University of Wisconsin IFRS Ready Program Elements
Welcome to the University of Wisconsin Department of Accounting IFRS-Ready sharing website. With the help of a generous grant from the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Foundation, the Department of Accounting is implementing a significant curriculum enhancement, the objective of which is to raise awareness and educate business and in particular accounting students about international accounting and the emerging issues related to international accounting convergence. Some of the activities were initiated in the spring of 2009 and the program will be fully implemented in the Spring of 2010.
Follow the links below to learn more about the IFRS-Ready program.
Terry D. Warfield, PhD
Director, Arthur Andersen Center
Robert and Monica Beyer Professor of Accounting
Wisconsin School of Business
608-262-1028
Background
In light of recent developments concerning adoption of international financial reporting standards (IFRS), the faculty in our department has been exploring ways to enhance our curriculum to address the coming adoption of IFRS and growing globalization in the accounting curriculum? While there has been some integration of international issues in our curriculum and we have had an elective course on international accounting, there is room for enhanced coverage of international issues within our program. Indeed, given the emergence of IFRS, now adopted by more than 100 countries, and growing acceptance of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) as an international standard-setter (including U.S. SEC acceptance of statements prepared in accordance with IFRS without reconciliation), our faculty believe the time is now to build awareness of IFRS leading to more in-depth knowledge of IFRS and international accounting issues.
In the fall of 2008, the Department submitted a program development proposal to develop enhanced instructional materials to address this need (click here to view a summary of the proposal). Our proposal was selected for a $50,000 grant from the PwC Foundation, under which the faculty of the Department of Accounting and Information Systems has developed an integrated set of IFRS instructional activities in 12 courses ranging from AIS 100 to AIS 770, with participation by 14 faculty members. The activities reflect good coordination across courses/activities and were developed and evaluated against the following criteria:
The following table provides a summary of the courses involved and activities have been or will be implemented in our curriculum (Spring/Fall 2009 and/or Spring 2010). Please click on the links under materials to see sample syllabi and assignments that have been developed. Many of these assignments have been class tested and all will have been implemented by the end of the Spring 2010.
Summary of IFRS-Ready Curriculum Elements
Course (type and # students) Faculty Involved
|
Description |
Materials |
AIS 100 – Introductory Financial Accounting All (~ 450 per semester) School of Business sophomores.
Laura Michalski Sean Nearoff
|
Multi-Lesson activity to highlight differences in U.S. / IFRS GAAP; learn about the history of international convergence; document where convergence is heading. |
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AIS 301/302 - Intermediate Accounting (2-Course Sequence) All (~450 per year) junior accounting and finance majors.
Shana Clor-Proell Qiang Cheng Anita Kroll Ann O'Brien Tom Tierney Terry Warfield
|
Coordinated assignments to introduce International accounting environment, U.S./IFRS GAAP differences; implement international accounting elements into existing case requirements. Includes assessment and education for instructors and professional workshops. |
|
AIS 340/630/631 – Accounting Systems, Auditing, Advanced Auditing All (~220 per year) accounting majors.
Karla Johnstone (AIS 630 / 631) Brian Mayhew (AIS 630) Ann O'Brien (AIS 340) |
Cases in each class to identify sources of international auditing standards and application of standards. Summarize differences in U.S. / IFRS and develop implications for audits. In AIS 340, students develop a matrix of key processes, threats and controls for those processes, review implications of IFRS Conversion. In 631, real company assessment of IFRS audit risks. Assessment elements.
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AIS 406/706 – Advanced Accounting. All (~220 per year) accounting majors.
Xia Chen
|
Materials/Cases to highlight U.S. GAAP/IFRS differences in the accounting for business combinations and consolidations.
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AIS 600/601 – Professional Internship and Issues Course All (~100) students in MAcc program.
Brian Mayhew (AIS 601) Lynette Stolarzyk (AIS 600)
|
Multi-part assignment that involves an individual paper, possibly on an actual issue encountered on the internship. This will followed with a group activity if the 3-week course. |
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AIS 700 – MBA Financial Accounting All (~200) MBAs.
Holly Skaife
|
IFRS cases and brown-bag workshops by Prof. Skaife based on her work at the IASB Advisory Council |
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AIS 770 – Seminar in Financial Reporting Theory All (~90) MAcc students.
R.D. Nair
|
Capstone activities to apply theory to IFRS contexts, including the IASB Framework and IFRS. |
As indicated, the assignments are coordinated across the curriculum so that students are introduced to the international accounting issues as early as the introductory accounting course in the sophomore year. Assignments in subsequent higher level course are designed to build on the prior international accounting foundation. Thus, full exposure to the elements of the program will span a three year period.
Assessment
Assessment data related to the effectiveness of the program is being collected as part of our AACSB assessment process. We plan to share the assessment results as well as updated elements at this site in the future.