New cross-proposal entrepreneurship and innovation in educational programs in third level (tertiary) education

Capitalism has promoted and requires the growing knowledge of entrepreneurs, creative people who have the ability to solve problems in the form of innovation. The types of enterprises they create can be social, public and private. By creating an enterprising company new products and new production methods can be introduced, new markets are open, new sources of raw materials and inputs are developed and new market structures in an industry are created. Entrepreneurship can be taught, the question is how to do it. Teaching entrepreneurship should go beyond the business plan. It proposes a form that overcomes the mistakes found by the author in two research studies in 2008 and 2014 in the programs of management in Bogotá.     

Academies 2 – The New Batch: The Changing Nature of Academy Schools in England

The English education system has undergone large‐scale restructuring through the introduction of academy schools. The most salient feature of these schools is that, despite remaining part of the state sector, they operate with more autonomy than the predecessors they replaced. Two distinct periods of academy school introduction have taken place, under the auspices of different governments. The first batch was initiated in the 2002–03 school year by the Labour government of the time, and was a school improvement programme directly aimed at turning around badly performing schools. The second batch involved a mass academisation process following the change of government in May 2010 and the Academies Act of that year, which resulted in increased heterogeneity of new academies. This paper compares the two batches of introduction with the aim of getting a better understanding of their similarities and differences, and their importance for education policy. To do so, we study what types of schools were more likely to change to academy status in the two programmes, and the impact of this change on the quality of new pupil enrolments into the new types of school. Whilst we do point out some similarities, these are the exception rather than the norm. For the most part, our analysis reveals a number of marked dissimilarities between the two programmes, in terms of both the characteristics of schools that became academies and the changes in pupil intakes that occurred post‐conversion.     

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.     

Islamic Banking Sustainability: A Review of Literature and Directions for Future Research

This study reviews literature on the Islamic banking sustainability and presents directions for future research. The article discourses scholars’ and practitioners’ views on the two perspectives of sustainability in relation to the objectives of Islamic banking and finance. That there are limited studies on Islamic banking sustainability is one of the major issues presented in the article. The study highlights essential issues on the sustainability without in-depth empirical analysis. The needs for long-term economic, social, and environmental sustainability are not a compromising issue. Therefore, Islamic banks must strike a balance between the institutional, societal, and environmental sustainability in order to achieve the objective of Sharia.     

Acceso y uso de los mercados financieros para el pago de los gastos de la educación básica

The aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and the macroeconomic adjustment that followed provided higher unemployment and eroded the Mexican households’ purchasing power. Though, families had to continue financing education expenditures, sometimes borrowing in the formal or informal financial market. The hypothesis of this paper posits that access and use of formal and informal financial products can reduce the financial problems associated with basic school private expenditures. The probit model is estimated through a sample of four hundred households drawn from the municipality of San Pedro Cholula (state of Puebla). The results indicate that a worsening of working conditions and sudden unemployment are associated with an increased likelihood of difficulties in making ends meet. Moreover, accessing the formal financial market lessens the likelihood of such problems, but for the informal counterpart results depend on the characteristics of each financial intermediary.     

Concept mapping: Potential uses in accounting education

Major changes are underway in accounting education, in part because of the encouragement of the Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC). To extend learning beyond the formal curriculum, the AECC advocates that accounting educators help students develop the ability to ‘learn how to learn.’ A learning technique called concept mapping, widely accepted in science education, is described in this paper. Concept mapping allows students to understand how they learn and how new knowledge is constructed. Students can then use this technique to ‘learn how to learn’ and carry knowledge absorption beyond their college experience.     

Social cognitive career theory and the goal of becoming a certified public accountant

A primary goal for professors in academia is to facilitate the career success of their students by providing them with the necessary subject knowledge, skills, experience, and confidence. In this paper, we propose the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) model as a useful tool to explain how accounting students’ career interests, goals, and intentions are related to their self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations. Results showed that the goal to become a certified public accountant (CPA) was significantly and positively correlated with the independent variables of self-efficacy and outcome expectations. These findings are further interpreted and pedagogical recommendations are provided for educators to utilize in their curriculum to enhance students’ accounting self-efficacy and outcome expectations. These recommendations may be used to help boost students’ interests and intentions to major in accounting and pursue a career as a CPA.     

Rhetoric or Reality? Do Accounting Education and Experience Increase Weighting on Environmental Performance in a Balanced Scorecard?

