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In light of the importance to accounting professionals of recognizing significant legal, ethical and regulatory issues, a decline in the business law requirements to become a CPA is cause for concern. To put this in perspective, this article provides a summary of prior research and a discussion of the major influences on the law-related education of accounting students. Additionally, recent empirical results are reported and discussed. This is a topic of importance not only to accounting students and educators, but also to the employers and clients of accounting professionals and the organizations influencing the education of prospective accounting professionals.
INTRODUCTION
Knowledge of the law has long been considered important to all business people but especially for accounting professionals as they must be able to identify significant legal issues and take steps to reduce their exposure and that of their employers and clients to legal liability. Consequently, law-related courses have been a standard part of the accounting curriculum, and business law is tested on the Certified Public Accountant Uniform Examination (CPA Exam).
However, an examination of the previous research on the role of business law courses in the accounting curriculum and business curriculum of colleges and universities in the United States gives a changing picture of what that role is and will be in the future. The purpose of this paper is first to summarize the prior research related to business law in the accounting curriculum. Next, the changes over the past ten years in the environment faced by aspiring accounting professionals are examined with emphasis on those factors identified by prior researchers as having an impact on the law-related component of the accounting curriculum. Finally recent empirical data on the law-related education of accounting students is reported and conclusions are presented. The various sections of this paper should be of interest to accounting students and their prospective employers, educators charged with designing and teaching the law-related content of the accounting curriculum, business school administrators, and persons with an active interest in the actions of the various state boards of accountancy, the content of the CPA Exam and the future of the accounting profession.
PRIOR RESEARCH
Interest in understanding more about the law-related content of the courses taken by accounting majors has precipitated much...