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Position statements on accounting education have generally called for an increased emphasis on developing students’ so-called soft skills in the hope that accounting graduates will be more well-rounded and productive professionals. Many accounting education programs and individual faculty members have responded to these position statements with efforts to develop, for example, students’ communication skills, ability to think critically, and ethical awareness. Largely missing from the accounting education literature has been a discussion of whether soft skills can effectively be taught or developed at the undergraduate level and whether accounting faculty members are trained or equipped to assume this responsibility. In addition, given the constrained number of credit and contact hours, efforts to develop soft skills have largely been made at the expense of covering important technical material. This paper addresses these issues and further questions the balance between soft skill development and coverage of technical accounting knowledge. Although not a zero sum proposition, it is clear that as emphasis on soft skills development increases there has to be a decreased emphasis on technical issues given the class time constraints. It should be noted that we do not take the position that developing soft skills is not important or desirable. Instead, we focus on how accounting faculty members, given their expertise, can best use the limited time they have to educate our students and to prepare them for careers as accounting professionals.

This review of the accounting education literature includes 101 articles published during 2018 in five journals: (1) Journal of Accounting Education, (2) Accounting Education, (3) Advances in Accounting Education: Teaching and Curriculum Innovations, (4) Issues in Accounting Education, and (5) The Accounting Educators’ Journal. We update 13 prior accounting education literature reviews by organizing and summarizing contributions to the accounting education literature made during 2018. Articles are categorized into five sections corresponding to traditional knowledge bases: (1) curriculum and instruction, (2) instruction by content area, (3) educational technology, (4) students, and (5) faculty. Research rigor of the empirical articles is discussed and critiqued. Suggestions for research in all areas are presented. Articles classified as instructional resources and cases published in the same five journals during 2018 are listed in appendices categorized by the relevant content area.

We apply professional accounting concepts to academic fraud in accounting education. First, we use the fraud triangle to understand professors’ perceptions of academic dishonesty and find two components to each fraud triangle corner. Specifically, the attitude and pressure corners have elements of faculty and student agency, while the opportunity corner is within a professor’s control. Second, risk mapping reveals plagiarism and exam cheating as more impactful than assessment protocols. We also find that faculty efforts to control academic dishonesty are mostly well-directed; however, there are opportunities to employ both preventive and detective controls more frequently.

Previous literature on Serious Games (SGs) has focused on the possible impacts of these educational tools on learning effectiveness. However, the empirical evidence is still scarce, and these learning-based games are rarely used in general undergraduate courses and even less so in accounting courses compared with other business areas. Using an existing digital game and a sample of accounting lecturers, this paper uses the Delphi methodology to examine accounting academicś perceptions of the usefulness and the potential barriers to implementing SGs in the classroom. Our results show that the knowledge and funding of technology is no longer an issue. However, incentives to motivate and increase knowledge and use new teaching tools (such as SGs) for lecturers are low despite the perception of the benefits of these tools in the learning process. The low use of learning-based games and scarce research on SGs in accounting education compared with other business areas seem to be related to the perception that few suitable games exist for undergraduate accounting subjects. This perception mirrors the fact that accounting education is perceived by lecturers as a mere technique rather than as an integral part of the management and business decision-making process.

This research examines two senior-level accounting courses taught in three different delivery modes (face-to-face, hybrid, and online) by the same instructor in each course with consistent curriculum in the three delivery modes. Multiple-regression results found significant effects for delivery mode and found the interaction between delivery mode and past student achievement on student performance on examinations in both courses to be significant. Intermediate Accounting III students in the online and hybrid modes significantly outperformed students in the face-to-face mode. Auditing students in the online mode significantly outperformed students in the hybrid and face-to-face modes. The findings lend support for the legitimacy of online accounting education.

Data analytics appears soundly entrenched within both professional accounting and business environments. However, the role of data analytics within undergraduate accounting education does not appear to be well understood either by practitioners or academics. This study addresses the curriculum impact of the data-driven decision-making evolution by investigating the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) specifically needed within accounting curricula (as opposed to other disciplines within and outside of the business school). Based on prior literature and suggestions from interviews with business professionals, this study identifies a set of possible KSAs—incremental to technical accounting knowledge—useful for helping accountants succeed in the evolving data-driven decision-making environment. Using these KSAs, this study surveys business professionals and faculty from a set of representative accounting programs to better understand their desired emphasis on the KSAs as compared to traditional technical accounting knowledge. We find that compared to accounting faculty, business professionals desire an equal focus across all types of KSAs rather than on a detailed understanding of technical accounting knowledge traditionally emphasized in classrooms. We believe that this study’s results suggest a desired shift towards a more “scientific method” approach in which students use their understanding of business and accounting to ask questions, perform research, and seek out additional information to test alternate solutions (often using quantitative analyses) to evolve their accounting knowledge. Additionally, we provide results of a survey of business professionals on potential types of traditional accounting topics to deemphasize and thus provide opportunities to more thoroughly integrate additional KSAs into the accounting curriculum.

