Observations On The Current Status Of Internationalizing The Accounting Curriculum: Catalog Evidence

Abstract

The last quarter century has witnessed the acceleration of the development of the global economy. This on-going development has caused profound changes in the way business is conducted and the skills needed by the executives leading this change.  Recognizing the need to better prepare future corporate executives to function in this global environment, the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), as part of a revision of its accreditation standards, included a curriculum standard requiring business schools to address the international dimension of business.  To aid business schools in addressing this standard, the AACSB joined with the Consortium for International Studies Education to produce resource guides in 1987 for the functional areas of accounting, finance, management, and marketing.  The accounting guide described two approaches that could be used to address the internationalization of the accounting curriculum. The freestanding approach would use a stand-alone international accounting course.  The infusion approach would integrate international topics within other accounting courses.  This paper assesses the extent that the accounting curriculum has been internationalized by reference to evidence obtained from the catalogs of ninety-six universities with AACSB-accredited business programs.  Thirty-seven of these programs showed no catalog disclosure of international content of their accounting courses.  The remaining fifty-nine programs revealed international content in their accounting courses to varying degrees, as discussed in the body of the paper.