Fostering deep and elaborative learning and generic (soft) skill development: the strategic use of case studies in accounting education

It is vital that accounting educators take responsibility for the development of students' generic (soft) skills in conjunction with, discipline-specific skills. Research indicates that the typical learning styles of accounting students are not suited to the acquisition of generic skills. In this paper learning theory is used to provide a framework to support the use of case studies as a tool to promote appropriate learning styles and thereby enhance generic skill development. The paper details a number of strategies that may be implemented with case studies to achieve these goals. The implications for accounting educators, which are significant, are discussed.     

A note on videos and accounting education

Doctoral students are often uncomfortable making oral presentations before their peers and the instructor. This paper describes a recent innovation employed in the doctoral programme of a major university which we feel has been useful not only in increasing the communication skills of our doctoral students, but has also enhancing the quality of doctoral students' dissertations as well as the teaching and presentation skill of staff involved in the programme.     

University - profession partnership in accounting education: the case of Sri Lanka

This paper analyses accounting education in Sri Lanka with particular reference to the university-profession partnership. In terms of the establishment of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Sri Lanka (ICASL) in 1959, the availability of accounting degree programmes in the university, and the on-going British influence in accounting, one might expect to find a vigorous accountancy profession in place, actively seeking to produce highly competent accounting professionals in adequate numbers suitable for its country's economic needs. However, such a situation would be misplaced. Over the past four decades ICASL has produced only 1800 qualified accountants in a country of 18 million population. Drawing upon a theoretical framework of professional accounting education, this paper explains the lack of a proper partnership between the university and the professional body over the last four decades in Sri Lanka, and speculates as to whether ICASL purposely exerts control over the supply of accountants by limiting the membership only to those who complete its own examinations.     

Expanding the perspective and knowledge of the accounting curriculum and pedagogy in other locations: The case of Mexico

In our analysis of the accounting career and practice in Mexico, we include a comparative examination of the university curriculum, noting how it has changed over time, and we examine the differences between the accounting programs in the public and private higher education systems. We took this approach to investigate recent concerns raised by many academics from the field of accounting, about the ethicality of the accounting practice and the role played by universities in teaching would-be accountants ethics, and how Mexico compares to other countries that are currently being studied in response to Chabrak and Craig's (2012) work. Our perspective and experience with Community Service-Learning as a tool to achieve critical self-reflexivity, foster community engagement, and experiential understanding with principles of social justice, leads us to suggest CSL as another method to help address the valid concerns that have been raised about ethics education in the accounting career.     

Some thoughts on social and environmental accounting education

Although there are probably more academics interested in the social and environmental dimensions of accounting than previously, there is still relatively little discussion of curricular and pedagogical issues in this branch of the accounting domain. This paper attempts to raise the structure of social and/or environmental dimensions within accounting education for debate. This is done by proposing the qualitative background to a social and environmental accounting course, and then suggesting curricular materials and assessment approaches that have been used in this area.     

Perceptions and knowledge of accounting professionals on IFRS for SMEs: Evidence from Turkey

This exploratory study extends the literature on IFRS for SMEs issued by the IASB in July 2009, and adopted by Turkey in November 2010. A questionnaire survey, based on the relevant literature and IFRS for SMEs, was developed. The aim was to investigate basic knowledge and perceptions of accountants regarding IFRS for SMEs. Our findings suggest that proponents of stand-alone IFRS for SMEs outnumber its opponents. The respondents are not highly informed about the omission of certain topics in IFRS for SMEs. Their awareness of valuation methods/concepts in IFRS for SMEs is at a moderate level. Inadequacy of accounting personnel’s training and lack of training programs arranged by professional bodies are considered to be the most serious obstacles in implementation of the standards. The majority of the participants are not aware of the key differences between full IFRS and IFRS for SMEs and simplifications made in IFRS for SMEs. Accounting professionals who are trained about IFRS for SMEs and the employees of Big4 auditing firms are more knowledgeable about the standards in comparison to others. Education level and experience of respondents have partial positive impact on knowledge of the standards.     

Monetary valuations of university course delivery: the case for face-to-face learning activities in accounting education

Student preferences for delivery options were obtained within a monetary framework by asking students to purchase their ideal course structure. Results show that accounting students prefer to spend more on tutorials but purchase less lecture time; the difference due to the higher cost of tutorials compared to lectures. Face-to-face classes were preferred to web-based materials. Within lectures and tutorials students prefer more time devoted to teacher-centred activities than student-centred activities. Monetary valuations, where students must take into account the cost of delivery as well as effectiveness, provide insights for teaching staff and administrators, who need to simultaneously enhance teaching and learning, satisfy student preferences and operate with limited resources. Online and/or student-centred learning may not be compatible with preferences of accounting students. Teachers need to balance calls to change educational delivery and learning activities with preferences of accounting students, or ensure they educate students on why non-preferred approaches are undertaken.     

