AICPA AND AAA FORM NEW ALLIANCE

AICPA and the American Accounting Association recently announced a new alliance to foster change in accounting education.

The first step of alliance is the development of faculty to provide a better foundation for an active and viable accounting profession in the 21st century. To this end, the AICPA has pledged to contribute funding for the AAA's faculty development programs.

The financial support will be used to achieve excellence in accounting instruction, more relevant service and interaction with the profession, and better qualified students entering the profession and the business community who have a business advisor focus. Financial support for faculty development has also been provided by Big Six accounting firms and AAA members.

In announcing the alliance, AICPA President and CEO Barry Melancon and AAA President Steve Albrecht both commented on how the profession of the future will be different from what it has been and that students need to learn new skills to adapt to this rapidly changing environment.

AAA recently hired a full-time director of faculty development and created a faculty development center. According to Albrecht, faculty development is the process of intentionally creating knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes to meet individual and institutional missions and goals. Albrecht also stressed the importance of accounting faculty continually updating their skills as creators, distillers, and disseminators of new knowledge, in order to deliver a meaningful learning experience to students.*