Business Accreditation
Continuous Improvement Review
Business Accreditation
The AACSB continuous improvement review (CIR) process is conducted every five years and creates an ongoing focus of continuous improvement. This signals that an AACSB-accredited institution has documented continuous improvements in support of its stated mission and strategic management plan to sustain AACSB accreditation status.
On July 1, two years prior to the continuous improvement review, each institution is asked to submit a CIR application to initiate the continuous improvement review process.
No later than 60 days prior to the peer review team visit, a CIR report should be submitted via myAccreditation. The CIR report is intended to be organized around the themes of the business accreditation standards—engagement, innovation, and impact. as well as the four focus areas of the 2013 standards and the three focus areas of the 2020 standards.
Documents should be completed, saved, and submitted via myAccreditation by the predetermined due dates. If you have any questions, contact your AACSB accreditation staff liaison.
For accounting accreditation, please see accounting-specific CIR documents.
- Both the school and team should read the Accounting and Business PRT best practices document found here.
Handbooks and Processes
CIR Handbook (Business and Accounting)
Roles and Responsibilities
Policies and Procedures
Accreditation Learning Journey: Newly Accredited Schools
2020 Standards Sample Tables
Sample Table 2-1
Sample Table 3-1
Sample Table 3-2
Sample Table 5-1 (Optional)
Sample Table 8-1
Sample Table 9-1 (Optional)
Continuous Improvement Review Timelines
2023-24 Visit
2024-25 Visit
2025-26 Visit
2026-27 Visit
2027-28 Visit
2028-29 Visit
2020 Required Documentation
2020 Continuous Improvement Review Application—2020
2020 Required Documentation
Visits scheduled July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024:
The May 2023 version advises the Covid addendum is no longer required.
The September 2023 version advises:
- The Tables may be uploaded to myAccreditation as PDF or Excel documents.
- New Excel Table templates are under the Tables section below.
- Recommended when not submitting vendor generated tables.
- Schools should upload their Risk Analysis document in myAccreditation.
- For 2023-24 visits, the Risk Analysis should be included either in the Strategic Plan, under the Addendum tab, or uploaded under the Risk Analysis requirement.
- For 2024-25 visits and beyond, the Risk Analysis is required as an upload under the Risk Analysis requirement.
- Risk Analysis Template
- For 2023-24 visits, the Risk Analysis should be included either in the Strategic Plan, under the Addendum tab, or uploaded under the Risk Analysis requirement.