Editorial: Special issue on tax education

In accounting education, most Student Approaches to Learning (SAL) research has investigated the relationship between students' performance and their approaches to learning. Relatively limited research has been conducted on how assessment practices influence the quality of students' learning from the students' perspective. This paper seeks to address this gap in the accounting education literature. The research is centred on a large Australian undergraduate accounting degree delivered in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Focus group interviews were conducted with students across the three locations. The research results reveal that: (1) it is the English competency of students that has the most important impact on students' completion of set assessment tasks and thus their approach to learning; (2) it is the way in which assessment is designed and written and the way lecturers convey their expectations about how assessment will be undertaken that is crucial to how students from various countries perform in that assessment; and (3) students' approaches to assessment and their preferred assessment tasks are not homogeneously based on cultural background.     

Gender differences in the first course in accounting: An achievement goal approach

We examine whether gendered patterns can be observed in first-year students' achievement goals in an introductory accounting course; a question largely overlooked by prior literature. This investigation is motivated by perceptions of accounting as a masculine field involving gender role stereotypes and business schools as competitive and performance-oriented environments. Our findings suggest that male students tend to adopt performance-approach goal, implying that they are more competitive than female students, and that their performance is thus driven by a desire to outperform others. Our findings further suggest that male students' expectations of learning accounting are higher than those of female students. The expectations explain the gender differences in the performance-approach goal. Finally, we find that this performance-approach goal mediates gender differences in course performance depending on the mode of assessment; male students received higher grades for exams but not for teamwork. Overall, our study highlights the importance of considering contextual aspects related to competitiveness, masculinity, and the mode of assessment on an accounting course when addressing students’ achievement goals and expectations of learning accounting. We thus contribute to the understanding of how learning environment, accounting pedagogy, and the broader field of professional accounting intersects with individual student attributes, creating differential learning outcomes.     

An analysis of teaching strategies designed to improve written communication skills

Accounting instructors can embed effective writing into the curriculum, but how much instruction is enough to make a significant improvement in students’ written products? In this quasi-experimental study, we compare the effect of three levels of minimal instructional intervention: all students in the study received a rubric outlining the evaluation criteria and graded feedback on the use of effective business writing (low instruction level); for the medium instruction level, students also received handouts on effective written communication; the high instruction level students received classroom instruction in addition to the handouts, rubric, and feedback. We find that all students show significant improvement in written communication skills in the areas of organization, development, and expression. Students who received the high instruction level show the most improvement. Providing students with the scoring rubric and grading for effective business writing is beneficial to student self-awareness and encourages students to significantly improve their written products.     

Evaluating a method of integrating generic skills with accounting content based on a functional theory of meaning

This paper documents and evaluates an intervention designed to integrate the learning of selected generic skills, particularly analytical thinking and written communication skills, with the learning of accounting content. The method used was to scaffold practice in analytical thinking skills through specially designed writing activities. Content‐focused learning materials adapted from task‐types currently used to teach language skills were used to facilitate the analysis and interrelation of accounting concepts, principles and problems in interpersonal communicative contexts typical of actual accounting practice. The materials, in three assignments, were designed to incorporate: (i) selected generic skills, taken from those listed by the professional accounting bodies; (ii) writing, both as communication and as an instrument for analytical thinking and learning; (iii) knowledge of accounting concepts and principles; and (iv) awareness of the interpersonal dimensions of professional communication. Overall, students showed improved learning outcomes, with improvements of 19 percentage points for non‐Australian students over the three assignments. We were also able to show significant positive relationships between the assessments of assignments 2 and 3 and performance in the knowledge‐based final examination. Improvements in the quality of learning were shown in students’ improved ability to assess their own work.     

Do students’ perceptions matter? A study of the effect of students’ perceptions on academic performance

Prior accounting education literature documents that students typically associate accounting subjects with negative perceptions, but there are also recent suggestions that the stereotype of the accountant has positive associations. These perceptions of accounting are likely to affect students’ attitudes towards learning and, consequently, influence their performance. We examine the relationship between students’ perceptions and students’ performance. The present study involved undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in management accounting subjects. Our findings indicate that students’ performance is negatively affected by the negative perceptions of accounting that students bring to the subject. Our findings also suggest that positive perceptions of accounting held by students at the end of the semester have a positive impact on students’ performance.     

