Abstract This article presents the text of a report by the Committee on Consequences of Accreditation of the American Accounting Association on accreditation for accounting education in the U.S. as of October 2, 1977. Accreditation of post-secondary educational institutions and educational programs by voluntary membership in non-governmental agencies is a phenomenon peculiar to the U.S. The Constitution does not provide for a Federal ministry of education as in so many other countries. Instead, U.S. turned to private agencies around the turn of this century to perform the task of quality control by peer evaluation and has continued to do so since. Accreditation has become so tied to the determination of eligibility for federal funds that it has ceased to be a voluntary process and may have lost control of its own destiny. Accreditation is used by special interest groups not so much for legitimate public purposes but as a mechanism for achieving or protecting private benefits. The institution or program seeking accreditation makes a comprehensive effort to assess its own effectiveness based on its publicly stated goals and objectives.
A Sun, study studied this question.