Unit: Accounting
Program: Accountancy (BBA)
Degree: Bachelor's
Date: Fri Nov 16, 2018 - 3:49:09 pm

1) Program Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and Institutional Learning Objectives (ILOs)

1. Students demonstrate knowledge of the demand, institutional settings and use of accounting information in an international setting.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 2c. Communicate and report, 3a. Continuous learning and personal growth)

2. Student can research accounting and tax issues.

(1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively, 2b. Conduct research, 3a. Continuous learning and personal growth)

3. Students can design and evaluate controls to ensure the reliability of accounting information.

(1a. General education, 1b. Specialized study in an academic field, 2a. Think critically and creatively)

2) Your program's SLOs are published as follows. Please update asneeded.

Department Website URL: http://shidler.hawaii.edu/soa/academics/courses
Student Handbook. URL, if available online:
Information Sheet, Flyer, or Brochure URL, if available online:
UHM Catalog. Page Number:
Course Syllabi. URL, if available online: http://shidler.hawaii.edu/soa/academics/courses
Other:
Other:

3) Please review, add, replace, or delete the existing curriculum map.

Curriculum Map File(s) from 2015:

4) For your program, the percentage of courses that have course SLOs explicitly stated on the syllabus, a website, or other publicly available document is as follows. Please update as needed.

0%
1-50%
51-80%
81-99%
100%

5) Does the program have learning achievement results for its program SLOs? (Example of achievement results: "80% of students met expectations on SLO 1.")(check one):

No
Yes, on some(1-50%) of the program SLOs
Yes, on most(51-99%) of the program SLOs
Yes, on all(100%) of the program SLOs

6) Did your program engage in any program learning assessment activities between June 1, 2015 and October 31, 2018?

Yes
No (skip to question 17)

7) What best describes the program-level learning assessment activities that took place for the period June 1, 2015 to October 31, 2018? (Check all that apply.)

Create/modify/discuss program learning assessment procedures (e.g., SLOs, curriculum map, mechanism to collect student work, rubric, survey)
Collect/evaluate student work/performance to determine SLO achievement
Collect/analyze student self-reports of SLO achievement via surveys, interviews, or focus groups
Use assessment results to make programmatic decisions (e.g., change course content or pedagogy, design new course, hiring)
No (skip to question 17)
Investigate other pressing issue related to student learning achievement for the program (explain in question 7)
Other: Through the consultation and work with professional accountants

8) Briefly explain the assessment activities that took place.

See attachment and summary reported below:

Assessment report from August 2014 to September 2018-

School of Accountancy, Shidler College of Business

Director: Hamid Pourjalali

 

To review School of Accountancy’s (SOA’s) curriculum, Director of the School visited the majority of accounting firms in Oahu to receive direct feedback on the needs of the accounting professionals and the quality of the SOA graduates in July and August of 2014. Based on the feedback provided, the SOA then designed a survey questionnaire and sent to all members of Hawaii Society of the CPAs.  The outcome of the survey was summarized (Appendix A) and became the base for our comprehensive set of changes in curriculum in 2014-2018.

 

Undergraduate Capstone Changes

 

The faculty revised the undergraduate Capstone course from covering international and managerial accounting topics into four different subjects as reflected below:

 

ACC 460 (B) Current and Relevant Managerial Accounting Topics. Current accounting issues discussed. Lectures, discussion, case analysis

 

ACC 460 (C) Current and Relevant Financial Accounting Topics. Current accounting issues discussed. Lectures, discussion, case analysis.

 

ACC 460 (D) Current and Relevant Auditing and Accounting Information Systems Topics. Current accounting issues discussed. Lectures, discussion, case analysis.

 

ACC 460 (E) Current and Relevant Tax and Ethical issues in Accounting. Current accounting issues discussed. Lectures, discussion, case analysis.

 

The objectives of these classes are mentioned in Appendix B. Starting the Fall of 2015, all undergraduate accounting students were required to take these four classes to graduate with a degree of accounting.

 

Fast response to the community needs that required additional time for curriculum development

 

To respond to other needs expressed by professionals, additional elective classes were provided mostly during the weekends. These classes were not only available to students in Shidler College of Business but to students of other universities located in Oahu and to the business community.

