Engage and equip: Transformative class activities for the modern accounting semester

The author's purpose was to identify potential factors possibly affecting student performance in three sequential management-accounting courses: Managerial Accounting (MA), Cost Accounting (CA), and Advanced Managerial Accounting (AMA) within the Saudi Arabian context. The sample, which was used to test the developed hypotheses, included 312 students whose performance was followed throughout 3 semesters (4, 6, and 8) out of 8. Techniques of mean comparison and correlation were employed. The results suggest that the preuniversity accounting background was only found to have significant impact on the AMA course whereas skill in mathematics was found to affect student performance significantly in the MA course. It was evidenced that student performance in the MA course and overall was significantly affected by preuniversity ability, general undergraduate academic capability, and matriculation year. Student performance in the Financial Accounting course significantly correlated with performance in the subsequent MA and AMA courses. There is also evidence of a significant relationship between MA student performance and that of both CA and AMA. The findings of this study confirmed that the load of weekly registered hours has no negative impact on the student performance. It also suggested that accounting students had outperformed nonaccounting students in accounting and nonaccounting courses.

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, the Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship, School of Accountancy invites applications from

<b>MARCH 2013 PLACEMENT ADS</b>

Problem statement: This study explores the impact of a service-learning project embedded in a managerial accounting course through the lens of students’ technical, professional and personal development. Academic institutions and Business Schools in particular, are often criticized for producing graduates who are technically capable but lack the capability for teamwork, effective workplace communication and the ability to react effectively in unstructured and complex situations. Further, the perception of business professionals as being capitalists at the exclusion of community engagement is widespread. The authors propose the Service-Learning methodology be adopted as an effective manner in which to not only develop the communication and relationship skills of accounting students, but also to heighten their awareness and affiliation for community service and professional practice. Approach: The process undertaken to successfully launch a project employing the service-learning platform is explained, with emphasis placed upon overcoming operational barriers. The Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), a student organization, who served a key role by sourcing entrepreneurs in the early stages of venture start-up, are also discussed. Results: Results of a successful Service-Learning project in a managerial accounting course is examined within the broader context of students developing skills pertaining to professional practice, citizenship, project management and successful business interaction. Critical learning moments, which entailed students gathering data from entrepreneurs for financial forecasting, contributed to the development of ‘soft’ skills such as enhanced communication with teammates and clients and the ability to work in an unstructured environment which required confidentiality and client management. Conclusion: This study describes how SL projects integrated into a managerial accounting course addresses some of the graduate competencies required by accounting associations and the broader community, including ‘soft’ skills, professional practice and citizenship behavior. Suggestions for structuring and managing SL projects in accounting courses may guide faculty in the successful adopting of the methodology.

SEPTEMBER 2014 PLACEMENT ADS

Proposed Topics for an Advanced Course in Managerial Accounting That Has a Strategic Focus and Deals Effectively in a Highly Fragmented, Highly Dynamic and Fiercely Competitive Buyer's Market

Against the background of realizing educational modernization through information technology, promoting blended learning in the "Management Accounting" course for undergraduate accounting majors in colleges and universities is an inevitable requirement to adapt to the teaching reform of digital-intelligent talent cultivation. Based on the connotation of blended learning, constructivist learning theory, and systematic instructional design theory, this study actively explores the expansion of the temporal and spatial dimensions of the course, and forms an online-offline three-stage progressive learning model integrated with "course, research, certification, competition, and practice".This study proposes an educational innovation concept that utilizes MOOC resources as teaching content, the SPOC platform as the teaching environment, and the flipped classroom as the teaching method, along with a student-centered learning model. Without compromising the quality of the course, it shifts the focus from "student-centered" to "centered around students' learning needs and learning outcomes," effectively enhancing teaching effectiveness. This study combines the characteristics of SPOC resources with the practical needs of university teaching reform, designs a blended learning model based on SPOC, and takes the "Management Accounting" course as an example to design an application case. It aims to provide reference for universities to deeply construct and apply SPOC, enable MOOC to take root in university teaching applications, and promote the transformation of university education concepts and teaching modes.

The purpose of study is to investigate empirically the differences in achievement of reflective thinking skills for management accounting courses between different semester students at the same time. There were 68 students of the Accounting Study Program at the Faculty of Economics, Darma Cendika Catholic University who took Management Accounting courses in the odd semester 2018/2019, which had filled out the research questionnaire, but only 66 questionnaires were feasible to be processed. The hypotehesis examined by using manova. Based on the results of quantitative data processing using SPSS, only reflections are seen different between semesters but this study failed to confirm the differences in habitual action, understanding, and critical reflection between semesters taking management accounting courses at the same time.

