Suboptimization in Accounting Education and the Subjective Theory of Value: Some Suggestions for Change

Abstract

The subjective theory of value - the theory that something is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it - has been around for more than 100 years. Yet the people who determine what accounting students must study ignore this basic fact when they construct accounting degree requirements. The result is suboptimization - an accounting program that is necessarily of lower quality than would otherwise be the case.

Applying the subjective theory of value to graduate accounting and tax curricula in the United States makes it clear that, in order to offer higher quality programs, it is necessary to give students a choice. Rather than dictating from above what courses must be taken to receive a degree, students must be free to choose for themselves what courses they, in their own subjective judgment, place the highest value on. Any curriculum that does not maximize student choice must, necessarily, be of lower quality than one that lets students make their own choices.

JEL Classification: D46, I2, M4