Advances in Accounting Education: Teaching and Curriculum Innovations: Volume 18

The primary purpose of this study is to introduce a method of using former students’ advice and learning experiences to affect subsequent students’ thoughts and beliefs about accounting learning in a positive way thereby improving their academic performance.

At the end of Fall 2009, the instructor invited the students to give suggestions to future accounting students about their learning experiences. On the first days of the following three semesters, I showed the feedback to the subsequent students. I recommended that the students read the suggestions after class and throughout the semester when necessary. I also conduct the survey to collect the students’ perceptions on the usefulness of former students’ advice. Analyses are conducted to assess the impact of the students’ advice on class attendance, exam performance, and the dropout rate for the course.

The results show that former students’ advice and learning experiences can help subsequent students improve class attendance, course performance, and the drop rate.

The study provides a useful and easy-to-adopt learning supplement to help students succeed in a course that many students find challenging. The study also gives educators a simple but useful and efficient way to achieve greater student involvement in their learning processes.

To the best of my knowledge, this study is the first to focus on the impact of former students’ advice and learning experience on the following students’ learning performance in accounting education.

As more students take online courses as part of their college curricula, the integrity of testing in an online environment becomes increasingly important. The potential for cheating on exams is generally considered to be higher in an online environment. One approach to compensate for the absence of a physical proctor is to use a remote proctoring service that electronically monitors the student during the examination period.

We examined the exam grades for 261 students taking two different upper division accounting courses to determine if a computer-based remote proctoring service reduced the likelihood of cheating, measured through lower exam scores, as compared to classroom proctoring and no proctoring. We examined both online and on-campus courses.

In qualitative and quantitative accounting courses, evidence shows that grades were significantly lower for students who were proctored using a remote proctoring service compared to students who were not proctored. In the quantitative course, remote proctoring resulted in significantly lower final exam scores than either classroom or no proctoring. However, in the qualitative course, both remote proctoring online and live proctoring in a classroom resulted in significantly lower final exam scores than no proctoring, and they are not statistically different from each other.

Academics and administrators should find these results helpful. The results suggest that the use of proctoring services in online courses has the potential to enhance the integrity of online courses by reducing the opportunities for academic dishonesty during exams.

The tool described is most appropriate for a first-level undergraduate course in cost/management accounting, which is typically taken in the second year of a post-secondary business program.

This chapter discusses a method for teaching a challenging topic within cost/management accounting, which is calculating variances for expenses. The proposed methodology focuses on a “common sense” understanding of variances as differences between budgeted and actual results. The new approach (i) uses a golfing analogy as a frame of reference, (ii) includes questions to assist in the analysis, and (iii) provides a table to organize and calculate variances. The variances examined include eight common expense-side variances used by manufacturers: material price and efficiency variances; labor price and efficiency variances; variable overhead spending and efficiency variances and fixed overhead spending and production volume variances.

By using this tool, students will be able to understand how and why variances are calculated. It will also provide them with better insight into appropriate corrective action that will address deviation from plans.

I provide a template to facilitate the calculation of variances, along with a list of questions that will guide students in their analysis. I also give an application of the suggested approach, using a standard textbook problem.

To provide potential accounting doctoral students with relevant information on various doctoral program characteristics.

Current doctoral students in accounting, representing 60 different programs in the United States, completed a survey concerning various doctoral program characteristics at their respective doctoral institutions. We examine the survey responses along with program rankings and job placement data.

Doctoral programs in accounting differ on many dimensions such as the structure of the courses and deliverables required, the student cohort profile, student research support, and teaching expectations. In addition, top tier programs differ on a variety of these characteristics from lower tiered programs.

A single student at each doctoral program completed the survey. Doctoral students’ experiences may differ between each other and programs may change. However, we asked students to respond to the survey questions as a “typical student” and as a whole, doctoral programs appear to have remained similar over the past half of century.

The intended audience for this chapter is potential accounting doctoral students. Providing them with an awareness of the different program characteristics should prove to be useful in finding a program with the appropriate fit.

We examine and compare current practices in teaching preparation in U.S. accounting, finance, management, and economics doctoral programs.

We conduct an anonymous online survey of the pedagogical training practices experienced by Ph.D. students in accounting, finance, management, and economics programs in the United States.

Results indicate that accounting, finance, and management perform similarly with respect to providing doctoral students with first-hand teaching experience and requiring for-credit courses in teacher training. Accounting and management appear to utilize doctoral students as teaching assistants less than the other disciplines. A lower proportion of accounting doctoral students indicate that their program requires proof of English proficiency prior to teaching, and pedagogical mentoring is rare across disciplines. Accounting and management doctoral students feel more prepared to teach undergraduate courses compared to finance and economics students. However, all disciplines indicate a relative lack of perceived preparation to teach graduate courses.

This study provides empirical evidence of the current practices in pedagogical training of accounting, finance, management, and economics doctoral students.

The results highlight several areas where accounting could possibly improve with regard to pedagogical training in doctoral programs. In particular we suggest (1) changes in the teaching evaluation process, (2) development of teaching mentorships, (3) implementing a teaching portfolio requirement, and (4) incorporation of additional methods of assisting non-native English speakers for teaching duties.

The study fills a gap in the literature regarding the pedagogical training in accounting doctoral programs.

To disseminate helpful advice to current and future candidates about the accounting academic job market.

Literature review, interviews with recently hired faculty members, insights from the author’s experiences as both job candidates and search committee members, and discussions with colleagues.

In this chapter, we discuss the current state of the job market for accounting professors and offer our insights as well as those from a group of recent graduates. It is our recent experience that many rookie candidates pursue initial faculty positions with an incomplete understanding of many aspects of the market, including how the market clears, job expectations, and other issues that we believe are important. While others have adequately addressed the importance of research in the profession and alluded to some aspects of the market, we provide additional useful information about the market and other career aspects in order to assist new graduates in their quests to find fulfilling appointments. Our chapter complements existing literature to form an updated and more complete picture of the market and profession.

This chapter helps prepare candidates for the job market by providing information and advice that complements advice given in Ph.D. programs and the existing literature.

Candidates entering the job market will better understand the nuances of the market and can make more informed decisions about the institutions that best meet their needs.

The chapter provides important practical advice for job seekers about the accounting academic job market not available elsewhere.