[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1705 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1705

 To amend the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grant program to 
 promote career awareness in accounting as part of a well-rounded STEM 
                        educational experience.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 18, 2023

Ms. Collins (for herself and Ms. Rosen) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grant program to 
 promote career awareness in accounting as part of a well-rounded STEM 
                        educational experience.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``STEM Education in Accounting Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) The accounting profession is working to ensure that it 
        meets the needs of the public, businesses, governments, and 
        not-for-profit organizations in a technology-driven 
        marketplace.
            (2) Promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within the 
        accounting profession fosters a field that is reflective of the 
        local, regional, and global communities it serves, and is 
        better positioned to innovate around the complex issues facing 
        organizations of all kinds and the evolving public interest.
            (3) Early exposure to the accounting profession through 
        family, friends, and other community interactions, or relevant 
        elementary and secondary course offerings, increases 
        opportunity for students to recognize the limitless 
        possibilities of a career in accounting, and therefore inspires 
        that professional trajectory.
            (4) This Act seeks to build on existing financial literacy 
        initiatives by establishing the significance of early course 
        offerings in accounting education as drivers for improving 
        career opportunity and diversity within this STEM profession.
            (5) There is a clear and logical integration between 
        accounting and technology: as the profession continues to 
        advance its use of technology to serve the public interest, 
        accounting professionals, including CPAs, are technological 
        leaders who manage and analyze big data, ensure data security, 
        manage cybersecurity risk, and work alongside Information 
        Technology professionals.
            (6) The pipeline of accounting majors in higher education, 
        and accounting as a profession, will be expanded through 
        exposure to STEM-designated accounting programs particularly in 
        middle and secondary education curricula.

SEC. 3. ACCOUNTING AS PART OF A WELL-ROUNDED EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE.

    Subpart 1 of part A of title IV of the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7111 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) in section 4104(b)(3)(A)(i), by--
                    (A) striking ``or'' at the end of subclause (VI);
                    (B) redesignating subclause (VII) as subclause 
                (VIII); and
                    (C) inserting after subclause (VI) the following 
                new subclause:
                                    ``(VII) accounting education, 
                                including accounting career awareness; 
                                or''; and
            (2) in section 4107(a)(3), by--
                    (A) striking ``or'' at the end of subparagraph (I);
                    (B) redesignating subparagraph (J) as subparagraph 
                (K); and
                    (C) inserting after subparagraph (I) the following 
                new subparagraph:
                    ``(J) activities to promote the development, 
                implementation, and strengthening of programs to teach 
                accounting, including increasing access to high-quality 
                accounting courses for students through grade 12 who 
                are members of groups underrepresented in accounting 
                careers; or''.
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