Accounting Integration Issues: From AECC to Pathways and Beyond

Abstract

Accounting educators believe that integrating accounting with other business subjects benefits students by illustrating the connections between disciplines and enhancing their abilities to identify which functional skills can be used to solve business problems. There are many models that have been used to achieve integration, including teaching related subject matter in one course, team teaching in cohorts, and designing an entire curriculum around business cases. There are numerous problems in achieving successful integration, primary among them being the costs to faculty in time spent on development and preparation. Another factor hindering successful integration efforts is the scarcity of teaching materials. However, the AACSB and the Pathways Commission continue to emphasize the importance of integrated learning. Recommendations of the Pathways Report to establish a peer-reviewed, electronically stored library of innovative materials open to all accounting educators; and to identify a small number of accounting programs to conduct multiyear pilot programs involving innovation of accounting principles courses may be helpful in assisting more accounting programs to design more integrative programs in the future.

Citation

Bruns, S.M. (2014), "Accounting Integration Issues: From AECC to Pathways and Beyond", Advances in Accounting Education: Teaching and Curriculum Innovations (Advances in Accounting Education, Vol. 15), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 127-134. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1085-462220140000015005