ACCOUNTING EDUCATION IN INDIA AND USA: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Abstract

The emerging scenario of accounting education should not be restricted to the traditional accounting rather it should incorporate E-Commerce and software based accounting curriculum. This advance and technical accounting knowledge and skills can make the students to be more professional in their career. This paper presents an analysis of accounting education in India and America, it highlight the major differences in the two countries. The analysis reveals that accounting education in India emphasizes on financial accounting and cost accounting while the emphasis is on cost and management accounting in America. It shows that being firm specific through comprehensive in-house training the Japanese system is in a better position to produce accountants capable of adapting accounting systems to the different work situation which result from technological changes and automation. The current work is based on the secondary data which is collected from different sources like journals; books and research papers to illustrate a model accounting curriculum, developed to meet the needs of future accounting professionals and also encourage change in accounting curriculum. The conclusion based on evidences shows that accounting education, as a whole is still in need to reform so that it proved to be more effective in reducing unemployment and to face the present challenges of global economy in the field of business and industry.

Full text

ACCOUNTING EDUCATION IN INDIA AND USA:
A COMPARATIVE STUDY
Sudhir Chandra Das*, Raj Kumar Singh**
INTRODUCTION
Accounting education is about accounting and education
but both are global phenomenon. If there is to be one global
accounting education model it need to ensure that it will
meet the needs of business and society in all jurisdiction and
cultures in all religions of the world. Accounting professionals
and academicians have embarked on a process of analyzing
and critiquing accounting curricula, since two research paper
raised concern about accounting education e.g. American
Accounting Association (1986) and Arthur Andersen &
Co.et al., (1989). Both papers suggest that without signicant
change to accounting education, future accountant will not
receive the preparation they need to meet the emerging
needs of business. However, changes are often difcult and
the lack of discussion about teaching and curriculum is a
signicant barrier to change for many accounting educators.
Accounting educator typically and discussing research with
colleagues to be a commonplace, comfortable endeavor,
but discussion about curriculum, pedagogy, and learning
are far less common and comfortable. It is imperative that
accountant educators engage in this latter conservation.
Boyer (1990) stated that teaching is a dynamic endeavor that
must be continuously examined, critiqued, and discussed. In
other words, teaching and curriculum development must be
considered as scholarship and must be discussed, critiqued
and assessed similar to traditional research.
In our country accounting education is imparted to the
students in three different stages which start from secondary
education, under graduation and post graduation at the
different universities, colleges and professional institutions.
In the era of globalization and liberalization the business and
industry has to face many challenges like up-gradation of
the technology, reduction of the cost, quality improvement,
satisfaction of the customer, and outsourcing technique
(Torres and Albin, 1997). Accounting education in India
has not been upgraded to the standard level to face these
challenges and fulll the needs of business and industry in
India. Rather it is conned with only a feedback system to the
professional institution like ICAI, ICWA and ICSI. Hence,
the objective of accounting education has not been able to
meet the requirement of present scenario of the business and
industry. Each and every educational institution has realized
that there is need to update the accounting curriculum in
order to meet the advance requirement and expectation of
modern business organization (Grover, 1998). Introduction
of E-Commerce and Computerized accounting has playing
a signicant role in various business organizations through
* Professor of Organizational Behaviour & Human Resources, Department of Commerce, Faculty of Commerce, Bananas
Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. Email: scdasbhu@gmail.com
** Doctoral Scholar, Faculty of Commerce, Bananas Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Article can be accessed online at http://www.publishingindia.com
Abstract The emerging scenario of accounting education should not be restricted to the traditional accounting rather it should
incorporate E-Commerce and software based accounting curriculum. This advance and technical accounting knowledge and skills can
make the students to be more professional in their career. This paper presents an analysis of accounting education in India and America,
it highlight the major differences in the two countries. The analysis reveals that accounting education in India emphasizes on nancial
accounting and cost accounting while the emphasis is on cost and management accounting in America. It shows that being rm specic
through comprehensive in-house training the Japanese system is in a better position to produce accountants capable of adapting accounting
systems to the different work situation which result from technological changes and automation. The current work is based on the secondary
data which is collected from different sources like journals; books and research papers to illustrate a model accounting curriculum,
developed to meet the needs of future accounting professionals and also encourage change in accounting curriculum. The conclusion
based on evidences shows that accounting education, as a whole is still in need to reform so that it proved to be more effective in reducing
unemployment and to face the present challenges of global economy in the eld of business and industry.