Analysis of the complexity of writing used in accounting textbooks over the past 100 years

The Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC) and the large international accounting firms have all emphasized that accountants must be able to work with unstructured problems to be successful in today's business environment. Measures of this ability are essential if accounting educators are to assist students in improving their abilities to work with unstructured problems. However, there appears to be no measure that has been widely accepted as being the ‘best’ measure. This study considers whether two linguistic performance measures might be usable by accounting educators for this purpose. We use data obtained from a student assessment centre to consider two measures of linguistic performance, idea density and grammatical complexity. We incorporate five criteria in deciding whether these measures could be usable: (1) whether the measures are related to students' performance when solving unstructured problems; (2) whether the measures distinguish between the ability to work with unstructured compared to structured problems; (3) ease of obtaining necessary information from students; (4) ease of scoring, and (5) robustness of the findings after considering other variables that may have an effect. Our results indicate that subjects' linguistic performance as measured by idea density meets these five criteria. However, grammatical complexity is not related to performance for either type of problem. These results were found even after controlling for the effects of other variables such as grade point average (GPA), experience, and personality variables. Because the measures can be obtained from virtually any written work produced by students, the information to be scored is relatively easy to obtain. Scoring is also relatively straightforward.     

Enhancing student engagement in large management accounting lectures

The education literature suggests a student-focused teaching strategy to improve students’ engagement in a lecture. However, in traditional accounting lectures students take the role of passive and anonymous recipients of knowledge. This paper reports on two cycles of an action research project, developing and refining a blended learning model, with the purpose of enhancing students’ engagement in the lectures of a large management accounting course. Results of our study find that engagement was enhanced with the implementation of this model. This study contributes to the accounting education literature through reporting evidence from action research and the effective implementation of a blended learning model that accounting educators can use.     

Formative assessment in accounting education and some initial evidence on its use for instructional sequencing

Formative assessment (FA) provides instructors and students with feedback to improve learning. Across a variety of education settings FA is one of the most effective classroom interventions for improving student learning outcomes. Yet the accounting education literature is almost devoid of any work related to FA. One barrier for developing FA in accounting education is the significant background knowledge needed to implement FA successfully. The purpose of this paper is to provide some of that background. The paper includes conceptual discussion from the general education literature to explain how FA improves learning and discussion of research that has identified features that affect the efficacy of FA practice. One of these features is how instructors use FA data to adjust instruction. An empirical study illustrates that accounting educators can use FA data to inform a decision about instructional sequencing. Instructional sequencing principles have been used to develop new accounting curricula and courses, and accounting education research has used empirical data to inform an instructional sequencing decision. The current study tests, using a sample of introductory accounting students, alternate versions of two FA tasks to determine which version is better for identifying deficiencies in student learning outcomes. Results suggest that one version of each task is better for identifying deficiencies, but an adjustment to instructional sequencing may be needed to ensure efficacy of one of the tasks, depending on how the FA practice is implemented.     

A Critical Learning Outcome Approach in Designing,Delivering and Assessing the IT Knowledge Syllabus

Although the accounting profession has embraced a competency-based approach in the education and training of students, some educators struggle to adapt the delivery and assessment of their accounting programmes to bring them in line with these outcomes. The challenge for all educators is to seek ways to marry the curriculum, the design and delivery of the syllabus and assessment in such a way as to maximize students’ learning in relation to priority goals. The aim of this paper is to discuss how the IFAC curriculum on the general knowledge of IT (IEPS 2) could be analysed using an alternative approach based on critical learning outcomes to develop a syllabus that would enable educators to deliver and assess it in line with the learning outcomes and competency requirements. The newly-developed syllabus should direct educators to adopt a holistic approach in the delivery and assessment of the IT course. This approach should ensure that students understand how information technology can support them as accountants in producing information in the format required by users.     

Teaching Innovative Accounting Topics: Student Reaction to a Course in Social Accounting

Accounting students experience degree programmes with a fairly ‘traditional’ range of topics that are taught with an emphasis on technique and learning the ‘status quo’. To the extent that a topic may challenge this pattern by emphasizing new concepts, questioning existing concepts, being more concerned with what accounting ‘might be’ rather than current practice, or some combination of these, some topics may be considered ‘innovative’ additions to the curriculum. Social accounting is an innovative accounting topic that has attracted considerable attention in the literature. This paper reports on an implementation dilemma encountered in a course on social accounting resulting from a clash between preferred student learning attributes and those embodied in social accounting. The use of action oriented teaching strategies to counteract this dilemma is identified. Similar problems and solutions may be applicable for other innovative accounting topics.     

