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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.

The rapid spread and acceptance of globalization and the enormous developments in information technology, has led to dramatic changes in the business environment. These changes have brought new challenges not only to business but also to business education. Business schools that prepare future managers in different disciplines are responsible for closing the gap between the skills acquired by its graduates and the required skills by the global markets. This paper identifies the challenges facing accounting education in providing students with the knowledge and skills that raise their competency level to meet that required by the market. These challenges warrant that the competency level of accountants should be improved. Current accounting education and the skill levels of accountants are not in line with what is required in the dynamic environments of global business. A strategic plan for closing the gap between the acquired and required skills is presented to help prepare students for facing and dealing with the challenges of the new global business environment.

In Japanese corporations, the backgrounds of corporate accountants do not necessarily match their university majors. Under the lifetime employment system, accountants are rotated to other departments every five to ten years. Those who are rotated to the accounting department do not necessarily arrive with sufficient accounting knowledge. In addition to receiving on‐the‐job training, corporate accountants generally attend training courses offered by outside Institutions and get new knowledge to be used in practice. Some corporations belong to specific study groups, which meet periodically. The latter groups provide opportunities for establishing informal human relations with government officials and accountants of other corporations. Training is offered to newcomers, candidates for promotion, salespersons and management staff in the fields of financial analysis, cost management and accounting in general. Sometimes, the training lasts for several days in a training facility of the corporation. It is thought useful not only for utilizing the knowledge required, but for furthering relationships within the organization, as well as for the evaluation of employees through their attitudes about participation. It reflects the policy of long‐range performance evaluation. Employees are evaluated not only by sales volume, but also by their loyalty to the corporation and their contribution to the team effort.

The purpose of the study is to examine the effects of “flipping the classroom” on student performance, evaluation, and attendance in managerial accounting principles.

The study uses a crossed within-participants research design (each student experiencing both traditional instruction and simplified flipped instruction) allowing for control of individual differences between students; repeated-measures regression analysis for overall effects; quantile regression for performance-segregated effects.

Flipping the classroom resulted in significant performance improvement, particularly for lower performing students. Course evaluations indicate a few instructor-related ratings were lower for the flipped approach. Attendance was lower under the flipped approach for initial class meetings where the instructional manipulation occurred.

The study design included a weak form of flipping. A stronger form of flipping with greater incentives for class preparation as well as lecture videos could have stronger results.

Flipping the classroom could be effective for application-oriented accounting courses, particularly for lower performing students.

This is one of very few studies on flipping providing evidence of effectiveness using a crossed within-participants research design.

This chapter describes a student team project that involves the creation and delivery of a fundraising event business plan for a nonprofit organization. The project challenges students to become active learners and apply managerial accounting concepts associated with cost behavior, planning, and control in a realistic environment that sensitizes them to the missions of nonprofit organizations. It requires students to research and use real-world operational and financial information in a setting to which they can relate, and develops their understanding of how various business disciplines are integrated. We have used the project in introductory managerial and intermediate cost accounting courses to target specific core competencies identified as critical to a successful accounting career by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

Borderless transactions have resulted in changes to the competitive and technological environments. As a result, accounting profession faces challenges in meeting these changes. Previous studies have indicated that accounting education had failed to develop students’ competencies critically required by market. This paper mainly focuses on competencies in the workplace in relation to its levels of importance; as well as the level of emphasis of the competencies during university learning. In this study, 1,300 questionnaires were distributed to accountants graduated from seven state‐run universities namely Universiti Malaya, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Universiti Utara Malaysia and Universiti Sains Malaysia. The respondents were asked to rank the level of importance and emphasis of thirteen competencies; namely communication skills, decision‐making skills, leadership development, continuous improvement skills, professionalism, information development and distribution skills, knowledge in planning and budgetary, management control system, interpreting and analyzing financial statements, knowledge in accounting, knowledge in auditing and knowledge in taxation. The study found that there were large gaps between the level of importance of competencies in workplace and the level of emphasis of competencies in workplace. In addition, the study also found positive correlation between the personality traits and the level of competencies. In general, these findings are consistent with the findings from other studies conducted. The findings should provide empirical and relevant input for assessing the content of the existing accounting programs.

Managerial accounting education generally insists that managers should never consider sunk costs. This suggestion seems inconsistent with a common mode of thinking about future rewards: quasi-hyperbolic discounting. This paper aims to explore the conflict between sunk cost consideration and quasi-hyperbolic discounting and to illustrate when sunk cost consideration may be appropriate.

The author conducted three numerical experiments, i.e. simulated experiments based on analytical models, to demonstrate how it can be beneficial to consider sunk costs in some circumstances. All three numerical experiments assume quasi-hyperbolic discounting. First, the author tested considering sunk costs with future rewards that are certain. Second, the author tested considering sunk costs with uncertain future rewards. Finally, the author tested two different educational interventions to change decision-makers’ thought patterns.

The author found that considering sunk costs worsens decisions when there is bad news and improves them when there is good news. The author found that an educational intervention that partially dissuades managers from considering sunk costs improves decisions when bad news arrives and worsens them when good news arrives. The author also found that an educational intervention that reduces uncertainty improves decisions when bad news arrives and does not worsen these decisions when good news arrives.

The author provided numerical examples of situations in which considering sunk costs is valuable. The findings on educational interventions provide information about the tradeoffs of teaching that sunk costs should never be considered.

This paper aims to focus on applications of stochastic linear programming (SLP) to managerial accounting issues by providing a theoretical foundation and practical examples. SLP models may have more implications – and broader ones – in industry practice than deterministic linear programming (DLP) models do.

This paper introduces both DLP and SLP methods. In addition, continuous and discrete SLP models are explained. Applications are demonstrated using practical examples and simulations.

This research work extends the current knowledge of SLP, especially concerning managerial accounting issues. Through numerical examples, SLP demonstrates its great ability of hedging against all scenarios.

This study serves as an addition to building a cumulative tradition of research on SLP in managerial accounting. Only a few SLP studies in managerial accounting have focused on the development of such an instrument. Thus, the measurement scales in this research can be used as the starting point for further refining the instrument of optimization in managerial accounting.

This paper compares the effectiveness of in‐house developed computer‐based learning (CBL) materials with face‐to‐face teaching. Two groups of higher education students were randomly assigned to complete tutorial work in one highly structured topic of introductory accounting using either CBL materials (treatment group) or face‐to‐face teaching (control group). The effectiveness of both approaches was measured according to the students’ performance in a class test, in relation to their prior accounting knowledge and gender. The results showed that the students with no prior accounting knowledge who completed the CBL materials achieved a significantly higher test mark than the face‐to‐face teaching group. However, there was no significant difference in the marks of the students with prior accounting knowledge, and there was no difference on the basis of gender. The results of this South African study correspond to results in existing literature in other countries, and contribute to the overall knowledge of the effectiveness of CBL materials with respect to prior accounting knowledge and gender.