Accreditation is a process of voluntary, nongovernmental review of educational institutions and programs. Specialized agencies award accreditation for professional programs and academic units in particular fields of study.
Institutional accreditation reviews entire colleges and universities.
In the self-evaluation process, a school as assesses its, accomplishments in relation to its mission and objectives, as well as on the criteria, in the accreditation standards. The peer review is an external analysis of a school's processes for achieving its mission, assess ing educational outcomes, and planning for continuous improvement. Of the accredited institutions, more than 100 have achieved additional accreditation for their accounting programs. Additional standards for programs in accountancy were adopted in 1980. More than 100 institutions have achieved Candidacy status, with approximately 50 additional institutions in the candidacy process.