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Examine the effectiveness of online tutoring software to ameliorate poor performance in intermediate financial accounting.

Probit regression analysis comparing users versus nonusers of online accounting tutoring software, as well as analysis of student achievement pre and post-technology adoption over a 10-year period.

We confirm prior research findings that the number of terms that have transpired since a student took introductory financial accounting, whether they took the course at a two-year college, or if they needed to repeat the introductory course, are all negatively associated with performance in intermediate accounting. We find evidence that an online tutoring system, ALEKS®, helps moderate these negative correlations. Results suggest that in upper division courses where student knowledge of underlying basic material is uneven, online tutors are an effective tool in bringing students up to an equal level of competence without sacrificing class time.

Provides empirical evidence on the usefulness of online accounting software as a review tool in intermediate accounting.

Disadvantages experienced by accounting students due to when, where, and how they learned introductory accounting can be overcome quickly.

Although vendors of intelligent online tutoring software market their product as a useful review tool for intermediate accounting, academic research has not examined the effectiveness of these products.

This study investigates a perceived student performance disparity between traditional synchronous and web-based asynchronous course delivery. Synchronous classes meet face-to-face or online with scheduled meeting times and the ability to directly monitor class attendance and participation. Asynchronous classes are 100% online, requiring no face-to-face or online live sessions. This study identifies student attributes associated with performance differences in the two delivery modes. The authors examine data from over 15,000 students who took introductory financial and managerial accounting classes at a large state university. The authors analyze student demographic and class performance data. Controlling for instructor and year effects, the authors find a statistically significant lower DFW rate (better performance) in the synchronous introductory accounting classes compared to the asynchronous ones. Using these findings, the authors revised scheduling and advising protocols to improve student success likelihood in the asynchronous sections. This study provides two insights applicable to many accounting departments. First, the results suggest that empirically exploring student performance implications may be warranted as the number of web-based asynchronous class offerings grow. Additionally, the study provides an example of working within the limitations of existing registration policies and systems to translate the result of the analysis into improved advising and scheduling approaches.

We use student-level online resource usage data for students in four different introductory accounting courses to explore the impact on exam performance of both student study effort and students’ revealed preferences for reading text or watching video lectures. The online learning tool tracks student study choice (read text, watch video, or skip) on a paragraph-by-paragraph level. We match these usage data with student performance on course exams. We find that students who study more material earn higher exam scores than do students who study less material. We also find that students who self-select to do relatively more of their studying through reading text score higher on exams, on average, than do students who self-select to do relatively more of their studying through watching videos. Specifically, holding the overall amount of study constant, a student who chooses to spend the highest fraction of her or his study time watching video mini lectures earns exam scores 10 percentage points lower (six-tenths of a standard deviation) than a student who chooses to spend the lowest fraction of study time watching videos. Our results demonstrate that at least for introductory accounting students, increased study effort does indeed have a positive impact on exam performance. Our evidence also suggests that the highest performing introductory accounting students choose to learn accounting proportionately more through reading than through watching. These results are a reminder that when we talk about using “technology” to help our students learn accounting, the written word is still an important technology.

In this paper, we describe our approach to incorporating the basics of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) into introductory financial accounting courses. Prior survey evidence suggests that IFRS receives little coverage in such courses, with two primary reasons being a lack of available time and insufficient IFRS teaching materials tailored for introductory financial accounting (Zhu, Rich, Michenzi, & Cherubini, 2011). The objectives for our IFRS procedures were to provide all business students with a basic knowledge of IFRS and an understanding of the similarities and differences between U.S. GAAP and IFRS. We utilized an integrated, comparison-based methodology, and developed teaching materials that were incorporated into each chapter discussion through short vignettes, brief examples, and a comprehensive exercise. Evidence from a student survey suggests that a strong majority believe that IFRS coverage is important, and that our procedures contributed to their learning on the topic. Furthermore, the student survey suggested that the comparative nature of our IFRS procedures enhanced understanding of U.S. GAAP. As a result, our procedures provide guidance to accounting instructors looking to introduce students to the basics of IFRS or other complex topics within the time constraints of a crowded course.

Social cognitive career theory (“SCCT”) suggests that positive feedback can influence educational choices. Introductory courses often provide students with their first opportunity to obtain feedback in a given discipline. As a result, SCCT hypothesizes that introductory courses grades will impact a student's decision to major in a given discipline. The purpose of this paper is to explore this hypothesis in the accounting domain.

Longitudinal data were collected from four cohorts of students registered at a Canadian university. The main hypothesis is tested by estimating a logistic regression.

