Management accounting texts in New Zealand: the need for a paradigm shift

This paper questions the dominance in textbooks of a management accounting grounded largely in neo-classical economics and scientific management. In New Zealand the most popular textbook used in introductory management accounting courses is Horngren and Foster's Cost Accounting - a Managerial Emphasis.The current seventh edition of the text, although extensively used, is not regarded as adequate for the purpose by many New Zealand educators. The text is seen as being rootd firmly in the traditional understandings of the role of management accounting which are subject to increasing challenge. Other popular texts which are influencing the content of management accounting courses also are reviewed. We conclude that, despite much criticism over many years, modern textbooks have failed to evolve; change is overdue.     

Burnout among university accounting educators in Australia and New Zealand: determinants and implications

Increased teaching workloads combined with pressures to publish in limited outlets has intensified the burnout potential among accounting educators in Australia and New Zealand. However, amongst the few studies on tertiary accounting education, the focus has so far been only on burnout arising from student contact intensity. We broaden this literature by examining how other worklife characteristics contribute to burnout. Based on 158 responses from Australian and New Zealand accounting academics, we find evidence for emotional exhaustion due to high workload. However, professional efficacy continues to remain high. Qualitative responses offer deeper insights on how various burnout factors are interrelated.     

Not-for-profit accounting in a changing world of standard setting: What professors and students need to know

Generally, accounting standard setting in the 21st Century promises to be an interesting and increasingly diverse endeavor. This paper discusses the formation of the FASB’s Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee in 2010 and its work to date. I identify the various changes that will likely impact accounting and auditing for not-for-profit entities. Specifically, prospects for changes to current not-for-profit standards are discussed with emphasis on how future changes might follow the patterns outlined for private companies or small and medium-sized entities. New possibilities and implications for educators and curriculum design are introduced.     

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.     

An historical perspective on governmental accounting education

This paper presents a senior governmental accounting educator’s perspectives on how governmental accounting education has changed over the past 35 years and what we can expect for the future. Having begun my academic career during the 1970s, a period of turmoil and debate about the deficient state of governmental accounting, I look at how events of this period influenced my personal decision to specialize in governmental accounting education and how those events led to a path of dramatic improvement in governmental accounting standards, practice, and education. Key trends in governmental accounting education are discussed along with major changes in practice guidance over the years that have challenged textbook authors and faculty in staying abreast of change. The paper identifies many governmental accounting educators who have made significant contributions to governmental accounting and auditing policy and encourages current educators to seek ways to participate in the policy-making process. Finally, the paper discusses the future outlook for governmental accounting education and concludes that governmental accounting educators are well positioned to contribute to achieving the recently released recommendations of the Pathways Commission (2012).     

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.     

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.     

An investigation into student satisfaction,approaches to learning and the learning context in Auditing

Arguably, the audit course is one of the most challenging as it links prior accounting knowledge with new audit knowledge that students are generally not exposed to. A mini‐audit group project was implemented at a New Zealand university, and a learning approach and learning experience survey instrument was administered. Responses from 98 students suggest that they perceived the learning experience positively and were encouraged to adopt a deep approach to learning. The findings have implications for accounting educators in the design and development of learning and assessment strategies in an audit course.     

Recruiting top students: A letter writing approach

This paper presents the outcome of a letter writing technique to influence top business students to consider enrolling in the first intermediate accounting course. Accounting educators and professional recruiters have expressed concern that accounting may not always be attracting the “best and brightest” students. What can accounting educators do to mitigate this concern? A study was conducted to see whether a simple letter writing effort can make a difference in attracting top students to the first intermediate accounting course.     

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.     

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.     

Knowing the unknowable and contested terrains in accounting

Creating visibilities and breaking silences are powerful legacies of critical accounting research and education. This paper, promoting that we further develop our understandings of how ideas are created, reveals how language is nuanced, power is embed in accounting technology, and accounting education crafts and restricts meaning. Particular ways of knowing in accounting education are appraised as well as emerging approaches to critical and ethical accounting education in order to deliberate: how can we foster a truly critical framework by which educators and students can “think different” and what can be done to promote sustainable, principled, and nuanced business practices? Our views of the morality of our world, how social structures affect ways of knowing, and what disrupts and challenges the status quo are particularly of concern to promote social transformation and justice.     

