Accounting in Community Colleges: Who Teaches, Who Studies?

Recently the American Accounting Association (AAA) sponsored a report, Trends in Non-Tenure-Eligible Accounting Faculty, 1993–2004 (December 2008) and co-sponsored a report, Accounting Faculty in U.S. Colleges and Universities: Status and Trends, 1993–2004 (February, 2008) with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Designed as a companion piece to these recent studies, this report is intended to expand our understanding of the “supply chain” in accounting education. A number of articles and papers discuss tenure-track and nontenure track accounting faculty and accounting doctoral students, but limited information is available on the role of community college faculty in the United States. This analysis looks at status and trends for community college faculty in accounting, and like its companion reports on tenure-track and non-tenure eligible faculty, does so within the context of the larger higher education environment in the U.S. today.