The Role of professional accounting programmes: towards a reflective practicum

Accounting education has been under close scrutiny in the past twenty years, but the role of professional accounting bodies in this respect has received very little attention. Currently in many countries, particularly in the U.S., the responsibility for developing the skills that are required of a professional accountant seems to lie largely with the academic accounting programmes (AAPs) provided by universities and other tertiary education institutions. Traditionally, the focus of professional accounting programmes (PAPs) has mainly been the assessment of technical knowledge in a number of subject areas. We argue that AAPs should concentrate on advancing knowledge and critical thinking, while professional skills development should be the main focus of PAPs, and offer a model based on the concept of ‘reflective practicum’ (Schön, 1987) that could be adopted for this purpose.