 

Below provides the titles for these offerings:

 

  • Governmental Accounting (Planned and offered under direction of City & County of Honolulu Auditor and School of Accountancy Advisory Board member, Mr. Edwin Young)
  • IT Risk Management for Non-Techies (offered under supervision of Mr. Donny Shimamoto member of SOA Advisory Board)
  • Data Analytics courses (offered by Professors Debreceny and Abhary, in 2016 and 2017)
  • Free CPA Review classes (taught by SOA faculty members: Robert Hatanaka and Duane Seabolt)
  • Accounting for Lawyers (taught by SOA alumnus Kristi Arakaki and SOA faculty Duane Seabolt in summers of 2015 and 2016)
  • Forensic Accounting (taught by SOA faculty Duane Seabolt)

 

Appendix C provides details of these offerings.

 

Permanent curriculum changes in response to needs (incorporated Fall 2018)

 

The SOA has now incorporated these classes into its official curriculum as either required or elective courses:

 

Acc 648 - Financial Analysis (1 credit) 

 

Analyses of firm's profitability, liquidity and solvency using ratios and common size financial statements. Students are expected to find strengths and weaknesses of the firm based on their analysis

 

Acc 425 - Forensic Accounting (1 credit) 

 

Theoretical and real life aspects of forensic accounting. Includes discussions of the legal environment, types of forensic engagements such as lost earnings, business valuation, fraud, and real world forensic cases.

 

Acc 602 CPA Review-Audit and Attestation (1 credit)

 

The auditing and attestation (AUD) section covers the entire auditing process, including auditing procedures, generally accepted auditing standards, standards related to attest engagements, and the AICPA Code of Processional Conduct. 

 

Acc 603 CPA Review-The Business Environment and Concepts (1 credit)

 

The Business Environment and Concepts (BEC section focuses on business concepts and the significance of a CPA's professional duties and responsibilities with the larger context of the business environment.

 

Acc 604 CPA Review-The Financial Accounting and Reporting (1 credit)

 

The FAR section focuses on U.S. GAAP, including concepts and standards for financial statements, typical items in financial statements, specific types of transactions and events, accounting and reporting  for governmental entities, and accounting and reporting for nongovernmental and not-for-profit organizations.

 

Acc 605 CPA Review- The Regulations (1 credit)

 

The Regulation (REG) section focuses on federal taxation, especially taxation of business entities individual and property taxation, but also tests on business law, business ethics, and professional and legal responsibilities.

 

Acc 649- Data Analytics for Accountants (1 credit) 

 

An introduction to visual analytics, Tableau and Power BI for Excel. Introduction to Data Processing and Blending, Data Visualization and other visualization techniques. Introduction to PowerQuery, PowerPivot, PowerView, and PowerMap.

 

Acc 619 -Information and Assurance and Analytics (3)

 

Focuses on auditing processes, standards and guidance specific to IT risks. Exposure to advanced IT audit software and its practical application and real world IT audit issues.

 


Starting the Fall of 2019, the SOA will be among the first in the Nation that will enhance its introductory accounting courses by offering introductory to managerial accounting before introductory to financial accounting. With this change, the SOA faculty will be able to help younger students understand business processes before they will be required to analyze, record and report the process. The SOA faculty believes that with this change, the learning outcome for these two introductory classes will be enhanced.

 

 

The assessment processes for effectiveness utilized so far are reported below:

 

  1. External methods:
    1. CPA passing rate. The CPA passing rate has increased such that our accounting students with undergraduate degree pass the exam at a rate of 45% in their first attempt (about twice as high as the rate in 2014). This rate is at 60% for those graduating with MAcc degree
    2. Employers’ feedback. The comments from employers as reported by Mr. Rick Valery (Director of Internship and Career Development) indicates that our current graduates are the best we have produced.

 

  1. Internal approaches:
    1. Advisory Board. The SOA has one of the most active Advisory Boards that met four times during 2014-2015, three times during 2015-2016, and two times during 2016-2017 school years. They have been an integral part of curriculum development and have constantly visited with accounting students to address their concerns and needs. The feedback of Advisory Board has deeply influenced changes in curriculum reported here.
    2. Faculty. All changes in curriculum have received support of all or significant majority of the full-time faculty members of the SOA, Shidler College Senate and Dean’s Office.

