The Academic Accounting Profession and the Pathways Commission: Two Helpful Analogs from the National Football League

The accounting academy is facing two critical challenges: an increasing disconnect between academia and practice and a growing shortage of faculty. Recently, the Pathways Commission proposed that accounting programs more fully embrace professionally oriented faculty. This proposal is attractive because it would increase faculty numbers and bring a stronger practice orientation to the academy. Although there may be benefits associated with this proposal, there may also be significant unintended consequences. In this paper, we use two analogs from the NFL to highlight the risks in relying on practice-oriented faculty to solve our problems. We offer a series of reflection questions to promote further conversations on the Pathways Commission’s proposal.