIbid., p. 132. 13Roy and MacNeill, Horizons for a Profession, p. l. l4Ibid., p. 164-168. 157 158 151970 Register, State of Michigan, Department of Licensing and Regulations, Board of Accountancy, p. xi. 16The American Association of Collpgiate Schools of Business: 1916-1966 (Homewood, Illinois: RiChard D. Irwin, 1966), pp. 29-68. CHAPTER VI RECOMMENDATIONS FOR AN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM Introduction This chapter will recommend areas of academic work appropriate for the future growth of a public accountant in his profession. As stated in Chapter III which covered methodology, these recommendations will be based upon the data gathered from the card deck respondents, the respon- dent interviews, the results of the catalog review, the literature in accounting education, and upon the criteria established from a review of pertinent studies of the A.A.A. and the A.I.C.P.A. After the recommendations have been made, the implications for possible use and future research will be outlined. Review of Card Deck, Catalog, and Literature Findings Card Deck Opinions A variety of rankings by the several card deck respondent classes were calculated and tested for statistical significance. Basically, most of the accounting respondents were in agreement on the rankings of subjects. The 159 160 conceptually oriented educators ranked the subjects in a manner similar to the accountants. However, the voca— tionally oriented educators were not in agreement with any particular group of accountant respondents or even with their conceptually oriented colleagues. There are certain courses within the five major tOpic areas that rank fairly high in the estimate of the respondents for the growth of public accountants. Briefly, the five topic areas and the courses which were ranked highly in each topic area are as follows: General Education.--Written and oral English, natural science-~introductory, social science, philosophy, logic and humanities. General Business.--The emphasis here seemed to be on the advanced levels of several business courses rather than the typical introductory courses. Particularly recommended were advanced courses in production, marketing, finance and management as well as courses in personnel, labor relations, and law. Economics.--A1though the area of economics con- sisted only of six courses, the emphasis seemed to be on the the money and banking, international economics, and managerial economics courses. Mathematics.--Statistics courses, both advanced and introductory, were the primary recommendations in this area. 161 Geometry and trigonometry and finite mathematics for business were ranked just below the top half of the courses a Accounting.-—The majority of the accounting courses that are typically offered in an undergraduate program received very low rankings. Only taxation, work study and managerial accounting received recognition on the top half of the ranking scale. Literature and Catalog Reviews Chapter V--Results of Catalog Study and Comparison with Literature analyzed the literature about accounting education and reviewed the changes in the curricula of the Michigan institutions that offered an accounting major as part of a baccalaureate program. Four major points emerged from this review. First, most accounting groups interested in accounting education advocate a model that establishes percentage breakdowns as follows: General Education (including economics and quantitative courses), 50 per cent; General Business (excluding introductory accounting), 25 to 30 per cent; and Accounting (including introductory accounting), 20 to 25 per cent. Second, outside agencies have advocated more emphasis on general education--about the same emphasis that presently exists in general business—-and a significant reduction in the major area. In fact, according to them any depth in the major area should be postponed until the graduate years 162 or a fifth at the undergraduate level. Third, the results of the catalog review of Michigan institutions tended to follow the outline of the accounting groups in the percen- tage allocation under the three headings. Fourth, over the several years that the literature was reviewed and the catalog study was conducted there was a decline in the emphasis on the number of accounting credits required for a major. There was a corresponding increase in general education and general business credits. The future recommendations found in the literature are embodied primarily in Horizons for a Profession. Although the purpose of Horizons was to "delineate the common body of knowledge to be possessed by those about to begin their professional careers as certified public accountants," there are certain points brought out that apply equally as well for future growth.1 These recom- mendations are outlined in the following paragraphs. In the area of general education, importance was placed on humanistic subjects--art, music, logic, etc. Although no precise formulation was given, it was strongly recommended that logic and ethics be a part of the common body. Logic was advocated for its ability to enable the student to develop a methodical reasoning process and ethics was advocated for its ability to enhance the ethical reputation of the profession. Written and oral English is needed for basic communication ability. Economics should be included because of the knowledge contained in its 163 study. A knowledge of economics is basic to the develop- ment of accounting thought. An approach to the analysis of a variety of micro and macro economic problems is necessary as these problems affect the accountant, his employer, management, and the government according to Horizons. The behavioral sciences should also be repre— sented in the accountant's studies. Tomorrow's C.P.A. should be prepared in the social sciences. His knowledge should allow an insight into organization and individual behavior. Mathematical requirements should be such that the accountant has become literate in the language of mathematics, but not necessarily literary. Understanding is to be emphasized in preference to manipulative skill. Accounting seems very likely to remain the basic measure- ment process for organizational decisions. Increasingly and inevitably accounting itself will be taught and used with mathematical notations. Increasingly and inevitable accounting will be used in conjunction with other mathe- matical, statistical and probability methods both for sound accounting and auditing procedures and for enhance- ment of the organizations served by C.P.A.s. Law is a topic that is vital to the environment of all men. PhilOSOphically, the C.P.A. should be aware of the place that law has in our society. Conceptually, the C.P.A. should be aware of the interrelationships between federal, state and local law, the roles of common and statutory law, and various legal administrative procedures. 164 Whether this knowledge of law should come from a business law course or a law course is not critical. General business courses, or the functional field courses, cover a wide spectrum in the typical business administration program. Which of the areas in business administration are important to the accountant? Gordon and Howell, although decrying the mass of descriptive courses in business administration did recognize the need for retaining some of these materials: The business student needs some understanding of each of the kinds of markets within which the business firm must operate. This entails some study of the structure and functioning of the commodity, financial and labor markets. This work should for the most part be at a high analytical level, although a certain amount of institutional description cannot be avoided.2 Since the accountant will be dealing with matters that are intrinsically financial he should be exposed to finance. A knowledge of capital needs, sources of funds, financial institutions, cost of capital and dividend policy are but a few of the areas he should be familiar with. Production is another area of basic study. To understand the problems of clients in the manufacturing sector, the C.P.A. should have a sound foundation in the basic processes of a manu- facturing firm. Cost accounting, production control, division of labor, systems of analysis, audits of manufac- turers are but a few of the areas the C.P.A. should be familiar with. Mathematical techniques and financial con- siderations are topics from other areas that are also useful in the study of production. 