Jerry Searfoss, currently a tenured Professor of Accounting at the University of Utah, is a CPA educator with a mission to help change accounting curricula so that students graduate with a high level of technical competence and the ability to integrate business issues with the functional areas of accounting. Such an educational experience would provide the opportunity to better satisfy a diverse set of client needs. With his roughly 15 years of experience as an educator and over 10 years’ experience in public accounting as Partner for Deloitte & Touche, Jerry’s contributions to the academic community are to be commended.

In addition to changing the content of what accounting faculty teach, Jerry believes that technology is key to helping students graduate with the skills they will need in today’s business world. "We need faculty to focus more on the use and application of technology, both as a teaching tool and as a learning tool. Additionally, students must have greater academic exposure to information systems. This integration of information systems and technology within the context of the accounting topics will result in a learning experience that demonstrates the seamless relationship between accounting, information systems and the application of technology."

Another area about which Jerry feels strongly is integrating finance, marketing, management, and strategy into the functional areas of managerial accounting, financial accounting, tax, and auditing/assurance so that students understand the inherent relationship between those areas. He strongly feels that it is imperative to the future of the profession that graduating students not view their role in the workforce simply as providers of tax and audit work, but as business advisors that understand the complex needs and issues of the business world.

"Competition will continue to increase. If we are unwilling to change we will be replaced by other providers of the services clients are demanding. If we as educators can really adapt to the changing business environment, then we will help develop a totally different student. A student who will think more broadly, know how to work in teams, how to effectively apply technology and their research skills, so that when they identify a problem, they know where to get the information and resources to respond," he says.

At Deloitte and Touche, Jerry also served as Director of Accounting Standards and Secretary and Treasurer of the firm’s Foundation. In the latter role he focused on assisting and enhancing accounting and business education. Specifically, he administered the Foundation’s budgets, was in charge of program development and implementation, and the matching gift program. He also dealt with the relationships with academia and the development and implementation of firm efforts to impact accounting and business education.

Jerry feels strongly that CPAs within the community must take an active role to help the academic environment make some of the necessary changes. "I think that we have to develop a true partnership between practice and academia. Today we give that lip service. Faculty members have to be willing to work with practitioners and practitioners willing to commit some of their most valued resource -- time -- to the educational experience of the student. If that can be accomplished, there would be a powerful synergy that just couldn’t exist otherwise."

Although he believes that some of this is accomplished through speakers from the profession sharing their experiences with students and by students making field visits to firms, he doesn’t think that’s adequate. "What we really need is a team teaching approach of faculty with practitioners in the classroom. That would provide students with a vicarious experience and help them to really understand what the profession is about, what the needs of the client are, and how you match those two." Additionally, in order for professors to put material into an appropriate context for students, Jerry believes that faculty members need to gain experience in what‘s really taking place in the practice environment – a challenge that he believes will be even more difficult.

During his years at Deloitte & Touche, Jerry was instrumental in leading the development of the firm’s responses on many documents, including several major FASB Statements. In addition, he was responsible for the development of the company’s comment letters regarding FASB and AICPA documents and the presentation of the firm’s views at related public hearings of the FASB. Jerry also provided training and consultation to partners, staff and clients on accounting for pensions, postretirement benefits, current value issues in real estate, and employee stock ownership plans.

Jerry has authored and co-authored numerous articles and books on accounting and delivered numerous presentations at academic and professional meetings. He has served as a reviewer for Accounting Horizons, Issues in Accounting Education, and Advances in Accounting, along with other publications. He was the recipient of Beta Alpha Psi’s Outstanding Teaching Award, Outstanding Alumnus Award, and Outstanding Accountant Award. He also served as the charter Faculty Advisor for the Beta Alpha Psi chapter at the University of Utah for four years.

Extremely active in his profession, Jerry is currently the Chair of the AICPA Accounting Education Executive Committee and a member of the AICPA’s Strategic Planning Advisory Subcommittee. He has also served in various positions for the American Accounting Association, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the Utah Association of CPAs, the Accounting Education Change Commission, Beta Alpha Psi, the Federation of Schools of Accountancy and the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business. He has recently been invited to serve on an FASB Working Group to study the disclosures in the domestic oil and gas and chemical industries.