An International Meeting of the American Accounting Association American Accounting Association 2006 Annual Meeting August 6–9, 2006 Washington, D.C.

Dale L. Flesher
University Of Mississippi

Abstract: The AACSB leadership discussed accounting accreditation for years before an initiative by the AICPA brought the subject directly into the AACSB’s midst. After initial resistance, the AACSB joined with the accounting profession and provided leadership in the development of an accounting accreditation program. Although accounting accreditation was finally implemented with the first schools being accredited in 1982, the AICPA did not gain all that it wanted. Given the strong feelings on both sides of this issue, the subject of accounting accreditation had the potential to seriously harm the AACSB. It was only the cool heads of Deans Vernon Zimmerman (University of Illinois) and Kermit O. Hanson (University of Washington) that kept the AACSB intact. These two gentlemen may have done more than any others to build the AACSB to the stature that it is today. The reason that the AACSB deans approved the idea was to keep accreditation in the hands of educators rather than accountants.

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