 

 

  1. Current review of curriculum (Fall of 2018-Spring of 2019). The SOA faculty believes that they have updated and incorporated significant and new developments into the SOA undergraduate and graduate curriculum.  The faculty is now reviewing all the course syllabi (old and new) to see if course coverages correspond to objectives set for the courses by faculty. This process started October and will continue through November of 2018. It is expected that this practice will help to insure that the topic coverage will be similar among different faculty members teaching the same course. In addition, the faculty is planning to:

 

  1. Review the objectives for undergraduate accounting, Master of Accountancy, and PhD program with accounting concentration.
  2. Review and if appropriate change SOA’s current assessment methods. Current approaches for undergraduate accounting and MAcc are reported in Appendix D.

 

9) What types of evidence did the program use as part of the assessment activities checked in question 7? (Check all that apply.)

Artistic exhibition/performance
Assignment/exam/paper completed as part of regular coursework and used for program-level assessment
Capstone work product (e.g., written project or non-thesis paper)
Exam created by an external organization (e.g., professional association for licensure)
Exit exam created by the program
IRB approval of research
Oral performance (oral defense, oral presentation, conference presentation)
Portfolio of student work
Publication or grant proposal
Qualifying exam or comprehensive exam for program-level assessment in addition to individual student evaluation (graduate level only)
Supervisor or employer evaluation of student performance outside the classroom (internship, clinical, practicum)
Thesis or dissertation used for program-level assessment in addition to individual student evaluation
Alumni survey that contains self-reports of SLO achievement
Employer meetings/discussions/survey/interview of student SLO achievement
Interviews or focus groups that contain self-reports of SLO achievement
Student reflective writing assignment (essay, journal entry, self-assessment) on their SLO achievement.
Student surveys that contain self-reports of SLO achievement
Assessment-related such as assessment plan, SLOs, curriculum map, etc.
Program or course materials (syllabi, assignments, requirements, etc.)
Other 1:
Other 2:

10) State the number of students (or persons) who submitted evidence that was evaluated. If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.

PhD students: All (averaging two graduate a year)

MAcc students: All in the Capstone course, and CPA passing rate

Undergraduate students: All graduating students, in the Capstone courses, and CPA passing rate

11) Who interpreted or analyzed the evidence that was collected? (Check all that apply.)

Course instructor(s)
Faculty committee
Ad hoc faculty group
Department chairperson
Persons or organization outside the university
Faculty advisor
Advisors (in student support services)
Students (graduate or undergraduate)
Dean/Director
Other:

12) How did they evaluate, analyze, or interpret the evidence? (Check all that apply.)

Used a rubric or scoring guide
Scored exams/tests/quizzes
Used professional judgment (no rubric or scoring guide used)
Compiled survey results
Used qualitative methods on interview, focus group, open-ended response data
External organization/person analyzed data (e.g., external organization administered and scored the nursing licensing exam)
Other: use of our old rubric did not result in appropriate assessment. We used other metrics to assess our programs.

13) Summarize the results of the assessment activities checked in question 7. For example, report the percentage of students who achieved each SLO.

Results were summarized in the report that was uploaded.

14) What best describes how the program used the results? (Check all that apply.)

Assessment procedure changes (SLOs, curriculum map, rubrics, evidence collected, sampling, communications with faculty, etc.)
Course changes (course content, pedagogy, courses offered, new course, pre-requisites, requirements)
Personnel or resource allocation changes
Program policy changes (e.g., admissions requirements, student probation policies, common course evaluation form)
Students' out-of-course experience changes (advising, co-curricular experiences, program website, program handbook, brown-bag lunches, workshops)
Celebration of student success!
Results indicated no action needed because students met expectations
Use is pending (typical reasons: insufficient number of students in population, evidence not evaluated or interpreted yet, faculty discussions continue)
Other:

15) Please briefly describe how the program used the results.

We created new classes and updated our curriculum. The emphasize moved on teaching students skills identified by the profession.

16) Beyond the results, were there additional conclusions or discoveries? This can include insights about assessment procedures, teaching and learning, and great achievements regarding program assessment in this reporting period.

17) If the program did not engage in assessment activities, please justify.