Oakland University
Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Accounting curriculum integrates big data with support of PwC award


OU faculty initiative leaders discuss implementation of new accounting software for fall 2014 courses. From left, Robert Nehmer, Associate Professor of Accounting; Donna Free, Special Instructor of Accounting; Joe Callaghan, Professor of Accounting and Liang Fu, Assistant Professor of Accounting.

Accounting faculty members from the business school's Department of Accounting and Finance at Oakland University are taking a deep dive into big data with the support of a $10,000 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) INQuires award. 

Their work is driven by a recent update in Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business-International (AACSB) accreditation standards to integrate current and emerging information technology into business and accounting programs. Their goal is to create learning experiences related to data creation, sharing, analytics, mining, reporting and storage within and across organizations.

"We are extremely grateful for PwC's partnership with Oakland University and their support of this very important initiative," says Mohinder Parkash, Chair, Department of Accounting and Finance. "By strategically wedding the new AACSB standard with new curricula, our accounting department seeks to be a national leader in embracing the AACSB standards while concurrently developing cutting-edge curricula."

Work over next year will involve creating and configuring the IT environment, and training interested faculty in specific software packages and their related databases to use to develop materials to update or create targeted courses.

This is the second PwC INQuires award Oakland University's Department of Accounting and Finance has received since PwC initiated the program in 2007 to support curriculum development, diversity initiatives and applied research.

About the PricewaterhouseCoopers PwC INQuires program:
PwC initiated the INQuires program in the spring of 2007 to assist faculty and Ph.D. students seeking to increase the knowledge base that contributes to the practice of auditing and tax. Since 2007, PwC has awarded over $3 million through the PwC INQuires program. In 2013, PwC funded approximately $480,000 to 48 schools to support curriculum development, diversity initiatives, and applied research.

About PwC US:
PwC US helps organizations and individuals create the value they're looking for. A member of the PwC network of firms in 157 countries with more than 184,000 people. PwC US is committed to delivering quality in assurance, tax and advisory services. Find out more by visiting us at www.pwc.com/US.

© 2014 PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership. All rights reserved. PwC US refers to the US member firm, and PwC may refer to either the PwC network of firms or the US member firm. Each member firm is a separate legal entity. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details.

About Oakland University School of Business Administration:
Oakland University's business school has been an accredited member of the AACSB since 1988, and fully accredited in both its business and accounting programs since 1994. Less than five percent of the world's business programs hold this dual elite accreditation. Today, there are more than 687 business schools in 45 countries and territories that have earned AACSB Accreditation. Only 182 institutions hold an additional specialized AACSB accreditation for their accounting programs. There are only five universities with separate AACSB accounting accreditation in the State of Michigan including Oakland University.

A recent update in Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business-International (AACSB) accreditation standards drives advancements in OU's accounting programs.

Created by Colleen Campbell (cjcampbell@oakland.edu) on Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Modified by Colleen Campbell (cjcampbell@oakland.edu) on Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Article Start Date: Tuesday, June 10, 2014