Recent trends suggest a decline in the number of individuals attempting the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam. Our institution has responded to the need for additional professionals by creating accelerated accounting certificate programs. We find no significant difference between alumni from our traditional and accelerated programs in terms of attempting the CPA exam. Limiting comparisons to those who have attempted the exam, we obtain no significant differences between alumni from the programs in terms of passing the exam and the number of attempts required to pass. We further find that the accelerated program alumni take less time after program completion to pass the exam. This study contributes to our understanding of the comparative efficacy of accelerated accounting education. Our results suggest that well-designed accelerated accounting programs can provide a useful means for increasing the supply of well-qualified entry-level accountants and increase opportunities for students seeking a career in accounting.

This review of the accounting education literature includes 103 articles published during 2017 in six journals: (1) Journal of Accounting Education, (2) Accounting Education, (3) Advances in Accounting Education: Teaching and Curriculum Innovations, (4) Global Perspectives on Accounting Education, (5) Issues in Accounting Education, and (6) The Accounting Educators’ Journal. We update 12 prior accounting education literature reviews by organizing and summarizing contributions to the accounting education literature made during 2017. Articles are categorized into five sections corresponding to traditional knowledge bases: (1) curriculum and instruction, (2) instruction by content area, (3) educational technology, (4) students, and (5) faculty. Research rigor of the empirical articles is discussed and critiqued. Suggestions for research in all areas are presented. Articles classified as instructional resources and cases published in the same six journals during 2017 are listed in appendices categorized by the relevant content area.

A significant body of research has found that accounting education contributes to the narrow and stereotypical scorekeeping perceptions students have of accounting, and that there is a disconnect between accounting education and practice. However, there has only been limited research into why this has occurred. This study examines how the preparer-focused accounting textbooks adopted by New Zealand universities contribute to these concerns. Given that three of the five adopted textbooks are authorised adaptations of American textbooks and one is an American textbook, these findings will have implications for educators and authors beyond New Zealand. In an effort to better reflect accounting practice, this paper calls on authors and publishers of textbooks to acknowledge the wider context within which accounting operates, and the influence of technology on the accounting process as currently practised.

We analyzed publication trends in six accounting education journals published during the 20-year period 1997–2016: (1) Accounting Education, (2) Advances in Accounting Education, (3) Global Perspectives on Accounting Education, (4) Issues in Accounting Education, (5) Journal of Accounting Education, and (6) The Accounting Educators’ Journal. Our objective is to inform academicians about the overall development of accounting education research, empirical article topical trends, the extant knowledge base, and directions for future accounting education scholarship. Our analysis shows that the number of articles per year has increased over time and that the proportion of articles in four categories (empirical, descriptive, instructional resources, and cases) has changed over the 20-year period. The body of literature we analyzed shows the beginnings of a knowledge base that can be used as the foundation for future accounting education research.

Upper-level undergraduate and graduate financial reporting courses often rely upon teaching cases to help students refine their critical thinking, research, analysis, judgment and writing skills. This paper describes the rationale for and experience of students writing teaching cases within a graduate level International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) class over the past two years. The assignment relies on the reports of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), an excellent source of regulatory decisions regarding the appropriate application of IFRS. Four of the 24 cases developed in the course have now been effectively used in accounting classes. This paper details the assignment, identifies the ESMA basis for the cases, describes how students added to the enforcement decisions, and summarizes student evaluations of the case writing and case using experiences. The paper also provides suggestions for faculty planning to adopt this learning tool.