Keyword: Accounting education, Curriculum, Educational institutions, India and USA.

Accounting Education in India and USA: A Comparative Study 55
transparency, time saving and cost reduction etc. for fast
economic growth and development. Accounting education
curriculum should be updated in order to face the challenges
of information technology. Researcher of accounting
education should think over the up gradation of accounting
education to meet the future requirement of the business and
industry in India Angelo et al., (1993).
OVERVIEW OF THE LITERATURE:
Pattom and Williams (1990) recommended that the
fundamental law in the accounting education and research
is that it has remained static while in the era of globalization
and liberalization the business profession has changed now.
They acknowledge that accounting education is becoming
increasingly irrelevant if changes are not made according to
current requirement of the business organization, employer
will be compelled to turn graduates in other discipline. Deppe
et al (1991) in their study explained that accounting education
must change to meet the requirement of the changing
profession of various business organizations and also suggest
that accounting student must develop competencies in
seven areas; communication skill, information development
and distribution skill, decision making skill, knowledge
of accounting, auditing, tax, knowledge of business
environment, professionalism and leadership development.
Elliott (1991) examined that if the accounting profession
can determine the measurements which is necessary in
the technology-driven, global environment, the need for
accounting education will be unquestioned, so the role of the
higher education is to produce knowledge worker and teach
them how to learn. The study of Flaherty and diamond (1996)
indicates that accounting education programmes should
prepare for the students to become professional, so they can
develop professional skills, fundamental accounting and
business knowledge and learn how to attain these different
skills which could be able to meet the requirement of various
business organizations.
The accounting curriculum should be developed around an
informal development and communication process. Essential
components should be decision making and information in
organization, design and use of information systems, nancial
information and public reporting including attestation and
knowledge of accounting profession but according to the
AECC, Specialized accounting education should be offered
primarily at the post baccalaureate level. May et al (1995)
posits that majority accounting educators believe that many
changes needed in accounting education, but they disagree
about the depth and breadth of changes needed. Nelson
(1996) explained that an accounting has been taught in same
manner since the beginning of the profession, therefore he
recommended that it is time to re-think the way accounting
is taught and to make dramatic changes, professional
organization are also prominent in encouraging changes in
accounting education. The institutes of management (IMA,
1994; 1996; 1999) in a series of projects found work ethic,
analytical/ problem- solving skills, interpersonal skills, and
listening skills to be the most important knowledge, skills
and abilities for work as a corporate accountant.
The American Institute of Certied Public Accountant
(AICPA, 2000) need core competency framework for entry
into the accounting profession which supports a paradigm
shift from a content driven to a skill driven accounting
curriculum. They recommend and suggest that accounting
education must possess functional competencies (decision
making, risk analysis, measurement, reporting, research, and
leavening technology); personal competencies (professional
demeanor, problem solving and decision making, interaction,
leadership, communication, project management and
leverage technology) and broad business competencies
(strategic/ critical thinking, industry/ sector perspective,
resource management, legal perspective, marketing and
leverage technology) but this effort is not limited just to the
USA. Studies of Thompson (1995); Hardern (1995); Johns
(1995), explained the development of competency standard
in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand which are based on
the belief that competencies is realized through performance,
thus standard should be based on job related performance.
Albrecht and Sack (2000) study sponsored by the AAA,
AICPA, IMA and the big 5 CPA suggest that changes to
accounting education have not been pervasive or substantive
enough. They indicate that if accounting education does not
change, soon it will not survive. This project notes three
signicant changes in business environment that impact
on what accounting students should know and be able to
do. First technology has made information less expensive
and more readily available, second faster transportation of
people; product and idea have made the global economy a
reality, third the concentration of investor power has shifted
to large mutual and insurance fund.
According to Albrecht and Sack (2000) despite warning
dating back more than decades, accounting education,
overall, is still woefully inadequate. Course content and
curricula are too narrow and outdated. Pedagogy lacks
creativity. To ensure that the accounting profession and
accounting education do survive, accounting department and
school must engage in more discussion about teaching and
curriculum.
