The purpose of this study is to determine the impact that completing a data analytics (DA) assignment has on student learning in a financial statement audit course. The growing implementation of DA in financial auditing, the need for those entering the profession to possess higher order thinking skills, and the ability to perform analysis tasks makes our study timely and relevant. Two groups of students are compared for their exam performance in a financial statement audit course, with one group completing an IDEA assignment after the first exam and other not doing so. Results show that student performance on the second and third exams improved for those who completed the assignment but there was no similar improvement for those who did not. Our results suggest that there is value in using DA in a financial statement auditing course. This should be appealing both to accounting education and to the audit profession due to the implication that graduates would be better prepared to meet the growing demands for higher order thinking and DA skills.
There is concern that management accounting competencies fall short of meeting the needs of employers. The blame for this has been directed to accounting curriculums that have not kept up with the changing needs of employers. In order to keep up to date, accounting educators are encouraged to collaborate with practitioners to assure accounting competencies maintain their relevance. To help with this collaboration, the objective of this research is to uncover the most important competencies that accounting graduates lack. To achieve our objective, we conducted 27 in-depth interviews with accounting practitioners. Our results highlight that accounting practitioners continue to express concern over the communication skills of accounting graduates entering the workforce. More precisely, management accountants need to communicate information so that a wide variety of people in the organization understand. This requires that the management accountant better understand the roles and needs of others. In addition, our results suggest that management accountants are adept at providing sound technical information, but lack the abilities to add value to information, by explaining how to use it and why it is important. We believe our study should motivate accounting educators to integrate more relevant and specific communications skills training into accounting curriculum, not only formal presentation skills, taught in most accounting programs. Instead, educators need to incorporate methods that could help accounting graduates make accounting information accessible and relevant to a wide variety of decision makers.
This case emulates a real business situation in the construction industry providing students the opportunity to critically think about revenue recognition for long-term contracts. The case includes an error in the financial reports and weaknesses in accounting procedures giving students the opportunity to review the COSO framework, evaluate internal controls procedures and make recommendations regarding accounting processes. Accounting concepts for revenue recognition using percentage-of-completion for long-term contracts can be challenging for students to grasp and remember. This case study takes the approach that students need to think critically about the implications of revenue recognition and be able to analyze the effects of a change (correction) to the financial reports. By providing students with a completed Excel spreadsheet for a percentage-of-completion schedule, students are able to quickly make a change (correction) to the Excel spreadsheet and analyze the effects of the change on the revenue recognized during the period as well as the effect on the assets and liabilities.
Professional accountants—at all levels (student, educator, practitioner)—may be looking for strategies to support professional development and/or continuing education, including the development of communication skills. This paper provides an example of critical self-reflection, which resulted in a retirement-induced reading spree for the author and an appreciation by the author of the value of reading as a strategy for enhancing one’s reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. To illustrate these benefits with greater concreteness, the paper includes a short discussion of each of 18 subjectively determined “power words†(and related definitions) gathered by the author from recent issues of the Wall Street Journal. These examples illustrate how appropriate word choices allow authors of cited material to communicate (in context) with conciseness and precision—power for short. I complement this set of words with additional “power words†I self-selected from a variety of business and nonbusiness sources. The paper contains a listing of additional resources (both printed and web-based) that individuals interested in improving their vocabulary can consult. As a learning resource, the paper can be used in accounting courses with a communications component, for personal and/or professional development purposes, and in CPE courses focused on communication skills development. An appendix provides sample word-choice quizzes based on the 18 words discussed in the paper.
The volume and complexity of the content presented in traditional intermediate accounting courses has increased substantially over the last 50 years. A minority of business schools have responded to this change by adding a third intermediate financial accounting course to the curriculum. The primary purpose of this research is to examine the level of support among accounting educators for the creation of an additional intermediate accounting course. We survey accounting professors and ask whether specific, complex topics should be (1) covered in traditional intermediate courses or (2) moved to a more advanced financial accounting course. We seek perceptions of the costs and benefits associated with an additional intermediate accounting course. The survey is designed to be primarily descriptive in nature. We find that a minority (majority) of accounting educators do (do not) support the creation of a third intermediate accounting course. We find that accounting professors who teach at universities that offer (do not offer) a third intermediate accounting course generally have more favorable (unfavorable) attitudes regarding the costs and benefits of this course. Our findings should be of interest to accounting educators and hopefully will encourage further discussion of this important issue.
This research studies various methods to reduce cheating during in-class examinations. We surveyed 218 undergraduate business students (133 men and 85 women) enrolled in introductory accounting and business law classes at a private university in the Northeast region of the United States. Our data indicate that cheating on minor examinations positively associated with having observed other students cheating and negatively associated with social desirability response bias, believing that cheating is wrong and that more should be done about cheating. Cheating on major examinations positively associated with having cheated on minor examinations and gender and negatively associated with believing that cheating is wrong. Students’ history of cheating on both minor-and-major examinations and knowing other students who cheated positively associated with students’ intent to cheat in the future and negatively associated with social desirability response bias. Only one suggestion for reducing cheating provided by students had significant differences among the three student cheating groups – bags and computers should not be accessible to students during examinations. Finally, while there was only one significant difference among the students’ history of cheating, three recommendations for reducing cheating are consistent with prior research: closely monitor students, use different examinations and separate students; these suggestions indicate that professors are not heeding the findings of prior research.