For many years, accounting education research has highlighted the need for students to develop stronger critical thinking skills. This need has become even more imperative as the accounting profession continues to transition, and entry-level accountants are expected to demonstrate stronger critical thinking skills earlier in their careers. In this paper, we revisit the higher education literature to identify key recommendations for accounting education to simultaneously develop desired critical thinking skills and accounting technical knowledge. Based on existing research in higher education, we recommend that accounting educators apply a model of cognitive development—the reflective judgment model—to better understand students’ thinking and to design and employ more effective learning activities. To encourage adoption of this approach, we summarize existing accounting education recommendations for improved critical thinking education. Although we believe that these recommendations are beneficial, we recognize that only limited accounting education research supports the ideas presented here. Accordingly, we propose calls to action for additional research in this area. Our students need for us to identify and adopt educational practices to generate graduates who have the critical thinking skills required by our rapidly-changing profession. To meet this need, researchers should actively engage in activities to fill the gap in empirical data about the development of students’ critical thinking skills throughout the accounting curriculum. Also, accounting departments and faculty need to support both educational research and improved learning design.

This review of the accounting education literature includes 88 articles published during 2020 in five accounting education journals: (1) Journal of Accounting Education, (2) Accounting Education, (3) Advances in Accounting Education: Teaching and Curriculum Innovations, (4) Issues in Accounting Education, and (5) The Accounting Educators’ Journal. We update 15 prior accounting education literature reviews by organizing and summarizing contributions to the accounting education literature made during 2020. Articles are categorized into five sections corresponding to traditional knowledge bases: (1) curriculum and instruction, (2) instruction by content area, (3) educational technology, (4) students, and (5) faculty. We summarize the research design of the empirical articles. Suggestions for research are presented. Articles classified as cases published in the same five journals during 2020 are tabulated in an appendix categorized by content area.

Overall trends in the accounting profession worldwide suggest an increased risk of a widening gender gap due to rapid technological development in the Smart Machine Age (SMA). Women in accounting are overrepresented in positions most likely to be displaced by AI, and underrepresented in positions likely to be created or maintained in the SMA. In this article, educators and leaders in the profession are encouraged to address these risks by supporting and encouraging women to pursue advancements in technological literacy, and enhancement of emotional intelligence skills that are less likely to be replaced by machines, such as collaboration, teamwork, and ethical decision-making.

This study expands upon employer preferences for job applicants with traditional (as opposed to blended or online) educational environment backgrounds. Completing more than one degree is preferable, even if one degree was completed online, and employers are equivalently favorable if the online degree was completed at the undergraduate or graduate level. Applicants who complete a second, online bachelor’s degree in accounting are also favored. The reputation of the job applicant’s educational institution is of greater importance to employers than the educational environment, and separate AACSB accounting program accreditation is less important than AACSB business accreditation. Finally, employers who are familiar with online education (i.e., have taken online courses themselves) are more likely to hire an online graduate, rate online education as more rigorous, and perceive a greater potential for soft skill attainment in the online environment (albeit with preference still towards traditional applicants), as opposed to those employers without online education experience.

This review of the accounting education literature includes 108 articles published during 2016 in six journals: (1) Journal of Accounting Education, (2) Accounting Education, (3) Advances in Accounting Education, (4) Global Perspectives on Accounting Education, (5) Issues in Accounting Education, and (6) The Accounting Educators’ Journal. This article updates prior accounting education literature reviews by organizing and summarizing recent contributions to the accounting education literature. Articles are categorized into five sections corresponding to traditional lines of inquiry: (1) curriculum and instruction, (2) instruction by content area, (3) educational technology, (4) students, and (5) faculty. Suggestions for research in all areas are presented. Articles presenting instructional resources and cases published in the same six journals during 2016 are listed in appendices categorized by the appropriate content area.

Recent initiatives of the American Accounting Association (AAA) and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB) have emphasized the importance of integrating Big Data and technology into the accounting curriculum. In response to these calls and to identify a common body of instructional resources toward this purpose, our paper uses the lens of the Competency Integration for Accounting Education framework to provide examples of Big Data and information systems integration into instructional resources. We loosely frame these instructional resources using accounting course subjects as the unit of analysis.

This commentary introduces the “Big Data” (hereafter, Big Data) Special Issue of the Journal of Accounting Education. We argue that while the data sets are now larger than ever before and better data analytic software is available, the primary goal of accounting has always been the same - to create and provide information to internal and external decision makers. In addition, this commentary identifies resources for incorporating Big Data into the classroom. These resources include links to free datasets, software tools, cases, and class slides. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the articles in this Special Issue and how they fit into the existing Big Data literature.

The explosion of data coupled with firms’ desire to utilize it is driving rapid changes in the desired skillset for accounting and assurance professionals. Educational institutions are considering how to catch up to these requirements, while accreditors are also modifying standards to reflect changes in desired skillsets. We present evidence from two institutions’ efforts to update their courses to address contemporary skill requirements, accompanied by discussion from a Big 4 professional. We find that despite significant differences between the two institutions and their approaches, similar challenges were encountered, and similar feedback was obtained from students. We conclude with a proposal for four basic tenets that we believe should be considered by any institution updating curriculum in response to Big Data and related analytics skills.

