Baylor Initiates Integrated Accounting Core

WACO, Texas - This semester, Baylor University became only the fourth university in the nation to integrate its auditing, accounting systems, intermediate accounting, taxation and managerial accounting courses into a core curriculum.
This revolutionary approach focuses on the life cycle of the business and allows students to grasp all aspects of the business at one time integrating subjects that have traditionally been designated as separate courses.
"Today's marketplace often requires accountants to perform tasks that are not the traditional accounting ones," said Dr. Dan Hollingsworth, chair of the Department of Accounting and Business Law at Baylor's Hankamer School of Business.
"For instance, firms want accountants with better communication skills," he said. "Within the teaching plans of the new core, we will seek to develop expanded competencies to improve verbal and written communication skills and to prepare students for dealing with group dynamics, conflict resolution, change management, problem solutions in diverse unstructured situations, and task delegation."
Initial feedback from students after just three weeks has exceeded expectations according to Dr. Charles Davis, assistant professor in accounting. "The students are eager to learn the new format and to take part in learning the expanded competencies."
"Students will get a much better understanding of business, not just accounting," Davis added. "Students now will see themselves as business majors who specialize in accounting rather than just as accounting majors."
Junior Amber Lease became a member of the inaugural class because "the accounting firms asked for it and I thought it would help me later. It has turned out to be a lot of work but with so many projects going on, the information has been embedded in our minds."
In 1995, the Price Waterhouse Foundation awarded Baylor a $28,000 grant that enabled accounting department faculty to adapt and develop the integrated accounting core at the Hankamer School of Business.
For more information, call Hollingsworth at 755-3536.