Current status of the tax curriculum in accounting programs.

• Author: Kern, Beth B.

In 1996, an AICPA task force developed the Model Tax Curriculum (MTC) in response to two factors: (1) recommendations for reforming the accounting curriculum and (2) many universities had dropped a second tax course from their undergraduate curriculum (see O'Neil, et al., Tax Education," Assessing the Impact of the AICPA Model Tax Curriculum on the First Tax Course Taught at AACSB-Accredited Institutions" TTA, August 1999, p. 596). This column focuses on recent efforts to reexamine the current status of the tax curriculum in light of the many changes that have taken place in both accounting practice and education since the MTC's introduction.

An Evolving Profession

Since 1996, 44 states have adopted the CPA examination's 150-hour requirement, and four others have passed such legislation. In Spring 2004, a new CPA examination was inaugurated. Finally, events such as Enron and WorldCom, along with the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, forced universities to reexamine their curricula. As a result, in 2003 the AICPA's Pre-Certification Executive Education Committee created a joint task force comprised of members from the AICPA and the American Taxation Association (ATA), to revisit the MTC.

Task Force Objectives

As it began deliberating, the AICPA/ATA joint task force realized that little current information is available about the tax component of the accounting curriculum. An exception is the AICPA's Tax Education Committee's survey, which found that new hires were not fulfilling firms' expectations of tax technical knowledge; see Schnee, Tax Education, "Evaluating Tax Education: A Survey of New Hires," TTA, August 2002, p. 540.

In Fall 2003, the joint task force conducted an online survey to (1) gather information about the current state of affairs in tax education and (2) obtain broad input about the tax component of the accounting curriculum. The survey focused on the first tax course, which nearly all accounting majors take as part of their accounting education.

The survey was sent to the ATA's 1,000 members; 103 professors responded and 55 elected to include demographic information. Based on this subset, the sample includes universities serving major metropolitan areas, as well as primarily residential, less urban campuses. It represents flagship campuses of major public universities, private universities and regional public universities. It also covers universities from at least 25 states and the District of Columbia, embodying all major U.S. geographical regions.

Tax Courses Offered

Exhibit 1 on p. 713 shows how many undergraduate tax courses are offered at respondents' universities and whether those courses are elective or required. At least 34% of universities had accounting graduates who did not take more than one tax class. Many universities offer elective tax courses, but only 11.7% require two undergraduate tax classes. Despite the availability of...