Accountants, Cybersecurity Isn't Just for “Techies”: Incorporating Cybersecurity into the Accounting Curriculum

Abstract

In today’s business world, it is essential that accountants be concerned about cybersecurity in their organizations and in the work they perform. Despite increasing importance as well as regulatory and professional emphasis, most accounting curricula limit cybersecurity coverage to accounting information systems courses. We argue that cybersecurity concepts should be introduced at all levels of the accounting curriculum, and we provide six short, open-ended cases highlighting the relationship between cybersecurity and the accounting curriculum. Instructors can assign one or more of these cases as individual or group exercises in introductory, core, and/or advanced accounting classes. The cases address cybersecurity disclosure issues in financial reporting, the impact of a client cybersecurity breach on financial audit, the risks to tax preparers of storing personally identifiable information, calculating and evaluating the costs of cybersecurity breaches, and examining cybersecurity disclosures in 10-Ks. Case efficacy was evaluated in multiple courses and learning environments.