Speak out: demand for accounting educators not that high

California CPA, August, 2004 by Wm. Bruce Schneider

Regarding the story "Dude, Where's My Teacher?" (California CPA, June 2004), there are two problems that I see at the graduate level:

1. Ph.D. programs are very expensive to operate for what they produce.

2. Many (most?) of the students in these programs are foreign students. All of the recent hires at California State University, Los Angeles are non-native English speakers. The implication: if you are a native speaker and interested in accounting/finance, there are many better, more lucrative ways to make a living.

If one looks at the enrollment statistics, numbers and student demographics, the same thing is true. Certainly in the L.A. area, most graduate accounting students are Asian.

In the last 10 years, the best and brightest--perhaps better than and brighter than the traditional accounting faculty--have opted for other career choices. There simply are not enough people interested in accounting because there is not much to it academically and intellectually.

Most of the research makes drying paint look exciting--and the paint is generally more useful. It may all be a tempest in a teapot.

It is not retirements that are the problem. It is a re-adjustment required by the new reality that there isn't much real demand.

There is a desire on the part of the AICPA and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business to return to the past, however, there is no going back. The Ph.D. gap is being and should be filled by people with a CPA and a master's degree.

What the AICPA needs to realize is that it has failed the profession and the good old days are gone--forever.

What the AACSB needs to realize and accept is that a Ph.D. is not needed to teach accounting--and that it never has been needed.

A forum for your comments, suggestions and reactions. Fire off your succinct missive to: editor@calcpa.org.

Wm. Bruce Schneider, Ph.D., CPA

accounting professor emeritus

California State University, Los Angeles