Partnering with Practice: Staffing to Achieve Excellence in Accounting Education

The supply of research-based, tenure-track accounting faculty is not commensurate with the demand. To address this challenge, colleges and universities, including those who typically rely upon adjuncts and clinical faculty, may wish to consider entering into a formal collaboration with a public accounting firm whereby a partner with support from the firm commits to teach an accounting course or a designated module in a course. One pilot program-the Partner Teaches Program (PTP), recently inaugurated by a public accounting firm-provided the opportunity to study the impact of such a program and generate recommendations. The findings support the conclusion that properly selected partners, matched with the demands of a particular course and properly prepared, supported, and integrated into the curriculum, can make significant positive contributions to accounting education. Based on these data, we have made recommendations to encourage firms and schools to consider initiating similar arrangements.