The Accounting EducatorThe Newsletter of the Teaching and Curriculum Section |
A Message from the ChairJames E. Rebele
Just when you thought that you'd heard the last reference to the New Century, here's another one: this is the first Teaching and Curriculum Section Newsletter of the New Century. Standing at the dawn of the 21st Century, the Teaching and Curriculum Section has many challenges and opportunities before it. But, my fellow Section members, the state of the Section is strong. Yikes! Okay, my reference to the New Century and my borrowing BC's line are hokey, but the point remains valid: the Teaching and Curriculum Section does face many challenges, but we also have many opportunities to make a positive impact on accounting education. Many of the challenges that we face are actually the source of our opportunities. The trick, therefore, is to identify the challenges, convert them to opportunities, and then turn these opportunities into accomplishments that benefit Section members and, more generally, accounting education. Meeting the Section's goals requires that the Executive Committee think strategically to identify challenges and opportunities. Plans to implement strategic initiatives must also be developed. Our future success also depends on more Section members becoming involved in value-added activities. To the extent that this all comes together I will be able to stand before you at the business meeting in Philadelphia and say, "My fellow Section members, the state of the Teaching and Curriculum Section is strong." Maybe I better think of something else to say. There is hopefully more than one good thing about this year's Executive Committee, but one good thing that I know is true is that several of us are geographically compatible. Living and working within about 50 miles of each other has allowed us to get together on a regular basis over the past few months to discuss Section business. These meetings are part of the strategic planning initiative that the Executive Committee is conducting. Strategic planning must become an on-going activity for the T & C Section if we are to continue being a section that provides value to its members. The Executive Committee therefore plans to establish a process that will facilitate future strategic planning efforts. The Teaching and Curriculum Section exists to benefit its members and to provide guidance on education issues to the American Accounting Association. With this in mind, the Executive Committee has been discussing the following three issues: the possibility of holding a midyear meeting, implementation issues for the AICPA Core Competency Framework, and distribution of committee reports to all section members. This is not the full set of issues being addressed by the Executive Committee, but these three issues are those to which most of our attention has been devoted. The possibility of the T & C Section holding a midyear meeting was discussed several years ago. A committee, chaired by Bill Schwartz, surveyed members and found support for having a midyear meeting, but the idea of having a meeting has not been pursued. The most frequently cited reason why the T & C Section should not have a midyear meeting is the possibility that it would damage the regions. I do not want to dismiss this concern, but the reality is that other sections have been holding midyear meetings for years. The relevant issue to me, as Section Chair, is whether not having a midyear meeting is damaging the T & C Section. I want to emphasize that a commitment has not been made to hold a midyear meeting. Our only commitment at this point is to explore the possibility of holding a midyear meeting as one way to involve and benefit T & C Section members. The AICPA Core Competency Framework (CCF) provides a new perspective and approach to the development of both accounting curricula and instructional materials. The Executive Committee is discussing possible ways that the Section can assist members in implementing the CCF at their schools. As a first step, the T & C Section will have a panel session at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting to present and discuss implementation ideas and concerns related to the CCF. The panel will include representatives from both education and practice. The panel session will, hopefully, be repeated at the AAA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. One disappointment expressed by many T & C committee members is the very limited distribution of their work within the Section. Committee reports are provided at the Section business meeting, but that normally means that only 20 to 30 section members get to see the report. A subtle reminder that we would like to see many more Section members attend the business meeting in Philadelphia. D. V. Rama of the University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth has generously volunteered her time to facilitate distribution of Section committee reports through the T & C web site. Rama has also agreed to serve as the Section Webmaster, for which we thank her. Committee reports should be available on the web site later this year. This newsletter includes interim reports from most Teaching and Curriculum Section committees. We appreciate the work being done by both committee chairs and members. Also included in this newsletter is an article on service learning by Bernard J. Milano of KPMG. A person familiar to all of us in the AAA, Bernard J. Milano is Executive Director and a trustee of the KPMG Foundation, an organization that has supported higher education in business for more than 30 years. Mr. Milano is President of Beta Alpha Psi and a member of the board of directors for both Campus Compact and Students in Free Enterprise. We thank Mr. Milano, both for his insights into the importance of service learning and for his support of accounting education. I would like to end this message with a thought. All of us involved in accounting education must, and likely do, recognize that programs, curricula, and instructional materials must become more innovative. What must also be recognized is that innovation won't happen if we continue thinking as we have in the past. That is, innovation is a necessary condition for improving accounting education and our thinking differently is a necessary condition for innovation. Today is not a time when "business as usual" can be accepted or tolerated in accounting education. Programs that do not encourage and accept different viewpoints simply cannot become innovative. Such programs are destined to be followers, not leaders, in accounting education. Thinking differently must become fundamental to what accounting educators do and to how accounting programs plan and operate. Programs that think and act as they have in the past will not be successful in the rapidly changing accounting education environment. Jim Rebele |