The effect of cooperative learning on student perceptions of accounting in the principles courses

This paper describes an experiment that investigates the effect of cooperative learning techniques on introductory accounting students' perceptions of accounting. We administered identical survey instruments measuring students' perceptions of accounting to all accounting principles students at the beginning and end of a semester. Instructors used cooperative learning techniques in one-half of the sections (experimental), and a traditional lecture format in the other sections (control).We compared the pretest and posttest student responses for the experimental and control sections. For Accounting Principles I, 40% of the responses exhibited differences between experimental and control sections that were consistent with a cooperative learning effect. No effect was found for Accounting Principles II. An exploratory factor analysis of Accounting Principles I data showed that the factor “student interest in learning accounting” accounted for most of the differences that were consistent with cooperative learning effects. Also, students in the experimental sections of Accounting Principles I performed marginally better on a common final exam than students in the control sections.Overall, students began their introductory accounting courses with positive perceptions of accounting. Students in sections using cooperative learning techniques were, on average, more likely to maintain those positive perceptions than students in sections using the traditional lecture format.     

Assessing the use of computer-based assessment-feedback in teaching digital accountants

Both assessment and feedback have a vital impact on students’ learning. Using computer-based assessment (CBA) with constructive and prompt computer-based feedback (CBF) reduces the attainment gap of the new generation of digital students. Action research methodology was employed to explore students’ view of utilising CBA and/or CBF in teaching and learning practice. A survey was administered to 537 undergraduate students in the Management School of a British university to collect data about their perceptions of using CBA and CBF to assess their progress. Findings from students’ survey show that students are generally appreciated the use of and benefits of CBA and/or CBF in teaching accounting modules. Findings also reveal that many participants valued working online compared to paper-and-pencil assessment and they also appreciated the timely and constructive feedback-feedforward they received. Information technology (IT), therefore, can provide an innovative type of assessment and feedback that students’ desire in an effective manner.     

The effect of interactive on-line learning systems on student learning outcomes in accounting

We examine the association between student use of a unique, interactive, on-line learning system known as MarlinaLS™ and the learning outcomes achieved by students in a major second year undergraduate accounting subject over the period 2002–2003. Primarily, we explore the relationship between students’ use of MarlinaLS™, an on-line system developed specifically to enhance reciprocal learning, and the examination performance of those students. Our results show that students’ use of MarlinaLS™ is positively associated with their examination performance and also with the internal assessment result achieved. We also find that the extent of usage of the MarlinaLS™ system by students varies systematically based on a number of defined characteristics. The study enhances our understanding of the role of teaching strategies generally, and, more specifically, the role of interactive on-line learning systems in improving student learning outcomes.     

Learning by doing: a case study of qualitative accounting research

The increasing number of master's degrees in accounting as well as specialist MBA's mean that an understanding of research methods is now an important part of the toolkit of accounting educators. In the literature there has been an increasing interest in qualitative accounting research. Whilst this interest has been mirrored by an increase in qualitative methods textbooks, less is known about the experience of undertaking such research. This presents a problem for educators, as they need material for students to work with and analyse before they are able to design their own research projects. This paper presents a case study based upon an extensive piece of qualitative research concerned with the use of accounting information in decision-making processes in banking. Review, exploratory and application questions provide a framework through which the case study can be used as a learning resource for accounting educators, supervisors and students.     

Accounting students’ perceptions of effective teaching and approaches to learning: impact on overall student satisfaction

This study is concerned with the ways to improve the quality of learning experiences of accounting students. Drawing on the effective teaching and student approach to learning literature, we hypothesise that effective teaching and students’ approach to learning (deep versus surface learning) are two important predictors of the quality of the learning experience. The hypotheses were tested using survey data of second-year undergraduate students enrolled in two core accounting subjects at an Australian university. The data were analysed using the partial least-squares structural equation modelling approach. The study aims to make a useful contribution to theory and teaching practice.     

The context-specific conceptions of learning in case-based accounting assignments,students’ characteristics and performance

The present study contributes to accounting education literature by describing context-specific conceptions of learning related to case assignments, and by exploring the associations between the conceptions of learning, students’ characteristics and performance. The data analysed consist of 1320 learning diaries of 336 students, connected with students’ characteristics and course grades. The results are in line with earlier studies in that most students in accounting describe reproductive conceptions of learning. However, instead of only increasing knowledge, case assignments seem to emphasise the application of knowledge to real life. Furthermore, the conception of learning seems to be associated with performance in the course and the age of the student. Since no positive development of the conceptions of learning is visible during the course, using case assignments as such does not seem to solve the problem of reproductive conceptions. Therefore, how case assignments are used in teaching needs to be carefully considered.     

