Date of Award

Fall 12-15-2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (BS)

Department

Accounting

College

College of Business

First Advisor

Sheila Mitchell

Abstract/Description

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been working with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in converging United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The US is one of the last large economic powers in the world remaining that has yet to start reporting using IFRS. The business environment is not the only group that is facing great obstacles with this change; universities will also be facing difficulties as they try to properly prepare students for their future careers. Accounting students will obviously be affected, but so will all business students, especially finance students, as they will need to have an understanding of reporting standards in order to perform well in the marketplace. Even with convergence, students will be expected to know both when they enter the business world depending on their career decisions. Domestic companies will most likely not be required to report using IFRS and international companies will. Coastal Carolina University is an institution that is currently struggling with this issue; however, there has been minimal success in implementing IFRS into the Accounting curriculum. Accounting professors at Coastal Carolina University have begun to introduce IFRS and basic principles in the Intermediate Accounting classes. Other schools around the country have begun to teach IFRS alongside US GAAP using parallel presentation, allowing for direct comparisons of both sets of standards. These students are more prepared than students at Coastal. The primary question of this study is if Coastal Carolina University Accounting major students are prepared for this change in standards. The benefits of IFRS will also be addressed through analysis of IFRS itself. Through the use of surveys of IFRS knowledge among Accounting students and interviews with Accounting Department faculty and relative administration, an assessment will be made of the current accounting major and the future of the Accounting major at Coastal Carolina University relating to the instruction of IFRS.

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