To the Editor:

Myrna Fischman has made a significant contribution with her suggestion that experienced practitioners will transmit more meaningful information about accounting than those who have not enjoyed the practical experience ("Who Should Be Teaching Our Future CPAs?" February 1999). In describing the people who should teach the early accounting courses, I would add a word to the job description: "enthusiasm." We need people who love accounting, have a passion for the profession, and can transmit to the younger students the satisfaction of helping clients both individual and corporate.

Accounting is facing fierce competition from other professions and vocations that need skilled young people who strive for excellence. If we do not put our best foot forward in the first or second year of college, if we fail to put in front of these young adults our best salespeople and representatives of the profession, then [students] will gravitate toward investment banking or medicine or engineering. It is the accounting teachers who will help us attract and retain the most talented and energetic students in the early years of college. Let's assign that job to the first team.

--Stanley Goldstein

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