A comparison of the dominant meta programme patterns in accounting undergraduate students and accounting lecturers at a UK business school

Meta programmes are a means of describing the behavioural traits that a person exhibits when interacting with other people. An understanding of meta programmes can improve communication between individuals and this may have implications for teaching. The purposes of this study are first to identify the dominant meta programme patterns of first year accounting undergraduates at a UK business school. An earlier pilot study validated use of the Motivation Profile Questionnaire (MPQ) to elicit the dominant meta programmes of accounting lecturers at the same Business School (Brown, 2002). Secondly, the students' meta programmes are compared with those of their accounting teachers to identify whether there are any differences or similarities between the two groups. The matching of the meta programmes of the teachers and students would enhance communication whilst major differences in meta programmes would make communication more difficult. A sample of 62 first year accounting undergraduates and 20 accountancy teachers completed the MPQ. The results indicate that, on average, the accounting students have similar dominant meta programme patterns to their accounting teachers. The implications of the findings for improving communication and therefore teaching are discussed, along with the scope for further research.     

Accounting education,firm training and information technology: a research note

Rapid developments in information technology (IT) have posed many challenges to the accounting profession. In this study we examined what has been done in US colleges by polling auditors' perceptions to investigate whether US accounting firms provide their auditors with more information on current IT topics than colleges do. Also educators in the USA are surveyed to find out what they are planning to do in college courses to ensure that accounting graduates acquire necessary IT knowledge/skills. The results indicate that the entry-level auditors have had significantly more exposure to IT topics while in college than the senior auditors had, which suggests that educators have modified their curricula by incorporating more IT topics into accounting programmes. According to the findings, educators recognize the importance of IT topics, but only a few IT topics can/will be covered in accounting curricula. Implications, limitations, and future research directions of this study are also discussed.     

Meta programmes for identifying thinking preferences and their impact on accounting students’ educational experience

Meta programmes are a way of indicating unconscious thinking preferences that influence how a person perceives the world, and how that person behaves and communicates with others. Meta programmes provide an easily understood language that can facilitate an understanding on the part of accounting students and faculty, of metacognitive processes, an important pre-requisite to developing the skill of learning to learn. This paper reports the results of an interview-based study which identifies 11 meta programmes important to the specific context of students’ educational experience. Meta programmes are found to affect the ability/inability of certain students to manage the educational process, a result that improves our understanding of why some students are better at coping with the demands of higher education than others. Since meta programmes are considered to operate at an unconscious or metacognitive level, raising awareness of their thinking and learning styles offers students the opportunity to influence, or change, their own cognitive processes involved in learning and therefore to enhance that learning. An increased understanding on the part of accounting faculty of their own and their students’ meta programmes offers potential for improving communication with students and designing more effective teaching and feedback strategies.     

Accounting service-learning experiences and the IRS volunteer income tax assistance programme: a teaching note

This paper discusses two service-learning experiences in academic accounting programmes in the USA. The Campus Compact (2000) and professional accounting organizations have called for experiences that bridge the gap between academic preparation, the professional workplace and volunteerism. In addition, employers are increasingly placing importance on experience for entry-level positions. After reviewing the service-learning literature in general as well as the sparse literature in accounting education service-learning, this paper compares the experiences of two US universities' service-learning opportunities utilizing Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programmes. Positive outcomes are discussed along with some of the pitfalls and concerns educators have concerning service-learning.     

Tax education in the UK: a survey of tax courses in undergraduate accounting degrees

This paper presents the results of a postal survey designed to examine the teaching of taxation in UK universities. The project looks at taxation in undergraduate accounting degree programmes and adopts an objective centred focus. The principal aim of the survey was to examine the relationships between some characteristics of individual tax courses, including the course objectives and coverage, staffing, teaching and assessment methods, in an attempt to draw some conclusions on the nature of tax education in UK accounting degrees. The results of the survey and consequent analysis may provide taxation and accounting educators, professional bodies and researchers into accounting education with an insight into approaches to, and methods used in, taxation teaching. It may also present a framework for comparative international research in tax education.     

THE PLACE OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE TRAINING OF ACCOUNTANTS IN NEW ZEALAND

The purpose of this study was to identify those communication skills most needed by accountants, so providing information which could be useful for accounting educators when designing programmes. The survey showed that practising accountants perceived wide differences between the desired and demonstrated communication skills of their new graduates. Academics, too, perceived serious deficiencies in their students. The conclusion is that academics, for the sake of their students and the accounting profession, should endeavour to increase the amount of time and expert effort put into communication skills in their university programmes.     

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.     

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.     

An investigation of certain interactions between large CPA firms and accounting educators

Some accounting educators have questioned whether selected interactions between the “Big Eight” accounting firms (Firms) and accounting educators might affect the academic freedom and independence of accounting educators. This study compares the current and normative attitudes of accounting professors about certain areas of these interactions and concludes that a significant difference exists between the attitudes of the current and the normative groups. The implications of this finding are discussed.     

Selecting instructional design for introductory accounting based on the experiential learning model

Introductory accounting courses are usually taken by all business majors. The teacher is the manager of the instructional system and must select an instructional strategy from among the many combinations available. It is important for educators to recognize the diversity of learning styles of students in the introductory accounting class so the course can be a more enriching experience for both accounting and nonaccounting majors. The experiential learning model is discussed in association with the teaching modes available to accounting educators. Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (1985) was used to determine the learning preferences for a large group of introductory accounting students. The results of this inventory and direction for the instructional design of introductory accounting courses are presented in this study.     

