Accounting education literature review (2016)

Outline

• Abstract
• Keywords
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Curriculum and Instruction
• 2.1. Curricular Issues
• 2.2. Assurance of Learning and Assessment
• 2.3. Core Competencies
• 2.4. Instructional Approaches
• 3. Instruction by Content Area
• 3.1. Accounting Information Systems (ais)
• 3.2. Auditing and Forensic Accounting
• 3.3. Ethics and Professional Responsibility
• 3.4. Financial Accounting
• 3.5. Managerial Accounting
• 3.6. Taxation
• 4. Educational Technology
• 4.1. Technology and Curricular Issues
• 4.2. Technology-Based Learning and Assessment
• 5. Students
• 5.1. Academic Major and Career
• 5.2. Student Skills and Characteristics
• 5.3. Approaches to Learning and Assessment
• 6. Faculty
• 6.1. Research
• 6.2. Teaching
• 6.3. Other Faculty Issues
• 7. Summary and Suggestions for Future Scholarship
• 7.1. Summary
• 7.2. Research Rigor
• 7.3. Suggestions for Future Scholarship
• 7.3.1. Value of Accreditation
• 7.3.2. Assurance of Learning
• 7.3.3. Educational Technology
• 7.3.4. Changing Students
• 7.3.5. Accounting Professor Demographics
• 7.3.6. Accounting Curriculum
• 7.3.7. Contribution to Accounting Education
• Appendix A. Instructional Resources Organized by Content Area
• Appendix B. Cases Organized by Content Area
• References

3. Instruction by content area

Table 10 provides an overview of the four empirical and six descriptive articles about instruction allocated over six content areas. This section contains 13% of the articles reviewed, a decline from 18% in the 2015 review. One article about AIS deals with the integration of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in curricula. Auditing and forensic accounting also has one article (descriptive) which provides a forensic course description. Ethics and professional responsibility includes four articles (two empirical and two descriptive) addressing instructional approaches and student perceptions. Financial accounting includes one article (descriptive) that presents matrix algebra as an instructional tool. Managerial accounting contains one article (descriptive) discussing aspects of managerial accounting textbooks. Taxation includes two empirical articles addressing the implementation and success of VITA programs.

3.1. Accounting information systems (AIS)

Blount, Abedin, Vatanasakdakul, and Erfani (2016) described how enterprise resource planning (ERP) software systems have been integrated into accounting curricula. The experiences were discussed from both the student and instructor perspectives. The authors identified critical success factors.

3.2. Auditing and forensic accounting

Kern and Weber (2016) described a fraud and forensic accounting course developed and taught over five years at Gonzaga University. Students used actual cases of alleged fraud, mostly involving bookkeepers stealing company funds for personal use and misuse of corporate credit cards. With the help of mentors from the local Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) chapter, students conducted forensic accounting examinations on actual data for potential fraud victims who were unable to afford private investigators. Students’ work on these cases resulted in four convictions, with one victim receiving full restitution. Survey responses from students (n = 12) indicated that improved written communication was the most valuable lesson learned from the course.

3.3. Ethics and professional responsibility

Cote and Latham (2016) described how they used Beta Alpha Psi (BAP) members to engage in peer teaching by discussing ethical dilemmas in sophomore level introductory accounting classes at one US public university. The framework used was the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) curriculum (Gentile, 2010, 2013), which is oriented toward business professionals confronted with ethical dilemmas. BAP students presented three workshops during class sessions that were built upon GVV principles. Accounting students responded to 23 statements in five dimensions related to knowledge, skill, or ability both before and after GVV workshops (n = 49 of 151 students completed both pre- and post-test instruments). Students’ postGVV responses were significantly higher than pre-GVV for 10 of 23 questions. The article provides abundant information on using GVV in accounting courses. Mintz (2016) explained the components of the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) methodology and described its benefits as an educational tool. Costa, Pinheiro, and Ribeiro (2016) examined whether gender, age, work experience, and attending a course on ethics affected the ethical perceptions of Portuguese accounting students. Students from two undergraduate accounting classes and one graduate accounting class (n = 117) completed a questionnaire consisting of nine scenarios involving potentially unethical business practices. Students indicated whether the action taken in each scenario was ethical and whether they or their peers would take a similar action. Findings indicated that students were able to recognize the ethical issues in the scenarios, although students reported agreeing with some conduct that was acknowledged to be unethical. Students had a generally less favorable impression of their peers’ potential ethical behavior than they did of their own. Results also indicated that the ethical perceptions of Portuguese accounting students were not associated with gender, age, work experience, or whether they had taken an ethics course.

Stephenson (2016) presented a reflective ethical decision model designed to provide a framework within which students can identify and design their own construct of ethical values. Critical steps in the process were identified and discussed, and an example model was included. The author suggested that guiding students through the process of developing their own personal code may be more effective than trying to teach ethics to students.