We develop an educational computer program, Principles Aren't That Hard (PATH), to enhance intrinsic motivation and performance in accounting education. We include Blackboard and the traditional paper medium as additional system types for comparison purposes. The results show that relative to Blackboard and the traditional paper medium, PATH leads to highest intrinsic motivation, which increases system use. The findings also indicate that the effect of intrinsic motivation on system use is stronger when perceived usefulness is higher than lower. When users perceive a system to be useful for attaining their goals, this form of extrinsic motivation promotes rather than impairs intrinsic motivation which further enhances system use. Additionally, the results suggest that perceived competence fully mediates the impact of system use on performance. This study's identification of perceived competence as a mediator furthers understanding of the inconsistent findings reported in previous research on the effect of system use on performance.

This review of the accounting education literature includes 97 articles published during 2015 in six journals: (1) Journal of Accounting Education, (2) Accounting Education, (3) Advances in Accounting Education, (4) Global Perspectives on Accounting Education, (5) Issues in Accounting Education, and (6) The Accounting Educators' Journal. This article updates prior accounting education literature reviews by organizing and summarizing recent contributions to the accounting education literature. Articles are categorized into five sections corresponding to traditional lines of inquiry: (1) curriculum and instruction, (2) instruction by content area, (3) educational technology, (4) students, and (5) faculty. Suggestions for research in all areas are presented. Articles presenting instructional resources and cases published in the same six journals during 2015 are listed in appendices categorized by the appropriate content area.

We extend prior accounting education research by ranking accounting education publications based on citation counts. We collect publications in two accounting education specialty journals, Issues in Accounting Education and Journal of Accounting Education , and 11 other high-quality journals included in the Summers and Wood (2015a) database. We aggregate rankings by institution and by individuals for both traditional publications (including “instructional-resource” papers that are not case-based) and cased-based publications. We also provide citation-based benchmarking data for accounting education scholarship. We present our results in time windows of the most recent 6 years (i.e., 2008–2013, inclusive), 12 years (i.e., 2002–2013, inclusive), and since 1990 to show changes in citation-based rankings over time. These rankings allow institutions and individuals who specialize and excel in accounting education publications to track and to receive recognition for their performance.

Audit education has been calling for changes in teaching methodology since the 1970s (Burton & Bradley, 1992), as many universities are insufficiently equipping their graduates with the necessary professional skills. This project helps students gain hands-on experience while performing parts of the substantive procedures in the revenue process. The learning objectives of this project include hands-on experience with (1) substantive procedures, (2) error detection and documentation, (3) identification of accounts affected due to the detected errors, (4) effects on financial statements due to those errors, and (5) connecting the errors detected with compromised management assertion(s). The students perform substantive procedures related to the revenue process to find errors in financial statements and supporting documents. Once they detect the errors, the students document them along with the related management assertion(s) that were compromised and then identify the accounts affected and the effect on the financial statements. All the documents and guidelines for implementation are available in the teaching notes.

There have been multiple calls for change in higher education in accounting in Australia since the 1980s. These calls for change were motivated by industry demands for graduates with transferable skills. Many universities started responding to these calls for change by introducing more Experiential Learning Activities (ELAs) into their accounting courses. This article is the first to provide a systematic review and thematically analyse the body of research published about ELAs in undergraduate accounting courses at universities. The aim is to review what types of ELAs are researched, what benefits of ELAs are researched and the strength of the evidence provided for these benefits. The 50 captured articles from 1993 to 2018 presented a positive view of ELAs, with the shortcomings far outweighed by the benefits. The most commonly researched benefits that emerged from the review were technical knowledge and comprehension, student attitude and satisfaction as well as authentic application of theory. Five recommendations for future research have been identified including investigating transferable skills as a benefit of ELAs, exploring student characteristics and ELA characteristics that can effect ELA learning outcomes, investigating under-researched benefits and using more diversified and rigorous research designs.

