Teaching the concept of decision-usefulness, and accounting as a technical, social and moral practice: the case of COVID-19 “case number” reporting

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how teaching broader accounting concepts through real life non-financial case study information (such as COVID-19 case reporting) can assist students understanding accounting’s technical, social and moral perspectives. Accounting education and practice has traditionally focussed on the technical aspects of accounting and has situated accounting within a financial context.

Design/methodology/approach

This exploratory study uses content analysis of COVID-19 case and death numbers reported by several international health reporting agencies. This study does not set out to provide a detailed technical or comparative jurisdictional analysis of the decision-usefulness of COVID-19 information. Rather, this study looks at the “decision-usefulness” of the COVID-19 case and death number information, and provides examples that educators can draw upon for inspiration when showing how the qualitative characteristics of decision-useful information can be applied to non-financial information. This study also highlights, by use of a “novel data set”, the technical, social and moral aspects of accounting.

Findings

This study finds that the COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity for accounting education by positioning the qualitative characteristics of decision-useful information beyond a financial context. The exploration of accounting within this setting effectively demonstrates that accounting has “technical”, “social” and “moral” dimensions.

Originality/value

This paper fulfils an identified need to include teaching of decision-usefulness of non-financial information in the accounting curriculum to ensure that future professional accountants possess technical and professional competency skills.

Citation

Sidaway, S.I.L., Juric, D. and Deegan, C. (2023), "Teaching the concept of decision-usefulness, and accounting as a technical, social and moral practice: the case of COVID-19 “case number” reporting", Meditari Accountancy Research, Vol. 31 No. 1, pp. 121-140. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEDAR-06-2021-1329