Accounting Education in the 21st Century:
Survey of Accounting Faculty
The work performed by accounting graduates is expanding and becoming more complex and more diversified. This survey is part of a study designed to understand better how the work of accounting graduates has changed, and how future accounting education should be changed to help students prepare for work in the rapidly changing business environment. This study is sponsored by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), the American Accounting Association (AAA), and the "Big 5" professional service firms. Please respond to each of the questions below, giving us your own opinions, based on your personal experience. If you do not feel that you have enough experience or knowledge to answer any question, please leave that question blank and skip to the next question. Thank you for your time.
Section 1: Your perspective on the changing environment in accounting
How would you describe the rate of change in the accounting profession? For each of the following time periods, click on the circle corresponding to what you see as the rate of change for that period.
1
No change
2
Little change
3
Moderate change
4
Significant change
5
Dramatic change
Think about the work accounting graduates did roughly ten years ago (or when you first started teaching if you have not been teaching for ten years), the work they are doing now, and the work you expect them to be doing in the next five years. for these three time periods, indicate the five main areas in which accounting graduates have worked in the last ten years, work now and should expect working in the next five years. (Select up to five work areas for each time period.)
Section 2: Your perceptions of the accounting profession
The following questions ask about your perceptions of the accounting profession. Respond to each question by clicking in the appropriate circle.
(3)
Neutral
(6)
Don't know
Section 3: Relationship between the accounting profession and the academic community
28. Do you believe that there are fewer qualified students majoring in accounting today than five years ago, about the same as five years ago, or more than five years ago? (Click in the appropriate circle.)
Fewer (Answer question 29) The same (Skip to question 30) More (Skip to question 30)
29. If you believe there are fewer qualified students majoring in accounting today, what do you believe are the two main reasons? (If you believe there are more or the same number of qualified students majoring in accounting today, please skip this question and go to question 30.)
30. What are the two most important steps corporations and accounting firms could take to attract more high quality students into the accounting profession?
31. How well is accounting education today meeting the needs and expectations of accounting professionals?
Very poorly (Answer question 32) Poorly (Answer question 32) Well (Skip to question 33) Very well (Skip to question 33)
32. What are the two most important reasons that accounting education is not meeting the changing needs and expectations of professional accountants? (Answer this question only if you answered "Very poorly" or "Poorly" above.)
33. Thinking about the purpose of accounting education in the future, which of the following should accounting programs focus most on preparing students to be? (Click on one.)
Auditors Business advisors Business decision makers Financial consultants Information experts Preparers of financial information Tax advisors Technology managers/advisors Other (Please specify)
Section 4: Content knowledge
One challenge facing accounting educators is to determine how much of the limited classroom time available to undergraduate accounting majors should be spent studying various subjects. Using the 1-4 scale below, describe how important you think each of the following subjects is by indicating how many courses should be devoted to it.
Not important (no courses)
Somewhat important (part of a course)
Moderately important (one college course)
Very important (more than one course)
53. Other (Please specify)
54. Additional comments about content knowledge, college education and an accounting career
Section 5: Professional skills
We would like to better understand how important you believe a number of professional skills are for new accounting graduates. Categorize the list of skills below using the following 1 to 5 scale:
We would like to better understand how important you believe a number of professional skills are for new accounting graduates. Based on the 1 to 5 scale below, please prioritize the following skills in terms of how much class time should be spent developing each one.
(1) No priority (Not important)
(2) Low priority (Important, but can be developed best on the job)
(3) Middle priority (Moderately important: plan out-of-class activities explicitly focused on development)
(4) High priority (Very important: dedicate both in-class and out-of-class time to developing, even if some content learning has to be sacrificed)
(5) Top priority (Extremely important: dedicate entire classes dedicate to developing, even if some content cannot be taught at all)
No priority
Low priority
Middle priority
High priority
Top priority
79. Additional comments about professional skill development and an accounting career.
Section 6: Technological skills
Think of the kinds of technology skills you believe new accounting hires should have. For each technology topic below, indicate whether you believe it is a skill that is: (1) Not important for new hires to possess; (2) Nice to know, but not critical; or (3) Critical to know.
Section 7: Educational experiences outside the classroom
While most college time is spent in the classroom, there are a number of outside activities that can enhance student learning experiences. Assuming you have 20 points to allocate among the following learning activities (the more points you allocate, the higher you believe the educational value to be), how would you allocate your points among the following? (Type the number of points you would assign to each activity in the corresponding box.)
On a scale of 1 to 7, where 1=Very ineffective and 7=Very effective, rate how effective each of the following would be as a way for business professionals and academics to work together to improve accounting education.
112. Have business professionals become active participants in academic organizations such as the American Accounting Association
Section 8: Accounting student population
For each question below, indicate whether you think the size of the student population described at your school has decreased, stayed about the same, or increased in the last five years.
For each question below, indicate whether you think the quality of the student population described at your school has decreased, stayed about the same, or increased in the last five years.
Section 9: Pedagogy
We need your feedback about which classroom learning activities are most effective. Please evaluate each of the following activities in two ways. First, indicate whether or not you currently use the activity. Second, indicate how useful you believe the activity is.
Education for a career
141. If you were advising students about how to prepare educationally for future employment, would you advise them to (please check one):
Earn a bachelors degree in something other than accounting, then stop Earn a bachelors degree in accounting, then stop Earn a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) Degree Earn a Masters of Accountancy Degree (150 hours) Earn a Masters of Information Systems Degree Earn a Masters Degree in something else (Please specify) Earn a Ph.D. Earn a J.D. (Law Degree)
142. Additional comments about advanced degrees and an accounting career
Section 10: Your teaching and research agenda
Please identify which of the following best describes the two most important parts of your teaching and research agendas when you began your academic career, and your agendas today.
143.
Most
144.
Next
145.
146.
147.
148.
149.
150.
Indicate whether you expect the demand for accounting graduates who work in the following types of jobs to decrease, stay about the same, or increase in the future.
157. Compared to ten years ago, has the relative respect for your accounting department or programs decreased, stayed about the same, or increased compared to other business school departments or programs?
Decrease Stay about the same Increase
Personal and demographic information
158. How long have you been a full-time faculty member?
Less than 3 years 3 to 6 years 7 to 10 years 11 to 15 years more than 15 years
159. Your current age:
20-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70
160. In what kind of institution do you teach?
State university with a doctoral program State university without a doctoral program Private school with a doctoral program Private school without a doctoral program 2-year school Other (Please specify)
161. What is your primary teaching interest?
Audit/Assurance services Ethics Finance Financial reporting International Accounting Managerial accounting Systems Tax Other (Please specify)
162. Gender
Male Female
163. Race
Caucasian African American Asian American Hispanic American Native American Other (Please specify)
164. Current academic rank
Lecturer Assistant Professor Associate Professor Professor Other (Please specify)
To complete this questionnaire, click once on the "submit" button below. Thank you for your participation!
(This is form for illustration purposes only and can not be submitted.)