165 Marketing is an area that for many years was not considered an appropriate topic for the fledgling C.P.A. However, the marketing function covers more than just physical distribution and sales generation. Marketing decisions cover many areas in other general business and general education topics. Again, like finance and produc— tion, the beginning C.P.A. should be familiar with market- ing so that the information he provides can be used effectively when making a decision. Management is another functional field of general business that should be mentioned. Much of the current theory of management is imbedded in the behavioral sciences so that a management course requires a knowledge in the behavioral sciences, mathematics and statistics. A manage“ ment course, per se, is not a requirement but a course in management would tie many of the functional field and general education courses together to demonstrate that management decisions are really interdisciplinary. There are other general business courses that are available and these may be included in a listing, if so desired. The ones that have been discussed are those that are of primary importance as outlined in Horizons. In the accounting area, Horizons provides a detailed summary of the context of accounting knowledge needed by the beginning C.P.A. This knowledge is classified by a relative depth for each topic designated as "thorough," "good," and "fair." 166 Thorough Knowledge.--The beginning C.P.A. should be thoroughly familiar with the following: 1. The functions of accounting: who uses account- ing information and for what purposes. 2. The communication of accounting information: statement presentation for maximum utility and clarity. 3. Double entry system: theoretical basis and application as an analytical tool. 4. Auditing standards: general standards, standards of field work, standards of reporting. 5. Internal control: principles and applications. 6. Professional Ethics. Good Knowledge.--This is a high degree of profi~ ciency but not expert knowledge. 1. Accounting theory and terminology. 2. Cost classification and cost behavior. 3. Major categories of resources. 4. Major sources of capital. 5. Auditing methodology. 6. Sampling, statistical inference. 7. Income taxes. 8. Business law. Fair Knowledge.--This is a level of knowledge that is common to both C.P.A.s and non-C.P.A.s. 167 1. Computer systems, functions of components, programming, internal control functions. 2. Other accounting equipment and bookkeeping tools. 3. Quantitative techniques. 4. Types of formal organizations. 5. Organization design: authority, responsibility, information handling, retrival and communication. 6. Taxes other than income taxes. 7. Governmental agencies.3 This brief review has outlined the findings of the card deck study, the catalog review, and the literature on accounting education. The next section of this chapter will set forth the criteria implied by the pertinent studies of the A.A.A. and the A.I.C.P.A. Criteria Criteria are needed as a guide for analyzing the results of the card deck, catalog and literature reviews and in the preparation of recommended areas of study for the future growth of public accountants. These criteria were developed from the 1968 Committee Reports of the A.A.A. 4,5 and Horizons for a Profession of the A.I.C.P.A. These two reports were selected because they represent the current thinking of the groups most interested in all phases, present and future, of accounting education. The following three categories outline the basic standards that will be used. 168 Educational Standards The standards for the undergraduate curriculum and the implications for quality education are as follows: 1. The most important standard is to educate the person to keep learning for himself, and to be adaptive so that he may be able to adjust to new situations in both business and professional life. 2. Within an overall education there should be a proper balance between general knowledge and the technical— professional knowledge needed as the entrance requirement to the profession. 3. To accomplish the objectives of accounting education the profession must realize that the educator has certain real limits. Only so much material can be included in a four year program. 4. Qualititative factors not quantitative factors should be employed. The content of courses rather than titles and specific proportions of liberal, business and accounting studies will develop the person, his profes- sional attitudes and continued desire to learn. General Education and General Business Standards The standards for general education and general business will not provide a specific percentage breakdown but instead should create certain capacities for growth of the individual. To implement this objective the following breakdown is outlined. 169 l. A development of the basic skills in logical and objective thinking. 2. A development of communication skills. 3. A development of cultural and ethical skills. 4. A development of physical skills. 5. A development of an understanding of the socio- economic-political framework of society. 6. A development of an understanding of organiza— tions, functions and business problems so that the individual has a basis for analyzing business situations.6 Translation of each of these six areas into specific courses or credit hours is not intended. Nor is a time period specified for completion. The emphasis is on the subject matter coverage, recognizing that the individual college or university will structure this knowledge into courses, hours and years of study in various ways. Accounting Curriculum The development and design of an accounting curri— culum is based upon objectives whose achievements are desirable. The objectives are summarized as follows: 1. Developing the student's ability to work and communicate effectively, to think analytically and objectively and to become mentally disciplined. 2. Developing a student's awareness that there are great possibilities for self-education during his career. 3. Developing an appreciation within the student of a high standard of integrity and objectivity in reporting. 170 4. Developing an attraction to accounting careers for those students who seem to possess the potential for making a contribution to the advancement of accounting and who have the opportunity for a reasonable chance of success in the accounting profession. To achieve these objectives an accounting curriculum should be developed that utilizes all of them. Frequently, good teaching can cover some, but not all, of these objectives. Achievement requires a combination of good teaching and sound curriculum planning. Instead of outlinine particular courses in accounting, it is suggested that the study of accounting could be divided into three elements. First, the purposes which accounting serves, classified as managerial, financial, legal and/or social should be developed. Second, accounting practices classi- fied in the same manner in which accounting purposes are classified should be described. Third, each area of accounting practice should be appraised in terms of the extent to which it fulfills its stated purposes. These criteria along with the card deck results, the catalog and literature reviews were utilized to prepare the next section, Recommended Areas of Study. Recommended Areas of Study The recommendations that follow are outlined in three major areas of study: general education, general business and accounting. These recommendations are not 171 in the form of specific course titles and course descrip- tions, but rather are outlined in terms of areas of study. General Education 1. Logical and objective thinking a. Philosophy and/or logic—-The literature reviewed indicated that the ability of an individual to think in as clear and precise a manner as possible should be strongly stressed. Philoso— phy and logic are a means of achieving this ability. The card deck respondents ranked this subject in 16th place and the subsequent interviews showed a favorable response to the inclusion of such a subject area in a curri~ culum. Only 5 of the 16 institutions required philosophy or logic with the remainder generally having this subject available as an elective. The program should stress training and discipline in the thinking process, its con- cepts and sequences and in the methodology of experimentation and confirmation of the hypothesis. Mathematics--The respondents generally placed all mathematics courses, except the statistics sequence, in the bottom half of the rankings. This is possible evidence of a general distaste for, fear of or misunderstanding of mathematics by the respondents. The literature indicated 172 that more mathematics should be required and the catalog review indicated an increase in the mathematics requirements of the 16 insti— tutions