The development of a questionnaire assessing metacognitive patterns of students majoring in accounting in higher education

This paper reports on the process of developing and pilot testing a new questionnaire—the Metacognitive Pattern Indicator (MPI)—to identify metacognitive patterns of accounting students. Metacognitive patterns are a construct that encompasses meta programmes and other theoretical frameworks, the measurement of which can improve metacognition of students in higher education. The MPI was completed by a pilot sample of 207 accounting and 655 non-accounting students in a UK university. Survey-based student evaluation of the MPI indicated that students found the questionnaire to be easily accessible, confirming it can be completed and the results interpreted without any need for specialist training. Follow-up interviews with 15 students indicate that the MPI increased metacognitive awareness and improved understanding of factors that impact on students' learning. Statistical analysis revealed alpha coefficients greater than 0.7 for seven pattern variables and greater than 0.52 for a further 13 of the 24 variables, confirming that further research is needed to improve reliability. Exploratory factor analysis, based on the more reliable scale items, revealed conceptually logical combinations or ‘profiles’ of patterns. Some interesting statistically significant (P < 0.01) differences were identified between metacognitive pattern scores of accounting students and other groups of students.     

Internet uses in accounting education: survey results

The authors conducted a survey to determine how, where in the curriculum, and for what purposes accounting educators were using the Internet. The results indicate that pioneering accounting educators generally include Internet-based applications in their courses in order to familiarize students with the Internet, locate current materials to promote in-class discussion, and help with the completion of research projects. The authors report how accounting educators are using the Internet in specific courses and which resources and Web sites are found to be the most useful. The results also indicate that accounting educators experimenting with Internet-based applications in their courses are doing so with very little department or college support and little or no merit or official recognition for their efforts. The paper should be interesting to anyone currently using or contemplating using the Internet in accounting education.     

Accounting educators'' problem-solving style and their pedagogical perceptions and preferences

The problem-solving style exhibited by accounting educators may affect their propensity to implement innovative pedagogical and curriculum changes. This study used Adaption-Innovation Theory as a framework to investigate the problem-solving style of accounting educators. The sample consisted of 82 accounting educators from Missouri and Tennessee. More participants were found to be adaptive than innovative problem solvers though not to the extent found in prior research with accounting students. Faculty problem-solving style was found to be associated with preferences for certain pedagogical methodologies in the education process.     

The Accounting Profession as a Career Choice for Tertiary Business Students in Japan-A Factor Analysis

This study aims to investigate the major factors that influence Japanese tertiary business students' vocational choice. A questionnaire-based survey was administered to both accounting and non-accounting students in Japanese tertiary institutions at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The results of two individualized factor analyses indicated significant differences between factors influencing the career profiles of both these groups of students. It further shows that the major influence affecting vocational choice for accounting students was based on intrinsic values. Non-accounting students indicated career prospects as the major contributing factor when choosing a career. These results are very important for accounting educators in Japan as they attempt to address the current unpopularity of the accounting profession.     

Management Accounting Education In Australian Universities: A Review Of The Current State

The teaching of management accounting at tertiary institutions drew criticism in the mid-to-late 1980s on the grounds that course content and teaching methods were not keeping pace with changes in manufacturing technologies and the business environment. A study of management accounting programs in 30 Australian universities shows that the criticisms are largely being addressed, with most programs being well up-to-date in their coverage of many of the new topics and practices that have emerged in management accounting in recent years. Nonetheless, management accounting educators continue to see a number of constraints on effective teaching in this area.     

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.     

Modelling Performance Improvement and Switching Behaviour in Team Learning

Accounting educators and agencies have sought to incorporate team learning activities into conventional learning methods. The readiness-assurance process (RAP) of team learning, in which students take quizzes first as individuals and second as members of student teams, has been shown to be effective in this regard. We analyse the RAP with a fixed-effects regression model to identify the factors that contribute to performance improvement and we use ordered logit regression to estimate, probabilistically, switching behaviour within student teams. A longitudinal study was conducted over the course of a semester in which 101 undergraduate accounting students, comprising 22 teams, completed six quizzes. Within-team knowledge disparity was shown to be a significant indicator of performance improvement, and individuals appeared more likely to switch their answers after the first quiz. There were no significant effects for either performance or switching associated with demographic measures of sex and English fluency. Implications for accounting educators are discussed.     

Students’ conceptions of learning in the context of an accounting degree

Students' conceptions of learning (CoL) play an important role in the learning process leading to the development of generic skills. This paper investigates whether CoL of accounting students can be developed by incorporating high-level cognitive skills progressively within the accounting curriculum. First, the study explored, using phenomenography, the variation in accounting students' CoL. The findings highlighted some nuances in accountings students' CoL and that lower-order CoL were prevalent among accounting students. However, more (less) third-year students than second-year students adopted higher- (lower-) order CoL. Upon examining the learning objectives, teaching methods and assessment of all units comprising the accounting major of the host university, evidence was found that CoL are progressively developed and shaped, albeit in a limited way, based on the levels of cognitive domain emphasised within the curriculum. The findings highlight the need for accounting educators to take a whole of the programme approach to developing higher-order CoL.     

What skills and attributes does an accounting graduate need? Evidence from student perceptions and employer expectations

For some years there has been much debate between various stakeholders about the need for accounting graduates to develop a broader set of skills to be able to pursue a career in the accounting profession. This study uses mixed methods to examine perceptions and expectations of two major stakeholders: students and employers. Findings indicate that students are becoming aware of employers’ expectations in terms of communication, analytical, professional and teamwork skills. Although employers are still expecting a good understanding of basic accounting skills and strong analytical skills, they are also requiring ‘business awareness’ and knowledge in terms of the ‘real world’. Both students and employers report that many of the ‘essential’ non‐technical and professional skills and attributes are not being developed sufficiently in university accounting programmes.