نگاهی جامع بر آموزش حسابداری دولتی

This paper presents a senior governmental accounting educator’s perspectives on how governmental accounting education has changed over the past 35 years and what we can expect for the future. Having begun my academic career during the 1970s, a period of turmoil and debate about the deficient state of governmental accounting, I look at how events of this period influenced my personal decision to specialize in governmental accounting education and how those events led to a path of dramatic improvement in governmental accounting standards, practice, and education. Key trends in governmental accounting education are discussed along with major changes in practice guidance over the years that have challenged textbook authors and faculty in staying abreast of change. The paper identifies many governmental accounting educators who have made significant contributions to governmental accounting and auditing policy and encourages current educators to seek ways to participate in the policy-making process. Finally, the paper discusses the future outlook for governmental accounting education and concludes that governmental accounting educators are well positioned to contribute to achieving the recently released recommendations of the Pathways Commission (2012).

The editors of this special edition asked me to provide an historical perspective on governmental accounting education, presumably based on my long academic career as a governmental accounting teacher, researcher, textbook author, and frequent participant in the policy-making process. Following their recommendations, I discuss early influences on my career that led me to specialize in governmental accounting, the predominant trends that I have observed in governmental accounting education, the major pressures on textbook authors and instructors in staying abreast of rapid change in practice guidance, the major policy contributions made by governmental accounting educators, and the outlook for the future.