reviewed. Thus, even though there may be a general distaste for mathematics, the quantitative techniques should be stressed along with the development and applications of mathematical models. Educational standard 1, page 168 and general education and general business standard 1, page 169 would support this emphasis on mathematics. Typically, the material should cover such topics as solutions of simultaneous equations, graphing techniques, logarithims, algebra, calculus, sets, permutations, combinations and probability distributions. Statistics-~This course showed the only departure from the general downgrading of mathematics by the respondents. Advanced statistics received an 8th place ranking while introductory statistics ranked 15th. The statistics rankings support the literature which also advocates a thorough knowledge of statistics, particularly for those who are entering public accounting. Fourteen out of 16 of the colleges reviewed required at least one course in statistics and if electives were 173 available they highly recommended a second course. Material emphasis should be on probability theory, sampling techniques, regressions and correlation. In addition, applications to the business, industrial and accounting segments of society should be demonstrated. d. Sciences—-Natural science received the second place rankings by all respondents. The literature indicated that science was a desir— able area of study and the catalog review disclosed that most colleges require a minimum level of one course (which may be one or two semesters or from one to three quarters in duration). A science should be introduced to the student to develop the scientific method of experimentation under certain controlled conditions. Any of the several natural sciences would fulfill this requirement as they all generally employ similar techniques. 2. Communications abilities Written and oral English received the overall first place ranking from the card deck respondents. The litera— ture, and in particular Horizons, also supports this rank- ing. The catalog review however did not find any great emphasis on English. Most catalog requirements had one course in composition with a second course in some type of 174 literature. Speech was frequently an elective. However, since a great deal of the accountant's time is spent in communicating economic facts, he must be able to effec- tively communicate. He must be able to read, write and talk in a clear, constructive and comprehensive manner. To develop this ability courses should be considered that guide writing and speaking, illustrate correct uses of grammar and the principles of rhetoric, and provide practice in expository writing. 3. Cultural-ethical development Humanities--introductory and advanced were utilized in the card deck to determine the perception of the respondents as to whether courses that deal with the development of personal qualities are important to the accountant's growth. These two cards ranked 24th and 20th, respectively. The more current literature is sympathetic to a curriculum that allows for the inclusion of cultural- ethical courses. Typically, the catalog review showed that the schools which had a liberal arts background included more of these courses in the general education area than did the typical state institution. Those state institutions which have recently grown from a teachers college or technical—vocational background usually had a minimum requirement in this area. The reason for including cultural-ethical courses is that in addition to developing the skills of thinking and communications, there should be an opportunity for the development of personal qualities. 175 Specific courses are difficult to identify because of the personal tastes involved in selection. However, courses in the area of art, history, foreign languages, geography, religion, and philosophy might be considered. 4. Economic-social-political development a. Economics is an area that had a rather wide range of response. The six courses ranged from 3rd to 26th in the rankings. Money and banking introductory and advanced ranked 4th and 3rd respectively. Throughout the litera- ture there is support for a basic knowledge in economics. However, this knowledge is primarily in micro and macro economics. Simons found support for money and banking in his study when many of the respondents to his questionnaire stated that this was one course they wish they had taken as part of their undergraduate degree.7 The catalog review disclosed that most schools required two courses in economics for a major in accounting. Other courses, particularly money and banking, were recommended but not required. Principally, the student should have an understanding of economic methodology and be able to use some of the tools of the economist in analyzing economic problems. He should have a thorough grounding in both micro and macro economic 176 economic theory. The related policy implica- tions from such courses should also be emphas- ized. Where electives are allowed, other courses in the economics area should be taken, particularly money and banking. Sociology, psychology and political science were not on separate cards. These three sub- jects were described on one card--social science. This card ranked 11th by all respondents which indicates that for the future growth of the accountant, there is very strong appeal for a knowledge of social science. The interviews also supported the card deck findings. The literature does not specify any precise quan~ tities of these three courses that should be included in any curriculum but it does indicate the importance of having some knowledge in each of these three areas. However, most of the colleges indicated that two of the three topics represent the typical requirement. Again, those schools having a liberal arts background typically recommended all three courses plus electives whereas the more tradi- tional schools follow the minimum requirement. 1. Sociology gives the student an understanding of society, group behavior, individual behavior with the society and the effect General 177 that these behaviors have on institutions and concepts. 2. Psychology concerns itself with the behavior of humans and how behavior is influenced, predicted and understood. Psychology also teaches how people learn, think, fear, hate, etc., and how personal— ities develop. Together, sociology and psychology complement each other and should enable the student of business to under« stand such things as motivation, leadership, perception, emotion, group dynamics, atti- tudes, values and techniques for various forms of behavior particularly related to business. 3. Political science is concerned with the functions of government and the require— ments for government. It should demonstrate the purpose of government and the manner in which the functions of government are reflections of the general social practice. Business studied courses impetus zation, Five areas of business administration should be by the prospective public accountant. These core should be organized around the fact that the major should be an understanding in depth of the organi- problems and functions of business to provide a basis for objective analysis of various business situations. The material should provide an opportunity to apply logical thinking, quantitative analysis and communications to various business problems. 1. 