Bring the Real World to the Classroom

CPAs can share experiences that connect with young imaginations and aspirations. CPAs are the unsung heroes of finance. As advisers to enterprises that range from mom-and-pop shops to worldwide financial markets, they function as referees in the big-league game of business and--in so doing--help make the free world work. This is power with implications that are far from dull or stodgy despite a persistent CPA image problem. Is anyone paying attention, however? Nationwide, enrollment in accounting programs is down and the number of graduates is shrinking. The profession is headed toward a crisis if it doesn't attract enough people to renew itself. To help get the word out to students that an accounting career won't consign them to a life bereft of challenges or glamour, we invited CPA guest speakers to talk to our college accounting classes about the profession. We found that for a modest investment of time and energy practitioners and academics can get together to update the CPA image and let students know what's happening in the evolving world' of accounting. Such events benefit students, practitioners and professors alike and are effective in any community with a college or university. This article describes how we organized our program. WORK-WORLD STORIES CONNECT Accounting academics have been tweaking university curricula for two decades to make the profession more attractive to students. Although technical training has remained relatively unchanged, there has been a stylistic shift away from lecture-based teaching and toward team projects and education that enhances communication skills. We homed in on practitioners as the most effective people to tell students about what being a CPA is like and what it has to offer. In guest speaker events at the University of Central Florida, Orlando, and at the University of Mississippi, Oxford, we invite accountants from diverse fields to discuss career paths and the skills, knowledge and attitudes that make accountants successful in our global economy. For the benefit of our college audience, guest practitioners describe their educational, professional and CPA exam experiences as well as some of the techniques that lead to a successful career. The speakers encourage students to stay with an accounting major or to choose one. After the first speaker event--a sole CPA guest who spoke about his work and the profession--we acted on student feedback and, to broaden the range of information, enlarged the groups to include two to four practitioners per session. On different occasions, our panels have had an owner of a small CPA firm, a financial analyst with county government, a payroll manager for a company in the top 100 for earnings, a public accountant, a small-business accountant, a fraud auditor, an internal auditor and a tax manager in a midsize company. A benefit of having a cross-section in the classroom is that it brings branches of the accounting profession together where students can explore their similarities and differences and see how they relate to the business culture at large. THE LOGISTICS Two weeks before a scheduled event we distribute biographical information about the speakers and ask students to form questions for them. Then--at least a week before the talk--we gather the students' questions, group them by category and give them to the CPAs to help them focus on issues important to the audience. The topics range from CPA exam experiences to daily work and responsibilities, courses taken in college, job opportunities and interview tips (see exhibit 1). Exhibit 1: Questions to Consider When Planning Your Event These are some of the questions students asked practitioners, by topic. Career choices * What are the advantages and disadvantages of operating your own accounting office vs. working for a large organization? * How difficult was the transition from public to private accounting? …