What Does Accreditation Mean?

September 1, 2006

By Noah Kaufman, CPA, M.B.A.

On May 22, I proudly participated in the graduation ceremony for receiving my M.B.A. from the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, where undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students received degrees. I was one of countless Americans who receive degrees yearly. These degrees cost thousands of dollars, if not hundreds of thousands, and required years of hard work on tests, group projects and papers.

After spending so much money, time and effort, one might ask some questions. What does the degree truly mean? Who ensures that a degree is legitimately earned?

While it may be difficult to ascertain the exact value of a degree, one can reasonably conclude on the validity of the degree and the program. The accreditation process provides a mechanism for an outside organization to verify a university's programs.

One organization that accredits schools is the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), which has accredited schools since 1917. The accreditation process is voluntary.¹ AACSB certifies an entire school's business program — the undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs. There are also other organizations that provide accreditation, such as the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). SACS is a regional, institutional accreditation, while AACSB is a specialized, professional accreditation focused on business and accounting.

The process for AACSB to provide accreditation is fairly lengthy and comprehensive, according to Jerry Trapnell, AACSB executive vice president and chief accreditation officer. The following are required for AACSB accreditation, Trapnell said:

1. Become a member of AACSB.
2. Go through the pre-accreditation and initial accreditation process, which involves extensive self-assessment and peer review of the school, its mission, resources, personnel, students and curricula — against AACSB standards. This is a process that can take as long as 5–7 years.
3. If a business school is successful, it must undergo a "maintenance of accreditation" review every five years following initial accreditation.
4. The maintenance process involves annual reporting of data, annual reports on the progress of the school and a fifth-year report that provides information for a peer review team to conduct the maintenance review.

To receive or renew accreditation, schools face the challenge of obtaining sufficient faculty resources. The demand for business faculty, especially accounting, has increased. At the same time, however, the supply of Ph.D. candidates is decreasing. Another challenge is limited financial resources, especially for public institutions, Trapnell said.

Malcolm Lathan, CPA, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce and a VSCPA Board of Directors member, noted that one requirement for AACSB accreditation is that a sufficient number of professors are involved in "intellectual activities" or "making intellectual" publications.
Therefore, schools require professors to be active in intellectual pursuits, which refer to research efforts. Additionally, AASCB requires that at least 50 percent of faculty are "academically qualified" (AQ), which generally means that the professors hold a doctoral degree.²

Relatively few business schools are able to receive accreditation from AACSB. AACSB has accredited 537 schools out of the approximately 8,000 business schools in the world. Of the 537 schools, there are 85 AACSB accredited business schools outside the U.S. in 30 countries, according to Trapnell. See the sidebar at right for a list of schools accredited in Virginia.

A student might prefer to attend an accredited school. Though attending a non-accredited school might not lead to "a dead end," students attending non-accredited schools may face more challenges to "get advanced degrees, or to have their degree well regarded, which can have a negative impact on employment."³

Accreditation is of interest to students going to both graduate and undergraduate schools. For graduate schools, in some cases, the only way a student can receive credit for previous graduate work is to receive credits from an accredited graduate school. Scholarships for certain state CPA societies require that students attend an accredited school to receive a scholarship.⁴

This upcoming fall, hundreds of thousands of American students will be applying to college. Students should consider many factors such as location, cost and reputation. One of the factors should be accreditation.

One of the reasons I selected The University of Maryland program for my M.B.A. is because their Robert H. Smith School of Business M.B.A. program is accredited,⁵ while another school for which I applied was not.

Accredited Virginia Business Schools

In Virginia, the following schools are accredited by the American Association of Credit Schools of Business (AACSB).

Christopher Newport University
College of William and Mary
George Mason University
James Madison University
Longwood University
Norfolk State University
Old Dominion University
Radford University
University of Richmond
University of Virginia (Darden)
University of Virginia (McIntire)
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Tech
Washington and Lee University

Source: "Schools Accredited in Business," AACSB International.

1. "Accreditation," AACSB International.
2. "Teaching for the Love of It," Journal of Accountancy, June 2006.
3. "Expert: Choosing the Right College."
4. "Scholarship: State CPA Societies," American Institute of CPAs.
5. "The MBA Tour."

Noah Kaufman, CPA, M.B.A. works as a consultant for CGI Federal in Fairfax, Virginia, where he performs system testing, revises software designs, analyzes software upgrades and works on developing training materials for financial management systems.