178 Finance--The card deck respondents placed corporation finance—~introductory and advanced in 34th and 33rd place respectively. The catalog review revealed that one course in finance was required by most institutions as part of the business administration core. The literature supports at least one course in finance that is not of the topic survey type. The area of finance draws upon the use of economics, mathematics and statistics, account~ ing and communications. Typically, the emphasis should be on the analytical approach over the more traditional descriptive approach. Emphasis on strategy in the management of an enterprise should be of primary importance in financial planning. Marketing--Introductory marketing was ranked 17th while the advanced course was placed 7th. Typically, the older literature mentions that marketing is a course that may be taken but is not really necessary. However, the more current literature provides a different insight in that it recognizes the evolution that has 179 taken place in the content level of under- graduate marketing courses. The catalog review tended to follow the older literature in that many schools recommended either market- ing or management. Typically, marketing com~ bines the disciplines of psychology, economics, sociology, statistical analysis, communications, and accounting to generate information for marketing decisions. The development and obtaining of information about consumer tastes and markets plus marketing institutions should be of prime importance in the development of the student. Production—-Like marketing, production has been a course that has had little to do with the typical undergraduate accounting major. Yet, when the practitioners and academicians ranked the introductory and advanced courses, they - placed them 13th and 9th respectively. This would indicate a desire on their part that such a course be included at a level somewhat above the introductory level. From the literature, a great deal of support cannot be found for a production course beyond the introductory level in a four year curriculum. The catalog review showed that four of the institutions required production while three have no production course .standard, number six, page 169, which states 180 offerings and the remainder have it available as a business elective. Despite this rather pessimistic review, production should be included in the basic core. Justification for its inclusion rests on the general business that for growth "a development of an understand- ing of organizations, functions and business problems so that the individual has a basis for analyzing business decisions.‘ is desir- able. Primarily, production is concerned with the manufacturing of a product that provides a consumer with goods at a competitive price, at low costs and making effective utilization of productive resources. In addition, plan- ning and control play important parts in the effectiveness of production. Law ranked 22nd and business law ranked 4lst by all respondents. The interviews provided a similar response. The literature typically relates to business law with little or no mention of other law courses. From the catalog reviews business law was found to be required course. Yet, to restrict the course solely to business law would be too confining in content. Granted the business man must have a knowledge of contracts, negotiable instruments, etc., 1.4-1 181 but he should also be aware of the other facets of law outside the world of business. The course should not be a tool but, instead, a general course. It should illustrate the role of law in our society and demonstrate the effect it has on economic, political and social relationships. In addition, law provides a perfect vehicle for integrating ethical and philosophical ideas into the decision making processes which apply to certain business decisions. Business organization and control--Although this tOpic did not appear on a card, the contents of the topic did appear under the heading of Business and Industrial Management. The introductory and advanced courses were ranked 39th and 38th respectively by the card deck respondents. The catalog survey generally showed that business management like marketing is not required but is highly recommended. It frequently was paired with marketing and the student could chose one or the other, and, in some cases both, if there were enough electives available. Much of the literature is noncom- mital on this topic. Even Horizons does not greatly emphasize the managerial-organizational control problems faced by the manager. However, 182 for the individual to develop an understanding of organizations, functions and business prob- lems so that he can analyze business situations, such an area of study is important. Such a course should draw heavily from the behavioral sciences as the study of organizations is essentially behavioral. The principles of organization and control have been derived from both research into human behavior as well as successful practice. The accountant will work with many types of persons in various levels of organizations. Thus he will need to under- stand the links between the organizational processes and the control processes of the business he would be working with. Accounting Although the respondents to this study generally ranked the technical accounting courses quite low, they should not be completely excluded from any plan of accountO ing education. The respondents indicated, through the card decks, and even more strongly through the interviews, that more courses in principles, intermediate and advanced accounting topics were not required. In fact, many indi- cated a redundancy of tOpics within these three course areas. Courses in cost accounting ranked a little higher but were still in the bottom third of the rankings. Audit- ing principles and auditing practices ranked 42nd and 44th 183 respectively. Most interviewees felt that procedural detail should be kept to a minimum and that emphasis should be placed on the principles of auditing. Taxation received high rankings with the introductory course ranked 5th and the advance course ranked 12th. The interviewees felt quite strongly that a good knowledge of taxation that was being continually updated was essential for the growth of the accountant. Managerial accounting received 23rd place. This is a course area that the interviewees felt quite necessary for someone in management services but not overly necessary for someone in the accounting or tax segments of the firm. Work study ranked 6th in overall importance with mixed emotions being expressed by the accounting interviewees as to the worth of work study to both the firm and the student. The literature of accounting typically has out- lined the following as basic accounting courses: intro- ductory, intermediate, advanced, cost, auditing, and federal taxation. This sequence has been the standard for an accounting major for many years and most of the current literature supports this sequence. More recently the literature has included tOpics on courses outside the basic core as being strongly recommended for majors. These included managerial accounting, systems analysis, data processing and work study. From the catalog review comes support for the results found in the literature regarding the typical basic course outline. The review also showed that all 184 colleges, with two exceptions, have a large number of course offerings in accounting over and above the basic core. These courses represent topics in government, budgeting, statement analysis, C.P.A. problems, partnership accounting, internal auditing, state and local taxation, automation accounting, corporate training seminars and controllership. From the results of the card deck, the literature and the catalog review, the following recommended areas of accounting study are proposed. The recommendations are in two areas--basic courses and alternative courses. The basic courses follow the typical model of course work while the alternative courses provide for topics quite relevant for the growth of public accountants. 1. Basic course areas a. Accounting principles, introductory-~With the continual state of flux in the introductory course, it is almost impossible to specify proper subject material. The student should be made aware of the definitions and measure- ment problems of net income, presentation of financial data and its limitations, accumula- tion of data, and the use of data for various analyses and interpretations. The course should not be a survey but should give an overall view of accounting, treating some topics lightly and others at considerable length. 185 Accounting principles, intermediate--The intermediate course emphasizes an understand- ing of the conceptual framework of accounting. Critical thinking about the basic concepts, postulates, principles and rules upon which accounting is built is a major objective of the course. Current practice and current issues should also be critically evaluated. Accounting principles, advanced-~This is a continuation of the financial accounting sequence that essentially considers increasing the technical competence of the student in areas typically not covered in either the introductory or intermediate courses. Prob— lems of formation, organization and structural changes of various business entities plus the expansion, contraction and consolidation of organizations after their formation are topics common to the advanced sequence. Cost accounting--The material covered in this course should look at three basic areas: 1. Accumulation of data in such a manner as to make it useful in the planning, control and decision-making sequences. 