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Information about the International Association for Accounting Education and Research (IAAER's) 12th World Congress of Accounting Educators and Researchers held in Florence, Italy in November 2014. Topics include the presentation of accounting education-related papers, discussion about accounting education authorship by Australian universities, and presentation of author and countries breakdown of education-related paper during the last three World Congresses of the organization.

This paper aims to identify and explore the learning objectives outlining the core knowledge for forensic accounting education. Bloom's taxonomy is used to outline and analyze the core knowledge for forensic accounting education (e.g. fraud examination, litigation support, business valuation, and IT forensic accounting) in 15 Australian universities that provide forensic accounting courses. Furthermore, this paper applies a qualitative method to forensic accounting curricula, handbooks, and syllabi. These educational documents were retrieved from Australian universities. The findings report learning objectives under core content knowledge distributed over Bloom's cognitive areas. This study also provides a unified set of learning objectives to harmonize forensic accounting courses' teaching and learning processes. The most promising contribution of the paper is to provide a set of learning objectives in all forensic accounting subtopics. The main implications of this paper are relevant to forensic accounting educators, students, standard setters, researchers, regulators, and curricula designers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities are increasingly focused on preparing graduates with strong disciplinary and interdisciplinary skills to increase student employability. In accounting education however, the development of employability skills remains a concern among graduates and employers. One strategy for enhancing employability is to engage students in industry-based experiences through work-integrated learning (WIL). This paper introduces a novel, industry-led WIL experience embedded in an Australian university's accounting and financial planning curriculum and investigates students' perceptions of employability skills developed through this intervention. In this WIL experience, industry professionals workshopped multidisciplinary skills and provided feedback to students following a simulated work-based scenario. Data was analysed from student surveys and reflections and showed that students perceived this approach as effective for developing employability skills such as teamwork and communication and for aligning theory to praxis. This paper supports endorsing alternative WIL models and industry collaborations in accounting education to enhance graduate employability skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to identify and explore the learning objectives outlining the core knowledge for forensic accounting education. Bloom's taxonomy is used to outline and analyze the core knowledge for forensic accounting education (e.g. fraud examination, litigation support, business valuation, and IT forensic accounting) in 15 Australian universities that provide forensic accounting courses. Furthermore, this paper applies a qualitative method to forensic accounting curricula, handbooks, and syllabi. These educational documents were retrieved from Australian universities. The findings report learning objectives under core content knowledge distributed over Bloom's cognitive areas. This study also provides a unified set of learning objectives to harmonize forensic accounting courses' teaching and learning processes. The most promising contribution of the paper is to provide a set of learning objectives in all forensic accounting subtopics. The main implications of this paper are relevant to forensic accounting educators, students, standard setters, researchers, regulators, and curricula designers.

This paper examines whether universities are delivering pedagogical value to international accounting students commensurate with the costs of studying abroad. The paper uses survey and interview methods to explore the extent to which Chinese Learners (CLs) in an Australian postgraduate accounting subject have distinct learning needs. The paper then reviews universities’ responses to these needs, especially in light of funding and resource pressures. The paper reinforces findings that CLs have different learning approaches to local students, but not inferior or ‘shallow’ approaches. However, since CLs face distinctive financial and social pressures to achieve high results, their learning practices may be more sensitive to changes in teaching and assessment, such that cost constraints on educational resources might disproportionately affect their learning. This suggests that a paradoxical result of the funding pressures on many universities may be to encourage large international student cohorts while constraining available resources to meet their learning needs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study investigates how an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software package SAP was integrated into the curriculum of an accounting information systems (AIS) course in an Australian university. Furthermore, the paper provides a systematic literature review of articles published between 1990 and 2013 to understand how ERP systems were integrated into curriculums of other institutions, and to inform the curriculum designers on approaches for adopting SAP, the benefits and potential limitations. The experiences of integrating SAP into an AIS course from both the students and teaching staff perspectives are described and evaluated. The main finding was the importance of resourcing the instructors with technical and pedagogical support to achieve the learning outcomes. The paper concludes by proposing critical success factors for integrating ERP effectively into an AIS course. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyses Australian rural accountants’ attitudes and levels of satisfaction with continuing professional development (CPD), based on whether the CPD was delivered by a professional accounting body in a rural or metropolitan area. The paper responds to prior research that finds rural accountants are dissatisfied with professional accounting bodies [Rural and regional Australian public accounting firm services: Service provision, concerns and tensions.Australian Accounting Review,23(23), 163–176]. Findings of a survey to which 156 rural accountants responded were that when CPD is delivered into the rural areas, there are greater levels of CPD satisfaction. The study also found that cost was significantly better for rural-delivered CPD and that when more rural-based CPD was attended differences became more significant across a number of satisfaction measures. The findings have important implications for both rural accountants and professional accounting bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study introduces data mining methods to accounting education scholarship to explore the relationship between accounting students' current academic performance (grades), demographic information, pre-university entrance scores and predicted academic performance. It adopts a C4.5 classification algorithm based on decision-tree analysis to examine 640 accounting students enrolled in an undergraduate accounting program at an Australian university. A significant contribution of this study is improved prediction of academic performance and identification of characteristics of students deemed to be at risk. By partitioning students into sub-groups based on tertiary entrance scores and employing clustering of study units, this study facilitates a more nuanced understanding of predictor attributes. Key findings were the dominance of a cluster of second year units in predicting students' later academic performance; that gender did not influence performance; and that performance in first year at university, rather than secondary school grades, was the most important predictor of subsequent academic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the processes and outcomes of an experiential learning intervention designed to improve intercultural skills in accounting students by building cross-cultural alliances in culturally mixed groups. The cultural backgrounds of students in accounting units are diverse, and it has proved difficult to break down barriers to interaction between students from different countries. Students were required to complete some alliance building activities as well as working in multicultural groups when completing a major piece of assessment. At the end of the semester, these students were surveyed about their cultural learning, and the results were compared with those from students in similar accounting units who had not participated in the intervention. The results show that students participating in the intervention units reported higher levels of cultural learning than those in corresponding control units. The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings and their wider implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing pressure on higher education institutions to better prepare students for future work, augmented by widespread measurement of their performance using graduate employment metrics. Accounting is no exception with growing attention on whether, and in what ways, accounting curricula is aligning to labor market demands. This paper considers the importance of career preparedness among accounting students and higher education institutions' effectiveness in achieving graduate outcomes that meet the needs of the profession. It contemplates the challenges in preparing accounting students for contemporary work and explores current practice in authentic and practical learning, particularly emergent forms of work-integrated learning (WIL) that are considered pivotal for engaging diverse student cohorts with the profession. We present key considerations when designing and implementing quality WIL programs, along with suggested strategies for enhancing WIL in the accounting discipline. The paper broadens thinking beyond internships to effectively strengthen accounting curricula in meeting industry needs.

