150 Credit-Hours: Stakeholders’ Benefits and Students’ Skills and Attributes

Abstract

With evolving professional expectations of today’s CPAs, the current changes to the CPA exam focus on higher-order cognitive skills of analysis including data analytics and digital dataset skills. Considering the flexibility in how students are fulfilling the 150 credit-hours requirement, a chosen pathway curriculum may not afford students with the opportunity to acquire these skills and competencies necessary to meet workplace expectations. The findings from this study provide insights into the trending education pathway, perceived benefits gained, and offer a perspective into how educators can improve their accounting curriculum to better prepare students for the needs of the accounting profession.