2. Evaluation of the data in order to give the firm an idea of how it is functioning in regard to its cost. the application of these concepts to examining, 186 3. .Utilization of information that is accumulated and evaluated. Auditing--Basically, the primary objective of the auditing course should be to instill an understanding of basic auditing concepts and evaluating, and reporting financial data. The current practice of auditing should be understood along with the recognition of alternative methods of handling problems. Procedural detail should be kept at a minimum. Rather than spending an inordinate amount of time on developing audit programs, a more theoretical approach might be followed, i.e., what ought to be rather than what is might be studied. Taxation-—The primary purpose of a course in income tax is to acquaint the student with the basic principles of tax law and give him a basic knowledge of the technical aspects of taxation. This course should enable the student to understand how taxes affect business decisions, to understand how the concepts of taxable income are related to an accounting concept of income and to understand and be able to utilize professional tax help. 2. 187 Alternative course areas a. Managerial accounting—-This topic ranked in the top half of the respondents rankings, although it did not receive the acclaim that taxation did. The objectives of the managerial account- ing course should be to examine the kinds of information management needs for various pur- poses. This would include information for planning and decision-making, information for accountability and information for control. Techniques are employed that require knowledge in mathematics and statistics, certain behavioral science courses, and accounting trends and techniques. Data processing—-Although data processing was ranked slightly below the upper half of courses, it is nevertheless quite important to the development of the future growth of the C.P.A. There has been continued emphasis on data processing services so that an accountant with little or no knowledge of such services is outdated. The support from the literature is scattered but exists primarily in the more recent articles. College catalogs reviewed showed a shift toward including data processing either as a requirement or as a strongly rec— ommended elective. Concurrent with the basic 188 or introductory courses in accounting should be a course in electronic data processing. Knowledge of a computer language and program— ming would be essential. Certain portions of courses in cost, managerial accounting,taxation and auditing should be allocated to introducing how the computer can be used to solve problems. In fact, recent developments have made the . Q5 computer usable in ceftain portions of the introductory accounting sequences. Systems analysis-~The accounting student should have some knowledge of accumulating and process— ing data that is needed for analysis and informational purposes and, also, how such data systems are designed and implemented. There is a close relationship between manager— ial accounting, data processing and systems analysis. They all contribute to internal information flow in a particular manner. The accountant should be made aware of the kinds of information needed for a variety of pur- poses by management and how this information is obtained and disseminated. In addition, the control over such systems, the types of such systems, and the degree of electronic and mechanical sophistication in each system are requisite items of knowledge. 189 d. Work study--Although work study is not a course in the sense of an organized classroom activity, it has found acceptance as a means of interface between the knowledge achieved in class and the real world. If such a course is offered it should be done under the closest of supervision, otherwise the experience may turn into a term of wasted effort on the part of all persons concerned. Frequently, work study is an elective and only those students who are qualified may elect to take such a course. The overall respondent ranking was 6th while the educators, both conceptual and vocational, ranked work study 2nd. Summary There are other courses that are taught in account- ing curricula, but the courses listed above represent a core of accounting courses that would be needed for the growth of the public accountant. It is noted that it is not so much the accounting future growth, but, rather and general business. The including the many general courses in the top half of courses that are needed for courses in general education respondents indicated this by education and general business the rankings. Various groups interested in accounting education have also recognized the importance of such general courses and have emphasized them in their committee recommendations. The main 190 emphasis is on a background that will allow the public accountant to think logically and clearly and to be able to recognize the various inputs into decisions that come from outside the world of financial data. One final point should be made concerning the place of general education and general business in a curriculum. Typically, the general education courses are taught in the first two years of the program and the last two years are 5» devoted to the business courses and the major area. If we are to relate these courses as has been advocated through- out this chapter, then there should be more integration of these three areas. A vertical integration of general education, business, and accounting courses is a viable alternative. Certain of the tool subjects such as mathe- matics, statistics, and written and oral communications must be taken as early as possible. Then, instead of' cramming the humanities and behavioral courses into the first two years, they could be spread over the entire collegiate program and thus give a better balance to the overall education of the future accountant. There are problems inherent in this suggestion. Course prerequisites present scheduling problems. Transfer students may not be able to complete the program in the prescribed time. Opposition will come from areas outside the business school. And, finally, there may be a general reluctance to try anything new. However, where possible, vertical integration of course work would seem to be a more 191 desirable alternative than the present system that exists in many colleges and universities at the present time. Implications for the Study Three general areas of use for this study are considered in this section. The first two areas will give the reader some indication of specific applications that might be made of these results. The third area will suggest further research that could be undertaken based E on this study. Program Evaluations Instructors and department chairmen should be involved in a continuous evaluation of the program or programs of their particular institution. If an account— ing program is to meet the current and projected needs for public accountants, those evaluating the content of such programs must have up—to—date data by which to perform the evaluation. Therefore, a continuous evaluation pro- gram ought to be carried on to assure adequate pre- 7 employment education for current and projected needs. The evaluation can be done subjectively or objectively, with the latter the most reliable. However, an objective evaluation depends on the availability of a set of standards in some useable format. The outline of the recommendations in part four of this chapter, supported by the criteria for topic inclusion, is suggested as a possible set of standards for such an evaluation. 192 Although no specific course titles were suggested or specific contents outlined, areas were provided under which the department could determine whether its offerings were relevant to the future growth of its accounting graduates. If a course (or courses) is recommended for a particular area of study, there should be some means of comparing the department's offerings against the recommended areas of study. A pattern is suggested for such an analysis in Figure 6.1 for the General Education area. Other areas may utilize the same format. The courses that would appear under the topic area headings on this checklist would 92E just be a recapitula- tion of the college catalog. Instead, the courses to be included would be those that would be considered desirable for the growth of the accountant. These courses would be derived from this research, Horizons for a Profession, the 1968 Committee Reports and other pertinent literature reviews. Consequently, when the comparison is made between the courses presently offered and those that should be offered, the checklist illustrated in Figure 6.1 could be utilized. Once the checklist is complete, the courses that are highly recommended for the future growth of public accountants should have few if any checkmarks in either the "Actively Considered for Removal" or "Not Considered" column. If there are a significant number of checkmarks in these columns, then a review is indicated as it would seem that the particular department is not considering 193 Actively Actively Presently Considered Considered in for for Not Topic Area Program Adoption Removal Considered General Education PhilOSOphy Logic Mathematics (several types) Science Statistics (several types) Communications (oral and written) Cultural areas (several types) Behavioral areas (several types) Political Science Economics Law Plus any other course areas that are deemed relevant Figure 6.1.