The impediments to the change to UK university accounting education, a comparison to the USA pathways commission

ABSTRACT

There is much debate in the literature concerning the changes necessary for university accounting education to meet the needs of the business environment and broader society. In the USA the Pathways Commission has responded by implementing a programme of evaluation and improvement. In the UK there is no formal agenda for change. This paper compares the situation in the UK to that set out in the Pathways Commission. Two research questions are asked. (1) What should be included in a programme of change in the UK? (2) What are the impediments to the change? The questions are answered by reviewing the literature to firstly consolidate the calls for change and secondly to analyse the circumstances affecting UK accounting degrees. The paper calls on the accountancy profession, universities and academics in the UK to embark on a programme of change similar to the USA to agree a core curriculum, an appropriate academic resourcing strategy and a revised pedagogy. It argues that for significant and lasting change to emerge impediments in three areas need to be addressed. (1) The interface between professional accountancy bodies (PABs) and university academics. (2) The impact of institutional policies on accounting degrees. (3) The identity of UK university accounting academics.

KEYWORDS:

• UK accounting degrees
• professional accountancy bodies
• accreditation
• identity of academics
• Pathways Commission

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Peter Wolnizer is Chairman of the International Accounting Education Standards Board, responsible for developing accounting education standards applicable to PABs across the world.

2. RAE is a precursor to the Research Excellence Framework (REF). An academic included in the REF (formally the RAE) is said to be REFable.

3. The American Accounting Association (AAA) and the American Institute for Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) sponsor the Pathways Commission (2012).

4. In the USA and Australia, for example, an accounting degree is a mandatory requirement prior to taking PAB examinations.

5. Secondary school is a term often used in the UK for high school.

6. There are seven PABs in the UK: the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW), the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland (ICAS), Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI), which operates in North Ireland a part of the UK, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and the Association of International Accountants (AIA).

7. This historic split between ‘teaching’ universities and ‘research’ universities results from when polytechnics, specialising in vocational subjects, were granted university status in 1992. Subsequently, they are often referred to as post-1992 ‘teaching’ universities. Pre-1992 universities, in contrast, are known as ‘research’ universities.

8. Students graduating from first degrees in Business and Administrative studies 2014/2015 total 35,620 (HESA, 2016a). Graduates from Big-4 programmes in 2014/2015 are estimated to be less than 250 (ICAEW, 2017).

9. All UK PABs offer accreditation to universities independently of each other (Ellington & Williams, 2015). ICAEW accredits circa 75 universities (the ‘research’ universities, roughly half the sector). ICAS has accreditation mainly with Scottish universities and a few England universities. CAI accredits universities in Ireland and Northern Ireland. ACCA has accreditation with all UK universities bar a few. CIMA accreditation is also available for most universities. Only a few universities take up CIPFA and AIA accreditation.

10. Full-time International students enrolments onto courses in business and administrative studies amounted to 30.2% of Higher Education enrolments in 2014/2015 (HESA 2016b).

11. The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) is implementing the TEF from 2016 to 2017 for universities in England (HEFCE, 2017).