Implementing accounting education change : bringing accounting graduates into the management mainstream

Within most organizations, accounting has traditionally been a stand‐alone discipline with little effort to integrate accountants into the strategic aspects of management. Other functional areas within a firm often view accountants as producers of dated and irrelevant information. The accounting profession, in particular the education sector, has recognized the increased importance of the field in the management process. However, owing to the present structure of the majority of accounting programmes, graduates in accounting are often not prepared to assume a role in strategic decision making. Given this deficiency, constructive changes are being made to the accounting curricula. Discusses how these changes aid accountant graduates in becoming part of the strategic alliance of the firm and helps managers better to understand the changing role of accountants. There are lessons to be learned for the internal auditing profession from this experience.