AACSB Accreditation – Fraud or Incompetence?

The Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) was established in 1916 to be the guarantor and standard setter for ensuring the quality of business school education. In the decades that have followed this past century the needs of business students, employers, and business schools, and society have evolved and the criteria for accrediting business schools have been challenged. We review the evolving history of business education, the criticisms that has been made about the AACSB and its standards and identify concerns about the degree in which that accrediting body is fulfilling its original intended role. We suggest that the AACSB and business school administrators have failed to honor their moral obligation to business students, and future employers by decreasing their standards and failing to ensure that business school education is relevant to the needs of society.