This review of the accounting education literature includes 256 articles published over the two-year period, 2013–2014, in six journals: (1) Journal of Accounting Education, (2) Accounting Education: An International Journal, (3) Advances in Accounting Education, (4) Global Perspectives on Accounting Education, (5) Issues in Accounting Education, and (6) The Accounting Educators' Journal. This article updates prior literature reviews by organizing and summarizing recent additions to the accounting education literature. These reviews are categorized into five sections corresponding to traditional lines of inquiry: (1) curriculum and instruction, (2) instruction by content area, (3) educational technology, (4) students, and (5) faculty. Suggestions for research in all areas are presented. Articles presenting instructional resources and cases published in the same six journals during 2013–2014 are listed in appendices categorized by the content area for which they are appropriate.

A number of prominent scholars have argued that research published in the top accounting journals has stagnated. As evidence of research stagnation, these authors note that much of the research published in the top accounting journals relates to a limited group of topics, uses similar research methods, and is based largely on the same underlying theories. We argue in this paper that the same concerns noted for accounting research in general are evident in accounting education research. A historical analysis of the literature shows that most published accounting education articles are not empirical, still relate to a few general topics, and ignore several issues that we believe are important to accounting education practice. Empirical articles generally rely on the survey research method, with relatively few studies using experimental (or even quasi-experimental) methods. In addition to providing evidence from the literature to show that accounting education research has stagnated, we offer some suggestions for overcoming this problem and for advancing the literature.

The critical role of professionally oriented (PO) faculty in accounting education is of growing importance due to the shortage of doctorally qualified accounting faculty and the desire to increase the practice relevance of accounting education. Recently, the Pathways Commission called for greater integration of PO faculty into accounting programs and research. In addition, the AACSB recently modified its accreditation standards to enhance the practice relevance of teaching and research. Given the importance of PO faculty to accounting education, this study reflects a systematic effort to assess the interests, needs, and aspirations of current PO faculty to help facilitate the integration of PO faculty, as called for by the Pathways Commission, and to examine issues associated with the Pathways Commission's call for examining alternative pathways to terminal degrees. The study surveyed 267 current PO accounting faculty members in the U.S. regarding their experiences and perceptions of their roles in accounting departments. Overall results suggest that these faculty members are largely satisfied with their experiences in academia. Participants also indicated that the teaching-related training, feedback, and guidance they receive are quite limited; participation in service activities is moderate; and involvement in research activities is low. In line with the concerns expressed by the Pathways Commission, part-time PO faculty frequently have aspirations for full-time and/or tenure track positions, and they view the lack of a doctorate as impeding their chance of achieving those aspirations. The findings support four themes highlighted by the Pathways Commission: (a) increasing access to doctoral education; (b) improving teaching-related training, feedback, and guidance; (c) more effectively integrating PO faculty into accounting departments; and (d) engaging PO faculty in research activities.

The creation of the Accounting Case Search website was motivated by the Pathways Commission Report and inspired by the frustration felt in trying to find cases for courses we have had to develop over the past 17 years. The site updates and extends previously published case search resources such as Weinstein (2005), Lipe (2006), and Miller et al. (2014), as well as resources available at the Management Accounting Section (MAS) and ATA Section sites on the American Accounting Association (AAA) website. The site currently includes all cases published to date in the Journal of Accounting Education, Issues in Accounting Education and the IMA Educational Case Journal (492 cases). Searching for cases at the site is based primarily on courses (course title), which can then be narrowed by keywords (Accounting Topics). This website will be updated by the authors as new cases are published. The authors will also expand the set of source journals. The website address is http://www.cases.ndacct.com/ .

Emerging technologies are providing a variety of tools for accounting educators. One of these tools is Online Homework Software (OHS). This study collects survey data from accounting faculty in the U.S.A. who were queried as to the utilization and perception of OHS in undergraduate accounting courses. Analysis of the survey data indicated five differences between OHS users and nonusers: (1) years of teaching, (2) number of course sections taught, (3) Accounting AACSB accreditation status, (4) faculty rank, and (5) courses taught by the respondents. Faculty indicated the tool is helpful when teaching in the online format and that OHS saves faculty time by reducing the time spent grading and processing student work. Users of OHS raised concerns about whether and how the tool helps students learn, how the students view the tool, and the cost of OHS. The data reported in this study are relevant to educators who have never used OHS as well as those who are currently using OHS. The data collected is important in promoting dialog concerning OHS usage and developing recommendations for continued improvements in the software.

