Another AACSB MBA question

A question for Dr. Borchers. You make some very valid points. I respect your opinion.

Not trying to be a smart you know what but am very serious:

I see you earned your DBA at Nova Southeastern University, a program not AACSB accredited. I see they have had a MBA program for many years and appear to be pretty good. My question is this:

Do you believe that every AACSB accredited mba program is of better quality than NSU's mba program?

 

The AICPA's John L. Carey Scholarship will pay for any school that is AACSB, IAME, or ACBSP. Another stipulation is you must seek CPA licensure. I have never seen anything that states anything other than RA to sit for the exam during my year of membership (student) with the AICPA, besides the other requirements that fall under the 150 SH requirement for most states now. Will the Big Four discriminate against you if your degree is not from a professionally accrediting body and RA, maybe, maybe not.

http://www.aicpa.org/members/div/career/mini/jlcs.htm

Bll

 

Thanks for asking but I'll pass. My point isn't to pick on specific programs.

Regards - Andy

 

No prob...I was just curious. Thanks anyway...

 

This is a fair question. My answer is this - On the whole AACSB programs are of higher quality than non-AACSB programs. There might be exceptions - a program that barely met AACSB standards might be inferior to another program (perhaps an ACBSP school). But I'm convinced there is relatively little overlap here. All the serious B-schools that I know are AACSB. Those that aren't typically are incapable of being AACSB accredited for some serious reasons - such as faculty quality.

Regards - Andy

 

AACSB?

First off, Harvard is AACSB? I don't think so. To me, it meant nothing but I had different circumstances. I wanted an MBA to move to the top end of my pay scale at a community college I teach at. All I needed was a regionally accredited program for it to count. Well, guess what? Morehead State, my MBA alma mater, just got AACSB. That is a bigger deal for kids who want to go on to get a Ph.D. in business. But businesses flat out won't know AACSB from any other list of acronyms. They might ask if it is regionally accredited but AACSB? Ha, that is funny. Now, having said that, I am proud that Morehead State is now among the top 15% of business schools. But would it have broken my heart of they were not AACSB? Nope.

If you are 22 and want a hard charging career at Goldman Sachs, GO TO HARVARD, Penn, or Princeton. If you are 45 and want a pay raise, do what I did.

By the way, Morehead has great folks... I appreciated what I got out of it.

 

cogent-

What if you're 28-32 years old, in the military, with no desire to teach, and you won't be using you MBA till you retire from the military (7-10 year horizon)?

 

Re: AACSB?

You experience is one, and mine another. My employer requires AACSB for tuition reimbursement. Not saying right or wrong, just a requirement.

 

Re: AACSB?

See: http://www.aacsb.edu/General/InstLists.asp?lid=3

Harvard is AACSB accrdited in business, but not in acciunting.

 

Harvard, as far as I know is AACSB accredited, but, they told the AACSB where to put it for a long time. Does Harvard need the AACSB, of course not, the AACSB needed Harvard. All three business accrediting bodies, in fact any accrediting body is nothing more than quality control. The AACSB has standards that need to be met, to include curriculum, content, texts, and level of education of the instructor. The bottom line is there are good things that comes from AACSB or ACBSP accreditation, with IACBE still looking for their niche. Anytime there is a quality assurance/quality control standard involved, you know you will get the minimal acceptable standard. To point at a degree and say "this one is AACSB so it is better than that degree" is foolish, as we all teach and learn differently. I must however say, that for a DL degree it may be in your best interest to pursue one from an AACSB B&M school that offers online degrees that have name recognition all else being equal. Education is a personal matter, you must pursue the path that best suits your needs.

Bill

 

Bill-

I agree with you when you say "Education is a personal matter, you must pursue the path that best suits your needs."

Now, what to you think about UMUC? UMUC is a B&M school and it suits many govt. workers educational needs. In regards to their professional accreditation, I asked them about why they went for the IACBE instead of the AACSB?

Their response was because of the mission of the AACSB differed from their "non-traditional" status; however, their MBA program does met AACSB guidelines. Cost was also a big factor in not going for a AACSB accreditation. How true is this?

You're also correct about B&M schools w/ DL MBA programs out there. What makes their MBA programs differerent from schools like UMUC? In my opinion DL is exactly what it is, a learning format to help working professionals. Which brings me back to what you mentioned earlier, "Education is a personal matter, you must pursue the path that best suits your needs."