Students aspiring to be professional accountants are
unlikely to have internationalized this community of
accounting practices. This includes learning not only
teaching knowledge but also the transferable skill that can
actually be transferred from the learning environment to
work environment (Sin et al., 2012). Students needs report
writing and interpersonal skill including listening and oral
communication as well as presentation and discussion and

56 Journal of Commerce & Accounting Research Volume 7 Issue 1 January 2018
defending arguments. Teaching technical material can be
imparted using an information processing approach, such as
by lecture or tutorial, but learning transferable skill requires
a constructivist, situated or experimental approach using a
variety of different teaching and learning methods. These
method can include case studies to improve their soft skill
and bridge the gap between theory and practices (Sin, Reid
and Jones, 2012; Stone and Lightbody, 2012). Role play is an
important technique to bring things to life and make students
aware of others and for assessment purpose can be either
observed videoed or recorded (Daff, 2012). Simulation can
also play a signicant role in coping with time pressure and
deadlines, or negotiating with client, or dealing with other
real life situations (Culpin and Scott, 2011). Field trips
and internship brings students into the world of work and
help them begin to assimilate the codes and values of the
professions and communities of practices to which they
aspire primordial factors such as ethnicity, customs, belief,
values and religion all results are dependence to current
practices (Kakavelakis and Edward, 2011; Tonge and
Willett, 2012).
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The present study is based on the following objectives.
I. To explain the present position of accounting education
in India and USA;
II. To compare the accounting education between India
and USA; and
III. To discuss the importance of policy implementation in
accounting education in India.
RESEARCH METHOD
This study is based on the secondary data derived from various
research papers, journals, books, published material and
UGC rule and guidelines. Various curriculum of accounting
education and research has been explored from published
manuals of universities and professional institutions. For
the purpose of analysis two universities and professional
bodies of India and USA namely Banaras Hindu University
(BHU), Institute of Chartered accountants of India (ICAI)
and Berry University and American Institutes of Certied
Public Accountants (AICPA) have been considered.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The accounting education imparted by different universities
and professional institutions are not substantial to meet the
challenges of present scenario. Therefore, the aim of the
study is to highlight the change in curriculum of accounting
education which will not only help the professional
accountant but also be able to generate employability and
help to improve the economic condition of the India. The
research oriented course curriculum should be introduced in
accounting education which will facilitates the professional
bodies in order to utilized proper accounting procedure
in taxation and legal matter. This research paper seems to
be more relevant on the ground of change of accounting
education in ordered to cope with the changing business and
industrial scenario in our country. Technological development
in the eld of information technology procedure which can
be t with the present status of business environment so,
accounting education will make a revolutionary change in
national and international business and industry.
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS:
Pattern of Accounting Education in India
The detailed breakdown of subjects studied for accounting
majors in different Indian universities shown in Table 1 which
have been compiled from ofcial university documents.
Further, Table 1 shows the breakdown of the curriculum by
category. There are separate categories for accounting, other
business, and non business. Some arbitrariness was involved
in making these three categories.
Table 1: Breakdown of curriculum by category 3-year Bachelor’s degree of Indian Universities
Number of Hours Total
Subjects semester credit lecture Laboratory Study Total
Classroom
Self
Study
Hours % of
Total
Accounting
Financial Accounting I 4 60 60 60 60 120
Financial Accounting II 4 60 60 60 60 120
Specialized Account I 4 60 60 60 60 120
Cost Accounting 3 60 60 60 120 120
Specialized Accounts II 4 60 60 60 120

Accounting Education in India and USA: A Comparative Study 57
Number of Hours Total
Subjects semester credit lecture Laboratory Study Total
Classroom
Self
Study
Hours % of
Total
Advance Company Accounts 4 60 60 60 120
Income Tax Law & Accounts 4 60 60 60 120
Auditing 3 60 60 60 120
Financial Analysis 4 60 60 60 120
Indirect Tax 3 60 60 60 120
Secretarial Practices 3 60 60 60 120
Principle of Insurance 3 60 60 60 120
Total Accounting 43 720 720 720 1440 33.8
Other Business
Principles of Management 3 60 60 60 120
Business Environment 3 60 60 60 120
Monetary Theory 4 60 60 60 120
Fundamental of Marketing 3 60 60 60 120
Business organization 3 60 60 60 120
Banking and Financial
Institutions
3 60 60 60 120
Business Entrepreneurship 3 60 60 60 120
Fundamental of Human
Resource
Management 3 60 60 60 120
Business Regulatory
Framework I
3 60 60 60 120
Business Economics I 3 60 60 60 120
Fundamental of Business
Finance
3 60 60 60 120
Business Regulatory
Framework II
3 60 60 60 120
Business Economics II 3 60 60 60 120
Business Mathematics 3 60 60 60 120
Public Finance 3 60 60 60 120
Business Statistics 4 60 60 60 120
Company Law 3 60 60 60 120
Banking Law & Practices 3 60 60 60 120
Business Ethics &
Governance
3 60 60 60 120
Financial Markets in India 3 60 60 60 120
Financial Service 3 60 60 60 120
Total Other Business 108 1260 1260 1260 2520 59.4
Non Business
Total Non business 14 120 24 144 144 288
Total 165 2100 24 2124 2124 4248

58 Journal of Commerce & Accounting Research Volume 7 Issue 1 January 2018
Each semester represents 72 academic hours of class
meetings and one academic hour consists of 60 minutes.
