The McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia was a second round recipient of an Accounting Education Change Commission grant in 1991. The proposed project was intended to extend over a four-year period and included developing new teaching materials, restructuring the curriculum, and redesigning the majority of courses with respect to both content and pedagogy.

The overall thrust of the McIntire School project is to (a) create a fifth year professional accounting program within which the “technical accounting” courses will reside and (b) to provide undergraduate students with a liberal accounting concentration. The latter includes only three required accounting courses beyond the introductory level and limits the number of accounting electives so that students must take a fifth year of studies if they are contemplating sitting for the CPA exam. Within those major objectives of the grant project, changes are being made that will address the perceived shortcomings of accounting graduates with respect to interpersonal, intellectual, and communication skills. To accomplish these ends, new learning materials are being created and pedagogy is being modified.

Some of the changes instituted to date include the extensive use of cases and group work, greater reliance on student self-learning, and increased integration of subject matter. The introductory courses (Financial and Managerial) are using student teams to do joint assignments and answer tests, and the subject matter is being refocused to put greater emphasis on management uses of information. Accounting issues in the “Intermediate courses” have been given a situational context through the vehicle of a “master case” and supporting software. The advanced cost-managerial courses are using case work being developed by the faculty. Similarly, Attestation (formerly Auditing) and Accounting Information Systems faculty are continuing development of case materials and integrating the two courses. Case development is also continuing for the Accounting Policy course, a course which integrates subject matter from all of the subsets of accounting and relies heavily on group work.

Some of the initial reactions of faculty to the changes include:

1. a feeling that we are “on the right track.”
2. a realization that there is no turning back. “What we are doing is better than what we did before and the results appear to be an improvement.”
3. the students have not rebelled at this new style of accounting education. If anything, there is a different, more positive attitude among them.
4. a recognition that education patterned after the new model undertaken is much more time consuming and demanding of faculty. A mitigating consideration is the increased satisfaction that faculty members have experienced.