The purpose of study is to investigate empirically the differences in achievement&#x0D; of reflective thinking skills for management accounting courses between different semester students at the same time. There were 68 students of the Accounting Study Program at the Faculty of Economics, Darma Cendika Catholic University who took Management Accounting courses in the odd semester 2018/2019, which had filled out the research questionnaire, but only 66 questionnaires were feasible to be processed. The hypotehesis examined by using manova. Based on the results of quantitative data processing using SPSS, only reflections are seen different between semesters but this study failed to confirm the differences in habitual action, understanding, and critical reflection between semesters taking management accounting courses at the same time.

The study has designed an educational game-based learning through the introduction of an interactive game called “bicycle accounting classification game”. The game was created to stimulate interest in learning basic financial accounting courses that are normally portrayed as a serious subject. The bicycle accounting classification game tool kit has been developed as a learning and teaching aid to enable students to collaborate and engage in the financial accounting course. The main purpose of the study is to identify the effectiveness of the tool as a mechanism to enhance students’ learning motivation investigated through individual psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness in a financial accounting course. The sampling was implemented to 4 accounting lecturers and one computer science lecturer in a small group tryout and 30 non accounting students in field tryout. Questionnaires were used for data collection and analyzed using quantitative methods. From the experimental results, it is discovered that the bicycle accounting classification game has contributed to the positive learning motivation, in terms of promoting their learning participation and improving their learning excitement and understanding in the financial accounting course given that knowledge organizing, and sharing is embedded in the collaborative gaming environment.

This article examines the “journey” of management accounting education over the past 50 years, evaluates the state of the field today, and presents my personal observations about teaching approaches. I observe that we have seen a substantial addition of management accounting courses to business school curricula, and changes in what was conventionally known as “cost accounting” courses, over the past 50 years. In recent years, innovative topics have come primarily from practice and from empirical research about practice. The introduction of these innovations into courses, and the expansion of management accounting in business school curricula, has resulted in a field that is alive and well in academia. The future demand for management accounting courses may be in some jeopardy, however, because students might not see good job opportunities in management accounting. Management accounting educators must address these problems to avoid enrollment declines in management accounting. The way we teach management accounting can increase the value of our students and mitigate possible enrollment declines. By focusing on problem-solving skills and the organizational context of decisions, rather than the “facts” of management accounting methods, we can educate students to be creative problem solvers who add substantial value to their organizations.

This research was conducted at Darussalam Polytechnic on third semester students. For data collection using questionnaires, the questionnaire used must be valid and reliable to answer the understanding of accounting students towards the Management Accounting course. Validity is an index that indicates that the measuring instrument is measuring data correctly. The validity test can use the Pearson correlation technique for each number of the questionnaire score with the total score of the questionnaire. A questionnaire instrument is said to be valid if the correlation value is positive, and the probability value is less than the significant value (α 0.05). Cronbach's Alpha method is used to measure reliability in demonstrating that a questionnaire is maintainable and consistent, assuming that a questionnaire is said to be reliable if Cronbach's Alpha value is more than the r value of the table. Based on the results of the validity test related to accounting students' understanding of management accounting courses, it is explained that questionnaire instruments related to assets, liabilities, and equity are proven valid because they have a significant value on the validity test smaller than 0.05, while question instruments related to liabilities are not reliable.

Using conjoint analysis, we examine the extent to which relevance and reliability contribute to the decision usefulness of level 3 fair value measurements for financial instruments. Relevance and reliability are the two fundamental qualitative characteristics for providing decision useful information as the primary objective of financial reporting. Participants ranked, by decision usefulness, five different techniques for determining the essential parameters to estimate a level 3 fair value for a financial instrument. The techniques have different combinations that trade off relevance and reliability. Our main analysis uses 202 MSc and MBA students enrolled in financial and managerial accounting courses. We find that relevance contributes to decision usefulness more than reliability. We find similar results with smaller samples of financial analysts and auditors. The findings have implications for preparers, academics, and standard-setters.

Many problems exist in traditional financial accounting course teaching, such as old-fashioned information-based teaching method, singe teaching method, and insufficient student-teacher interaction in the teaching process. These problems influence the effect of course teaching. To enhance student-teacher interaction, improve learning effect, and promote training quality of financial accounting talents, an ARS interactive teaching mode for financial accounting course that integrates Smart Classroom was proposed in this study. Cognitive flexibility theory was used as the theoretical guidance, and Smart Classroom teaching environment was combined to introduce ARS system and multimedia circuit system technology with the PowerPoint (PPT) function of the next page preview. The complete ARS interactive teaching mode based on Smart Classroom was constructed from the following: pre-class, in-class, and after-class integrated teaching; feedback teaching; and Peer Class. Meanwhile, a teaching experiment was conducted in financial accounting course. ARS interactive teaching mode based on Smart Classroom could significantly promote students' autonomous learning, collaborative communication, classroom activity, and innovative thinking. The teaching mode was welcomed and supported by students. The mode plays a great promotion role in driving integration of information technology and education, achieving educational informationization, and improving the teaching effect of a financial accounting major.

A note on the effect of cognate studies on performance in a second-level university course in management accounting