—-Format of a Checklist for Program Evaluations. 194 those courses deemed important for the growth of public accountants. Career Guidance The principal purpose of accounting education is to prepare students for careers in accounting and to prepare them to deal efficiently and effectively with problems they will be facing. These problems will not be in their professional domain alone but also in their social and political domains. As the accounting function in our society grows, it is inevitable that the part played by the accountant will grow equally as fast. The demand for well-educated accountants has been high for many years and will continue to be high in the future. The development of the ability to analyze and solve problems of a diverse nature should be one of the goals of professional education. Solutions to such prob- ‘lems require sound judgement, reasoning and knowledge. These skills must be developed by educators in the students through the educational processes. As part of guiding students in the courses or areas that will develop and sharpen these skills this research will provide use- ful insights. The research has indicated several areas that the person who is interested in accounting as a career should consider in planning his academic program. Anyone considering entering the profession of accounting must realize that accounting involves a considerable body of theory. But it should also be realized that a 195 background of education which is broader than that provided by just studying accounting procedures is necessary. This research provides an outline of the areas that should be considered by these future accountants. These areas were developed after considering current opinion, surveyed by card decks and interviewing, the present literature, and a review of course changes in the catalogs. Therefore, the recommended areas of study have a certain amount of legitimacy and are not just subjective estimates. The purpose of the general education area is to develop logical and objective thinking, communicative abilities, cultural-ethical aspects, and economic-social- political awareness. Frequently, individuals question the relevance of all this general education. The advisor can use this research to point out the importance of general education based on the literature, the rankings and catalog reviews. General education must be carefully explained and not just dismissed as so much work that must be taken before the student can get to the important subjects—-his major. Again this research points out the importance of general education to future growth of accountants. Guidance in the general business topics has as its objective to broadly educate the student in core areas of business so that he has an understanding of the organiza- tions, problems and functions of business in order to provide him with a basis for an objective analysis of 196 various business situations. The material covered should provide an opportunity to apply logical thinking, quanti- tative analysis and communications to various business problems. Again, this research provides the rationale for a core of study in the general business area supported by opinion and literature reviews. There are other business courses that can supplement this basic core in particular areas of study or there are advanced courses that can add depth to any of the core courses. However, an advisor should make sure that the core courses are covered and then use electives if added depth is desired. In the accounting area, an advisor could use this research as a guide for the basic courses that are necessary for the development of basic skills. Accounting courses represent the skill area for the student and as such he should have a thorough understanding and knowledge of these basic skills. The six courses outlined in part four of this chapter are those that are considered as basic. Other courses are available in most institutions in the accounting area but these should be considered only after the basic skills have been acquired and then selected by the student after considering his future plans. In addition to this research, guidance can be gained by using a series of materials showing the student of accounting what his education should encompass and why the variety of courses is important to his development. 197 These materials might include the following as a source base: Horizons for a Profession by Robert H. Roy and James M. MacNeill. Report of the Committee on Education and Experience Requirements for C.P.A.s, published by the A.I.C.P.A. Education for Accountancy by Harry Simons. A Statistical Survey of Accountipg Education: 1967-1968 by Doyle 2. Williams. Committee Reports-~1968,published by the A.A.A. The Education of American Businessmen by Pierson and others. There are articles in various journals that an advisor could use to keep current on trends in accounting education. These articles usually appear in The Accounting Review and The Journal of Accountancy. In addition, there are seminars that can provide a means of guidance which allow students who are interested in their education to inquire as to why the program is structured in its present form. This type of forum allows the students, the faculty and invited practitioners to study the program and examine it in the light of future requirements. Future Research This research has provided a basis for analysis of accounting education on the state level. Future research could replicate this study every two or three years to discern any trends, either favorable or unfavorable, in accounting education. Such research would be good for a 198 particular state to have conducted as there is frequently no means of formally gathering or disseminating this information. As noted in the literature review, state studies of accounting education are noticeably absent. Certain specific areas of public accounting could be studied to determine if there are any needs that are being left unfulfilled by an undergraduate education. As F“ an illustration, management services has been a growing area of endeavor for many firms. A question might be raised as to the type of education necessary for someone who enters this particular phase of public accounting. Does this person need a typical undergraduate accounting major, or would some other sequence of courses be more beneficial? This research could be used as a model to determine the perceptions of what education is recommended for someone entering management services. A similar format could be used-—card deck, interviews, literature and catalog reviews--to prepare the recommended basic course areas of study. This particular research did not provide any precise formulation as to courses and completion times for the degree. A logical extension would be to use this research and formulate a plan of study outlining the basic courses and hours for a degree. Such research might provide support for continuing the present four year program or revamping the program into a five year undergraduate major 199 or establishing a four year undergraduate major with the fifth year a year of specializing in advanced topics that leads to a graduate degree. FOOTNOTES - -CHAPTE R VI 1Roy and MacNeill, Horizons for a Profession, p. 2. 2Gordon and Howell, Higher Education for Business, p. 186. . 3Roy and MacNeill, Horizons for a Profession, pp. 192-3. 4American Accounting Association, "Report of the Committee to Compile a Revised Statement of Educational Policy," pp. 56—60, 66—87. 5Roy and MacNeill, Horizons for a Profession, pp. 191-267. 6American Accounting Association, "Report of the Committee to Compile a Revised Statement of Educational Policy," pp. 66-67. 7Simons, Education for Accountancy, pp. 38n40. 200 BIBLIOGRAPHY 201 p1 BIBLIOGRAPHY Books Aristotle. Politics. New York: The Modern Library, 1943. 