There was some arbitrariness in the categorization of some
subjects. For example, business statistics were classied
as business courses, when in fact they could be either
business or mathematics. Non-business course includes:
Hindi, English, Basic Statistics, Information technology and
Comprehensive Viva-Voce.
Course curriculum of Master degree offer by Indian
Universities: Managerial economics, Organizations theory,
Managerial accounting, Advanced business statistics,
Business nance, Marketing management, Human
Resource management, Theory of the rm, Behavioral
science, Research methodology, Accounting for planning
& control, Financial management, Marketing strategy,
Banking and Insurance, Computer application in business,
Strategic management, Accounting theory, Advanced cost
accounting, Management information system, Working
capital management, Advanced auditing, Corporate
reporting practices, Investment Management, Operation
research, Tax planning and Management are the common
papers taught in Indian universities. Master of Commerce
in Accounting is 83 credit semester programme with 33
credit semester for accounting and 50 credit semester for
non-accounting courses. The 50 credit semester may consist
of up to 35 credit semesters for business coursework and
at least 15 credit semesters for non-business course work.
Thus, a student is allowed to complete 33 credits semester
for accounting and 50 credit semester for business and non-
business coursework. Master of Commerce in accounting
programme is designed to provide depth in accounting and
breadth in other areas. All accounting courses at the post
graduate level are taught primarily using discussions of
problems and cases.
The curriculum shows that accounting education provided
by Indian universities for imparting accounting knowledge
to their student to make them able to get good job
opportunities in business and industry. The accounting
education curriculum of some of the schools, colleges and
universities provide commerce education in India (Grover,
1998). The curriculum treats accountancy as a single course
in the main stream of the commerce whereas other course
likes management, law, taxation, banking, insurance,
economics, organization behavior and some other related
course are also imparted. There is very less specialization
in accounting course curriculum which is being offered to
their students by some educational institutions in graduation
level, post graduation level as compare to the professional
institutions like ICAI, ICWA and ICSI offered specialized
accounting course to their students in their professional level
(Khandelwal, 2000). The accounting education in India is
restricted to only class room teaching as well as solving
of numerical problems. This teaching technique lacks up
gradation of technology in effective teaching of accounting
education. The traditional system of teaching can be replaced
with case studies, market survey, group assignment, audio
video teaching, teaching aid through project, computerized
accounting procedure so that the student of accounting
education can be well versed with professional accounting
system (Grover, 1998).
Course of Accounting Education offered by Institute of
Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI): The Institute is
actively engaged in imparting education and training to the
students and conducts examinations for them and grants
membership to successful candidates and certicates of
practice to members intending to practice the profession
(Cumming et al., 2001). The curriculum of accounting
education provided by Institute of Chartered Accountants of
India is: Fundamental of Accounting, Advanced Accounting,
Cost Accounting, Management Accounting and Financial
Analysis, Quantitative Technique, Direct and Indirect
Tax, Income Tax and Central Sales Tax, Fundamentals of
Financial Accounting, Cost and Management Accounting,
Management Performance Accounting, Advanced Financial
Accounting, Quantitative Methods, Advance Financial
Management and International Finance, Strategic Tax
Management, Management Accounting- Decision Making&
Financial Strategy, Financial Accounting, Company
Accounts, Cost and Management Accounting , Legal and
Financial Work (Mishra, 2014).
