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“An ongoing assessment of our effectiveness at serving the corporate

world of accounting and finance”

How to Bridge the Gaps in

Finance and Accounting Editorial Review

Tom Pryor and Michael Cipriano

O
ver the past six months, which we are doing versus that successful strategies to over-
the journal’s editor- which we ought to be doing and come the challenges associ-
in-chief, Jim Edwards, search for bridges we can build ated with such an increasingly
has challenged us—members to fill in those gaps. dynamic corporate landscape.
of his Editorial Advisory The most important part of We all know that more and
Board—to examine what we this series will be the dialogue more tasks within corporations
ought to be doing within the that we hope to inspire related are being performed through
pages of the Journal of Cor- to these issues from those who automation and technologies
porate Accounting and Finance are dealing with these gaps on laced with artificial intelligence.
(JCAF), our classrooms, our a daily basis. So much of what As a result, the skills required
academic departments and our gets published in this and most of those both in and coming
corporations to improve the business-oriented journals gets into finance and accounting
accounting and finance profes- read by very few corporate careers in the corporate world
sion, including the academic, finance and accounting profes- are much different than they
corporate, and government sionals due to time constraints were 10 or 20 years ago, and
sectors. That task on its face and the reality that once an they are going to be even more
is, at a minimum, intimidating author starts a paragraph with different 10 or 20 years from
due to the depth and breadth a phrase like “In THEORY, …” now. If we accept that as fact,
of analysis required to tackle most readers check out because then CFOs and other corporate
it. In a series of columns, we they are dealing with the REAL- leaders need to ask themselves
cannot promise to deliver all of ITY of an ever-changing world. what skills and capabilities their
the answers necessary to meet We are in a world that is people are going to need to be
Jim’s challenge. What we can changing faster than most of successful as both individuals
do, however, is to both ask the us ever imagined it could and and as resources of the corpo-
questions that we feel need to where there is rapid change, ration. And, in a similar vein,
be answered by the entire JCAF there is a tendency for both educators need to ask them-
readership in order to both education and practice to selves if they have identified
identify the gaps between that lag behind in implementing those skills that their corporate

© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).
DOI 10.1002/jcaf.22213 83
84 The Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance  /  November/December 2016
constituents desire from their
students by engaging with
them and identifying the gaps
between what they are doing in
their classrooms and research
versus what their constituents
need them to be doing.
One Texas CFO described
to us his frustration with the
gap that exists between the
accounting graduates he hires
and the skills his business
needs: “Most students have
little to no hands-on skill in
running a business. The ability
to link academic knowledge to
the real world is a broken link
in the educational system.”
That may seem like a bit of an
extreme criticism, but the real-
ity is that many corporate lead-
ers are frustrated by gaps that
exist within their workforce.
Former Franklin Covey chair-
man and CEO Hyrum Smith
defines three types of gaps that
he has observed over the years
(Smith, 2008, p. 8):
1. The Beliefs Gap. This is
the gap between what you
believe to be true and what
is actually true. “There was
a time when the vast major-
ity of the people on this
earth believed that the sun
revolved around the earth.
When Copernicus suggested
and Galileo insisted that it
was the other way around,
people considered them her-
etics.” We propose that there
are finance and accounting
beliefs that may not be true.
2. The Values Gap. This is the
gap between what you value
most and what you are actu-
ally doing. Ask where you
are actually spending your
time, energy, and resources
compared to where you want
to be spending them. Smith
says, “The Values Gap is the
gap between doing ‘any old
DOI 10.1002/jcaf © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
thing’ and doing the things
that matter most.”
3. The Time Gap. This is the
gap between what we want
to do with our time and
how we actually spend it. If
we analyze how we spend
our 24 hours each day in
academia or corporate
America, we expect to find a
gap between what we want
to be doing versus what
we are doing. Making the
best choices and closing
the Time Gap will require
understanding the outcomes
desired compared to where
we are investing our time.
When asked for more spe-
cifics regarding the gaps they
have observed in recent years,
corporate executives consis-
tently say that skills lacking
but needed include (a) data
gathering, synthesis, and analy-
sis of that data with a variety
of available software; (b) the
ability to deal with abstract
problems within constrained
resource sets; (c) the construc-
tion of well-crafted technical
memoranda and/or oral argu-
ments that are both succinct
and persuasive; (d) forecasting
future performance based on a
reasonable set of assumptions;
(e) the ability to lead and the
willingness to be led; (f) a well-
defined decision-making pro-
cess that omits bias and broad-
ens options; and (g) the skill of
asking thoughtful questions.
When examining under-
graduate business curricula,
we would hope to see the
aforementioned gaps being
addressed and skills being
developed as part of the knowl-
edge dissemination process.
The first question that we are
asking ourselves, in our role as
educators, is: Are we develop-
ing those skills in our classes,
or are we teaching to boost per-
formance on diagnostics that
are (a) easy to measure and
(b) focused almost exclusively
on students’ ability to regur-
gitate knowledge that we have
thrown at them?
Most academics who are
(hopefully) still reading this
column are likely employed at
schools accredited by the Asso-
ciation to Advance Collegiate
Schools of Business (AACSB).
One of the primary require-
ments for AACSB accreditation
is the implementation of an
extensive Assurance of Learn-
ing (AoL) program. The stan-
dards for AoL that are set forth
by the AACSB leave it largely
up to each business school as
to (a) what things to measure
as a function of the school’s
learning goals and objectives
and (b) how to measure them.
We do not think it is a secret
that much of this measurement
is done through the utilization
of multiple-choice diagnostics
that are delivered either in a
live classroom or through some
kind of web-based interface
(e.g., Blackboard, McGraw-Hill
Connect, etc.). It is an open
question as to how much of it
is done this way and it begets
the even bigger question of how
to quantify the impact that this
type of measurement is having
on the skill development that
our students ultimately need to
succeed as professionals in the
corporate world of both today
and tomorrow.
Another measurement issue
that exists in business schools
today is related to the research
productivity of faculty. Most
business schools measure fac-
ulty research productivity based
on the number of publications
they generate in the “right”
journals, which are often those
heavy on statistical calisthenics
The Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance  /  November/December 2016 85

