The Ohio Accounting Talent Coalition’s plans to revamp accounting curriculum

OSCPA staff report

One of the five pillars of the talent action plan of the Ohio Accounting Talent Coalition (OATC) is curriculum, an area that Tiffany Crosby, CAE, chief learning officer at OSCPA said will be a long-term aspect of the plan.

Workflow changes are not easy.

Tiffany Crosby, CAE

“But the work has to start today for that change to be put in effect years from now, and we have to engage in a thorough process,” she said.

The curriculum pillar

The goal of the curriculum pillar is to increase attraction to the accounting profession by providing engaging educational experiences that accurately reflect the work of accounting professionals. For it to be successful, there needs to be a holistic approach, Crosby said. That means considering how faculty, students, employers, and others interact and work together from middle school to entrylevel employment.

The curriculum process starts with stronger engagement with students to expose them to the opportunities in accounting and dispel myths that cause students to optout early in their career planning endeavors. Crosby said that means working with faculty on providing support they can use in the classroom, such as case studies and bringing in accounting professionals to speak to the students.

“We’re looking at how we help them better integrate real life accounting into the classroom and show students realistic experiences,” Crosby said. “That also means

connecting students with individuals who can mentor, do job shadowing and provide internships.”

Crosby discussed the historical divide that existed between academia and the workplace, and the innovation that some institutions have taken to bridge that gap. Expanding the work across Ohio’s educational landscape is critical to increasing the number of students attracted to the profession. That requires engaging as many high school and college educators as possible to regularly work with accounting leaders in private and public sectors. Having an infrastructure that facilitates these connections and reduces the associated administrative time for faculty and employers is a critical factor for scaling this component of the plan.

The second part of the curriculum is geared toward the career influencers who help educate students on careers and shape the career choices that students make. People such as counselors, parents and coaches have an opportunity to give students the correct perception of the profession and the career opportunities available to them by pursuing accounting educational pathways.

Members might not realize it, but they are a vital resource in helping to shape the perception of the profession, Crosby said.

“When they are having a conversation with others in the community, how they present the profession is shaping the perception of those career influencers,” she said. “And when teachers, parents, coaches, hear those things, it spreads to students. We will need 10 times as many positive impacts to overcome the one that is negative.”

Educator involvement

The coalition is also looking at how to strengthen the pathways between two-year and four-year higher learning institutions.

“If we can get multiple two-year and four-year schools at the table and talk through what makes it so challenging for a student to start a two-year institution and finish at a four year, we could strengthen that pipeline,” Crosby said.

For a smoother transition, the curriculum offered has to provide options for individuals from traditional and nontraditional backgrounds who hold various goals for pursuing accounting. According to Crosby, having flexibility in the curriculum to support a wide variety of pathways will be an ongoing discussion as both demographics and the accounting profession continue to shift.

The excitement from faculty on evolving the curriculum has been invigorating to the process, Crosby said. “The challenge is that the faculty are very busy, they have a lot on their plate. They're teaching, innovating and serving on committees. It’s not easy to bring them together into a forum to share what they are doing.”

However, one of the goals of OATC is to bring the group together so they can leverage the innovations happening at other academic institutions and add their own flavor to it. The universities that have been involved so far have come with open minds and a willingness to update the curriculum, Crosby said, so it’s a matter of timing and finding ways to share knowledge that is sustainable long-term.

Convening key groups

The role of OSCPA through the OATC is to act as a convener of the essential parties, facilitate group learning, connect faculty to resources, and support the innovation that needs to happen. “I do believe as this continues to grow and have structure, that we'll see this take off because the willingness is absolutely there,” Crosby said.

This update in the curriculum means that students will enter the profession with a clearer understanding of the realities of the profession. “This helps to minimize any disillusionment or misunderstanding of what’s expected and the associated rewards,” she said.

The shift will have a cascading effect on retention. By helping students be more career ready when starting out, onboarding is easier for companies, which improves the first-year experience and reduces attrition from the profession.

To learn more about OATC or to get your organization involved please visit our workforce development site at ohiocpa.com/getinvolved/workforce-development or contact Lori Brown (lsbrown@ohiocpa.com) or Tiffany Crosby (tcrosby@ohiocpa.com).