Accounting education provided by professional institutions
in different sequential step like foundation, intermediate
and nal stage after completion of the course he become a
chartered Accountant. Chartered Accountant is a member of
ofcially recognized Institute of Chartered Accountants of
India, which is a professional body of accountants. It is a
professional accounting degree in India, given to those who
pursue the Chartered Accountancy course and qualify the
exam conducted in three levels by the Institute and experts in
IFRS and other international accounting standards. CA can
work as a practitioners of public accounting, professional
practice as a proprietor or join any existing rm as a partner
or staff member, provides compliance and review services,
acts as a business advisor by providing all kinds of services
including the preparation of nancial reports, helping the
business to secure loans, preparing nancial projections and
determining the viability of business. As a tax advisor, CA
helps businesses and individuals to comply with tax laws.
Currently there are 253,369 members as per annual report
of Institutes of chartered accountants of India as on 1st April
2016 (Read et al., 2017).
Accounting Education in USA
Accounting education in some of the university in the
United States is uniform because the Association to Advance

Accounting Education in India and USA: A Comparative Study 59
Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the agency that
accredits some business schools in the United States, has
rigid requirements regarding what must be taught to gain
accreditation. Most of the universities that offer a Ph.D. in
accounting are AACSB accredited. Therefore, it is decided
to use the curriculum requirements of an AACSB accredited
school for comparison purposes. Barry University was
chosen because it is a small university, with slightly fewer
than 9,000 students, and it received AACSB accreditation in
April 2003 (McGee & Preobragenskaya, 2008).
Table 2 shows the breakdown of curriculum for the 4-year
bachelor’s degree in accounting. There are separate categories
for accounting, other business, and non business. Barry
University uses the semester hour system. Each semester
hour represents 15 academic hours of class meetings. One
academic hour consists of 50 min. However, for purposes
of simplicity, we have dened one academic hour as 60
minute and 1.5 hour is spent in study for each hour spent
in class. There was some arbitrariness in the categorization
of some subjects. For example, Barry University lists
macroeconomics as a social science but we have listed it as
a business course. Barry University classies pre calculus
for business and elementary probability and statistics as
mathematics courses. We listed them as business courses.
Barry lists basic computer applications as a non business
course. We classied it as a business course (R.W. McGee,
2008).
Table: 2 Breakdown of curriculum by category 4-year Bachelor’s degree of Barry University
Subjects Semester Credit hours in class study hour Total Hours % of Total
Accounting
Financial Accounting 3 45
Managerial Accounting 3 45
Intermediate Accounting I 3 45
Intermediate Accounting II 3 45
Intermediate Accounting III 3 45
Cost Accounting 3 45
Federal Income Taxation 3 45
Accounting Information Systems 3 45
Advanced Accounting 3 45
Auditing 3 45
Total Accounting 30 450 675 1,125 23.8
Other Business
Introduction to Business 3 45
Microeconomics 3 45
Macroeconomics 3 45
Applications of Statistics in Business 3 45
Introduction to Information Systems 3 45
Organization Behavior and Manage-
ment
3 45
Operations Management 3 45
Marketing Concepts and Applications 3 45
Business Law I 3 45
International Business 3 45
Financial Management I 3 45
Strategic Management 3 45
Business Electives 3 45
Basic Computer Applications 3 45
Precalculus Mathematics for Business 3 45
Elementary Probability & Statistics 3 45
Social & Ethical Issues in Business 3 45

60 Journal of Commerce & Accounting Research Volume 7 Issue 1 January 2018
Subjects Semester Credit hours in class study hour Total Hours % of Total
Total Other Business 51 765 1,148 1,913 40.5
Non-business 45 675 1,013 1,688 35.7
Totals 126 1,890 2,836 4,726 100
Course curriculum of Master in Accounting in Barry
University USA: Master of Science in Accounting (MSA)
program is designed to prepare you to become a successful
accounting professional with a global orientation and a
strong sense of ethics and social responsibility. The course
work is structured to acquire the relevant knowledge, skills,
and abilities to achieve the assurance of learning goals
prescribed by AACSB International-The Association to
Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB, 2000).