Blockchain is quickly emerging as a technology that could transform accounting as we know it. As with any new technology, accounting academics must assess if the instruction of this new technology should be added to the curriculum. This paper sheds light on this topic through a series of surveys given to professionals, students and academics in an effort to understand expectations of student’s knowledge of blockchain. Our study provides evidence that professionals expect students to have a basic understanding of blockchain yet they do not have this knowledge despite showing an interest in learning about blockchain. Professors also believe students should have this knowledge yet some institutions have failed to add it to the curriculum. For those institutions interested in adding blockchain to their curriculum, this study provides support for adding this content to an AIS/Systems course, which may be easier to implement at the graduate level.
This research ranks accounting programs based on their faculty members’ publications in accounting-education journals. The goal of this research is to ‘level the playing field’ when ranking accounting-education programs by providing smaller programs a means to compete with larger programs. We accomplished this by using three methodologies: non-standardized article counts; article counts standardized by each journal’s quality rating; and, article counts standardized by each journal’s quality rating, the time since the each author received their PHD/DBA and the number of accounting-education authors on faculty (i.e., fully standardized rankings). This information would be useful for new PHD/DBAs seeking an initial position and interested in accounting-education research or associate/full professors considering relocating who are interested in accounting-education research. Programs seeking or maintaining their AACSB accreditation can also use the data in this study as an outcomes assessment indicator.
The purpose of this study is to interpret accounting faculty’s opinions regarding the value of the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license, other professional accounting credentials, and educational credentials relative to teaching. The population for this study was 131 accounting faculty members at ten New Jersey public institutions. Faculty member’s names, credentials, and contact information were obtained from their institutions’ websites. Faculty members were asked to participate in an online, anonymous survey. The survey collected basic demographic and opinion data. Responses indicate that accounting professors may not have an appreciation for the value that credentials other than their own bring to the teaching of accounting. It was found that higher education institution websites did not display accounting professor’s professional accounting credentials, including the CPA, as consistently and prominently as educational credentials. This study fills a gap in the literature by examining faculty perception of the value of the various credentials of those teaching accounting, and sheds light on impediments to improving accounting education in the current environment. Further investigation on the divide within accounting departments between those with educational credentials and those with practice credentials is warranted. Key words: Accreditation, Accounting Faculty, CPA, Pathways Commission
Most undergraduate business students are required to complete one or two introductory accounting courses, but many fail to see the value that such coursework offers their career (Chen, Jones, and McIntyre 2004). However, engaging students in exercises that explicitly demonstrate the link between course content and planned areas of study enhances the student experience in introductory accounting courses (Turner, Lesseig, and Fulmer 2006). This article presents a group project for introductory accounting courses that links course content to planned areas of study across business disciplines. We discuss all elements of the semester-long project and offer several tools to help with implementation (e.g., project instructions, timeline, grading rubric, peer evaluation forms). Further, we provide insight into the advantages and disadvantages of different project administration approaches. Our pre and post-surveys reveal the project helps students across nearly all business majors see that accounting information is used in their planned careers at significantly higher levels than once believed. We also find that the project helps students either increase enthusiasm for their major/planned career or pushes them to consider other majors/career paths. Such insight is invaluable for students early in their business education.
Students are often unmotivated to complete writing assignments offered in the accounting curriculum, leaving them unprepared for the communication requirements of the modern accounting career. We posit that this is at least partially attributable to accounting students’ low writing self-efficacy. In this paper, we discuss how to enhance student motivation by increasing self-efficacy. Drawing on psychology research, we explain that self-efficacy can be enhanced via the use of well-designed assignments and pedagogical tools. To address the four sources of self-efficacy, we provide eleven practical suggestions which can be easily implemented in the classroom to boost student motivation in writing assignments.
This paper explores how the Python programming language can be taught to management accounting students using domain-specific examples and exercises. Building on an existing case, the paper presents a number of Python codes that can be used as teaching materials in a management accounting course, and discusses how the case and the Python codes can be used in such a course. The materials cover a topic, support department cost-allocation methods, that is discussed in almost every management accounting course, and also include a relatively new approach known as the lattice allocation method. This topic was mainly chosen because the available methods for allocating the costs of support departments to other departments vary in terms of ease of use, which translates into Python codes that also vary in terms of difficulty and required functionalities.
This study examines the impact of family income and other family related factors on the learning performance of students’ first college-level financial accounting course. Data related with family factors are collected by a survey at a mid-west public university. There are three main results: 1). Family income has positive and significant impact on the learning performance of students’ first college-level financial accounting course. 2). There is no significant signal between students’ learning performance and other family related factors (i.e., 1st-generation college student, family members working in business area, or family members being accountant). 3). Students’ GPA instead of family income is the most significant factor to have impact on students learning performance in the first college level accounting course. The results would be useful for accounting students and accounting educators as well as policy makers.