We are nearing the end of the United Nations' Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014). There has been substantial rhetoric in education and business forums, and many universities have integrated sustainability into their accounting curricula, but what effect is accounting education having? This study considers whether the rhetoric of sustainability is manifest in a greater emphasis on environmental performance by students and practitioners. In an evaluation task using a balanced scorecard we found that third-year accounting students in Australia and Germany recognised lead performance indicators, and penalised poor environmental performance, more than did first-year students. Experienced accounting controllers, however, placed less emphasis on environmental performance than did third-year accounting students. This suggests that the rhetoric taught in universities regarding the strategic importance of environmental performance exceeds the reality of organisational priorities, at least for now.     

Student perceptions of the effects of classroom assessment techniques (CATs)

Recent efforts to improve accounting education challenged professors to shift their focus from what they teach, to what their students learn. Along with changing course content and instructional methods, professors have placed greater emphasis on assessment. Many have added Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) to their classes, and literature on the subject is emerging.This paper makes two contributions. First, it introduces a unique CAT, the Feedback Form. Professors can use this single CAT to assess different aspects of learning without confusing or overloading students. Second, it reports on a study that measured students' perceptions of Feedback Forms. The results suggest that students perceived Feedback Forms to complement, rather than substitute for, a traditional approach to assessment. Students found added value in Feedback Forms, even when they used them all of the time. There are several promising areas of future research, including following up on gender differences observed in this study.     

Governmentality in accounting and accountability: A case study of embedding sustainability in a supply chain

This paper examines how the introduction of sustainability accounting has been used by an organization as a means to seek to govern social, economic and environmental issues relating to suppliers. The concept of governmentality and four analytics of government are proposed as a means to examine systematic ways of exercising power and authority. This theoretical framework illuminates the specific rationales and practices of government that enable particular aspirations of reform – such as sustainability – to be constituted. The analysis is informed by the discussion of the implementation of sustainability-orientated regimes of practice in the context of a single supply chain within a major supermarket chain in the UK against the theoretical analytics of government. The paper provides novel empirical insights into how sustainability accounting shaped forms of power, rationales and practices in a supply chain. It explores the extent to which senior decision-takers frame and use sustainability accounting to foster disciplinary effects based ostensibly upon social and environmental goals. These are found in practice to be reformulated primarily according to an economic (rather than social or environmental) regime of practice.     

Letter from the oasis: Helping engineering students to become sustainability professionals

Sustainability scientists call for education that produces ‘sustainability professionals’, who understand the need for sustainability and can work towards it. However, students often have very different ideas, usually based on an expectation of continued unlimited economic growth. This paper, based on research with large, diverse, first year engineering cohorts, argues that a reflective process and on-line support can contribute to a learning oasis—a supportive environment that encourages students to leave their cultural and intellectual comfort zones. In these circumstances, most students will engage with the personal and professional challenges of what it means to be Globo sapiens, a wise global citizen and global sustainability professional for an increasingly complex century.¹     

Expanding your accounting classroom with digital video technology

In the past, many activities of accounting professors were restricted or confined by their classroom walls. Bringing in guest speakers, taking students on field trips and teaching students off-campus (either locally or globally) were extraordinary efforts that required significant organization. Today, numerous technological advancements in communication infrastructure, equipment and online tools greatly facilitate such initiatives. Outside experts can now visit the classroom, students can explore or collaborate in distant places and professors can extend the geographical reach of their lessons simply via the means of digital video technology. Based on our 2010 Conference on Teaching and Learning in Accounting (CTLA) Master Class, we share our experiences in exploring the use of digital video in teaching accounting and explain how numerous accounting professors are taking advantage of the capabilities afforded by digital video technologies. Online video clips, student video projects, and online video lecture recordings hold great promise for accounting education. We have created a website that complements and demonstrates the teaching ideas presented in this article and that facilitates video integration into accounting courses. We discuss the pedagogical benefits of using video, including those from general education and accounting literature. The article concludes with suggestions for how accounting faculty can keep current with video technology, areas for future accounting research and a call to action for accounting educators. Our work with digital video technology has led to the 2011 American Accounting Association (AAA) Innovation in Accounting Education Award as well as the 2010 Canadian Academic Accounting Association (CAAA) Howard Teall Innovation in Accounting Education Award.     

Characterizing desired futures of Canadian communities

In sustainability research and practice, one method widely used in exploration is visioning, in which desirable sustainable futures are articulated and explored in depth. Communities across Canada have used this method to develop collective desirable futures, in many cases to provide an end goal for local sustainable development. In this paper, we conduct a meta­-analysis of desired futures created by communities across Canada with the aim of identifying regional commonalities according to the three pillars of sustainability, social, environmental, and economic. Although sustainability demands a balance between its social, economic and environmental components, Canadians futures apparently place the greatest importance on social aspects with 338 desires against 222 and 230 respectively for economic and environmental sustainability. Community (105); Infrastructure, development, and transportation (126); and Natural environment (157) are the categories most frequently recorded within each of the three components of sustainability. The meta­analysis also noted significant differences amongst regions. The study was conducted in the context of an initiative known as the Sustainable Canada Dialogues that mobilized 60+ scholars from across the country around a consensus on science ­based, viable solutions for greenhouse gas reduction. Our results suggest that climate policy that simultaneously reduces greenhouse gas emissions while enhancing some of the key aspects of social sustainability would be attractive to many Canadians.     