This teaching note presents the use of an in-class competition that actively engages students in learning about the basics of internal control in an organization. Student feedback and instructor’s observation suggest that this active learning approach is effective for three primary reasons: (1) it focuses on the student’s own personal experience resulting in the fact that students can more easily relate to the examples created by their peers; (2) it empowers the student; and (3) it creates a competitive, active-learning environment. This article provides a detailed description of an interactive lesson that innovatively guides introductory accounting students toward understanding the basic principles of internal control, a topic getting more and more important in AIS education in post-SOX era. Furthermore, the detailed materials at the end of the article provide ready-to-use teaching materials and related instructions to facilitate implementation.

We consolidate and summarize 102 articles on accounting information systems (AIS) education from three decades (1983–2013) published in eight journals: (1) Journal of Accounting Education, (2) Accounting Education: An International Journal, (3) Advances in Accounting Education, (4) AIS Educator Journal, (5) Global Perspectives on Accounting Education, (6) Issues in Accounting Education, (7) Journal of Information Systems, and (8) The Accounting Educators’ Journal. The summarized literature is categorized as empirical articles, descriptive articles, or instructional resources. We describe and summarize the research design and primary analytical approach of the empirical articles, summarize the descriptive articles, and tabulate the instructional resources. Suggestions for future research in AIS education are presented.

This study examines the effectiveness of a program designed to set appropriate student expectations and motivate students to put forth the necessary effort to succeed in intermediate accounting and other upper-division accounting courses. At a mid-sized public university in the Western US many students enrolled in Intermediate Accounting I (their first upper-division course) struggle with the rigor and academic demands of this course, resulting in failure rates of 30–45%. In many cases, students new to upper-division courses appear to lack a commitment to, or awareness of, the effort needed for success in the accounting program. The faculty implemented an accounting “Boot Camp” to prepare new accounting majors for the expectations of the program. This paper details the implementation of the Boot Camp and reviews its effectiveness by comparing the performance of attendees with the performance of non-attendees. After controlling for other contributing factors, the evidence suggests that attendees outperform their non-attending peers in Intermediate Accounting I. This relatively low-cost intervention should be attractive to faculty concerned about the common problem of students failing and then retaking intermediate accounting.

Capstone units are generally seen to have three main aims: integrating the program, reflecting on prior learning, and transitioning into the workplace. However, research indicates that most programs do not achieve outcomes in all three areas with Henscheid (2000) revealing that integration is the major goal of many capstone programs. As well, in the accounting education literature there has been little empirical evidence relating to the effectiveness of student learning as a result of implementing a capstone unit. This study reports on the development and implementation of an accountancy capstone unit at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), which began in 2006. The main features of this capstone unit are: the use of problem-based learning (PBL); integration of the program; the development of a professional identity whereby classes are broken up into groups of a maximum of five students who take on the persona of a professional accounting firm for an entire semester; and the students, acting as professional advisors within that firm, are required to solve a series of unstructured, multi-dimensional accounting problems based on limited given facts. This process is similar to a professional advisor asking a client about the facts relating to the particular problem of the client and then solving the problem. The research was conducted over nine semesters and involved the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data from a student questionnaire. The results indicate that in terms of student perceptions, the capstone unit was very effective in enhancing integration of the program and enhancing professional identity thereby assisting student transition into the professional accounting workplace. Our approach therefore meets two of the three generally accepted aims of a capstone unit. With accounting educators striving to maximise student learning from a finite set of resources, this approach using PBL has resulted in improved learning outcomes for accounting students about to enter the workplace as professionals.

This review of the accounting education literature includes 291 articles and 104 instructional cases published over the 3-year period, 2010–2012, in six journals: (1) Journal of Accounting Education, (2) Accounting Education: An International Journal, (3) Advances in Accounting Education, (4) Global Perspectives on Accounting Education, (4) Issues in Accounting Education, and (6) The Accounting Educators’ Journal. This article updates prior literature reviews by organizing and summarizing recent additions to the accounting education literature. These reviews are categorized into four sections corresponding to traditional lines of inquiry: (1) curriculum, assurance of learning (AOL), and instruction; (2) educational technology; (3) faculty issues; and (4) students. Suggestions for educational research in all content areas are presented. For the first time in this series of literature reviews, we assess the data collection and empirical analysis methods and recommend adoption of more rigorous techniques moving forward. Articles presenting teaching materials and educational cases published in the same six journals during 2010–2012 are presented in an appendix, categorized by the courses for which they are appropriate.

