Advances in Accounting Education: Teaching and Curriculum Innovations: Volume 19

To understand the reasons that accounting academics leave the tenure-track academic pipeline.

Survey study was conducted of PhD graduates who left the tenure-track accounting pipeline over a 22-year period.

We located and surveyed accounting PhD graduates who have opted out of the tenure-track. These opt-outs included those who have left academia entirely and those who have moved into non-tenure-track positions. Survey results indicate that dissatisfaction with research expectations is the most significant factor for faculty now employed in non-tenure-track positions. Although there were no gender-related differences in the number of faculty who left the tenure-track but stayed in academia, there were some gender differences in the importance of family-related factors in motivating the move off of the tenure-track.

The study examines the importance of the “push” and “pull” factors associated with changing career paths in academia that have been identified in the literature. The study finds some differences in influential factors between accounting academia and other fields. Sample size is a potential limitation.

The study provides recommendations for PhD program directors and for hiring institutions to help reduce the number of opt-outs.

Retention of qualified faculty who are dedicated teachers improves students’ educational outcomes.

This is the first study to examine factors that drive accounting academics to opt-out of the tenure-track.

To explore the effects of circadian rhythms on mental performance in the context of the high-stakes CPA exam and to give exam candidates and practitioners insights about ways to better align rigorous mental tasks with the timing of peak mental performance.

Empirical methodology using data on CPA exam candidate characteristics and performance.

We provide evidence consistent with the belief that circadian rhythms affect CPA exam performance. After controlling for other performance factors, we document lower CPA exam scores and pass rates for those exams begun in the early workday hours or in the afternoon, relative to those exams begun in the late morning.

As is typical with empirical methodology, our findings may be due to factors/variables other than those under consideration.

Insights regarding circadian rhythms can potentially be used to better align rigorous mental tasks with the timing of peak mental performance, thereby yielding better performance by the CPA profession.

Among the goals of the CPA profession is the protection of the public. Thus, improved performance by the CPA profession can yield benefits to society at large.

To our knowledge, ours is the first study to explore the possible effect of circadian rhythms on CPA exam performance. Given the high-stakes nature of the exam, we believe our chapter can give exam candidates and practitioners valuable insights about ways to better align rigorous mental tasks with the timing of peak mental performance. This can benefit them both for the CPA exam as well as during their careers.

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.

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.

This exercise provides comprehensive coverage of audit materiality, assessing inherent risk, and allocating tolerable misstatement appropriate for an undergraduate auditing course. The Delphi method could be an appropriate tool in any accounting setting where the learning goals involve judgment, consensus, or learning through group interaction.

This chapter describes a classroom exercise that required students to establish planning materiality, assess inherent risk associated with balance sheet accounts, and allocate tolerable misstatement using a modified application of the Delphi method. Additionally, the exercise calls attention to group processing skills and the role played by professional judgment in planning an audit. We assigned students to five-person audit teams and through a series of Delphi rounds asked them to establish planning materiality and assess the inherent risk associated with each balance sheet account for a fictitious company. Students prepared a matrix, both individually and as a team, that compared each statement account to every other account to determine which account in each pairing they viewed as having higher inherent risk. As a final step, they allocated tolerable misstatement mathematically for each account based on pairing results.

The result was a consensus of opinion and an early attempt at forming professional judgment. The students’ responses to a debriefing questionnaire and the results of a pre-/post-test suggest that the learning objectives of the exercise were met.

The specific learning objectives of the exercise were to help students understand the concepts of tolerable misstatement and planning materiality, the elements of inherent risk, the Delphi method for reaching group consensus, the need to work as a team, and the importance professional judgment plays in the audit process. The result was a consensus of opinion and an early attempt at forming professional judgment. The students’ responses to a debriefing questionnaire and the results of a pre-/post-test suggest that the learning objectives of the exercise were met.

As more courses move to online testing, it is important to understand how it can be used to enhance student learning. Adopting online testing strategies which have been documented to be effective (including increasing the frequency of testing, allowing the students to take the test “open book” and allowing the students two opportunities to take each test) may enhance student learning. This study assesses whether adopting these strategies, facilitated by online testing, leads to greater student learning.

I gathered data from eight sections of an undergraduate auditing course in which students in four sections of the class were tested using six online tests taken by the students outside of class. These six online tests were “open book” and allowed the students two opportunities to take each test. Scores from a common final exam are then compared to those from four sections of the same course where three in-class, traditional paper tests were administered. I also surveyed the online test group to gather information regarding their perceptions of online testing.

Students in the online group scored significantly higher on the tests and the final exam. Additionally, the online group reported a positive perception about their experience with online testing.

Online testing did not impair students’ learning, and if the testing environment is designed correctly, online testing may increase student learning.

Instructors considering introducing online testing should consider introducing some of the specific strategies and practical implications described in the chapter to increase student learning.

This exercise exposes students to complex lease transactions, requiring research in the FASB Accounting Standards Codification, archived standards, and future standards (exposure drafts (ED)).

Case study/exercise/assignment.

Students analyze how a retail establishment examines lease transactions to ensure its practices are in line with its mission. Students gain experience researching archived, current, and future standards. Student feedback suggests that students feel the exercise is valuable because it reinforces what they learned in earlier courses and it requires them to understand all aspects related to capital and operating leases. Furthermore, direct assessment data based on grading rubrics indicates that most students meet instructor expectations and indirect assessment data based on student perceptions indicates students are meeting the exercise learning outcomes.

This learning exercise fosters critical thinking skills; emulating professional practice issues and enhancing written and communication skills. It reinforces graduate students’ undergraduate learning related to leases.