The course curriculum are International Accounting,
Contemporary Accounting Theory & Research, Advanced
Managerial Accounting, Business Taxation, Advanced
Auditing, Not-For-Prot & Governmental Accounting,
Technology and Information Systems, Managerial Finance,
Social, Legal and Ethical Aspects of Business, Elective
(Gainen and Locatelli, 1995).
Master of Science in Accounting is a 30 credit semester
programme with 15 credit semester for accounting courses
and 15 credit semesters for non-accounting courses. The
15 credit semester may consist of up to 09 credit semester
business coursework and at least 06 credits semester for non-
business coursework. Thus, a student is allowed to complete
15 credits semester for accounting and 15 credit semesters
for non accounting coursework. The Master of Science
in accounting programme is designed to provide depth in
accounting and breadth in other areas (Bloom’s 1956).
Education provided by American Institutes of Certied
Public Accountants in USA:
American Institute of Certied Public Accountants (AICPA)
is 4,18,000 members which is world’s largest professional
accounting body. There are four testing windows in a year
to become a CPA. The course curriculums are given below:
Auditing and Attestation (Ethics, professional
responsibilities and general principles, Assessing risk and
developing planned response, performing further procedure
and obtaining evidence forming, conclusion and reporting);
Business Environment and Concepts (Corporate Governance,
Economics Concepts and Analysis, Financial Management,
Information technology, Operation Management); Financial
accounting and reporting (Conceptual framework, standard
setting and nancial reporting, select nancial statement
accounts, select transaction, State and local government);
Regulation (Ethics, professional responsibilities and federal
tax procedure, Business law, Federal taxation of property
transaction, Federal taxation of individual, Federal taxation
of entities) Arthur et al, (1989).
The certied public accountants are experts in Generally
Accepted Accounting Principles, United State federal income
tax, and several other areas of United State accounting and
nancial law such as auditing and taxation. US designation
certifying that the student is now competent and expert in
the eld of US accounting and able to perform auditing and
taxation work. The American Institutes of Certied Public
Accountants established accountancy as a profession with
high professional standards, a strict code of professional
ethics, a licensing status and a commitment to serve the
public interest (AICPA, 1999).
Comparison of Indian Accounting Education and
USA
The Indian higher education system is based on the British
model, which consists of a three-tier degree structure
(bachelor, master, and doctorate). Although it’s similar to the
system in the U.S., but Indian degree programs are mostly
three years in length. Students who complete a three year
program are awarded a Bachelor degree. Comparing the
accounting curriculum in Indian universities with 165 credit
semester to the accounting curriculum at Barry University
(USA) with 126 credit semester may be difcult. At Barry
University, the total curriculum consists of 126 credit
semester, with each semester hour being equivalent to 45
hours spent in class. But each class hour consists of just 50
minute. The curriculum can be completed over 4 years by
a full-time student. The curriculum of Indian universities
can be completed over 3 year by full time student. Indian
universities, study is not measured only in terms of hours
spent in class some other factors are included, such as study
time and laboratory time.
For comparison purposes, we have assumed that the average
student of Barry University spends 1.5 hour studying outside
the classroom, and academic hour consists of just 50 minute
in USA. For comparison purposes, we decided to compare
the Indian 3 year program to the American 4-year bachelor’s
degree program. While such a choice might seem odd, the
reason for it can be justied. Thus, if the goal is to compare
the accounting offered by the “average” Russian university
to that offered by the average American school, the decision
to compare the 3 year Indian bachelor degree program to
the 4-year American bachelor’s degree program seems most
appropriate.

Accounting Education in India and USA: A Comparative Study 61
Table 3 compares the accounting curriculum of the Banaras
Hindu University and Barry universities selected for
comparison purposes. As one might expect, accounting
majors spend more time studying two categories of subjects
than American counterparts. One reason for the extra study
hours in Banaras Hindu University is 60 minute of academic
hour whereas the Barry University have only 50 minute of
academic hour.
