انعکاس روال حسابداری فعلی با کتابهای مقدماتی حسابداری
Abstract
1- Introduction
2- Background
3- The changing role of accounting and accountants
4- Research design
5- Findings
6- Discussion
7- Conclusion
Acknowledgement
References
Abstract
A significant body of research has found that accounting education contributes to the narrow and stereotypical scorekeeping perceptions students have of accounting, and that there is a disconnect between accounting education and practice. However, there has only been limited research into why this has occurred. This study examines how the preparer-focused accounting textbooks adopted by New Zealand universities contribute to these concerns. Given that three of the five adopted textbooks are authorised adaptations of American textbooks and one is an American textbook, these findings will have implications for educators and authors beyond New Zealand. In an effort to better reflect accounting practice, this paper calls on authors and publishers of textbooks to acknowledge the wider context within which accounting operates, and the influence of technology on the accounting process as currently practised.
Introduction
The Pathways Commission (2012, p. 11) has expressed concern that “students are exposed to technical material in a vocationfocused way that is dis-embodied from the complex real world to which students are bound.” This finding suggests that there is a gap between theory and practice in accounting education. It is of even greater concern that this finding is not just a recent phenomenon (Albrecht & Sack, 2000; American Accounting Association, 1986; Arthur Andersen et al., 1989). The Pathways Commission (2012, p. 86) further found that accountants were still perceived as “scorekeepers, monitors or bean counters.” This has in part been blamed on the current teaching resources and the need for new material that “can help students understand the basic bookkeeping elements that serve as a foundation of an accounting education while also conveying the more strategic, dynamic aspects of accounting” (The Pathways Commission, 2012, p. 88). This explanation is consistent with a suggestion that students should be introduced to the broader context of the subject at an early stage (Ferguson, Collison, Power, & Stevenson, 2006), and that failure to do so contributes to the maintenance of the status quo. As higher educational institutions still rely extensively on textbooks as instructional tools (McFall, 2005), one possible explanation for the criticisms outlined lies with the textbook.