Search results

Anecdotal evidence indicates that one of the more difficult issues faced by accounting students is the understanding and preparation of the statement of cash flows (SCF). This study investigates the impact of different instruction methods for covering the statement on student learning outcomes. Currently, two prominent intermediate-level financial accounting texts cover the SCF primarily in one end-of-text chapter, a massed presentation. The current study argues that the SCF is a topic that is cross-sectional in nature, and is applicable to the textbook material on the accounting transactions that are spread throughout the texts. In accordance with the spacing effect (Dempster, 1988), instruction of SCF material across the major recognition and measurement topic chapters, a spaced presentation format, potentially yields enhanced learning outcomes in comparison to the massed presentation.

Across three semesters of an intermediate-level financial accounting course, the SCF delivery format and coverage were varied in a 1 × 3 between-subjects experiment. The subjects completed an indirect-method SCF preparation task, which I analyzed across the three conditions.

Students learning the SCF presentation of intermediate-level transactions in a spaced presentation earned higher scores on the task compared to those learning the material in a massed format. Furthermore, the students exposed to the massed presentation performed no better than those not instructed on the material.

I base my findings on the results of one assessment of the SCF in one course. Future research should consider various tasks related to the SCF at different course levels and across a variety of instructional techniques.

The results imply that changes to the delivery of SCF material could potentially produce benefits to student learning.

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 chapter advocates a teaching approach for the statement of cash flows (SCF) that includes introduction of the SCF early in the curriculum using the accounting equation format, which helps students visualize the cash and accrual activities. We then adapt this accounting equation format to a worksheet model that can be used later in the curriculum with more complex data sets. This approach provides several advantages: (1) it maintains a consistent, accounting equation approach throughout; (2) it can be used for both the direct and the indirect report format; (3) when used with Excel, the format is easier to explain, easier to use, and less prone to mechanical error than the worksheet approaches used in most textbooks; and (4) it is used by many professional accountants.

Creating a mindset for research, including the development of professional research skills and critical thinking, is of the utmost importance in preparing students for the business world. To help faculty with this mindset, we discuss novel approaches for incorporating professional research and interactions into the undergraduate classroom, although the recommendations can apply to the entire curriculum. We describe three scenarios where our recommendations might apply – research/financial, tax, and accounting information system courses. Using a professional accounting research course and a financial course as examples, we start out broadly discussing a practitioner-coauthored professional case study approach that is applicable to any course, at any level. We then present a capstone undergraduate tax research course followed by an introduction of a specific project in an accounting information systems course. We include suggested syllabi, projects, and assessment rubrics throughout the discussion.

This study examines 117 verbs associated with 2,872 learning objectives, and 377 questions taken from 24 textbooks across the accounting curriculum. To determine the level of cognitive ability associated with the individual learning objectives I analyzed the verbs based upon Bloom's Taxonomy. To reach across the accounting curriculum I chose texts from Financial Accounting, Intermediate Financial Accounting, Advanced Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Cost Accounting, and Auditing. Results of the analysis found that the authors used verbs at the lower learning levels of the cognitive domain. The verbs used by the author teams depend upon individual preference rather a specific segment of the cognitive domain. In addition, as the student progresses through the accounting curriculum some topics in upper level textbooks use learning objectives at the same level as in introductory level textbooks.

