As noted by John Kemeny, former president of Dartmouth University, "...neither you nor I will know what the big issues will be when today's students will be at the height of their careers." According to the Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC), "the overriding objective of accounting programs should be to teach students to learn on their own ... [students] must be active participants in the learning process, not passive recipients of information." To accomplish the AECC's objectives, colleges and universities must rethink, and in many respects, substantially revise existing accounting curricula.

Accounting majors at Baylor University enter an integrated accounting core curriculum. In the core, subjects that have traditionally been designated as separate courses (financial accounting, taxation, auditing, managerial accounting and accounting information systems) are integrated to show students the "big picture" from the standpoint of the life cycle of the business. The topics which were once studied as separate pieces of the accounting puzzle are now studied as a completed picture puzzle. To effectively achieve the integration across accounting disciplines, all courses in the integrated accounting core curriculum are taught by teams of professors using the "life cycle of the business approach."

Expanded Competencies

In addition to topical integration, the integrated accounting core curriculum focuses on enhancing ten expanded competencies that develop the abilities to:

• Present views in writing and through oral communication
• Listen effectively
• Understand group dynamics and work effectively with people
• Resolve conflict
• Organize and delegate tasks
• Take ownership and responsibility in a task
• Identify and solve problems in diverse and unstructured situations
• Read, critique, and judge the value of written work
• Deal effectively with imposed pressures and deadlines
• Anticipate changes in the business environment and develop strategies to address such changes

By incorporating these expanded competencies into the core, students will realize that technical accounting knowledge is only one dimension in the career of a successful accounting professional.

Course Time Line

Prior to enrolling in the integrated accounting core curriculum, students should work towards satisfying general university liberal arts and sciences requirements, the pre-business core and the professional business core. The integrated accounting core curriculum begins in the fall semester of the junior year, when students take ACC 3401 - Conceptual Foundations of Accounting. The integrated curriculum continues in the spring semester of the junior year (ACC4501 - Financial/Tax I and ACC4502 - Systems/Audit/Managerial I) and is completed during the fall semester of the senior year (ACC4503 - Financial/Tax II and ACC4504 - Systems/Audit/Managerial II). ACC3401 classes meet on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for 1 hour and 20 minutes. All other integrated accounting core classes meet on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Fall of Junior Year		Spring of Junior Year		Fall of Senior Year
ACC3401 Foundational Concepts of Accounting		ACC4501 Financial/Tax I		ACC4503 Financial/Tax II
		ACC4502 Systems/Audit/Managerial I		ACC4504 Systems/Audit/Managerial II

Completion of the integrated accounting core courses satisfies the requirements for an undergraduate major in accounting; however, this program does not provide the 36 accounting hours requried to sit for the CPA examination in Texas. The additional accounting hours required to sit for the CPA examination may be acquired during the spring semester of the senior year by taking upper level accounting electives. Many students who have completed the integrated accounting core curriculum elect to pursue an internship in the spring semester of their senior year. After receiving the BBA degree with a major in accounting, students may choose to enter the workforce or attend graduate school. Baylor currently offers three graduate degrees in accounting -- the Master of Accountancy, the Master of Tax, and the Master of Business Administration.

Accounting Transaction Cycles

The "transaction cycle" approach follows distinctive cycles of economic activity. The integrated accounting core curriculum begins in ACC3401 with the conceptual foundations of each functional accounting area to provide a framework for studying the transaction cycles listed below in ACC4501, ACC4502, ACC4503, and ACC4504.

• Revenue and collections
• Acquisition and payments
• Personnel and performance evaluation
• Production and conversion
• Financing and investing

Faculty Teams

The integrated accounting core curriculum is taught by two teams of professors: the Financial/Tax team and the Systems/Auditing/Managerial team. These two teams meet regularly to coordinate activities and evaluate student performance. When possible, team members attend classes taught by other professors.

Teaching Methods and Student Evaluation

The integrative nature of the core, as well as the focus on expanded competencies, requires different styles of teaching (and learning). Historically, the lecture format has dominated teaching methods used in accounting education. Although lecturing continues to be an important method of transferring accounting knowledge, the active learning environment in which the integrated accounting core curriculum operates requires a variety of teaching methods and styles. By using integrative cases and problems, students are constantly engaged in dialogue with other students and professors. Students' grades are based on examinations, case analyses, group and individual presentations, homework, and projects.

Continuous Improvement

The accounting core is built around a framework that facilitates the continuous improvement of the curriculum. Since the core includes all areas of accounting, revising topics, teaching methodologies, coverage sequence, or intensity level can be changed by altering the teaching plans. Formal assessment measures are incorporated throughout the core to provide objective data for evaluation of the program.

Baylor's accounting core is highly coordinated with respect to subject material, but flexible enough to allow individual professor creativity.