An interdisciplinary management consulting concentration to develop the AICPA core competencies and meet the 150-hour requirement

We discuss how an interdisciplinary MBA concentration in management consulting is an effective and creative approach to accomplishing the objectives of the 150-h requirement. Our concentration consists of four team-taught courses taken in a cohort manner over two semesters. Students also complete an actual consulting engagement. We argue this type of concentration develops the skills specified in the AICPA's Core Competency Framework in a way that is superior to the more prevalent 150-h curricula of technical accounting courses. We find it is also a viable option for departments faced with limited resources. Because consulting represents a new discipline in graduate business programs, we describe the process and challenges of developing a consulting concentration at Central Michigan University. We also outline the nature of our consulting curriculum, and explain the international consulting philosophy, the Socio-Economic Approach to Management (SEAM), that we teach in the concentration. We find by providing an interdisciplinary experience that requires students to understand and improve business processes within complex human organizations, an MBA consulting concentration offers the type of multi-faceted training the AICPA envisioned for the 150-h requirement.