1996 Tax Education Symposium: preparing the tax professional for the 21st century.

• Author: Strobel, Caroline D.

The AICPA Tax Division's Tax Education Committee sponsored the Biennial Tax Education Symposium, Educating the Tax Professional for the 21st Century, on June 7, 1996, in Seattle, Washington, focusing on the dynamic changes occurring in the profession and the ways tax education can better prepare students to enter the profession. About 125 educators and tax professionals from across the country attended the Symposium, Which was chaired by Robert M. Rosen, retired partner with Ernst & Young LLP.

In her keynote address, Deborah Walker, KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, then Chair of the Tax Executive Committee, emphasized the need for educators to keep abreast of the changes in the profession. Entry-level tax professionals not only must have an excellent grounding in tax law, but they must also be able to work in groups, communicate well, use a computer, think critically and be creative. A real challenge for educators!

A panel composed of Jack Oppenheimer, Geller, Ragans, James, Oppenheimer & Creel, and Caroline Strobel, University of South Carolina, discussed a new suggested undergraduate Tax Curriculum, which was developed by the 150-Hour Task Force and approved by the AICPA Tax Division. The curriculum emphasizes business taxation in the first three semester hours of tax rather than the traditional individual taxation coverage. The Task Force has developed a set of case studies designed for use in the first three semester hours of tax (which may also be used in an integrated curriculum with a financial accounting module). The case studies illustrate to students how to prepare a corporate return from an audited trial balance, as well as tax returns for a partnership and S corporation. The cases are integrated, thereby showing the flow of income from the three business entities into an individual returns that includes a Schedule C. The case studies are available at no cost through the AICPA and may be reproduced in quantity for student use. (Dial the AICPA Fax Hotline at (201) 938-3787 from a fax machine and select Document # 995.)

A second panel of educators reported on the impact of the 150-hour requirement on accounting programs. Jack Kramer, University of Florida, reported on the effect such programs have had in Florida, where the requirement has been in place for 10 years. Enrollments have not increased appreciably and, in fact, mirror the national statistics that have shown a significant drop in enrollments in accounting programs nationwide. This...