Importing accounting: the case of Trinidad and Tobago

In the period immediately following its achieving independence, Trinidad and Tobago switched from a pattern of importing British professional accountants to one of importing British professional qualifications. It was also in this period that the first professional accounting association appeared: that is, eighty years after such bodies emerged in Britain and her settler colonies. This paper seeks to explain why the achievement of political independence in Trinidad and Tobago (and perhaps in some other British non-settler colonies) signified a critical turning point in the development of a local accounting profession. The paper also explores how the history of importing accounting impacted on the contemporary organization of the profession in Trinidad and Tobago.     

会计目标与会计环境逻辑关系剖析

本文在剖析了政治、经济、文化、教育、法律等几大环境因素对会计目标的具体影响后指出 ,会计环境对会计目标的影响是分层次、分程度的 ,政治因素和法律因素主要影响会计目标的存在 ,经济因素主要影响会计目标的定位。当一个国家决定构建本国的会计目标时 ,应主要考虑经济因素。本文在最后粗犷地勾勒了会计环境因素与会计目标之间的逻辑关系 ,并简要描述了我国经济环境的特征及我国会计目标的定位     

Accrual and cash flow accounting models: A comparison of the value relevance and timeliness of their components

This research uses the empirical framework developed by Easton, Harris and Ohlson (1992) to examine the relative ability of the accrual and cash flow accounting models to capture value relevant events. In particular, components of clean surplus accrual earnings are compared with components of total cash flows to determine their relative abilities to recognise value relevant events in a timely manner. The results indicate that the association between stock returns and earnings is higher than that with total cash flows for return intervals of between one and ten years. Cash flows from operations and current accruals are able to recognise value relevant events in a timely manner, while non-current and non-operating accruals only become consistently value relevant when longer return intervals are considered. Cash flows from investing and financing activities are less value relevant than the other components considered, especially over longer return intervals.     

The effects of governmental accounting methods on asset-acquisition decisions: A theoretical model and three case studies

This study explores possible effects of municipal accounting practices on asset-acquisition decisions. Theoretical decision models are developed using expenditure and depreciation accounting for reporting performance. The models suggest that expenditure accounting may lead to uneconomical leasing. Case studies of three cities focused on comparing present values of their leases to purchase alternatives and on interviewing department administrators. Significant uneconomical leases were found. The case studies suggest that a complete model of municipal administrators' acquisition decisions include consideration of accounting methods used to report performance; perceived risk of obsolescence; restrictions of grantors, third-party reimbursers and higher management; and administrators' background and training.     

The relevance of history in accounting education: Some observations

This paper was commissioned by the Journal of Accounting Education in order to provide our readers with an assessment of the relevance of history in accounting education. Based on over 40 years of accounting experience, the author contends that accounting curricula should be broadened to include the teaching of accounting history. It is suggested that valuable insights can be gained from the study of how accounting has developed and changed in response to environmental changes (economic, political, social). Without such a historical perspective, accounting graduates will not have the necessary background to critically evaluate current accounting practices or be in a position to contribute significantly to our constantly changing profession.     

Straddling between paradigms: A naturalistic philosophical case study on interpretive research in management accounting

This paper analyses interpretive research in management accounting from the perspective of naturalistic philosophy of science. We focus on the relation of interpretive research to the subjective/objective dichotomy appearing in the methodological literature of the social sciences. In management accounting research, it is often routinely assumed that interpretive studies, following the reasoning by Burrell and Morgan [Burrell, G., & Morgan. G. (1979). Sociological paradigms and organisational analysis. London: Heinemann], are based on subjectivism only. The major purpose of this paper is to give flesh to the existing debates around the nature of interpretive research with the help of in depth analysis of one example of such research in management accounting. Since abstract and general philosophical arguments are often used merely to cloud more relevant case specific issues concerning the focus of explanation and the nature of empirical evidence offered, our analysis aims at providing conceptual tools for articulating with greater precision what is being asserted in a given study. The specific target of the examination is the interpretive study by Dent [Dent, J. F. (1991). Accounting and organisational cultures: A field study of the emergence of a new organisational reality. Accounting, Organisations and Society, 16, 693–703], which is one of the highly appreciated and extensively quoted pieces of research picked from the interpretive management accounting literature. Our analysis indicates that though there certainly are, and needs to be, unique subjectivist features in interpretive studies as compared to more ‘objectivist’ approaches, there are also important similarities, and that the view of sociological paradigms as necessarily mutually exclusive does not hold water. Hence interpretive research straddles between paradigms. As we argue that interpretive studies, in addition to including subjectivist elements, also encompass objectivist features, we invert the typical social theory critique of ‘scientific’ (management) accounting research that it cannot be an objective ‘mirror of reality’ by claiming that interpretive studies cannot be exclusively subjectivist and still they remain theoretically relevant. Our philosophically tuned analysis explicates how concepts from different paradigms, such as interpretations, understanding meanings, and causality, can successfully co-exist and co-operate within a single study.     

