Accounting Hall of Fame 1999 induction: Ray J Groves

Accounting Historians Journal, The, Jun 2000 by Beresford, Dennis R, Jensen, Daniel L, Groves, Ray J

We have developed this paper because of our concerns regarding the quality and number of accounting graduates available to the public accounting profession. At the same time, questions are being raised by the academic community regarding the effectiveness of accounting education.

In the decade since the White Paper was issued, much progress has been made in teaching an integrated way of thinking about business. I congratulate all who have contributed to this meaningful progress.

However, the greatest challenge for accounting education continues to be the pace of change. Whether it is e-commerce or distance learning, change is occurring at an incredible rate. Future graduates may be performing work that has not yet even been identified. The Journal of Accountancy characterized the environment well in a recent issue (May 1999, p. 4):

The education a CPA got in the 1980s is a fraction of what he or she needs to know today. CPAs in industry have burst out of a once narrowly defined area and become corporate strategic planners and decision makers. CPAs everywhere are doing more for their clients and their employers because the marketplace demands more.

So I am using this forum and this opportunity to encourage strongly the public accounting firms, together with the corporate and financial communities, to renew and expand their commitment to accounting education. These professional and business communities must work even closer together today than they have in the past. They need to forge effective partnerships with accounting educators to continue to enhance accounting education and to capitalize on the opportunities presented by the expanding domain of accounting and the rapidly developing information and communication technologies. This commitment is necessary if the future graduates are to be prepared and qualified to be the future business leaders of our society.

The increased commitment that I urge the business community to embrace must include not only more financial resources, but also a much more generous sharing of the time of the most talented people within firms and companies. Faculty development is of greater importance today and in the future because the technology of accounting practice is changing so fast that it is very difficult to codify it for inclusion in curriculum. It's a race to get this technology to the campus before the technology becomes obsolete.

The marketplace does indeed work-not always in the chronology that we wish-but it works. The marketplace is again calling for the partnership of education and business to move to a higher level of support post-2000. I urge the leaders in education and business to exercise their leadership in responding to this challenge.