Picture this. You’re back in accounting class. Everything appears to be just the way you remember it – huge blackboard, fluorescent lights, uncomfortable seats. But something doesn’t quite add up. You’re perplexed, but this time it’s not by the numbers, it’s by the professor. He’s admitting, without duress, that he doesn’t have all the answers. And, what’s more, he’s comfortable turning to his students for solutions. hen new assurance services and specialization were becoming more the trend than the norm.

Kevin Stocks, professor at Brigham Young University’s School of Accountancy and Information Systems, realizes this is a new paradigm for educators. "We’ve really moved away from ‘the professor knows everything,’ to ‘we’re all learning this together.’ Here’s the question. Let’s go figure it out," he explains.

Making an Example
For Stocks, education at its best involves a free exchange of ideas. For example, it’s not at all uncommon for Stocks to present his class with the specifics of a business problem, including the known factors. Then, because they make differing assumptions about the unknowns, the students make vastly different choices about how to proceed.

When the solutions are presented, there is no single "right" answer. "If their output is different from others,’ it can still be correct and that’s okay," Stocks explains. "There’s not always a prescribed way for things to come out. We’ve gone from focusing on on getting ‘the answer’ to let’s work through the process and see if it makes sense."

The Real World is Here
With more than 15 years as an educator, Stocks has seen the accounting classroom environment change dramatically. One of the biggest challenges today is making sure the curriculum offers students real-world experience. "Knowing what’s currently going on in the business arena is essential," Stocks says. "Then you must take that information and very quickly convert it to the classroom setting."

This approach requires a new level of cooperation between practice and education. Already, students connect with working professionals on the Internet and through video conferencing. As we move into the next century, Stocks says this relationship will become even more important. "The involvement’s got to increase, and I think it will benefit both the students and the profession in general."

Developing this symbiotic relationship is critical to the future of the profession. "The understanding that it’s critical to work together has got to be there for both sides. The entire future of education is changing," he explains. His leadership role with both AICPA’s Executive Committee, and in the American Accounting Association, only sharpens this realization.

With three accountancy degrees—a Ph.D from Oklahoma State, and Masters and Bachelors degrees from BYU—Stocks has not forgotten how it feels to be on the other side of the desk. He understands how technology enhances the learning environment and embraces innovation in the classroom. But even as accounting students prepare themselves in new ways for an evolving field, Stocks says the industry needs to preserve the core of what it means to be a CPA.

"The profession must retain its identity," he explains, and encourages CPAs to resist the temptation to become a one-size-fits-all profession. "We need to remember what the accounting profession stands for. There are likely some areas where CPAs are qualified to make a buck, but where it’s not necessarily a good fit," he adds.

Class dismissed.