Marshall B. Romney and J. Owen Cherrington
Brigham Young University

Andrew Knighton
Arthur Anderson & Co.

The shift away from auditing services toward consulting services by CPA firms is placing greater demands upon universities to produce students capable of entering the consulting profession immediately upon graduation. To meet the demand for such students, Brigham Young University (BYU) faculty instituted a graduate-level consulting course to train students in the consulting process and to provide students with relevant, practical work experience in a real-world consulting environment. The course is required for students with an information systems emphasis. MBA students and non-systems Master of Accounting students may take the course as an elective. Most students take the course near the end of their program.

The course requires students to work in project teams to solve systems and business problems in organizations; thus they apply and expand technical skills they have acquired in other courses. The course also helps students develop professional competencies such as client relations, group interaction, time management, and project administration. The objectives of the course are to:

1. Help students identify the field of management consulting and the role of a management consultant.

2. Familiarize students with the tools and techniques used during a consulting engagement, including technical, planning, problem solving, and client relations skills.

3. Provide students with an experience in project management and management consulting.

Before the class begins, the instructor must identify client projects and individuals to act as team coaches. During the first three weeks of class, students are taught the consulting process and are organized into teams of three to five people. Near the end of this period, student teams contact their assigned clients and set up an initial meeting. In the initial meeting, students and the client determine the scope of the project and agree on working relationships. Student teams spend the last 11 weeks of the course completing the project.

A coach (usually a manager or partner of a CPA firm who is familiar with the client) works with each student team. Each student spends about 100 hours on the project. This combination provides the client with a professional product or service for an honorarium (generally $2,500) plus out-of-pocket expenses of the student team. The honorarium is paid directly to the School of Accountancy and Information Systems and expenses are reimbursed directly to the students. The funds the university receives are used to offset expenses incurred for the coaching services. However, since most CPA firms have chosen to donate their time, most honorariums have been used to fund student scholarships.