and light on findings that
would influence corporate
behavior. As that trend has
evolved and gained momentum
over the past 30 to 40 years,
accounting and finance PhD
programs have become increas-
ingly populated with students
who have neither under-
graduate degrees nor practical
experience in those respective
fields. The primary admission
criteria focus on the statistical,
mathematical, and computer
programming aptitude of
applicants rather than their rel-
evant professional experience.
A question that we feel must
be addressed is whether the
pressure to publish in certain
journals and the background
of students who are joining the
finance and accounting faculty
in many business schools are
widening or shrinking the gap
between what corporate lead-
ers would like to see in business
journals versus what they are
seeing in them.
In this journal, Jim and
the Editorial Board are com-
mitted to publishing double-
blind peer-reviewed (R) and
editorial review (ER) articles
that are digestible for and
relevant to corporate account-
ing and finance leaders. We,
once again, are often left with
questions like “what do prac-
titioners want from us?” and
“what gaps could JCAF be
filling within the pages of each
issue?” Given the collective
experiences of the board and
our connections to accounting
and finance executives, we feel
that we have at least somewhat
of an idea of what some of
the gaps are and some of the
work that we should be doing
and commissioning in order to
maintain and grow a sustain-
able readership filled with both
practitioners and academics
who are interested in develop-
ing the kind of future practi-
tioners who will have the skills,
knowledge, and perspective to
fill the demands of corporate
leaders not only today, but also
20 years from now. That said,
we ask again for feedback from
those who are “in the trenches”
regarding the gaps that we
should be addressing as this
journal moves forward.
As we indicated from the
outset of this column, we can-
not promise to answer all of
these questions in one column
or even in the series of columns
that follows. In this column,
we hope that we have asked at
least some of the right ques-
tions that will open the door
to feedback from those who
are still reading that both aug-
ments our list of questions and
begins to provide some answers
to the ones that are imperative
if we are to appropriately serve
the accounting and finance
professions in a way that will
allow them to evolve, thrive,
and grow.
Our goal is inspired by
Peter Drucker, the father of
American management. He
wrote a letter to Bob Buford,
founder of the Halftime Insti-
tute, dated September 22, 1986,
advising, “I would submit that
you should target yourself on
the areas where a little suc-
cess on your part will have the
greatest impact, both because
it will be highly visible and also
because it will make a genuine
difference.”1 To achieve this
goal, we need your participa-
tion. If you prepare financial
reports in a corporation, we
need you. If you audit financial
reports, we need you. If you
teach in a college or university,
we need you. If you define and
monitor financial regulations,
we need you. Please submit
your response to this column to
either Tom at TomPryor@icms
.net or Michael at mcip828@
gmail.com or cipriamc@jmu
.edu.
NOTE
1. Retrieved from http://ccdl.libraries
.claremont.edu/cdm/ref/collection/dac/
id/7148
REFERENCE
Smith, H. W. (2015). The 3 Gaps. San
Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.

Tom Pryor’s diverse career includes founding an activity-based costing software, consulting, and training
business in 1988, serving as a certified family business advisor; Director of UTA’s Small Business Develop-
ment Center; project manager of the global research project that developed activity-based cost manage-
ment; plus 19 years of financial management with General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, and Motorola.
Tom has written hundreds of blogs, teaches at several universities and serves on the advisory boards for
Baylor’s Institute for Family Business and the Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance. He may be
contacted at TomPryor@icms.net. Michael C. Cipriano, CPA, PhD, is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor
of Accounting at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Dr. Cipriano is a member of the JCAF
Editorial Advisory Board. He may be reached at cipriamc@jmu.edu in matters relating to JCAF.

© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI 10.1002/jcaf

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