The Accounting EducatorThe Newsletter of the Teaching and Curriculum Section |
A Message from the ChairJames E. Rebele I would like to begin this communication by thanking Kevin Stocks for serving as Chair and Karen Hooks for serving as Vice-Chair, Practice during the 1998-99 year. Thanks also to members of this year's Executive Committee: Don Wygal, Vice-Chair, Academic; Bette Kozlowski, Vice-Chair, Practice; Sandy Byrd, Treasurer; and Janet Cassagio, Secretary and Newsletter Editor. I would also like to thank committee chairs and members, as well as regional coordinators, for their efforts on behalf of the T & C Section. Finally, thanks for providing me the opportunity to lead the Teaching and Curriculum Section during the 1999-2000 year. Depending on your perspective, we are either very fortunate or extremely unlucky to be in a profession that must confront and respond to a dramatic need for change. The challenges facing accounting practice and education, and the changes such challenges require, are not incremental in nature or insignificant in consequence. Instead, what confronts those of us involved in accounting education is the need to make fundamental changes in both what we teach and in how we teach. Changes must be made sooner rather than later, as employer organizations and students will not be content, nor should they be, waiting years while university committees discuss the issues. Different curriculum models and more effective pedagogical methods are needed if accounting education is to remain relevant to a rapidly changing business environment. Accounting education has been at the forefront of change, but more must be done. The view from the faculty lounge in Lehigh's College of Business provides a useful perspective, and constant reminder, of what can happen when an organization is either unwilling or incapable of responding to changes in its environment. What the lounge looks out over is a massive steel mill, owned by Bethlehem Steel, that shut down several years ago and which is now being demolished. Whatever the exact causes of Bethlehem Steel's downfall, its failure to adapt to a changing environment is at least partially responsible for the reality that its signature mill has become a riverfront development project. The Teaching and Curriculum Section is not immune to environmental change and its consequences. We must therefore understand the nature of changes in our environments and develop appropriate responses in order for the Section to continue to meet its overall objective of promoting continual improvement in accounting education. With this in mind, I have asked the Executive Committee to focus on strategic planning for the Teaching and Curriculum Section. Before next year's meeting in Philadelphia, we expect to prepare a document that identifies the major strategic risks facing the Section and which provides recommended actions for responding to these risks. This document will be distributed to Section members for comment and discussion. Our goals in undertaking this strategic planning exercise include identifying the appropriate role for the Section within the AAA, providing information to help members confront the educational challenges facing our profession, and finding ways of more effectively serving the interests of Section members. As the AAA section whose objectives relate most directly to education issues, the Teaching and Curriculum Section must be a change leader for accounting education. Being a change leader requires that the T & C Section have a voice within the AAA. The Section therefore plans to obtain the required 100 signatures and nominate a candidate for Vice President - Education. Although not yet identified, the person nominated will be someone who has been active in both the Teaching and Curriculum Section and accounting education change efforts. I urge you to support the T & C Section's nominee in the upcoming election for AAA Executive Committee members. I would like to call your attention to a new feature in the Teaching and Curriculum Section Newsletter. Carolyn Strand of Seattle Pacific University currently chairs the Section's Accounting Education Research Committee, and she has put together a new "Have You Seen?" column. The objective of this column is to identify and briefly summarize articles, books, and other relevant materials that we may not otherwise come across. The column for this issue includes a number of useful resources that may lighten your wallet, but they will also enhance your teaching effectiveness. Thanks to Carolyn for beginning this column. I would like to end this communication by encouraging Teaching and Curriculum Section members to submit education-oriented manuscripts to the 2000 AAA Annual Meeting and to regional meetings. The annual meeting will be held in Philadelphia, a great city, with weather somewhere between what we had in San Diego and New Orleans. Thanks again for this opportunity to serve the Teaching and Curriculum Section. Jim Rebele |