Meta programme patterns in accounting educators at a UK business school

The purposes of this study are to compare the results of two alternative methods of eliciting meta programmes, the Motivation Profile Questionnaire (MPQ) and the Language and Behaviour (LAB) Profile semistructured interview, and to identify whether accounting educators exhibit any dominant meta programmes. An individual trained to use the LAB Profile interviewed a sample of 14 accounting educators who then completed the MPQ. The results of the MPQ and the LAB Profile identified three common patterns, indicating a good degree of correlation between the two methods. Identification of the key meta programmes of the accounting educators may have benefits in their teaching and is the precursor to a larger study of the meta programmes of accounting undergraduates, which can now be undertaken in a cost effective way using the MPQ.     

Who's doing it? Sources of public and private computer-aided learning materials for accounting educators

This paper provides a listing of commercial computer-aided learning materials available to accounting educators from vendors. It also provides a sampling of computer-aided learning materials authored by accounting educators around the world. The purposes of the paper are to reveal trends in such authoring activities by both business firms and accounting educators and researchers.     

Reform of Accounting Education in the Post-Enron Era: Moving Accounting 'Out of the Shadows'

This article reflects critically on the general state of university-based accounting education. It highlights the chiding of business school educators by the President of the U.S.A., George W. Bush, in his response to the collapse of Enron and subsequent corporate failures. It draws attention to Bush's plea for corporate accounting to be moved 'out of the shadows'.
An agenda of reform for accounting education is proposed, seeking a greater responsiveness by accounting educators to three broad matters: first, the political, rhetorical and ideological nature of accounting; second, the 'poverty of discourse' in accounting curricula; and third, the merits of a better understanding of accounting history. It is suggested that responsiveness to these matters be manifest in a stronger commitment to critique of accounting. This entails implementation of four curriculum themes commencing in the first class in accounting. The benefits of reading and reflecting upon the collected life's work of distinguished intellectual forbears of our discipline are canvassed. Wide-ranging general proposals for the reform of accounting education are advanced.     

US government spending,the national debt,and the role of accounting educators

This article discusses the facts associated with US government deficits and the national debt. The growing problem of government debt is unsustainable and timely action is needed to avert serious economic problems in the future. While the current picture and forecast in the future are sobering, positive change that will restore fiscal balance is possible. Government spending and national debt are significant societal problems and the solutions can be facilitated by objective, non-partisan expertise from financial professionals such as accounting educators. We have an opportunity and responsibility to educate our students and others about the significance of our nation’s financial problems. The article also encourages accounting educators to be more active in researching and discussing these issues in a broader public context. Having faculty focus on federal spending in their teaching and research is consistent with recommendations by the Pathways Commission that encourage accounting faculty to focus on issues that matter to the profession and to society. The article suggests alternative methods for sharing the issues with various student audiences.     

Developing Learning Objectives for Accounting Ethics Using Bloom's Taxonomy

The purpose of our article is to offer a set of core knowledge learning objectives for accounting ethics education. Using Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives, we develop learning objectives in six content areas: codes of ethical conduct, corporate governance, the accounting profession, moral development, classical ethics theories, and decision models. We believe that defining core knowledge is important for two reasons. First, many accounting educators continue to debate whether ethics can be taught, apparently unaware that a common body of ethics knowledge exists. This knowledge needs to be imparted before higher-level classroom discussions can ensue. Second, we believe agreement on learning objectives is necessary for the development of meaningful assessment tools. Students should be able to demonstrate ethics knowledge, and accounting educators should be held accountable for whether or not students are learning.     

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.     

Management accounting curricula: striking a balance between the views of educators and practitioners

Management accounting education has been subject of considerable debate since the 1970s, particularly in terms of what topics should be taught. The research reported here set out to ascertain the management accounting topics/techniques and the skills/characteristics that are considered important for a graduate who intends to pursue careers in management accounting. Based on a survey conducted on educators and practitioners, the results indicate that educators viewed behavioural implications, activity-based costing (ABC), performance evaluation and product costing as the top four important topics. In contrast, practitioners' top four important topics were cash flow management, operational budgeting, variance analysis and performance evaluation. Overall, traditional techniques, as compared to contemporary techniques, tend to be more widely used by firms. As regards skills and characteristics, practitioners and educators placed high importance on thinking, problem solving, listening and quantitative skills.