Table 3: Comparison of BHU and Barry University
Curricula at Graduation level
Banaras Hindu
University
Barry University
Hours % of Total Hours % of Total
Accounting
Courses
1,440 33.8 1,125 23.8
Other
Business Courses
2,520 59.4 1,913 40.5
Non
business Courses
288 6.8 1,688 35.7
Totals 4248 100 4,726 100
Hours per year 1416 1,182
The comparison could be tightened up a bit if the numbers
were annualized. If one divides the Indian total 4,248 hour
by 3 and the American total 4,726 hour by 4, the annual study
times are 1,416 and 1,182 (hrs) respectively. If these numbers
are reliable estimates of time spent studying, that means that
the average Indian accounting student spends an additional
234 hour a year studying. If it compares on the basis of total
study times, the results are coming that American students
spend 4,726 hour earning their graduate degree, compared
to 4,248 hour for the average Indian accounting student, a
difference of 478 extra hours.
The evidence seems overwhelming, on the surface at least,
that the average Indian accounting graduate is better prepared
than the average American accounting graduate. Indian
universities are more selective regarding whom they allow
into their programs and Indian students study many more
hours in total as well as in accounting. Indian students spend
1,440 hour studying accounting, compared to 1,125 hour for
American students. That’s an extra 315 hour. However, there
are other factors to consider for example, the quality of Indian
textbooks and other study materials may not be as good as
those used by American students. Indian accounting texts do
not have nearly as many examples as American textbooks.
There are no Indian texts that are closely comparable to an
American accounting book in terms of depth or breadth of
coverage. Furthermore, many Indian students, perhaps the
great majority, do not own many accounting textbooks.
They are too expensive for the average Indian student.
They compensate for this factor by going to the library and
reading the books the library has. This approach to study is
quite common in Indian universities.
Table 4 shows that, if half of the rst year of work experience
were included in the American statistics, the American
accounting graduates would have 15 credit semester for
accounting, compared to 38 credit semester for India,
lessening the disparity to 23 credit semester. The goal were
to compare the American university accounting program
to the Indian university accounting program, since the
2 year is not spent studying accounting, but practicing it.
Analysis of total credit spent in accounting over the 2 year
period, since this methodology compares both groups over
the same time period. However, even if 2 years of data are
used, the Indian accounting post graduates still have more
credit semester than their American counterparts, 83 credit
semesters compared to 30 i.e. an additional 53 credit.
Table 4: Comparison of BHU and Barry University
Curricula at Post Graduation level
BHU Barry University
Credit Semester Credit Semester
Accounting 38 15
Other Business 36 9
Non Business 9 6
Total 83 30
We believe that the most valid comparison of American
accounting programs to Indian accounting programs is to
compare the 2 year American Master of Science in accounting
(MSA) degree to the 2 year of master of commerce (M.Com)
in accounting specialization. A Master of Science degree in
accounting in American universities need to complete 30
credit semester where Banaras Hindu university need 83
credit semester to complete the master degree.
The Master of Science in Accounting is a 30 credit semester
programme with 15 credit semester for accounting courses
and 15 credit semester for non-accounting courses which
include 9 credit semesters for other business and 6 credit
semesters for non business. Whereas Indian universities
need 38 credit semester for accounting, 36 credit semester
for other business and 9 credit semester for non business.
COMPARISON OF ICAI AND AICPA
There are some career options opened for the students,
who want to explore in the eld of accounting, nance,
business, taxation, etc. that offers them better employment
opportunities and good pay. Out of various courses, CA, i.e.
Chartered Accountant, is a title recognized worldwide, as a
professional designation conferred to qualied accountant
and is equal to United State’s CPA (Certied Public

62 Journal of Commerce & Accounting Research Volume 7 Issue 1 January 2018
Accountant). Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
(ICAI) provide study material to their students to become
a chartered accountants and they need to complete at least
4 year duration with three level of examination namely
foundation, intermediate and nal. American Institute of
Certied Public Accountants (AICPA) does not provide
any study material to their students; become AICPA they
have to qualify just 4 exam Within 1 years. Neither one of
these certications are better than the other. They are simply
different and used for different purposes.
Syllabus domain: A CPA student learns about IFRS
(International Financial Reporting Standards), GAAP
(Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) and GAAS
(Generally Accepted Accounting Standards). The
international knowledge and skills is gained based on
United State rules as compared to the CA students who gains
knowledge and skills based on Indian laws.
