The curriculum design in universities from the perspective of providers in accounting education

Education, Summer, 2007 by Kai-Wen Cheng

Introduction

In 1966, the American Accounting Association (AAA) defined accounting as an information system that identifies, records, and communicates the economic events of an organization to interested users. In brief, the key function of accounting is to provide many "information services" in this information age, not such one. Therefore, "accounting" is not merely the language of enterprise but also "the informer of the supervisors". It plays significant and diverse roles in business and indeed greatly affects the economic development of a nation. The pivot for promoting the function of accounting in business is to upgrade the quality of accounting education in universities.

Under the influence of globalization and the ongoing expansion of technology, many scholars believe that there is an obvious discrepancy of expectation between the providers of accounting education (i.e. teachers and students) and the demanders of that education (i.e. employers of accounting firms and business enterprises) (Albrecht & Sack, 2000; Li, 1999; Ma, 1996; Tu, 1989; Cheng, 2002; Cheng; 2005). According to Albrecht & Sack (2000), there are many problems in current accounting education, and a major problem lies in the content and design of the curricula. They indicated that it is not sufficient to change the curricula simply by adding more homework or several "new" courses. To the contrary, the curricula requires a drastic reform. While the traditional curricula still need to focus on fostering a good accountant, the practical business world has made it clear that what they need is a good business person. Further, compared to the educational circle, the courses the business circle should emphasize more are: Financial knowledge, commercial law, tax knowledge, mathematics and statistics, teamwork ability, business ethics, and business expansion ability (Ma, Ma, & Ko, 1999).

In 1990 and 1992, the Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC) published two position statements that defined the objectives of education for accountants and dealt with the first course in accounting. Position Statement Number One asserted that a primary objective of accounting education should be to provide "a basis on which life-long learning can be built" (AECC 1990, 1). Position Statement Number Two dealt with the first course in accounting and reemphasized the importance of teaching students to learn on their own. This statement stated that students completing the first course should "possess enhanced analytical skills and the ability to confront unstructured problems" (AECC 1992, 3). In this context, shortening the discrepancy of expectations between business circles and the academic area, "curricula design" seemed to be the most feasible method. Hence, the research for this paper was in the hope of offering workable suggestions to shorten the gap in expectations between the business community and academia.

Research Question Development

Courses Integration

According to Li(1999), the six core accounting courses: Basic accounting, intermediate accounting, advanced accounting, cost accounting, management accounting, and auditing should be integrated for learning to be effective. But this research didn't point out in what way they should be integrated. This leads to the following question:

Q1: Should basic accounting, intermediate accounting, advanced accounting, cost accounting, management accounting, and auditing be integrated courses? In what way should they be integrated?

Courses Supplemented or Deleted

A number of studies stated that compared to the educational circle, the courses the business circle should emphasize more are: Information system, business strategy, commercial law, international commerce, e-commerce, business ethics, and research methods in accounting (Richard, 1993; Williams, 1993; Albrecht & Sack, 2000).

This leads to the following question:

Q2: What accounting courses should be supplemented? What courses should be deleted?

Employment and Advanced Study Groupings

Cheng (2002) stated that if students could be divided into employment and advanced study groupings. Schools can plan proper accounting curricula for their choice. This leads to the following question:

Q3: Should students be divided into employment and advanced study groupings?

Case Study Approach

The use of case studies, made popular by the Harvard Business School curriculum and the establishment of Harvard Business School Publishing(HBSP), has long been a component of the business curriculum. Case study approach documents actual business situations in detail and provides teaching notes for use with each case. Case studies readily illustrate particular business concepts of interest, and faculty members also find case studies to be the most effective taching method for cultivating thinking skills and analisis skills(Lavitt, 1992; McEwen, 1994; Pithers & Soden,2000; Ma, 1996; Fan,2000). This leads to the following question:

Q4: Is case study approach necessary?

Prerequisite Credits Problem