PICPA and Outlier Bring College Accounting to High Schools

In spring 2023, the PICPA’s Pennsylvania CPA Foundation connected with Outlier.com about a partnership to support Pennsylvania high school students in their journey to becoming CPAs. Outlier hosts virtual asynchronous college-level courses on its platform that are run through various universities. As part of a one-year pilot program, the PICPA is financially sponsoring 18 high school students to take a three-credit intro to financial accounting course through the University of Pittsburgh.

One school that has joined the effort to expose more students to the accounting profession is Fairview High School in Erie. Fairview has three students – two sophomores and a freshman – enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh accounting course that was designed by Outlier. The course runs 36 weeks rather than the typical 18-week semester to better support young learners encountering higher-level concepts. The Fairview students are on track to have three college credits by June, which can be transferred to any institution that accepts Pitt credits if they decide to not attend the University of Pittsburgh.

Outlier courses can be challenging. For many students it is their first college class, so there is a learning curve. It is also asynchronous and 100% online. At Fairview, students dedicate about six and a half hours in school per week to the course, and then spend another one to two hours outside of school studying. The students seem to have confidence taking an online course, thanks in part to their prior experience with remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The students at Fairview have done well thus far. In fact, one of the sophomores scored 100% on his first college exam. The course includes lecture videos, virtual flash cards, quizzes, homework questions, and proctored exams. The content is what you likely learned in your own introduction to accounting course.

Fairview has long had dual-enrollment programs allowing students to take college classes while in high school, but accounting courses were never offered. The PICPA-Outlier-University of Pittsburgh program offers students a deep dive into accounting instead of the very broad introduction to business course typically offered in dual enrollment programs.

Another school participating in the PICPA-Outlier partnership is Governor Mifflin High School in Shillington, Pa. Governor Mifflin has 11 students enrolled in a financial accounting course. These students are in 11th and 12th grade, have one year of high school accounting under their belts, and are currently in Accounting 2. These students were chosen because they showed a genuine interest in the subject and demonstrated good study skills. The course truly offers many benefits for the students. For instance, all participants get to experience what a college course is like before entering that stage of their life. Another is getting a required course for accounting majors out of the way at a slower, more independent pace than when their courseload and the new college experience would be more overwhelming. With this being said, all 11 students in the Governor Mifflin program do have a full high school courseload, and this college-level class is in addition to their regular schedule. They do not have this as one of their regularly assigned courses, and therefore they have to schedule time on their own to complete it during evenings and on weekends. For the most part, they are handling it well.

In addition to helping the accounting profession reach out and make contact with young learners before they wall off their choice of college major, providing college accounting classes in high school is beneficial to the students. These benefits include giving students a head start on their college career, affordability, transferability, and having the support of a high school teacher to build their study skills as they transition to college.

And there can be benefit in finding out early if these courses are not a good fit for the student. In the case of Fairview, the program started with four students, but one student found that online learning wasn’t for him. This is extremely valuable information for this student to have as he enters college in a few years. The remaining students, on the other hand, found online delivery to be convenient and they gained a lot of confidence in taking online courses.

In addition to the Outlier program, the PICPA regularly reaches out to high schools to provide a more personal testimonial of the benefits of an accounting career. By getting accountants into the classroom, PICPA members can share the vast opportunities available to CPAs. At Fairview in October and November, Scott Herzing and Alexis Burkhart from McGill, Power, Bell & Associates LLP visited with nearly 60 students who are enrolled in Fairview’s intro to accounting. Herzing and Burkhart both made presentations on the accounting profession and hosted an accounting-themed trivia game.

For more information on the Outlier program or to volunteer to visit a local high school, contact Emily Hopkins with the PICPA’s Pennsylvania CPA Foundation. 

Kristen Wilbert of Governor Mifflin High School in Shillington is in her 25th year teaching business education, currently teaching accounting classes and serving as the adviser for the Future Business Leaders of America club. She can be reached at kristen.wilbert@gmsd.org.