After an initial opportunity to learn professional judgment skills in Intermediate Accounting 1, students in Dr. Weinstein’s Intermediate Accounting 3 course were assigned a case that challenged them to determine whether a company’s assets had been impaired and, if so, the amount of the impairments. Students, first individually and then in small groups, worked with data in Excel, relevant authoritative literature, a framework for decision-making, and a variety of other information. As the teams were making impairment decisions and developing estimates, it was important for them to consider alternatives, practice professional judgment, and substantiate their conclusions.
As a component of the project, each team participated in a working session with an experienced practitioner. The student teams came to the working session prepared with an analysis and ready to articulate their conclusions and rationale. The practitioners reviewed the analysis with the team, asked questions, made suggestions for consideration, and shared relevant experiences from their practice. After the working session, students were given time to reflect, complete their final analysis, and prepare a professional memo. So much learning and professional growth took place over the course of the project. Special thanks to the experienced practitioners, including many John Carroll alums, from Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC, and RSM for so generously sharing their time, knowledge and experience!
