Accounting programs receive AAA education grants.

ACCOUNTING PROGRAMS RECEIVE AAA EDUCATION GRANTS

The Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC), formed by the American Accounting Association in 1989 with support from six major international accounting firms to promote improvements in accounting education, made grants totaling nearly $1 million to five universities to help fund innovative programs in accounting education. Announcing the grants, AECC Chairman Doyle Z. Williams noted the commission had received over 40 applications for its innovation grant program. He said, "We are excited by the prospects for substantive changes in accounting education proposed by the recipients of these grants."

Of the grants awarded, Brigham Young University received one for a redesigned accounting curriculum; it will be based on results of research that investigated the study areas accounting alumni and other executives deem important. The new curriculum also will feature case studies and active student involvement in classroom work.

A grant was awarded to the University of Massachusetts to create a computer network that uses online data from an operating company's database. The school has developed an intensive four-week accounting course to be offered at five area liberal arts colleges to stimulate interest in graduate accounting programs.

Kansas State University received an award to be used for rearranging the sequence of its accounting curriculum in what new educational research deems a more logical approach to teaching various accounting subjects.

The University of North Texas has tied its accounting program to its basic liberal arts curriculum. It combines the liberal arts themes of virtue, civility and reason with the business themes of "accountability" and management uses of information technology.

Finally, Rutgers University received a grant for an MBA program that will emphasize ways accounting information can be used by management apart from its traditional use in financial reports.