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Accounting is the language of business and a sound business education requires students, regardless of their majors, to be at least conversant in it. Even, or perhaps especially, those who aren鈥檛 accounting majors need to understand basic accounting principles.

The struggles persist as students work to move from the initial accounting course to Intermediate Accounting, which is required of Finance majors as well as Accounting majors.

Faculty members Jennifer Cornett and Lisa Miller noticed 鈥渂ig gaps鈥� in performance among the roughly 600 students moving into the second course, Mueller-Phillips says, which led to a 鈥渂oot camp鈥� approach aimed at bolstering students鈥� grasp of fundamentals.

鈥淭he first course is tough enough, but many students were really struggling in the second course,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he faculty members saw the need for an intervention.鈥�

That came in the form of an intensive review of the material taught in the first course, delivered in three-hour sessions over three nights. 鈥淲e believe it is helping students,鈥� Mueller-Phillips says. 鈥淪tudents are grateful that these faculty members are spending this time with them to help them be successful.鈥�

As valuable as these sessions are, faculty began to recognize that that their utility could be enhanced with technology that makes the review and instruction available to students any time and repeatable as many times as a student needs to solidify understanding of the material. 鈥淚nteractive presentation can be more appealing than textbook or lecture presentation, especially for students who learn better with interactive materials,鈥� she says.

The idea was pitched to accounting giant KPMG, which provided a $250,000 commitment. Combined with a 91看片 Matching Grant, that established the KPMG Endowment for Instructional Excellence.

91看片鈥檚 Media Production Group is developing the material for the boot camp program. Students in the initial accounting course can benefit from the boot camp as well, Mueller-Phillips says. 鈥淎fter about the midway point of the first course, this can be helpful to those students. It can help them pass finals, for example.鈥�

KPMG鈥檚 investment in the School of Accountancy is also an investment in its own future, she says. 鈥淭his gets students鈥攖heir future recruits鈥攐ff to a good start.鈥�

For those who wonder why students who don鈥檛 plan to be accountants should study accounting, Mueller-Phillips says it鈥檚 about decision-making. 鈥淭o make good business decisions, they need to understand basic accounting, how the dollars relate to the decisions they鈥檙e making for the company. A lot of decisions come down to accounting information.鈥�

You have to speak the language.