This paper ranks accounting’s education authors who teach at institutions located in the United States and Canada. During the 46-year period from 1966 through 2011 that we examined, 13 journals published accounting education papers; the publication period for each journal varies. The data indicate that only 31.4% of accounting’s 4855 doctoral faculty who teach at schools in North America have one or more publications in these 13 journals. For those doctorates still teaching, the research provides rankings of authors by doctoral year and for four periods: 2002–2011 (most recent 10 years), 1992–2001 (next 10-year period), 1966–1991 (last 26 years), and for the entire 46-year period. To acknowledge the contributions of retired and deceased authors, the research lists those authors who would have been included on the overall list had they still been actively teaching. While Urbancic (2009) and Brigham Young University (BYU) provide rankings of authors in accounting education, these rankings are limited in the scope of the journals included – Urbancic includes only six accounting education journals, while BYU includes only Issues in Accounting Education. We found that Urbancic’s (BYU’s) 10-year (20-year) data had a Spearman’s rho of −0.84 (0.39) with our rankings. We believe that data presented herein provides a more comprehensive ranking of accounting’s authors in the area of education.

Problem-based learning (PBL) has been used successfully in disciplines such as medicine, nursing, law and engineering. However a review of the literature shows that there has been little use of this approach to learning in accounting. This paper extends the research in accounting education by reporting the findings of a case study of the development and implementation of PBL at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in a new Accountancy Capstone unit that began in 2006. The fundamentals of the PBL approach were adhered to. However, one of the essential elements of the approach adopted was to highlight the importance of questioning as a means of gathering the necessary information upon which decisions are made. This approach can be contrasted with the typical ‘give all the facts’ case studies that are commonly used. Another feature was that students worked together in the same group for an entire semester (similar to how teams in the workplace operate) so there was an intended focus on teamwork in solving unstructured, real-world accounting problems presented to students. Based on quantitative and qualitative data collected from student questionnaires over seven semesters, it was found that students perceived PBL to be generally effective, especially in terms of developing the skills of questioning, teamwork, and problem solving. The effectiveness of questioning is very important as this is a skill that is rarely the focus of development in accounting education. The successful implementation of PBL in accounting through ‘learning by doing’ could be the catalyst for change to bring about better learning outcomes for accounting graduates.

This instructional assignment explores two real-world business combinations, focusing on contextual factors surrounding the merger as well as accounting recognition by the legal acquirer. The business combinations studied in this assignment are Exxon Mobil Corporation’s (2010) acquisition of XTO Energy Inc. and the 2010 reverse merger between RRI Energy, Inc. and Mirant Corporation. Students must utilize disclosures in Forms 10-K and S-4 to: (1) investigate the reasons behind the merger, (2) examine the criteria used for determination of the “accounting acquirer” (in the case of RRI Energy and Mirant), and finally (3) prepare the entries to combine the firms at the time of merger. Students must learn the basics of reverse-acquisition accounting from relevant authoritative pronouncements as well as study the legal environment surrounding business combinations. Targeted for Advanced Accounting courses, this instructional assignment meets calls from the accounting profession and the Accounting Education Exchange Commission (1990) for instructors to integrate real-world problems that capture complex business transactions into the course curriculum.

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.

This review of the accounting education literature includes 330 articles published over the 4-year period, 2006–2009, in six journals: (1) Journal of Accounting Education, (2) Accounting Education: An International Journal, (3) Advances in Accounting Education, (4) Global Perspectives on Accounting Education, (5) Issues in Accounting Education, and (6) The Accounting Educators’ Journal. This article updates prior literature reviews by organizing and summarizing recent additions to the accounting education literature. These reviews are categorized into four sections corresponding to traditional lines of inquiry: (1) curriculum, assurance of learning, and instruction; (2) educational technology; (3) faculty issues; and (4) students. Each section is further divided by subsections, with empirical and descriptive articles separated within each. Suggestions for research in all areas are presented at the end of the article. In an appendix, additional articles presenting teaching materials and educational cases published in the same six journals during 2006–2009 are categorized by the courses for which they would be appropriate.

This review of accounting education literature includes 223 articles published over a three-year period, 2003–2005, in five journals: Journal of Accounting Education, Issues in Accounting Education, Accounting Education: An International Journal, Advances in Accounting Education, and Global Perspectives on Accounting Education. The purpose of this paper is to organize and summarize these most recent additions to the accounting education literature. These reviews are categorized into five sections corresponding to traditional lines of inquiry (assessment, curriculum and instruction, educational technology, faculty issues, and students) and are further divided by section when appropriate, with empirical and descriptive articles separated in each section. At the end of each of the five major sections, suggestions for research are presented. In an Appendix, 58 additional articles presenting teaching materials and cases published in the same five journals during 2003–2005 are categorized by the courses for which they would be appropriate.

