There is a general consensus that it has never been more
important for the accounting profession and accounting and business educators
to work together to determine how best to prepare tomorrow’s accountants.
In November 2010, the Canadian Institute of Chartered
Accountants (CICA) partnered with the University of Toronto to respond to this
challenge. The result was Leveraging
Change – The New Pillars of Accounting Education, a one-day symposium
during which leading academics from Canada, the United States and the United
Kingdom explored the new pillars of accounting education, along with 100
delegates from across the country.
The five new pillars were identified for the symposium as:
(1) accounting principles and concepts; (2) ethical decision-making; (3)
professional and personal attributes; (4) professional judgment; and (5)
integration. The objective of that symposium was to begin the process of re-thinking
accounting education by articulating the questions that accounting educators
need to ask.
In March 2014, the University of Toronto hosted a follow-up symposium which was jointly
sponsored by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada), the
Institute for Management
& Innovation (IMI) and the CPA/Rotman Centre for Innovation in
Accounting Education. The symposium provided an opportunity to discuss the
issues across several professions including Health Care, Engineering, Law,
Education and Accounting.
Fundamental questions that were discussed at the symposium
included: How do the various professions define professional judgment? How do
the concepts of ethics and judgment pertain to different professions? How can
educators help students develop these very important abilities? How does the
changing educational environment offer new opportunities for enhanced learning
in these areas?
The conference was chaired by Irene
Wiecek and included speakers from across Canada. For each profession, at
least two perspectives were presented – the academic perspective and the
practitioner perspective. Those who attended the symposium worked in groups to
encourage reflective discussion. From the perspective of the Accounting Profession,
a presentation was given on “Educating Accounting Professionals About Ethics
and Judgment.” For more information, contact Efrim
Boritz (Professor; Assurance, Information Systems) and Krista
Fiolleau (Assistant Professor; Assurance, Ethics) at the University of
Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.