Student demand for online education is strong, with percentage growth in online education far outpacing percentage growth in higher education as a whole. Given the significance of the investment that students make in their education, questions arise as to whether CPAs recruiting for an entry-level accounting position view face-to-face and online degrees from traditional and online universities equally. This research addresses these questions through an experimental design in which the instructional context (the delivery method and type of institution) is manipulated at three levels. Results indicate that CPAs are most likely to pursue a candidate having earned a degree in a face-to-face classroom setting from an institution with a traditional campus. CPAs are more likely to pursue a candidate who earned a degree online from a university with a traditional campus than a candidate who earned a degree online from a university without a traditional campus. Additional data lends insight into possible sources of these differences. For example, CPAs view face-to-face education as superior on several dimensions of skill development. CPAs also have more confidence in rigor, academic integrity, and the level of career preparation of candidates when the degree is earned in a face-to-face setting.
This work is motivated by feedback received from an Accounting Advisory Board; the members were dissatisfied with students’ inability to communicate with their clients face-to-face. The authors present a pilot test created to investigate the use of one-on-one roleplays using undergraduate tax and advanced marketing sales students. Undergraduate tax students role-played an individual tax return prepared as a class project to the advanced sales students. The presentations were video taped. Graduate tax students assessed the videotapes and reported results to the authors. Results found that using students who are naive to each others’ situation gives a more realistic feel to the role-play presentations.
The reporting of non-Generally Accepted Accounting Principles Measures (non-GAAP) by U.S. publically traded companies is not new but it has recently come under increased scrutiny by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This case presents a specific example of this scrutiny in the form of Tesla, Inc.’s quarterly earnings announcements and Tesla’s subsequent correspondence with the SEC. This case requires students to answer relevant questions about GAAP vs Non GAAP reporting, generally in the form of a research memo, with references to applicable SEC regulations and guidance on the use and reporting of non-GAAP measures.
In 2010, the American Accounting Association (AAA) and the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) organized the Pathways Commission to study the environment of accounting in higher education and discuss “educational pathways to engage and retain the strongest possible community of students, academics, practitioners, and other knowledgeable leaders in the practice and study of accounting” (Behn et al., 2012a). Alternative pathways to the Ph.D., the role of teaching in faculty evaluations, and the value of practitioner-oriented research are among the many issues addressed by the Commission in an effort to strengthen linkages between academics, practitioners, and accounting students. The objective of this research is to determine the practicality of implementing the proposed recommendations by the Pathways Commission. Since accounting faculty will be key players in the success of the Commission’s recommendations, we have surveyed faculty members from a wide range of institutions about both the appropriateness of the Commission’s recommendations and whether they can be practically implemented. This study provides an indication of the likelihood of success of the Commission’s recommendations. Keywords: Pathways Commission, accounting education change, faculty evaluation
Accounting professors will now be accountable for teaching their students to think critically, analyze, and evaluate information. The pressure to change accounting higher education cannot be ignored with the new version of the CPA exam, released in April 2017, which now tests analysis and evaluation skills. Have the professors made the changes in their classrooms that will help their students to be successful with this format of questioning? This research seeks to find whether professors have indeed embraced pedagogy that will enhance students’ ability to develop higher order thinking skills. The study begins by explaining changes to the CPA exam. The study provides literature review of the accounting education process, traditional methods of teaching accounting, suggested methods of teaching accounting for enhancement of critical thinking, and identified reasons for resistance to changing teaching methods. The survey is designed to identify current teaching methods in accounting classrooms. The survey seeks to discover what methods are being used to develop higher order thinking skills. The results show that lecture and demonstration of problems are still the predominant method of instruction in accounting classrooms, and these methods are not typically endorsed by research in terms of developing critical thinking, analysis and evaluation skills.
Entities frequently acquire foreign currency forward or option contracts to mitigate the exposure of recognized foreign currency-denominated receivables and payables. FASB Accounting Standards Codification 815 supports four designations for such contracts with respect to their corresponding foreign currency-denominated receivables or payables: 1) no hedge; 2) fair value hedge; 3) cash flow hedge with hedge effectiveness based on changes in spot rates; and, 4) cash flow hedge with hedge effectiveness based on changes in the contracts’ total values. Accounting Standards Update No. 2017-12: Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities (FASB 2017) modified the reporting for the gains and losses on foreign currency forward and option contracts designated as hedges. Over sixty-six percent of firms disclosing foreign currency hedges designated foreign currency forward and option contracts as cash flow hedges. This contrasts with the fourteen percent coverage of cash flow hedges in advanced accounting textbooks We provide three examples to supplement current textbook coverage illustrating the accounting for recognized foreign currency receivables and payables and corresponding foreign currency forward and option contracts. We demonstrate the similarities and differences between the four allowable designations and highlight the changes in the reporting of gains and losses in Accounting Standards Update No. 2017-12.