This study is motivated by Bailey’s [Bailey, C. D. (2004). An unusual cash control procedure. Journal of Accounting Education , 22, 119–129]. A disappointing 89% of Bailey’s 502 students appear to have overestimated the risk of an asset misappropriation. This study presents the results of two quasi-experiments that test whether students’ risk assessments are affected by the type of model presented to them immediately preceding their risk assessments. One group was provided an overview of the widely used Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO), Internal Control—Integrated Framework and the second group was provided a briefing on the Fraud Triangle , a model originally developed by criminologist, Donald R. Cressey (1973). As predicted, students who were provided an overview of the fraud triangle committed fewer Type I and Type II errors than students who were provided an overview of COSO. The results from this study contribute to the literature on risk assessment by demonstrating how the fraud triangle could, in some situations, lead to better risk assessments.

This study contributes to the extant literature by providing a better understanding of the associations among attributes of schools providing accounting education, 150-hour status, and CPA exam pass rates. We model program-level pass rates as a function of the state’s 150-hour status and several program-specific attributes, including: the level of AACSB accreditation, student selectivity, the percentage of candidates with advanced degrees, and faculty research productivity. We examine the average pass rates of 520 accounting programs that provided 43,711 first-time candidates for CPA exams given in 1998 and 1999. Similar to most prior studies we find that candidates from more selective schools, candidates with advanced degrees, and candidates who attended schools located in jurisdictions with the 150-hour requirement fully in place have higher average pass rates. However, we also find a significant decline in average pass rates during the 150-hour transition period, and in contrast to the strong positive effects of accreditation reported by [Grant, C. T., Ciccotello, C. S., & Dickie, M. (2001). Barriers to professional entry: how effective is the 150-hour rule? Journal of Accounting and Public Policy , 21 , 71–93], we find only weak evidence of an association between program-level pass rates and college-level or separate AACSB accounting program accreditation.

The utilization of cases in accounting education has increased significantly in the past two decades and the number of sources of these cases has also grown larger. Accounting faculty wanting to use cases from these sources are hindered in their ability to do so because of the lack of a central case clearinghouse. The data collection underlying this paper is designed to alleviate this problem. A computerized database of accounting cases is offered to anyone free of charge. The intent is to provide a functionally useful index that will help faculty locate cases for use in their accounting classes. This article explains how faculty can access and use this database. In addition, cases published between 1983 and 2003 in two accounting education journals are summarized in order to provide an overview.

This paper presents the result of a survey on the required knowledge, skills, and pedagogy for accounting education as perceived by accounting practitioners, educators, and students in China. Respondents generally agreed to a series of knowledge and skills that are important to the training of accounting students, although some variance exists among the respondent groups regarding the perceived importance of those knowledge and skills. The findings also reveal that the respondents were dissatisfied with the present delivery of the needed knowledge and skills. Thus it is contended that accounting education reform in China is not only necessary, but imperative. This study also makes a comparative analysis with similar studies in the US, in terms of commonalities and differences in respondents’ perceptions between the varied economic, technological and cultural environments in China and the US.

This study investigated the effect of group quizzes on accounting students’ performance and motivation to learn. While cooperative learning in accounting education has been studied in recent years, the effects on student performance have been mixed [Lancaster, K.A.S., Strand, C.A., 1999. Using the team-learning model in a managerial accounting class: an experiment in cooperative learning. Issues in Accounting Education 16(4), 549–568; Ravenscroft, S., Buckless, F., Hassall, T., 1999. Cooperative learning – A literature guide. Accounting Education 8(2) (1999) 163–176]. Thus, two experiments were conducted (one using an experimental design and the other using a quasi-experimental design) that examined student performance and motivation to learn. The first experiment used a quasi-experimental design to compare the performance and motivation to learn of students who took a series of group quizzes versus students in comparable classes in a prior semester that did not take group quizzes. Using a series of group quizzes in a mixed factorial design, the second experiment examined the performance of both: (1) long-term groups versus ad hoc groups and (2) self-selected groups versus instructor assigned groups. Findings revealed no performance differences across conditions in either the first or second experiments. However, student subjects in the first experiment (using group quizzes) reported a significantly greater motivation to learn and perception of learning than those in the second experiment (not using group quizzes).

Despite its well-known benefits, frequent testing is not widely used in accounting education, possibly because it is perceived as being too time consuming. This paper describes an efficient method of frequent testing that uses only a small fraction of class time and does not demand a large amount of the instructor's time.