Results for Certified Evaluation and Accreditation forProfessional Graduate Business School

Graduate School of Economics and Business Hokkaido University,
Division of Accounting

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: NationalLocation: Hokkaido, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2023
Accreditation Status: accredited （Accreditation Period: April 1, 2024 – March 31, 2029）

Graduate School of Economics and Business Hokkaido University,
Division of Accounting

Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Results
for the Graduate School of Economics and Business, Hokkaido
University, Division of Accounting
The mission of the Graduate School of Economics and Business, Hokkaido University,
Division of Accounting, also known as Hokkaido University Accounting School, orHAccS, is to “train accounting professionals with advanced skills, a broad perspective,
and a strong sense of social responsibility and ethics who are worthy of being the driving
force of the 21st century economy and society.” Responsive to providing the diverse
expertise necessary for the accounting profession in society, HAccS develops the skills
required of accounting professionals in two directions: (a) Skills to succeed in theforefront of the business sector and (b) Skills to help drive forward regional economies,including Hokkaido’s. Operating under the above-described mission and objective, theAccounting School has graduated a large number of competent professionals, including
certified public accountants, who have gone on to work in the public and private sectors.
As for its economy, Hokkaido as a region faces considerable challenges inproviding post-graduation employment opportunities. Nevertheless, since its founding
HAccS has consistently produced successful CPA (essay) candidates every year throughits dedicated small group education and nurtured professionals who succeed in Hokkaido
and beyond. These achievements clearly embody Hokkaido University’s educational
philosophy of the “Frontier Spirit.” To implement education based on this noble
philosophy, HAccS has established five key themes and two strategies in its medium- andlong-term vision. The themes are “the need for accounting knowledge with aninternational breadth,” “the need to constantly update accounting knowledge in keepingwith progressive and increasingly complex corporate activities,” “the need to respond tovarious changes in the environment,” “expectations to serve as an independent third party
with a strong sense of ethics and integrity,” and “expectations from the public sector,”
while the strategies include “increasing the basic subject group” and “providing classes
characterized by small-group instruction, internationally-oriented subjects, and active
learning methods.” Design and implementation of the curriculum aligned with HAccS’s
key themes and strategies are made possible by the organizational structure of theGraduate School being divided into two separate organizations, Faculty Organization, andEducational Organization. Since AY2022, HAccS has established the three additional
strategies of “promoting education that utilizes various resources of the university,”“strengthening collaboration with outside organizations,” and “training globally-mindedaccountants grounded in the local community.”1Graduate School of Economics and Business Hokkaido University,
Division of Accounting

HAccS’s education program offers a structured and coherent curriculum, withcourses organized in a table that shows the subject level on a horizontal axis and thesubject field on a vertical axis. Classes are conducted in small groups and many adopt
such teaching strategies as presentation, discussion, and role playing to promote
communication and active learning.
With respect to faculty organization, teachers who teach accounting courses andIT and information courses belong to the Accounting Division of the Faculty ofEconomics and Business, while teachers in charge of economics, business management,and statistics courses are transferred to the Division of Modern Economics and Businesson rotation. This commendable arrangement ensures the independence of the Accounting
Division and smooth collaboration with the Faculty of Economics and Business and theGraduate School of Economics and Business. As a unique initiative aimed at quality
assurance of education, HAccS undergoes an annual teaching evaluation by the JapaneseInstitute of Certified Public Accountants Hokkaido Chapter and uses the results forimprovement. Also worth noting is that two of HAccS’s full-time teachers (one of whom
is a “deemed full-time faculty member”) are its graduates. As an embodiment of theAccounting School’s mission and purpose, these teachers serve as role models who help
motivate students.
This year’s certified evaluation and accreditation for professional graduate
business schools did not identify any issues requiring urgent action on HAccS’s part. As
a professional graduate business school with the mission to train skilled accounting
professionals and the purpose of achieving that mission by providing education
connecting theory and practice, HAccS’s present performance is highly commendable.
There are several areas of improvement the Accounting School should address,
however, to ensure future development.
First, efforts should be made to promote faculty diversity in terms of nationality
in line with HAccS’s aim to become more internationally oriented.
Second, HAccS has no collaborative or partnership agreements in place topromote cooperation with businesses or organizations, nor does it plan to forge suchagreements in the near future. As such, no talks are being held on the transfer ormanagement of funds in relation to potential collaborative alliances. Considering
HAccS’s medium- to long-term future, and from the standpoint of engaging with theoutside world, the Accounting School needs to start planning collaborative or partnershipagreements with businesses and organizations for such purposes as sourcing internshipproviders and obtaining external funding.
Third, as an accounting graduate school within Hokkaido University, a major2Graduate School of Economics and Business Hokkaido University,
Division of Accounting

comprehensive university emphasizing graduate education, it is important for HAccS toincrease its presence and recognition domestically and internationally. Fourth, in theincreasingly dynamic environment surrounding the accounting profession, HAccS must
adapt to the changing business landscape so as to continue delivering its mission as anaccounting graduate school. Accordingly, HAccS is expected to enhance its
organizational agility by establishing more clearly which party bears the ultimate
responsibility in delivering its exclusive purpose of training skilled accounting
professionals. This will be an important issue following Hokkaido University’s decisionto split the Graduate School into the Faculty Organization and the EducationalOrganization, with HAccS’s teaching staff comprised of teachers from the Faculty ofBusiness and Economics and the Graduate School of Business and Economics; but
HAccS is likely to continue to rely on timely and appropriate decisions and actions by theDean of the Accounting School to operate effectively.
HAccS is expected to utilize the results of this certified evaluation andaccreditation for professional graduate business schools, continue to assure and enhance
the quality of its education program, and develop its unique characteristics to achieve
further growth.

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