AE Briefing. Accounting Education at a Crossroad in 2010 and Challenges Facing Accounting Education in Australia

Abstract

Of the various reports released in 2010, two purport to examine the state of accountingeducation in Australia. These are Accounting Education at a Crossroad in 2010 and ChallengesFacing Accounting Education in Australia. Both were released as collaborations of the leadingacademic organisation, the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand(AFAANZ) or professional accounting bodies in Australia including the Institute of CharteredAccountants in Australia (ICAA), the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA),1 and CertifiedPractising Accountants of Australia (CPA Australia). As their titles imply, the main thrust ofthese reports is to examine the challenges facing accounting education in Australian universitiesand, as such, they act as the input for this AE Briefing. The main challenges articulated in thesereports portray a sector suffering from the combined pressure of a large international studentenrolment, high student-to-staff ratios, an inadequate funding model, and an ageing academicstaff profile. By way of commentary, we suggest that, if these gloomy circumstances continue todevelop unabated, then the future for the sector will play out as a ‘perfect storm’2 with the sectorsuffering on-going troubled development.