The University of Oregon’s Lundquist College of Business has announced that it plans to create a School of Accounting. The change goes into effect as of July 1, 2017 after a unanimous vote by the advisory body to the deal and the majority of the faculty members voting at a staff meeting in November, 2016. The accounting school makes the University of Oregon’s program the 44th school of accounting or accountancy, garnering the attention of students who want to study accounting specifically. Let’s look at the reasons why the university did this, and the benefits of doing so.
Why Create a Separate Accounting School?
Setting up a separate accounting school would develop accounting as a distinct discipline and help students associate it with a unique career path. Sarah Nutter, the dean of the Lundquist College of Business, said this would help advance the program. By creating a school of accounting, alumni and businesses could create scholarships specifically to help train more accountants and financial experts.
A bachelor’s degree in accounting or a related field is essential for those planning on becoming a CPA; those who want to become a Certified Public Accountant will prefer an accounting degree, so they know they are learning what they need to prepare for the CPA exam. Not all accounting degree holders become CPAs, while not all accountants have an accounting degree, but there is a strong correlation. One of the benefits of creating a separate accounting program, though, is that it allows the school to collect and eventually advertise statistics that “X% of our accounting graduates pass the CPA exam”. This may also attract students who otherwise earn certifications through tax preparation courses, increasing overall enrollment.
Creating a separate accounting program allows the University of Oregon to offer the accountancy degree these students want, as well as specializations like business accounting, public accounting, internal auditing, tax accounting, managerial accounting and environmental accounting. It will also be able to further its curriculum to include things such as using websites for accountants for publicity, for instance. When a university has its own accounting school, they are likely to receive endowments to pay teachers to teach sub-specializations like these and attract students in the region that want to learn these skills.
How the Change Makes the University of Oregon Stand Out
The change puts the University of Oregon school of accounting at the same level as programs at the University of Georgia and the University of Southern California. It also puts the University of Oregon among the two percent of schools with accredited business and accounting schools by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). The AACSB accreditation itself is sought after by many business schools, and the new program gives the University of Oregon two such accreditations.
Setting up an accounting school gives the university the potential option of developing graduate programs in accounting, which would allow it to stand out even more and rival the Haas School of Business.
Online Education and the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon’s accounting school’s accreditation lets it compete with programs like Kaplan University and the University of Phoenix. It has not yet been announced whether the accounting courses will be available through the University of Oregon’s distance education program. At this time, the University of Oregon doesn’t offer a full online academic program, but if they add accounting courses to their online education program, they will become one of the go to websites for accountants earning their degree or maintaining their certification through continuing education.
Conclusion
The University of Oregon’s decision to add an accounting school will certainly increase its attractiveness to potential accounting students. The change will allow them to gain additional accreditations and endowments that fuel growth at the school overall. It gives them the opportunity to rival major accounting schools around the US, particularly in California. While the University of Oregon doesn’t yet offer an online accounting degree, expect to see growth in the accounting teaching staff and students, which could lead to the university offering online accounting courses in the near future.
