Evolving curricula: ethics proposal stirs debate; Many college graduates preparing to take the CPA exam this year started school in 2000. At that time, Enron and WorldCom were heralded as dynamic, growing companies.

• Author: Cytron, Scott H.
• Position: Cover Story

Kenneth Lay and Bernie Ebbers were highly regarded as visionary corporate leaders. Andersen was one of the world's largest, oldest and most visible accounting firms. Voters in Maryland and Ohio were aware of Sen. Paul Sarbanes of Maryland and U.S. Rep. Mike Oxley of Ohio, but neither one garnered broad, national attention for sponsoring Congressional legislation.

Much has changed. Enron and WorldCom now epitomize unscrupulous business behavior. Andersen no longer exists. Along the way, the stature of corporate America in general, and the accounting profession in particular, were greatly diminished by those events.

Students passing the CPA exam will likely face massive workloads associated with meeting the mandates of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other regulations. Although accounting is still a noble and honored calling, graduates today are entering a profession where a number of entities are calling for additional measures to restore lost credibility and promote higher standards of professionalism.

One of those entities is the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA), which serves as a forum for individual state boards of accountancy. In an exposure draft released earlier this year, NASBA detailed proposed changes in curriculum requirements for students sitting for the CPA exam.

In the Buckeye state, students would still need to complete 150 college credit hours--that was not a proposed change. However, what the exposure draft does is define various levels of accreditation for academic institutions, business schools and accounting programs. The degree of scrutiny applied to a student's transcript would be based on those accreditation levels.

The draft assigns various weightings to lower- and upper-level undergraduate course work, as well as graduate-level course work. Under the proposal, communications in business and research and analysis in business instruction would be integrated throughout the business curriculum.

Teaching "ethics" may be the most significant aspect of the draft's proposed requirements. The draft calls for the inclusion of ethical conduct and professional responsibility throughout the curriculum. In addition, the draft requires that students complete two specific ethics courses, including:

* A three-credit course in Ethical Foundations and Applications in Business from the business school they are attending

* A three-credit course in Ethical and Professional Responsibilities of CPAs, administered by the school's accounting department.

Recommended topics for those courses include:

* Differences in rule-based versus principle-based approaches to ethics

* Compliance with fundamental ethical principles of integrity, objectivity, commitment to professional competence and due care and confidentiality

* Professional behavior and compliance with technical standards and laws

* Concepts of independence, skepticism...