Financial accounting to assess stewardship: the case requires students to evaluate Thompson’s stewardship of McDonald’s, in part based on the company’s financial accounting information. Financial reporting performs an important societal role by helping control agency problems that arise from the separation of ownership and management. Since external stakeholders cannot “observe directly the extent and quality of managerial effort on their behalf […] the manager may be tempted to shirk […] blaming any deterioration of firm performance on factors beyond his/her control” (Scott, 2014, p. 23). However, although financial reporting helps hold managers accountable to shareholders, accounting information is not fully informative about managerial effort. For example, while net income provides useful information regarding the CEO’s stewardship, it is also “noisy,” due to recognition lags and other factors (Scott, 2014, p. 364). Efforts undertaken by Thompson in a particular period, such as marketing expenditures, might reduce current earnings, yet boost future profitability. Additionally, Thompson’s predecessor’s past efforts might have positive or negative effects on current earnings. Evaluating stewardship effectively involves considerable judgment, in addition to knowledge of financial accounting. The implication of poor firm performance is that the CEO is ineffective at formulating and implementing strategies and policies to enhance firm value (Dikolli et al., 2014). Specifically, it appears that missing earnings benchmarks matter more for relatively inexperienced CEOs. Don Thompson’s tenure of 33 months at McDonalds is 42 percent lower than median CEO tenure documented in academic research, where the median tenure of chief executives documented in large sample empirical studies is about 57 months (Dikolli et al., 2014). The evidence suggests that the longer a CEO serves, the less likely he is to be dismissed for performance-related reasons. This appears to be the result of the resolution of uncertainty about CEO’s ability and leads to subsequent declines in the level of monitoring by the Board of Directors. Performance evaluation and bias: a significant body of research explores the extent to which female managers are assessed differently than their male counterparts (Powell and Butterfield, 2002). For example, female CEOs face more threats from activist investors than male CEOs. Therefore, even after women achieve the highest managerial rank, they experience more professional challenges than their male counterparts (Gupta et al., 2018). However, the question of whether black CEOs are assessed differently is more challenging to answer empirically as a result of a smaller sample size (only one percent of S&P 500 companies are run by black CEOs). Our case attempts to develop the inference that if female CEOs are subject to bias, analogous forces are likely at work when black CEOs are assessed. Recent evidence further suggests that business students sometimes demonstrate bias in making assessments (Mengel et al., 2018). The authors discuss these findings – as well as strategies for including them in the case discussion – in the “Teaching Strategy” section herein below.

The case was written from the public record surrounding the appointment of Don Thompson and McDonald’s company filings. The record includes articles from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, as well as local and industry publications.

The case examines the role of financial accounting in evaluating CEO performance in the context of the appointment of McDonald’s first African-American chief executive and his subsequent two-and-a-half years on the job. The case deepens students’ understanding of the link between financial reporting and stewardship, while highlighting the subjectivity inherent in assessing managerial performance, particularly over relatively short time periods. As students analyze the case, they must consider the extent to which a firm’s results are attributable to luck vs skill. We use “skill” to refer to CEO effort and other controllable factors, while “luck” refers to exogenous factors, such as macroeconomic conditions. Assessing stewardship is of practical significance. It allows pay to be better aligned with performance and empowers stakeholders to identify when a change of leadership may be warranted. The case may also be used to spur reflection, in an applied context, on the importance of being alert to unconscious bias, even when evaluating seemingly objective financial reporting data. Recent research, discussed herein, suggests that business students sometimes exhibit bias when making assessments.

The case should be included in discussions of corporate governance, executive compensation and the role of accounting information in efficient contracting. It is appropriate in intermediate financial accounting courses for undergraduates, introductory graduate accounting courses, or other courses with an element of financial statement analysis. Standard introductory accounting textbooks offer helpful supplementary reading for students. Horngren et al.’s (2014) book, Introduction to Financial Accounting (12th ed.), Pearson, London, provides an overview of the income statement and its role in assessing performance (see Chapter 2) as well as a useful discussion on evaluating the components and trends of a business (see Chapter 12). More advanced students may benefit from the in-depth discussion of earnings quality, operating income and non-operating income found in Chapter 4 of Intermediate Accounting (9th ed.), McGraw Hill Education, New York by Spiceland et al. (2018).

This study aims to examine the effect of accounting students’ performance in the first part of introductory accounting on duration to successfully complete accounting program.

Linear regression (ordinary least squares) with a sample of 127 accounting students, who were graduated during the 2015/2016 academic year from a business college in Kuwait, was used to test the study’s hypothesis.

The results indicate that there was a statistically significant association between the grade earned in the first part of introductory accounting and the college duration, which explained the significant influence of the grade earned in the first part of introductory accounting on the college duration, with and without controls for other factors.

The findings provide administrators, accounting educators and academic researchers with a useful benchmark for improving accounting programs and guidelines for future academic research.

The value of this study would be twofold; it provided a foundation for future comparative studies, potentially leading to the harmonization of international accounting education, and it addressed some of the gaps in the existing regional accounting education literature resulting from the scarcity of prior studies. In addition, the college where data were collected has been recently approved to enter the candidacy for accreditation at the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs. Given the accrediting bodies emphasis on academic performance and graduation on time, the study’s findings would help the college in enhancing its students’ performance and maximizing the chances of its accreditation application being successful.