Pedagogical Practices of Accounting Departments Addressing AACSB Technology Requirements

Technology skills are essential for accounting professionals and should be equally important in accounting curricula. Institutions measure technology-related curricular innovations in part through compliance with AACSB Standard A5. We investigate efforts to meet the requirements of Standard A5 by surveying AIS educators from 85 universities to examine efforts to prepare for accreditation review related to technology in accounting curricula. Quantitative results suggest that most institutions feel prepared but also provide some contradictory information that, when combined with qualitative feedback, raises questions about the degree of progress in technology integration. Common issues include widespread lack of increased faculty training, over-reliance on AIS classes to meet accreditation standards, and inclusion of basic spreadsheet and visualization skills as "technology" or "data analytics." We suggest a pathway to improve accounting pedagogy as it relates to technology through phased curricular changes and issue a call for administrators to support increased accounting faculty technology training.