-k

 

Actually, since I am active duty army I am familiar with UMUC, they offer many satellite campuses and have worked with the governmental employee educational needs for quite some time, and I think they have a good program. As many have said, AACSB is the gold standard, ACBSP is the silver, and IACBE the bronze. Another way to look at it is AACSB is from the larger, usually costlier schools, ACBSP is smaller schools, say midsize, and IACBE schools are usually the smallest. They just do not have the money, and money is an issue for these accrediting bodies and the schools to pay for a large staff of doctorates to teach, on top of the fees AACSB requires. This would push up the cost of tuition as these fees must be paid, so you run into pass-through of the costs associated with AACSB accreditation being paid by the students. My advice, find the best program you can within the benefits of military TA and the GI Bill combined. If you have time remaining on your GI Bill you should be able to afford a good AACSB program with little or no out-of-pocket tuition costs, though you will have to pay for the books.

 

A bit of a contradiction. Why go for an AACSB, if you think it is foolish to think one degree is better than another?

I think it is foolish to think an HR person, or a hiring person in academia do not look at accreditation as a factor in some cases. In my case, my employer looks at accreditation, and says "if it is not AACSB, one does not get reimbursement, nor credit towards their salary, etc. for it". I do agree I think it is foolish, since there are so many other factors to consider, but I didn't get to make the rules, I just have to follow them.

 

For the same reason those that do not believe online degrees are worth it. B&M argues that one of the most important aspects of attending in person is the ability to network. Furthermore, this limits the people that can quite their job and attend college for two years as a mid-careerest--not many, so you keep the supply down.

Online degrees are still gaining their acceptance and establishing their niche, given this all my applications are to AACSB schools and one ACBSP school, but yes, my choice is AACSB because it is a factor of quality assurance that those who are skeptical would be more willing to accept degrees that are earned online if they are AACSB.

Do I necessarily believe that all AACSB programs are better than ACBSP, IACBE, and RA schools just because it has AACSB accreditation? No, I prefer to believe that small and mid-size schools have as much to offer, and sometimes more than their larger, AACSB brethren. I decided to pursue an MBA from an AACSB school mainly to give my DL degree an added stamp of professional accreditation.

Bill

 

Glad my employer isn't so narrow minded. If they were, they would not be my employer anymore!

I certainly do not want to be an instructor, couldn't live on what they get paid. But if a school told me I needed an AACSB degree to teach there no matter how strong my real world experience is I would also say get lost. If I ever need heart surgery please give me a doctor with current real world experience, not a bookworm!


Just my opinion

 

I would want one with both, but schooling is the foundation, without it, I would not let them touch me!!!!

 

Just so there is no misunderstanding with my statement earlier in this thread, let me clarify. I said it was easier to qualify to sit the CPA exam with a degree from an AACSB accredited school. I did not say it was impossible if the school was only RA. Utah's requirements are something like this.
MAcc (AACSB) = You qualify regardless of what course you have or have not taken.
MBA (AACSB) = You qualify if you have taken 15 graduate or 24 undergrad (or a combination of the two (1 grad credit = 1.6 undergrad)) accounting courses covering financial accounting, auditing, taxation, and management accounting.
An interesting note is that schools that are ACSBP accredited get the same treatment. IACBE or RA only schools do not. To qualify in either of those cases you must satisfy the requirements on a course by course (and level) basis. Which means you may end up needing to take a course or two or three at some point (even if you have an MAcc) to sit for the exam.

Tony

 

Han, just curious, but who is your employer if you do not mind me asking. It would seem to me that corporations would tend, like the government, to require only RA to qualify for tuition assistance. My employer, the military, will only pay for classes that are RA and within my degree plan, so just because I enjoy science, history, or cooking they will not pay for it if it is not a required course in my degree plan. Yes, they pay for other certificates, flight training, etc., but the norm for a bachelors or higher is RA. To require AACSB would seem to come from academia or some other specific reasoning, as in a CEO who was once a professor. Just curious.

Bill

 

I understood Tony, I was unsure if others did and tried to clarify, which BTW you did a much better job than I did.

Bill

 

I am in aerospace. I asked why the AACSB, and they said "it has always been that way" and "government contracts require it" The person in that position retired after many decades recently, so maybe they will get with the times. Interestingly enough, they only require AACSB for graduate study, not undergrad. Undergrad RA..... doesn't seem to make sense.

I know Boeing is not te same, they only require RA.

I know we are the exception, not the rules, but it would be interesting to find a study of what the "rules" are for major compnanies out there.