Processes Implemented for AACSB Accounting Accreditation and the Degree of Faculty Involvement

Abstract

As of November 15, 2000, 370 domestic educational institutions achieved AACSB accreditation of their business programs. Approximately 40 percent (149) of those institutions also earned elective accounting accreditation. Preparing for accreditation may entail implementing many changes and developing processes to guide and manage those changes. This paper presents the results of a survey conducted to (1) determine the types of processes the accounting units (departments, divisions, and schools of accountancy) have implemented to achieve accounting accreditation and (2) ascertain the degree of faculty involvement in those processes. A questionnaire was sent to the administrators of the 133 schools or departments of accounting that had received accounting accreditation as of February 1999, the date the survey was mailed. Sixty-eight useable surveys were returned, resulting in a response rate of 51 percent. The results show that accounting units that have achieved accounting accreditation have developed a variety of processes to write missions and goals, design the curriculum, develop faculty, improve instruction, evaluate outcomes, and assure continuous improvement. The study also found that accredited accounting units involve faculty extensively in the processes and must devise ways to maintain their long-term commitment to the processes. The paper discusses the revisions in the accounting accreditation standards that were approved in April 2000 and, based on the results of the survey, suggests additional processes that units may have to develop to meet the changes in the standards. Institutions considering accounting accreditation can use the results of this study to help prepare for accreditation.