School of Accountancy Assessment

The School of Accountancy (SOA) maintains a comprehensive teaching and learning assessment process to ensure that such activities effectively support the respective and complementary missions of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business and the SOA. At the core of this process are the program-level teaching and learning goals. These goals were developed by faculty curriculum committees with significant input by both the professional and student advisory boards. They were also influenced by the written pronouncements of professional, academic, and accrediting bodies, as well as professional licensing agencies.

Learning Goals and Objectives

The SOA teaching and learning goals are divided into four areas: (1) professional knowledge; (2) professional skills; (3) technology skills; (4) and professional values and attitudes. The SOA curriculum design process seeks to ensure that courses will be designed to effectively meet these goals and thereby support the mission of the school. The SOA Curriculum Committees (both graduate and undergraduate) identify the appropriate courses in which SOA program-level learning goals are to be covered and/or reinforced.

Learning goals are generally assessed in the courses where the most intensive coverage occurs. Embedded assessment tools are employed to directly assess the effectiveness of the learning activities that purport to meet program learning goals. Additional measures of teaching and learning effectiveness are also employed to provide evidence of teaching and learning effectiveness. They include student satisfaction surveys, employer satisfaction surveys, alumni satisfaction surveys, recruiter satisfaction surveys, student course evaluations, student focus groups, peer teaching evaluations, outside curriculum reviews by professionals, and performance on the CPA examinations. These output measures become inputs into data-driven decision making for continuous improvement.

L1: Business and Accounting Knowledge

  • L1.1: Students will demonstrate technical knowledge of the professional standards, regulations, and best practices relating to the recording, presentation, and verification of accounting information.
  • L1.2: Students will demonstrate technical knowledge of the professional knowledge of the roles of accountants in society in providing and ensuring the integrity of financial and other information, including the legal, ethical, and regulatory environment in the profession.
  • L1.3: Students will demonstrate technical knowledge of internal controls, security, key business processes, and the design and implementation of effective information management solutions.
  • L1.4: Students will demonstrate technical knowledge of the process of assessing risk and providing assurance to users of financial and non-financial information.
  • L1.5: Students will demonstrate technical knowledge of tax policy and compliance for individuals and enterprises.
  • L1.6: Students will demonstrate technical knowledge of the global reporting environment.
  • L1.7: Students will demonstrate technical knowledge of business formation and regulatory compliance for small businesses.
  • L1.8: Students will demonstrate technical knowledge and the understanding of and commitment to professional conduct.

L2: Professional Skills

  • L2.1: Students will demonstrate basic professional skills in the area of oral and written communication in the context and language of accounting and business.
  • L2.2: Students will demonstrate basic professional skills to develop, record, analyze, validate, communicate, and make professional judgments relative to financial and other types of information.
  • L2.3: Students will demonstrate basic professional skills and ability to: identify issues and develop questions, apply appropriate analysis, and communicate conclusions.
  • L2.4: Students will demonstrate basic professional skills to work productively as a member or leader of a team.
  • L2.5: Students will demonstrate basic professional skills to use resources such as professional standards, regulations, and other financial data to research accounting-related issues and apply their findings to various decision settings.
  • L2.6: Students will demonstrate basic professional skills in the areas of project/engagement management and creative solutions.

L3: Technical Skills

  • L3.1: Students will demonstrate knowledge and skills regarding the use of information technology to: (1) support business processes and controls, (2) develop and interpret information, and (3) ensure financial reporting integrity.
  • L3.2: Students will demonstrate knowledge and skills regarding information systems and business processes including data creation, data management, data manipulation, security, and storage.
  • L3.3: Students will demonstrate knowledge and skills regarding data analytics, statistical techniques, clustering, data management, modeling, analysis, predictive analytics, learning systems, and visualization.
  • L3.4: Students will demonstrate knowledge and skills regarding the ability to adapt to changing information technology.

L4: Values and Attitudes

  • L4.1: Students will demonstrate dedication to value-based reasoning techniques under conditions of uncertainty to enhance personal objectivity, integrity, and ethical conduct in the accounting profession.
  • L4.2: Students will demonstrate dedication, motivation, and commitment to continue learning throughout life to maintain professional knowledge and skills in the accounting profession.
  • L4.3: Students will demonstrate dedication to appreciation of diverse world-views resulting from a variety of geographical and cultural experiences in the accounting profession.

Outcomes Data

The SOA embedded-assessment system links program-level goals to individual course objectives. Instructors design the learning activities that the course will use to support the program-level goal. In addition, the instructor designs assessment methods for measuring effectiveness and the criteria (rubrics) by which assessment will take place. To help faculty better standardize and document the process, the instructor completes the SOA Course-Embedded Assessment Learning Form for each learning goal assigned to the course. In some cases, individual instructors have modified the form to better reflect assessment methodology applicable to a particular course or learning goal. 

The School of Accountancy utilizes results from multiple surveys and assessments to measure performance. Outcomes from Business Core Class Assessments, student’s CPA Exam Performances, External Course Reviews, and Peer-Teaching Evaluations all provide feedback. Additionally, surveys are regularly administered to receive timely feedback from our different customers. Student Course Evaluations, Student Satisfaction Surveys, Alumni Satisfaction Surveys, Employer Satisfaction Surveys, Recruiter Satisfaction Surveys, Peer Focus Groups, and reports from the University Analysis, Assessment and Accreditation Office received by the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business are all utilized as indicators of the School of Accountancy’s performance.

Links to outcome data are provided below. Users can also hover over each display to obtain more details on the assessments.

School of Accountancy Assessment

Closing the Loop & Continuous Improvement

Faculty identify and document opportunities for improvement on their Embedded Assessment Form. These opportunities can then be implemented by the faculty members.

Within each course, faculty are encouraged to discuss what they see when reviewing outcomes, allowing them to note strong performance and areas needing improvement. Importantly, we do not consider it a failure when students do not perform at benchmark for a particular objective; rather, we believe we can utilize this information to pursue improvements and ultimately help ensure student success.