Role of banks in financial inclusion in India

Financial inclusion is emerging as a new paradigm of economic growth that plays major role in driving away the poverty from the country. It refers to delivery of banking services to masses including privileged and disadvantaged people at an affordable terms and conditions. Financial inclusion is important priority of the country in terms of economic growth and advanceness of society. It enables to reduce the gap between rich and poor population. In the current scenario financial institutions are the robust pillars of progress, economic growth and development of the economy. The present study aims to examine the impact of financial inclusion on growth of the economy over a period of seven years. Secondary data is used which has been analyzed by multiple regression model as a main statistical tool. Results of the study found positive and significant impact of number of bank branch and Credit deposit ratio on GDP of the country, whereas an insignificant impact has been observed in case of ATMs growth on Indian GDP.     

Sustainability Risk Disclosure Practices of Listed Companies in Australia

This paper investigates the extent to which the top 100 ASX listed companies disclosed economic, environmental and social sustainability risk factors during the 2014/15 financial year in light of the changes introducing Recommendation 7.4 to the third edition of the Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations in 2014. While all companies complied with the Recommendation, questions of substance over form were raised because some companies had risks that were not disclosed according to Recommendation 7.4. Our conclusion outlines how this research contributes to the growing literature on sustainability and corporate governance. We add to the continuing debate on mandatory versus voluntary disclosures, advocating that Australia may need to introduce mandatory guidelines, beyond the ASX, to regulate the disclosure of material economic, environmental and social risks. Additionally, we conclude that Recommendation 7.4 is unlikely to substantially change Australian corporate reporting and disclosure practices – that, for most companies, it is ‘business as usual’. However, under business as usual, we can naturally expect to see further increases in sustainability and alternative reporting frameworks, such as integrated reporting, as well as increasing use of the Internet to report and disclose sustainability risks.     

The Effects of State-Mandated Financial Education on College Financing Behaviors

Students entering college have limited financial experience while making complex borrowing decisions. This paper examines a policy lever that may improve these decisions: high school personal finance graduation requirements. We use a difference-in-difference strategy to determine their effects on financial aid decisions of incoming freshmen at 4-year institutions. Our results suggest financial education shifts students from high-cost to low-cost financing. The requirements increase aid applications and acceptance of federal loans, while decreasing the likelihood of holding credit card balances. Students from less affluent family backgrounds reduce their likelihoods of working and borrowers from more affluent backgrounds reduce private loan amounts.     

A management control system to support corporate sustainability strategies

This paper outlines a management accounting system, based upon cost variance analysis, which supports the pursuit of environmental and traditional financial goals within a decentralized organization. The framework decomposes inefficiencies into two parts. The first consists of what might be considered a natural outcome of pursuing the traditional economic goal of efficiency through cost-minimization, a “waste” variance. The second part consists of sustainability gains that produce societal benefit but may be incongruent with short-term economic goals, a “sustainability” variance. While elimination of waste variances can be encouraged using a traditional performance evaluation and reward structure, elimination of sustainability variances requires re-design of performance evaluation tools and reward structures. We demonstrate that differing production functions across operational units within organizations can impact the relative magnitude of the two variances. The failure to recognize and incorporate these differences can lead to inefficient allocation of resources and/or only partial fulfillment of the strategic environmental goals of the organization.     

Business sustainability factors and stock price informativeness

This paper investigates whether and how business sustainability performance and disclosure factors affect stock price informativeness (SPI). We find that non-financial environmental, social, and governance (ESG) sustainability performance factors are positively associated with idiosyncratic volatility (our proxy for SPI) after controlling for financial-economic performance. We further show that the association between sustainability performance factors and SPI is stronger for firms with higher sustainability disclosure. We find that the association between ESG sustainability performance factors and SPI is stronger when economic performance is weaker, suggesting that investors tend to pay more attention to ESG performance factors when firms are financially underperforming. This study shows that investors pay attention to both firm economic performance (corporate profitability and growth prospect) and ESG sustainability performance and disclosure factors, which have implications for policymakers, regulators, investors, businesses, and researchers.