How Do Universities Prepare Students for a Data-driven Business Environment?

As big data becomes a more and more important asset of many organizations, recruiters expect upcoming accounting majors with some data analytics skills. Therefore, many universities actively response the new skill demand and incorporate data analytics in their accounting programs differently. The purpose of this research is to investigate and compare how and to what extent different universities prepare their accounting major students for a data-driven business environment. The scope of the research is limited to the universities that have requested data analytics course syllabus and information from an accounting faculty at Northern Illinois University and some universities within the state of Illinois. There is also limitation that many universities don’t publish the course information in detail on their websites. I firstly searched on the data analytics learning experience expected by AACSB. Then, I investigated how different universities respond to this new learning experience suggestion. According to my sample universities, I collected and prioritized popular data analytics topics, other popular course options, and common use of application software. Based on my finding, universities equip their accounting major students with data analytics skills differently from incorporating small data analytics assignments into traditional accounting courses to offering a data analytics degree.B.S. (Bachelor of Science