College and university accounting departments should update their curricula to meet the demands of practice, a recent AICPA-National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) gap analysis survey found.
Though around two-thirds of departments now teach data analytics (64%) and IT audit (63%), far fewer teach topics such as cybersecurity, IT governance, and systems and organization control engagements.
Of the departments that teach these topics, the survey found, many cover them in only a handful of class sessions or relegate them to Accounting Information Systems (AIS) courses.
The survey suggests significant gaps between what practice is demanding and what students are learning in accounting programs. See more findings.