A significant positive relationship is found between a student's introductory financial accounting (“IFA”) course grade and their decision to major in accounting. This decision to major in the discipline is not found to be affected by various student (e.g. biological sex or age) or instructor (e.g. whether the instructor holds a CPA designation or not) characteristics.

This study supports seminal and enduring research that emphasizes the IFA course as a gateway into the accounting major. As a result, educators should consider these findings when designing their IFA courses and the related student supports embedded within the IFA course.

Prior literature offers conflicting results on the relationship between IFA grades and student's choice to major in accounting. This study relies upon a theoretical framework, SCCT, to settle the debate. This study further extends the prior literature by exploring the impact of various student and instructor characteristics on the relationship between IFA grades and student's choice to major in accounting.

This chapter describes three active learning activities developed for use in the introductory financial accounting class: an interview with a financial statement user, an internal control paper, and a financial statement project where students analyze two competing businesses. We gathered student surveys and direct assessment data to see if these activities add value to the introductory accounting course.

The learning activities were originally developed using Fink’s (2003) Taxonomy of Significant Learning, aligning the activities with Fink’s learning dimensions, which also support the higher order learning skills in Bloom’s revised taxonomy. Students completed surveys by comparing how well traditional class activities (i.e., homework and tests) and the new activities support the core competencies of the American Institute for Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). We also asked students open-ended questions on how they felt about these new activities. Researchers then compared pre- and postadoption assessment data to investigate the impact of the new learning activities on class completion rates and grades.

Based on faculty comments and student survey results, the three active learning assignments appear to be more effective in developing many of the AICPA’s core competencies and real world skill sets valued by professionals, providing more value than traditional teaching methods. In addition, the passing rates in the course at the Youngstown State University increased by 12% after adopting the learning innovations.

This study investigates university students’ perceptions of (i) an introductory accounting course and (ii) the profession of accountancy. The study examines the extent to which these perceptions change during the students’ first semester of accountancy studies, and whether these perceptions relate to the students’ interest in the field of accounting. To investigate these issues, we survey 231 undergraduate students in their first semester of accounting studies at a large Greek university. In general, the results show that the students’ initial perceptions of the accounting profession are rather traditional and stereotypical, but that these perceptions generally become more “positive” at the end of their first semester after completing an introductory accounting course. Moreover, at the end of the semester, the students perceive the introductory course as being more rewarding and enjoyable than they had originally expected. The study also finds that students who are interested in accounting hold more positive views of the course and the profession (both at the beginning of the semester and at the end) than those who are not interested in accounting. The findings underline the important role of educators in influencing the perceptions and intentions of their students with regard to accounting study and profession.

Introductory accounting courses have the dual objectives of teaching the fundamentals of financial and managerial accounting and creating the environment in which students develop positive attitudes toward the discipline. This study examines the extent to which there are differences in effectiveness in attaining each of these objectives under the financial accounting approach to introductory accounting versus a principles of accounting approach. We analyzed attitudes and quiz scores for non-accounting majors in a managerial accounting class as during the period of a curriculum change. Results indicate that student attitudes toward accounting as a discipline were largely unaffected. Student attitudes toward accounting as a factor affecting their careers after graduation were significantly more positive. There were no differences in quiz scores in the managerial accounting course. These findings suggest that although the financial accounting approach is more efficient, it is equally effective with respect to content delivery and more effective with respect to promoting the importance of accounting to careers.

We present a peer-to-peer teaching approach designed to prepare introductory accounting students to address ethical challenges they will face in the workplace. We describe the motivation, processes, and resources used, introduce an effectiveness measure and discuss refinements so that other universities may adopt the innovation.

Upper division Beta Alpha Psi (BAP) accounting honor society members, with faculty guidance, create and deliver workshops in the 200-level introductory accounting sequence using the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) curriculum. GVV provides tools to move from recognition to action when confronted with a values conflict. The BAP members had completed the GVV exercises and casework in their upper division accounting courses. Now as peer coaches, they guide sophomore-level business students through the GVV curriculum to prepare them to act on their values when challenged.

Post-training perceptions express consistent beliefs that the introductory accounting students’ skills and abilities had improved with the training. Additionally, introductory accounting students’ descriptions of how they would address values conflicts based on what they learned in the training reflects development of personalized specific approaches.

GVV provides students with an action-based ethics toolkit to build upon as they move forward academically and professionally. The peer-to-peer innovation builds stronger mentor and mentee ties and introduces the business program’s ethical culture to sophomore-level business students.

The innovation won the 2014 Beta Alpha Psi Ethics Award sponsored by Grant Thornton and reflects the first use of a peer-to-peer approach with GVV in a university setting.