Career Opportunities: A licensed CA professional can
have bright opportunities for work in India. This current
scenario has huge competition in this eld where many rms
are recruiting accountants to manage work of United State
clients; CPA professionals are taking an edge over the CA
professionals. CPA gets the opportunities on the global level
which gives them due international recognition while CA
professionals are restricted in the matter of opportunities by
only geographical Indian border.
Work Experience: CPA students get license when they
passes the CPA exams and gains one year work experience
in the Certied Public Accountant eld on the other hand CA
students get license only when a candidate gains minimum
3 years of article-ship in a CA rm.
USA degree outweighs over India due to many
reasons
American accounting education institutions provide quality
education to their students and it is surprised to know that
copying assignments in the USA is considered plagiarism.
The course may also include Curricular Practical Training
which enables you to gain practical knowledge (Anon. 1994).
Research Opportunities is the most important feature of the
American Education System. The universities in the United
States of America (USA) have fundamentally research centers
which improve the quality of innovation and creativity.
Students in United state are getting undergraduate research
opportunities and work on high end research projects besides
the valued experience; they also get a stipend for it. There’s
no concept of research in the undergraduate degree in India
only we memorize and spit out the contents during the exam
(IFAC. 2003). The United State has become the hub of higher
education and thousands of International students from all
over the country are attracted to the American universities.
This helps to enhance cross-cultural ties with the growth of
Multi National Companies; international exposure will be a
plus for your prole. American education system is based
on credit hours and gives you lots of freedom to retain your
academic interests throughout your course of study (McGee,
R. W. 2003).
Career Opportunities for accounting students
Commerce has always been regarded as one of the best
academic streams in getting excellent employment
opportunities. While many B.Com graduates choose the
much tried and tested path of CA, CS and other related elds
of study, many who are unable to make the cut for these
programmes are left in a lurch with respect to employment
opportunities (Carcello, it al.1991). There are several others
options, which B.Com graduates, can opt for jobs such as
Accountant, Accountant Executive, Chartered Accountant,
Company secretary, Cost Accountant, Finance Analyst,
Finance Planner, Finance Manager, Finance Controller,
Finance Consultant, Investment Analyst ,Stock Broker,
Portfolio Manager, Tax Auditor, Tax Consultant, Auditor,
Statistician, Economist.
Other than taking care of people’s savings, nancing
projects, and extending loans and credit services, banks
have diversied their activities into a range of corporate
and personal nancial services, and non-banking
nancial services including housing nance, leasing
and hire purchasing, bank deposits, mutual funds, stock
markets, venture capital, insurance schemes and portfolio
management more or less, all the organizations have
nancial managers, treasurers, controller, credit manager,
and other nancial staff who made their nancial reports for
tax (Philip, K. L. 2010). One of the most promising avenues
for commerce students is Insurance. With increased business
activity and entry of foreign insurance companies, insurance
offers lucrative opportunities for commerce students with
appropriate knowledge and training. The employment
opportunities in commerce elds are lucrative, both private
and public organization is open for commerce graduates.
Moreover, with the increasing entry of foreign banks and
their aggressive marketing, job opportunities have grown
signicantly. For nationalized banks, most of the selection
is done through the Bank Probationary Ofcers exams
conducted by the respective Nationalized Banks (Doucet,
M.S., Doucet, T.A. and Essex, P.A. 1998).
CONCLUSION AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS
Accounting education is the core stream in business and
industry. So, all educational institutions must provide
specialized accounting education in both under graduation
and graduation level. The professional institutions though

Accounting Education in India and USA: A Comparative Study 63
imparts Accounting education but they should follow a
uniform course curriculum that will help the professionals to
face the changing scenario. The Accounting specialists from
different universities should be consulted in order to upgrade
the Accounting education in different educational institution
prior to commencement of course curriculum so that a
uniform course curriculum can be prevailed in accounting
education of India. The restructuring of accounting
education is a priority as it can be further utilized by the
Accounting professionals from the primary level in order to
compete in globalized scenario. Some specialized courses
should be introduced in accounting education in order to
face the emerging challenges of business and industry in this
liberalization era. There should be an industry and institution
interface in order to upgrade Accounting education in India
that help the students of accounting education to be more
professional in character which further create employability.
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