American Accounting Association 2006 Midwest Region Meeting March 30 – April 1 Chicago, Illinois

Friday, March 31, 2:00 p.m. to 3:40 p.m.
Concurrent session 3D - Core Competency (Teaching and Curriculum)

Title: A Report on CIMA Students’ Perceptions of the Use of Case Studies in Developing Key Competencies

Sidney Weil Lincoln University	John Joyce Sheffield Hallam University
Anna Rose Southern Illinois University	Trevor Hassall Southern Illinois University

ABSTRACT: This paper reports on a questionnaire-based survey to assess students’ perceptions of the benefits of using the case-study method of preparing for the Test of Professional Competence in Management Accounting (TOPCIMA) in 2004. The results, complied from 1,141 surveys, suggest that CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) students do perceive the preparation for the case study examination as having provided benefits in developing certain competencies. The two competencies that students perceive to have benefited the most from the case study examination preparation are develop your ability to consider alternate solutions and apply judgment and improve your ability to evaluate a situation from more than one perspective. Furthermore, comparison of means tests revealed that perceived academic ability, gender, first language and mode of preparation have an influence on how CIMA students perceive the value of case-based examination preparation in developing specific competencies. The results of the survey suggest that the use of a case-based examination by CIMA is indeed facilitating the development of its specified learning outcomes for using a case-based approach.

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