AAA Spark Meeting of the Regions

Aligning the CPA Evolution Model Curriculum and the Uniform CPA Examination® Blueprints with a Competency-Based Education Framework

• In Event: Updating the Accounting Curriculum

Abstract

In November 2021, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy issued the CPA Evolution Model Curriculum (CEMC), which states its purpose is to “transform the CPA licensure model to recognize the rapidly changing skills and competencies the practice of accounting requires today and will require in the future.” Following the CEMC, in December 2022, the AICPA’s Board of Examiners approved the Uniform CPA Examination® Blueprints with an effective date of January 2024. The blueprint provides representative tasks that are critical to a CPA’s “role in protecting the public interest” (AICPA, 2022).

Competency-based education (CBE) is a growing field where programs identify competencies that must be mastered and then use backward design to create curriculum that teaches and assesses learners on these competencies based on the knowledge, skills, abilities and behaviors exhibited. CBE programs hold learning constant while allowing variable time to mastery.

This interactive session will explore the background of CBE and how CBE can be aligned with an accounting curriculum using the Uniform CPA Examination® Blueprints to assess demonstrated learning at the required level of competency.

With the updated version of the Uniform CPA Examination launching in 2024 and accounting faculty reviewing the CEMC and blueprint frameworks to make curricular adjustments, now is a good time to consider the alignment of CBE with the goals and objectives of the AICPA and NASBA for CPAs.

Authors

• Susan Coomer Galbreath, Lipscomb University

• Charla Long, Competency-Based Education Network