Accounting Faculty Internships

Accounting professionals, business college accrediting bodies, andeven accounting academics themselves acknowledge that there is a disconnect betweenacademe and the rigors and requirements of the accounting profession. Among thesuggestions proposed in the literature to reduce this gap is the faculty internship,where accounting faculty members work within the field as accountants. Heretofore,individual case studies report benefits of such internships that accrue to a variety ofstakeholder groups beyond just the faculty intern and include the academic institution,students, and accounting profession through faculty internships. This research seekswider support for these benefits. This descriptive study involved surveying a sample ofaccounting faculty members to get their opinions about the benefits and drawbacks offaculty internships, and to determine the level of use of faculty internships inaccounting. In all, 128 usable responses were obtained, representing a 14.6% responserate. The results of this study reveal that although most faculty members acknowledgethe benefits cited in the literature, too few take advantage of facultyinternships