3 American Institute of Accountants Yearbook-—l934. New York: American Institute of Accountants, 1934. American Institute of Accountants Yearbook--l935. New York: American Institute of Accountants, 1935. American Institute of Accountants Yearbook--1936. New York: American Institute of Accountants, 1936. Carey, John L. The CPA Plans for the Future. New York: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 1965. . The Rise of the Accounting Profession from Technician to Professional: 1896-1936. New York: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 1970. . The Rise of the AccountingiProfession to Responsibilipy and Authority: 1937—1969. New York: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 1970. Committee on Education and Experience Requirements. Report of the Committee on Education and Experience Requirements for CPAs. New York: American Insti- tute of Certified Public Accountants, 1969. Committee on Relations with Colleges and Universities. A Profile of Accounting Education in Kentucky. Louisville, Kentucky: Kentucky Society of Certi— fied Public Accountants, 1967. Education Directory: Part 3--Higher Education. Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1969-70. 202 203 Edwards, James Donald. History of Public Accounting in the United States. East Lansing, Michigan: Bureau of Business and Economic Research, School of Business, Michigan State University, 1960. Gordon, Robert A. and Howell, James E. Higher Education for Business. New York: Columbia University Press, 1959. Johnson, Richard Emory. The Wharton School: Its Fifty Years, 1831-1931. Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press, 1931. Keller, Donald E. A Research Study of Some Aspects of Accounting Education. San Francisco: California Certified Public Accountants Foundation for Educa— tion and Research, 1968. Kollaritsch, Felix P. Opinions, Scholastic Rankings and Professional Progress of Accounting Graduates. Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University, College of Administrative Science, Department of Accounting, 1968. Krathwohl, David R.; Bloom, Benjamin S.; and Masia, Bertram B. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, the Classification of Educational Goalsy_HandEOOk II: Affective Domain. New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1964. Phillips, Bernard S. Social Research: Strategy and Tactics. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1966. Pierson, Frank C. and others. The Education of American Businessmen. New York: McGraw—Hill Publishing Company, 1959. Porter, W. Thomas, Jr. Higher Education and the Accounting Profession, A Summary Report of the Haskins and Sells 75th Anniversary Symposiums Fali and Winter 1970-71. New York: Haskins and Sells, 1971. Roy, Robert H. and MacNeill, James H. Horizons for a Profession. New York: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 1969. Russell, Max, Editorial Director. The College Blue Book 1969/70: 13th Edition. New York: C.C.M. Infor- mation Corporation, 1969. Siegel, Sidney. Nonparametric Statistics for Behavioral Sciences. New York: McGraw—Hill Book Company, Inc., 1956. Simons, Standards of Education and Experience for CPAs. Ann Arbor, 204 Harry. Education for Accountancy. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles: Bureau of Business and Economic Research, 1960. Stogdill, Ralph M. and Coons, Alvin E. (eds.). Leader S. Army Audit Agency and the American Institute of Michigan: Bureau of Business Research, 1956. Behavior Its Description and Measurement: Research Monograph #88. Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University, Bureau of Business Research, 1957. Certified Public Accountants. Provisions in CPA Laws and Regulations. New York: American InsEitute of Certified Public Accountants, 1968. Williams, Doyle Z. A Statistical Survey of Accounting 1 Education, 1967-68. New York: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 1969. Journals American Accounting Association. "Report of the Committee on Courses and Curricula: Accounting Courses for Accounting Majors." The Accounting Review, XXXVIII (July, 1963), 601-607. . "Report of the Committee on Courses and CurriculaO-General." The Accounting Review, XXXIX (July, 1964), 721-738. . "Report of the Committee on Educational Standards." The Accounting Review, XXXIX (April, 1964), 447-456. . "Report of the Committee on the Ford and Carnegie Reports." The Accounting Review, XXXVI (April, 1961), 191-196. . "Report of the Committee on the Scope of the Four Year Accounting Major." The Accounting Review, XXXV (April, 1960), 203-205. . "Report of the Committee to Compile a Revised Statement of Educational Policy." The Accounting Review, XLIII (Supplement to 1968), 51—124. . "Report of the Standards Rating Committee." The Accounting Review, XXIX (January, 1954), 38-44. 205 . "Report of the Task Committee on the Standards of Accounting Instruction." The Accounting Review, XXXI (January, 1956), 36-42. Canning, R. J. "Training for an Accounting Career." The Accounting Review, XXXIII (July, 1958), 359-367. Hemphill, John K. "Leader Behavior Associated with the Administrative Reputation of College Departments." Journal of Educational Psychology: 46 (November, i955), 388—395. Lynn, Edward S. "Educational Policies of the A.O.C.P.A." The Journal of Accountancy, 113 (March, 1963), 87—88. Special Committee on the Report of the Commission on Standards of Education and Experience for C.P.A.s. "Education and Experience for C.P.A.s." The Journal of Accountancy, 107 (June, 1959), 66—71. Williams, Doyle Z. "A Profile of C.P.A. Candidates." The Accounting Review, XLIV (January, 1969), . "Reactions to 'Horizons for a Profession'." The Journal of Accountaney, 127 (June, 1969), 81-84. Other Sources Computer Institute for Social Science Research. Technical Report No. 44: Nonparametric Measures of Random- ness and Goodness to Fit: Kilmogorov-Smiinov and Runs Tests. East Lansing, Michigan: The Michigan State University, 1967. . Technical Report No. 44.2: Printed Plots of Cumulative Distributions and Kolmogorov Confidence Intervals. East Lansing, Michigan: The Michigan State University, 1967. . Technical Report No. 47: Rank Correlation Coefficients. East Lansing, Michigan: The Michigan State University, 1967. Personal Correspondence with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. 1970 Register, State of Michigan, Department of Licensing and Regulation, Board ofIAccountancy. Lansing, Michigan: Department of Licensing and RegU1ation, 1970. APPENDICES 206 APPENDIX A ILLUSTRATION OF INSTRUCTION CARD, DATA CARDS AND A SUBJECT CARD 207 ILLUSTRATION OF INSTRUCTION CARD, DATA CARDS AND A SUBJECT CARD INSTRUCTION CARD 1. Please complete Data Card 1 if you are an academician and Data Card 2 if you are a practitioner. Do not complete both data cards. :L 2. Starting with the most important card on top, arrange the remaining course-description cards in the rank order in which you believe to be their importance to the growth of a beginning public accountant. The Introductory Level Card for a subject does not have to be ranked higher than the Advanced Level Card for that same subject. 3. After completing the ranking, check the rankings again to make sure that you are satisfied with the order of preference. 4. Place the cards in the stamped envelope with the data card and deposit in the return mail. DATA CARD 1--ACADEMICIANS 1. Teaching specialities, if any 2. Total number years of full—time teaching experience . 3. Percentage of your total'teaching load that you normally spend teaching undergraduate courses and/or graduate courses . 4. C.P.A. Yes No Year of certification . 5. Educational background (highest earned degree listed first). Degree(s) Year(s) of graduation 208 209 DATA CARD 2--PRACTITIONER 1. Principal activity: Auditing Taxation Management Services Other (Specify) 2. C.P.A. Yes No Year of certificate . 3. Experience: How many years have you been a public accountant? Please include those years before certification. 