There are many professional societies that help guide and advance their respective professions, and the American Accounting Association is one such society in the accounting world. The unique thing about this particular association, however, is that it is not concerned with the daily practice of public accounting or the creation of new GAAP principles. Instead, the AAA is focused almost exclusively on teaching accounting in today’s college classrooms. Designed as a resource for adjunct, doctoral and tenured professors of accounting at business schools around the country, the AAA helps to create a community of scholars who instill important accounting skills and values in tomorrow’s public accountants and financial professionals.
Driving the Accounting Profession Forward Through Education
The commitment of the AAA is to advance the accounting profession through better classroom experiences at the hands of professors across the country. To that end, membership in the organization entitles professors to regular publications regarding changes to accounting and new ways to teach this rigorous profession. The organization also hosts quite a few blog authors who discuss developments in the accounting industry as they relate to instruction. The organization’s publications, both digital and print, are included in the price of membership.
A Strong Community for Professors of Accounting
In addition to the numerous publications that discuss the present state of the accounting industry, the AAA is also an excellent online community for accounting professors. Thanks to this online community, which includes blogging and discussion boards, professors can discuss their latest classroom tools and concepts in a collaborative environment. This community space helps professors, from adjunct faculty to tenured experts, create a more uniform teaching environment that benefits students. By sharing these ideas, and coming together to produce a uniform set of curricular standards and commitments, the next generation of accounting graduates will all be on the “same page” professionally and academically. This is a central goal of the organization and one that it continues to pursue through increased collaborative tools and technologies.
A Professional and Research-Centered Network for Professors
The AAA isn’t all about classroom approaches to accounting instruction. In addition to this central part of the organization’s philosophy and purpose, the AAA also focuses on research into new accounting trends, principles, and concerns. The collaborative approach to the organization’s philosophy also applies to its interest in research. Member professors who are involved in the association can share new findings and actually publish their research in one of the AAA’s journals or magazines. In this way, the AAA is seeking to become a new scholarly source of information about the accounting profession, accounting instruction, and the principles that guide both parts of the profession.
The AAA Awards: Recognizing Instructional Excellence
When it comes to rewarding professors for their hard work, excellent research, and innovative methods of instruction, few awards are more valued in accounting than the “AAA Awards.” Given annually, these awards recognize members who contribute robustly to the community, publish in the AAA magazines and journals, and conduct groundbreaking research. Awards are also given for instructional elegance and innovative classroom ideas. Together, these awards recognize the leaders in accounting education and represent a great achievement for professors in all capacities.
An Excellent Resource for Accounting Instructors
Accounting instruction is a key part of creating the next generation of informed, ethical, and successful accountants. The American Accounting Association is centrally concerned with this process, with a focus on awarding great instruction, fascinating research, and thoughtful publication of new accounting concepts and instructional techniques.
