Accounting Education: A Review of the Changes That Have Occurred in the Last Five Years

Copyright © 2017 by Dr. Gail Hartsfield.

ISBN:                  Softcover                              978-1-5434-1525-4

                           eBook                                   978-1-5434-1526-1

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Rev. date: 04/24/2017

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

Background of the Problem

Purpose of the Study

Research Questions

Definition of Terms

Significance of the Study

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

Rationale of the Research

Historical Background of Accounting Education

Recent Developments in Accounting Education

Learning Methods

Self-Regulated Learning

Problem-Based Learning

Instructional Teaching Mode

Revised Standards on International Professional Development

Effectiveness of Accounting Education

Summary

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design

Selection of the Subjects

Instrumentation

Questionnaires

Assumptions of the Study

Limitations of the Study

Delimitations of the Study

Validity and Reliability

Construct Validity

Reliability

Procedures

Data Processing and Analysis

Summary

CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS

Restatement of the Purpose

Research Question 1: Accounting Educators

Research Question 2: Accounting Graduates

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSIONS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Discussion

Conclusions

Major Question Related to Purpose

Major Question Related to Purpose

Implications for Practice

Implications for Research

Recommendations

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

Appendix A: Invitation to Participate

Appendix B: Consent Form

CHAPTER ONE

Several financial scandals, including those in business entities such as Enron and WorldCom, started the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002 (Guyette, 2008). Certified public accountants (CPA) are required, since then, to maintain the mandatory critical-thinking and problem-solving abilities for the assessment of the information necessary for financial statements (Lightweis, 2011). Furthermore, it is the duty of CPA firms to learn and follow the regulation of SOX.

Reviewers have defined that breaks occur between the abilities of accounting students entering into the universe of industry and trade after completion of school and what the business industry and trade wants. The requests of business inquiries are not being settled as the final details of college education are not adequate to meet the requirement of today’s industry and trade transactions. Issues regarding the accounting profession has been asserted for the institutions of scholastic education as well (Lightweis, 2011).

Accounting learning is looked at by several expert accountants and corporations as being obsolete or not related to business (Albrecht & Sack, 2000). Because expert accountants offer important financial evidence that is necessary to an entity’s results, accounting students must learn strong oral abilities to transmit the details with confidence to the entity’s executive board (Sharifi, McCombs, Fraser, & McCabe, 2009). Deficients in accounting learning have been shown as details of learning methods, practical background obtained, and learning issues. Bisman (2011) noted affairs about bad perception of teaching and educational procedures in the accounting area and reflected that inadequate can also be seen in the usual skills of accounting students (Bisman, 2011).

Background of the Problem

Reviewers have maintained that the teaching and learning modes employed at some universities do not cherish the expert abilities that scholars need to contribute to businesses to guarantee continuous careers (Sharifi, McCombs, Fraser, & McCabe, 2009). The reviewers also felt that instructional and educational methods did not permit growth or increase of expert abilities that could make the students marketable, supporting participants to companies at the start of their career (Lightweis, 2011).

Additionally in dispute is whether educators have a knowledge of the determinants connected to and the relationships among, the schooling acquired at the undergraduate level by accounting students and the understanding of accomplishments by their current managers. Guyette, (2008) and Jonick (1998) stated that frequently, accounting classes are taught by instruction and speaking. This suggests an interest for both accounting educational and the accounting occupation. Blayney and Freeman (2008) proposed that many educational resources could be used to further advance educational practices. Professors, they maintained, should teach accounting using techniques that provide conflicting circumstances that model events in the corporate arena. The inquires of the accounting occupation are learned through realistic demands of the world. Possibly, if the factors and relationships in the midst of the schooling acquired at the undergraduate level for accounting students and the viewpoint of performance by their present managers, which contribute to continued occupation, were understood better, the problem might be easier to solve.

The main point of the advanced review will be to analyze persons’ backgrounds of professors, alumnus and accounting students whereby to comprehend the difficulties that occur among scholastic abilities that managers insist upon from potential accountants and the actual scholastic abilities students acquire. Much of the information to be looked at is the outcome of changes in the corporate arena on accounting learning and on procedures of learning and the opinions of students majoring in accounting, in order to guarantee the successful continuation of accounting learning. Past analysis on the significance of the