Students’ perceptions of their first accounting class: implications for instructors

The purpose of this action research study is to learn directly from undergraduate students, through focus groups, about their experiences in their first accounting class, especially about the students’ knowledge and practice of critical thinking and about which classroom experiences engaged their attention and enhanced learning. The findings show that students want to understand how the first accounting course connects to the business world and to their other classes. Participants were unsure about when and how they practiced critical thinking; for improved learning outcomes, instructors need to keep critical thinking front and center. Students also need instruction in how to study accounting and how to utilize effectively the resources provided in their textbooks and as supplemental tools (e.g. integrated accounting software). Accounting professors must adapt their teaching methods to help students to meet professional demands, such as critical thinking skills and ability to handle a complex global business environment.     

Listening to student views on the transition from work placement to the final year

This paper addresses a gap in the literature on student work placements, specifically the challenges of returning to final-year study after a year out. We focus on students in an Accountancy and Finance Department at one UK University who alerted us to the ways in which they struggled during the transition back to full-time study. Their accounts were surprising in the light of, albeit limited, research and our own perceptions that students who go on placement fare better in the final year than those who do not. We draw two inferences from this research, which we discuss in this paper. First, there is a need to refine analyses and evaluations of the benefits of a placement year. Second, there is a need to expand the repertoire of methodologies in empirical placement research to include those that provide opportunities for students to articulate what matters to them.     

Ranking Journals Using Social Science Research Network Downloads

I use a new approach to rank journals, namely the number and percent frequency of articles a journal publishes that are heavily downloaded from the Social Science Research Network (SSRN). I rank 18 accounting and finance journals, and I identify five journals not considered by the two most recent major published ranking studies of publications by accounting faculty, namely (in rank order): Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Accounting Studies, Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Journal of Corporate Finance, and Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting. I show that financial accounting faculties are more likely to post their working papers to SSRN, and papers posted by financial faculties generate more downloads. I mitigate this bias in favor of the financial area by providing separate rankings based on authors in the financial versus non-financial areas.     

论语言差异与民族学生学业质量

本文运用文化人类学的研究方法,对影响民族学生学业质量的文化因素进行了深入的研究分析,在此基础上,以文化冲突等相关理论为依据,着重从文化的角度分析影响民族学生学业质量的语言差异因素,并进行理论解释和探讨,提出相关的对策建议。     

Exemptions from first semester accounting and performance in the second semester course: an emperical study

This study investigates the impact on second semester results of an exemption from first semester university accounting. It is concluded that, prividing students have achieved an ‘A’ in high school accounting, they will not be disadvantaged if they do not undertake first semester accounting.     

Ethics and accounting education in the UK — a professional approach?

Although the expectation of accountants is that they will always employ high ethical standards, empirical evidence suggests that individual accountants are, at best, no more ethically aware than average. This gap between expectation and reality could be the result of inadequate education. Universities cannot be relied upon to teach accounting ethics to prospective professional accountants principally because too few accountants have an accounting degree and because of the surface nature of accounting students' learning. The professional bodies pay only lip-service to ethics education in their syllabi and their treatment of ethics is thus both quantitatively and qualitatively inadequate. Accountants are consequently ill-prepared to face ethical dilemmas.     

Ranking Research Productivity in Accounting for Asia-Pacific Universities

Using a set of 18 accounting journals and a sub-set of top five journals from 1991 to 2002, we rank the research productivity in accounting for a total of 119 Asia-Pacific universities. For the whole sampling period, the top five universities are the University of New South Wales, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Nanyang Technological University, the University of Sydney, and City University of Hong Kong. A number of prominent universities with long school history are not ranked in the top 20. During the second half of the sampling period, Hong Kong and Singaporean universities have shown the most improvement while some Australian universities have exhibited decline in research output. Also, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology replaces University of New South Wales as the first-ranked university in the period of 1997–2002. When compared with other North American universities, the accounting productivity of the top 20 Asia-Pacific institutions is comparable with that of leading universities in North America. The comparison is even more favorable to the Asia-Pacific universities during the period of 1997–2002.     

Raleigh building products: A teaching case that highlights the differences between IFRS and US GAAP

Within 5 years, the United States will join the rest of the world’s industrialized countries and many emerging economies in adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). However, many educational programs have not yet developed full curricula or integrated case studies in existing programs to compare and contrast how US GAAP and IFRS would record and present major accounting transactions.Based on events that reflect real world scenarios, this study presents a series of three Raleigh Building Products cases as an instrument to fill the current IFRS education void. The first case in the series discusses US GAAP acquisition and consolidation activities, the second case examines asset and intangible impairment under US GAAP and IFRS, and the last case adds components that differ significantly between US GAAP and IFRS. The series of cases can be used stand alone or build upon each other throughout the semester. The combined cases focus on the following key concepts: (1) calculating acquisition price; (2) preparing combination financial statements including deleting LIFO reserves; (3) measuring goodwill and other intangibles; (4) determining the impairment of goodwill due to economic declines; and (5) comparing fundamental differences between US GAAP to IFRS. The attached teaching notes detail these matters and discuss the statements of cash flows under US GAAP and IFRS.Results from classroom use indicate that this case will benefit accounting students and practitioners as IFRSs become effective in the US.     

Teaching capital budgeting as multi-attribute decision-making. A commentary on “Why DCF capital budgeting is bad for business and why business schools should stop teaching it”

Colleges and universities worldwide have benefited from the growth of the stock market of the 1990s. Many universities have seen marginal increases in their endowments. Accounting programmes have been among the beneficiaries of endowment growth and a concurrent increase in the number of endowed chairs. The primary purposes of this study are to: (1) examine the nature and status of endowments in accounting programmes worldwide; (2) determine objectives, criteria, benefits, and challenges of establishing endowed chairs; and (3) establish benchmarks for universities worldwide for assessing the credentials and qualifications necessary to obtain endowed chair positions. Findings indicate that: (1) the primary purpose of the endowed chair is to enhance the reputation and provide better recognition for the college or university; (2) research is considered the most important objective; (3) although excellence in teaching is considered important, this is not always reflected in the time spent on professional activities; (4) professional and college service is considered an important part of the duties of the chaired professor; and (5) the amount of time spent on teaching activities is less than that spent on research and service. The results of this study should help accounting programmes worldwide in both assessing existing endowed chairs and in establishing new chaired professorships.     

International Publishing Patterns: An Investigation of Leading UK and US Accounting and Finance Journals

Abstract:   Research quality is often measured by the quality of the journals in which articles are published. This article looks at 1,867 articles published in six highly‐rated UK and six highly‐rated US academic journals from 1996 to 2000. The authors publishing in the UK journals come mainly from UK and US institutions, but just over a third come from other countries. However, almost ninety per cent of authors publishing in top US journals come from US institutions. Contributions from authors from institutions in non‐English speaking countries in these top journals are rare. The implications of this research are that although accounting is growing increasingly international, academic research, especially in the top US journals remains stubbornly nationally‐orientated.