Rationalities, domination and accounting control: A case study from a traditional society

Previous studies on management control in less developed countries have mainly concentrated on the state and privatised enterprises. Drawing upon Weber's work [Weber M. The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. New York, NY: Scribner; 1958; Weber M. General economic history. New York, NY: Collier Books; 1961; Weber M. Economy and society: an outline of interpretive sociology (two volumes). New York, NY: Bedminster; 1968; Weber M. Economy and society. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press; 1978] on traditional society, and a Weberian framework developed by [Colignon R, Covaleski M. A Weberian framework in the study of accounting. Accounting, Organiztions and Society 1991;16(2):141–57], this paper seeks to understand ‘private management practices’, including accounting, in a stock exchange listed company (public limited company). The case study evidence indicates that organisational controls are biased to serve the dominant owners or family/sponsors of the company instead of general shareholders. The paper argues that family dominance is facilitated by the external and internal layers within which the company is operating. The greater understanding of traditional societies developed in Weber's works [Weber M. Economy and society. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press; 1978] is very useful in explaining why managers work to serve the family. Domination by family via trusted managers using accounting calculations instead of bureaucracy is highly relevant, as the case study shows. These findings are not dissimilar to those of previous studies conducted in privatised and family-owned companies in Bangladesh and elsewhere. The paper calls for more research on management accounting practices employing Weber's works, especially in traditional societies.     

A fundamentalist perspective on accounting and implications for accounting research

This paper presents a framework for addressing normative accounting issues for reporting to shareholders. The framework is an alternative to the emerging Conceptual Framework of the International Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board. The framework can be broadly characterized as a utilitarian approach to accounting standard setting. It has two main features. First, accounting is linked to valuation models under which shareholders use accounting information to values their stakes. Second, the desirable characteristics of accounting information are inferred from the demand of investors and analysts who use the information in practice. This stands in contrast to the “qualitative characteristics” in the Boards’ Framework which are embraced largely on the basis of their aesthetic appeal. These features lead to a set of broad accounting principles that resolve “recognition” and “measurement” issues at the core of the Boards’ Conceptual Framework and also the central issue of a balance sheet approach versus an income statement approach. The framework in the paper also frames the research questions for researchers interested in accounting policy.     

Ranking accounting journals using dissertation citation analysis: A research note

Prior literature on accounting journal rankings has provided different journal lists depending on the type of examination (citations- vs. survey-based) and the choice of journals covered. A recent study by Bonner, Hesford, Van der Stede, and Young (2006) [Bonner, S., Hesford, A., Van der Stede, W. A., & Young, M. S. (2006). The most influential journals in academic accounting. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 31(7), 663–685] documents disproportionately more citations in the financial accounting area, suggesting a financial accounting bias in the accounting literature. We use citations from accounting dissertations completed during 1999–2003 to provide a ranking of accounting journals. The database allows us to assess the research interests of new accounting scholars and the literature sources they draw from. Another innovation is our ranking of accounting journals based on specialty areas (auditing, financial, managerial, tax, systems, and other) and research methods (archival, experimental, modeling, survey, and other). To mitigate the financial accounting bias documented by Bonner et al. (2006), we derive a ranking metric by scaling (normalizing) the journal citations by the number of dissertations within each specialty area and research method. Overall, the top journals are, JAR, AOS, TAR, and JAE. We also provide evidence that top journal rankings do vary by specialty area as well as by research methods.     

Pro forma accounting disclosures: The effect of reconciliations and financial reporting knowledge on nonprofessional investors' judgments

Regulation G requires companies that report non-GAAP or “pro forma” earnings provide a reconciliation. While nonprofessional investors are a large, heterogeneous population with varying degrees of financial reporting knowledge, previous research treats them as a homogenous group. The study examines how differences in financial reporting knowledge and information viewing behavior affect the influence of reconciled pro forma earnings disclosures on nonprofessional investors' judgments. Lower-knowledge investors appear to incorporate information on differences between GAAP and pro forma earnings in their judgments as long as they view this information in the reconciliation. However, higher-knowledge investors appear to consistently incorporate information on differences between GAAP and pro forma earnings in their judgments regardless of the relative amount of time they spend viewing the reconciliation relative to other disclosures. Our results suggest that knowledge differences influence how nonprofessional investors acquire and use information on differences between GAAP and pro forma earnings.