An International Meeting of the American Accounting Association American Accounting Association 2006 Annual Meeting August 6–9, 2006 Washington, D.C.

Mindell Reiss Nitkin
Simmons College

Jane Mooney
Simmons College

Abstract: As teachers in management courses we face the question of how to insure that our students acquire the technology skills needed to succeed in the workplace. Specifically, in the accounting profession, we face the question of how to insure that students develop competency in using spreadsheet software. A variety of methods have been used by educational institutions to teach spreadsheet skills. Workshops, full semester courses, and on-line self paced training are three methodologies commonly used. These approaches often fall short of delivering computer competency. A less used approach to teaching computer skills is to integrate technology training with content areas. In this paper we present a model for integrating teaching spreadsheet skills with the teaching of an introductory financial accounting course. We also present the results of the integrated approach by reporting and comparing pre- and post- training self assessment and standardized assessment of spreadsheet skills.

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