4. Staff level: Partner Manager Senior Junior Other (Specify) 5. Educational background (highest earned degree listed first). Degree(s) Year(s) of graduation WRITTEN AND ORAL ENGLISH Nature of language, composition, writing, personal delivery, persuasion, preparation and presenting ideas. APPENDIX B THE TEN LARGEST C.P.A. FIRMS IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN 210 _fl-‘r‘. THE TEN LARGEST C.P.A. FIRMS IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN Alexander Grant & Co. Arthur Andersen & Co. Ernst & Ernst Haskins & Sells Lybrand, Ross Brothers & Montgomery Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. Price Waterhouse & Co. Seidman and Seidman Touche Ross & Co. Arthur Young & Co. 211 APPENDIX C SMALL C.P.A. FIRMS IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN 212 a""' SMALL C.P.A. FIRMS IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN Addis & Company Adelson-Adelson & Cutler Algaze and Koretz Aronoff & Malin Austin, Washington & Davenport Baditoi & Segroves Balamucki, Foley & Swiger Bando & Young Barnowski & Hart Bayle, Norman & Echlebarger Bechek, S. J. & Co. Becksfort & Bussler Beene, Garter & Hrouda Berger & Wild Berkey & Laws Bloomberg, L. M. & Co. Blossfeld & Co. Bond & Co. Boone & Gross Brenner & Burnstein 213 Buss, Ullrich, Bernock & Wilt Cairns & Stewart Campbell, A. J. & Co. Carey & Olsen Carnago & Lazzara Clinton, Robert E. & Co. Coe, Scott, Schroeder & Swayne Cole & Hollander Collins, Buri & McConkey Conlen & Darnton Coopers & Lybrand Couture, Frank & Co. Cramer, Beattie & Baird Crowe, Chizek & Co. Curtis, Bailey & Sposito Danielson, Story, Lake & Schultz Danneels & Co. DeCook & Nuyen DeGuerre, W. Ross, & Co. Den Braber, Hemholdt & Lyzenga Derderian, R. N. & Co. DeSow, Belin, Dubrinsky and Sobel Dinwiddie, Kandt, Smith & Fought Dise, J. Harvey & Co. Doeren, Mayhew, Grob & McNamara Donnelly & O'Brien Donovan, Carabell & Bocknek Dorfman, Morof, Sheplow & Sharfman Doyle, Alam, Litt & Taylor Draznin, Dave K., & Co. DuPuis & Ryden Earl W. Taylor & Co. Edkins, Pall & Nelson Engstrom, Paul V., & Co. Farquharson & Pointon Fellows & Randall Fleurey & Singler Foote & Iles Foulds & Zeros Frank & Bovitz Friedman & Hoskow Froggatt, Joseph & Co. 214 Geller, Naftaly, Herbach & Shapero Gilbert, Boley & Co. Goettsche, Tranen & Co. Goodman & DeMink Gordon, Harry M., & Co. Grant & Silverman Gregg, Velker & St. John Guest, Wright & Co. Haggerty, Frank J. & Co. Hall & Hines Hanrahan, Carey & Ayers Harper & Burk Harris, Reames & Ambrose Harry A. Schrage & Co. Hepfer, Lyle D. & Co. Herkner, Smits, Miskill & Johnson Herman & MacLean Hirsch, Bernard & Co. Hoffman, Kolon & Tobes Hubbard & Wendt Hungerford, Cooper, Luxon & Co. Hungerford, K. G. & Co. Icerman, Johnson & Hoffman Janz & Knight Jenkins & Eshman Jennings, Jewell, Murray & Company Jensen & Jaste Karl Leppien & Co. Karpus, Clark & Co. Kaye, Charles & Co. Keays, Hertler and Brzostowski Kelman, Levitsky, Nathanson & Lasser Kelman & Mintz Kovtan, Maki and McMurray Krueger & Ziegler LaFever, Bell & Laird Laine, Appold & Co. Lally & Gough & Co. Lasser, J. K. Lattin, Sallan & Keystone Lau & Derderian Laventhol, Krekstein, Horwath & Horwath Lee, Albert, & Co. Levine, Dworkin & Freedman Lewis, Knopf & Kerr Linden, Klain, Israel & Ross Lohff & Noble Loving, Bernard & Co. Lutwitzi, Talaska and Co. Mackey & Mackey 215 Maihover, Moore & DeLong Main, LaFrentz & Co. Markowski & Cole McCafferty, E. F., & Co. McGraw, Fenner & Melstrom Miller, P.C. Clement & Francis, -. E I Miller, Line, & McGannon Millhouse & Holaly Minshull & Tuori Monast & Goldstein Moore, James F., & Co. Moore, Smith & Dale Murray & Noble Newman, Kabeck & Wilson Newman, Steinberger & Bornstein Nida & Bokolor O'Connell & O'Connell Oliver & Fuller Osburn & Goodnight Parker, Wittus & Co. Perrin, Fordree, Davidson & Remus Peters & Joseph Plante & Moran Polewach, M. J. & Co. Pope and Siewert Post, Smythe, Lutz & Ziel Pruis, Carter, Hamilton & Dieterman Purdy & Moore Purdy, Donovan & Beal Reinheimer & Lederman Reitz & LaFleche Reive, Kent & Kuhn Richardson & McCartney Richwine, Newton & Carlton Robert D. Baetz & Co. Rohleder & Suabedissen Rosen & Feinberg Rosenbloom & Rosenbloom Ross & Klein Rowland, Murray, Fortner & McAslan Ruben & Weisman Rugg, J. R., & Co. Schellenberg, Kregel & Kittle Schiff & Levy Schippers, Kitner & Robertson Schmaltz & Co. Schmelz & Rieck Schneider & Broder Schneider, Larche & Haapala Schonberg & Schonberg 216 Schroeder, Gerald C. & Co. Scudder, Lawrence & Co. Shapiro, Shapiro and Goren Sharpe & Shewman Sherk—DeVries & Krenz Sherman, Nathan & Ettinger Shuttie & Floersch Siegel and Zipser, P.C. Siigfried, Crandall & Bos Silver & Gilbert Simon & Goins Skillman, Zielesch & Co. Smith, Acker & Hyman Smith & Smith Sniderman & Endicott Soderman & Brennan Sorokin, Carey & Fromholz, P. C. Sosin, Hilbert & Co. Staub, Stein & Shapiro Stein & Olasky Stevens & Gillett Stewart & Beauvais Stewart & Co. Sullivan, Page & Cassel Sutherland & Robson Svagr, Kraus, Gorski & Co. 217 Tackman & Ducheny Taylor & Drewett The Ward Company, P.C. Timm, Robson, Schuette & Hutchison Tischler & Lipson Tobias & Tobias Tuori, Devlin & Ouwerkerk Van Ke;;eo & Green Velick & Haas Wagar, Lunt & Rehmann Walter D. Karal & Co. Weinlander, Fitzhugh, Bertuleit Schairer Weintraub, M. Murray & Co. Weisberg & Frank Wells & Green Westheimer, Fine, Berger & Co. Whitehead & Michael Wise & Shimoda Witus & Witus Wright, Griffin & Davis Yeo & Yeo Young, Skutt & Bretienwisher Young, Warren & Co. Zack, Fields & Co. APPENDIX D LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 218 LETTER OF TRANSMI TTAL Department of Accounting & Financial Administration Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan 48823 June 20, 1971 I am a doctoral candidate at Michigan State University with a major in accounting. One of the requirements for the degree is to complete a research project for the doctoral dissertation. Enclosed with this letter is an envelope containing a packet of IBM cards to be ranked by various respondents. The objective of the study is to determine what the educational requirements should be for a beginning public accountant for his future growth as a professional. Toward this end, I am sampling Michigan academicians and practicing accountants for their perceptions of these requirements. You are a member of the sample group and I need your help. Will you cooperate in this study by reading the direc— tions on the packet of cards enclosed with this letter, completing the short data card and returning the ranked cards in the stamped addressed envelope? Please remember that your response is vital to the research and that the ability to complete this study depends a great deal on' receiving a response from each member of the sample group. Since this is an academic effort, you may be assured that all responses will be kept in strictest confidence. Your time and effort on my behalf is greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Louis C. Jacoby Doctoral Candidate 219. APPENDIX E FOLLOW UP LETTER 220 FOLLOW UP LETTER Department of Accounting & Financial Administration Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan 48823 July 8, 1971 Two and one-half weeks ago I mailed a packet of IBM cards to you and several other academicians and public accountants requesting that the cards be ranked and returned to me. Since that time many of the card decks have been returned. However, some of the card deck recipients have not yet responded. If you are among those who have not yet completed the rankings I would appreciate it very much if you would come plete the rankings and drop the packet in the return mail. If you have already completed and returned the card deck please ignore this second request and accept my sincere thanks for your participation. As stated in my first letter, the ability to complete the research and the subsequent dissertation depends on a response from all persons in my sample. Again, let me emphasize that this is an academic research effort that will be of benefit to both the academician and the practic- ing accountant and your response is vital. After I have received your response I will not contact you again. Thank you very much for your time and effort. Sincerely. Louis C. Jacoby Doctoral Candidate 221 APPENDIX F COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES INCLUDED IN THE EDUCATOR SAMPLE 222 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES INCLUDED IN THE EDUCATOR SAMPLE Central Michigan University (a,d) Detroit College of Business (c,d) Detroit Institute of Technology (a,d) Eastern Michigan University (a,d) Lawrence Institute of Technology (a,d) Michigan State University (a,b,d) Michigan Technical University (a,d) Northern Michigan University (a,d) Western Michigan University (a,b,d) Note: (a) (b) (C) (d) Andrews University (a,d) Aquinas College (a,d) Cleary College (c,d) Ferris State College (a,d) University of Detroit (a,d) University of Michigan (a,b,d) Wayne State University (a,d) Accreditation and Secondary Universities. Member of the by North Central Association of Colleges Schools, Commission on Colleges and American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business. Accrediting Commission for Business Schools. Accepted by the state of Michigan as having a major in accounting as required by Section 16 a(l)(b) and (c) which states that there "shall be 21 semester hours or 33 quarter hours of accounting subjects including a course in auditing." 223 'IO WWIWHWIW I1Wilfiililiilliliiiii E3 3 1193 03083 2475