American Accounting Association 2006 Midwest Region Meeting March 30 – April 1 Chicago, Illinois

Friday, March 31, 2:00 p.m. to 3:40 p.m.
Concurrent session 3D - Core Competency (Teaching and Curriculum)

Title: Using Stakeholder Perceptions of Relative Importance to Prioritize the AICPA Core Competencies

Sharon K. Garvin Wayne State College

ABSTRACT: Calls for accounting curriculum revision are often not content-related, but rather focus on development of students’ competencies in areas such as communication, critical thinking, teamwork, and independent learning. Since 1998, the AICPA has sponsored development of the AICPA Core Competency Framework for Entry into the Accounting Profession. It includes 20 competencies in Functional, Personal, and Broad Business Perspective categories and development Levels 1 through 4 within each competency. The extensiveness of change required to move from content-based to competency-based curriculum requires prioritization of competencies and definition of desired levels of their development relative to an institution’s unique mission and environment. This paper describes how one faculty member elicited and compared Nebraska major employers’, accounting practitioners’, and accounting faculty perceptions to generate such prioritization and level definition and use them to plan implementation of structured competency development at an institution. The findings indicate substantial agreement between employers and practitioners that Communication, Professional Demeanor, Interaction, Problem Solving/Decision Making, and Measurement are top priority competencies with desired development to Level 3 or Level 2. Commonalities of accounting programs at Nebraska colleges and universities are then used to suggest sequence and linkage to learning objectives. Faculty perceptions are analyzed to assess potential curriculum implementation reluctance.

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