The effects of group quizzes on performance and motivation to learn: Two experiments in cooperative learning

This study investigated the effect of group quizzes on accounting students’ performance and motivation to learn. While cooperative learning in accounting education has been studied in recent years, the effects on student performance have been mixed [Lancaster, K.A.S., Strand, C.A., 1999. Using the team-learning model in a managerial accounting class: an experiment in cooperative learning. Issues in Accounting Education 16(4), 549–568; Ravenscroft, S., Buckless, F., Hassall, T., 1999. Cooperative learning – A literature guide. Accounting Education 8(2) (1999) 163–176]. Thus, two experiments were conducted (one using an experimental design and the other using a quasi-experimental design) that examined student performance and motivation to learn. The first experiment used a quasi-experimental design to compare the performance and motivation to learn of students who took a series of group quizzes versus students in comparable classes in a prior semester that did not take group quizzes. Using a series of group quizzes in a mixed factorial design, the second experiment examined the performance of both: (1) long-term groups versus ad hoc groups and (2) self-selected groups versus instructor assigned groups. Findings revealed no performance differences across conditions in either the first or second experiments. However, student subjects in the first experiment (using group quizzes) reported a significantly greater motivation to learn and perception of learning than those in the second experiment (not using group quizzes).     

The Importance of Understanding Student Learning Styles in Accounting Degree Programs

Improvements in the tertiary education of accounting students benefit the profession. Analysis of the interaction of learning styles and teaching methodologies in accounting degree programs revealed that when learning styles matched teaching methods used, usefulness was assessed as high. When they differed, usefulness deteriorated. To maximise educational benefit this interaction should be considered, but this has resource implications. Accounting education is critical and any improvements in the tertiary education of accounting students should result in better prepared graduates entering the profession. This study evaluates accounting students’ learning styles and the interaction of learning styles and teaching methodologies in degree programs. Nine classes of accounting students (648 students) spread across four years and two degree programs were evaluated. Students self‐evaluated their learning styles, pre‐instruction. They were then subject to two separate teaching techniques (one active and one passive) in each course. Learning styles were then re‐assessed and teaching techniques evaluated. Accounting students displayed a preference for passive learning, even those far advanced in their degrees. Furthermore, when learning styles matched teaching methods used, usefulness was assessed as high but when learning styles and teaching methods differed, usefulness deteriorated. Overall, active learners rather than passive learners deemed the teaching methods to be more effective. The implications are significant. To maximise educational benefit for the accounting profession, student learning styles should be assessed before designing appropriate teaching methodologies. This has resource implications, which would have to be considered.     

Means versus ends: a review of the literature on Japanese management accounting

As an introduction to the topic of Japanese management accounting, we provide here a review of the literature and an attempt to categorize what has been written previously on the subject. One obvious characteristic that emerged during this review is that Japanese management accounting is designed to operate in a 'Japanese setting', not a Western one. Much of the literature on Japanese methods recognizes some aspect of that setting when describing the techniques. During the review process, several related clusters of recurring practices surfaced. We have crystallized these clusters into five themes. They are: (1) examining work using the 'eyes' of the market; (2) focusing on the quality of work; (3) employing 'waste' as the measure of cost; (4) continually improving the way work is done, and (5) sharing knowledge through vertical and horizontal communication. It is our contention that the Japanese management accounting techniques described in the literature cannot be sensibly and effectively used in Western venues without an understanding of how the Japanese employ these particular management accounting techniques to pursue the multiple themes behind their use.     

Jinan Qingqi Motorcycle Co., Ltd

The case deals with the decision in mid-1997 of StarInvest, an American investment company, on whether to subscribe to a new issue of 230 million B shares by Jinan Qingqi Motorcycle Co., Ltd. Qingqi Motorcycle is incorporated in the People’s Republic of China, and B shares were tradable only among foreign investors. The case solution is in the form of policy report from Daniel Campbell, asset manager at StarInvest, to his Investment Committee. The report contains his assessment of the opportunities and risks from China investment in general, and his recommendations on the Qingqi Motorcycle stock issue in particular. The objective of this case is to introduce students to the unique accounting issues and investment environment in China. From working on this case, the students should become familiar with the developmental steps and basic features of China’s accounting standards and capital markets. An important theme that should be emphasized by the instructor is that institutional environments are more important at influencing the accounting information in a country than the accounting standards as written on paper. The case has been used in an international accounting course offered to the MBA students. It could also be used in a similar course offered at the undergraduate level. Students having completed an introductory financial accounting course should have the required knowledge and skills to work on this case. The case can be used either as an individual assignment or as a group assignment.