This paper presents a compilation of personal reflections from 66 contributors on the impact of, and responses to, COVID-19 in accounting education in 45 different countries around the world. It reveals a commonality of issues, and a variability in responses, many positive outcomes, including the creation of opportunities to realign learning and teaching strategies away from the comfort of traditional formats, but many more that are negative, primarily relating to the impact on faculty and student health and well-being, and the accompanying stress. It identifies issues that need to be addressed in the recovery and redesign stages of the management of this crisis, and it sets a new research agenda for studies in accounting education.

Despite recognition of the high value placed on interpersonal skills (IPS) by education, business and government stakeholders, this area of skills development only has a limited place within MBA programs. This paper introduces and tests the effectiveness of a mock-business simulation named 'Practice Aspects of Management' incorporated into an early-stage accounting course within an MBA Program, with the aim of accelerating students' IPS development. We investigate whether embedding a client interface simulation within an MBA course can improve the IPS that employers are now seeking. Following the science of training and Bedwell and colleagues' 'stepping stones' to assist IPS integration within existing MBA programs, we outline a successful initiative to address the IPS deficits. We contribute to the literature by detailing how IPS can be integrated into an accounting course and utilised to equip students with both the technical and IPS attributes now desired by employers.

This paper investigates the effectiveness (measured using assignment and examination performance) of an assessment design incorporating formative feedback through summative tutorial-based assessments to improve student performance, in a second-year Finance course at an Australian university. Data was collected for students who were enrolled in an undergraduate Finance course and analyzed to ascertain performance improvements. The results indicate that there is a relationship between formative feedback through the use of summative tutorial-based assessments and student performance. Our empirical evidence enriches the extant literature surrounding the effectiveness of formative feedback through summative tutorial-based assessments and fosters an interest in assessment designs that provide formative feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The extent to which academic research informs both student learning and practice has been repeatedly debated in the accounting and broader academic literature. However, despite its supposed symbiotic relationship, the nexus between research and teaching, as well as research and practice, has rarely been investigated within the confines of a single study. In this research, we compare and contrast the perceptions of Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) students studying accounting in two Australian universities in relation to the perceived usefulness of published academic research embedded in an accounting curriculum in (i) explaining, clarifying and learning accounting principles; and (ii) informing current and future practitioners. Our findings indicate that although EMBA students readily embrace the use of accounting research in the classroom, there is a need for educators to explicitly demonstrate the credibility of academic research if the findings of such research are to be adopted in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visualisations, in the form of Multimedia Digital Learning Objects (MDLOs), offer accounting educators potential efficiency in the creation of effective learning materials. Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) can guide instructional design by providing a theoretical framework to help the educator understand the mental processes involved in learning. Recognising the linguistic and cultural differences of international students for whom English is a Second Language (ESL) helps sensitise the educator to the additional cognitive demands that these students face. Visualisations offer a powerful way to increase the efficiency for ESL students' learning. This paper describes CLT and uses it as a theoretical model to ex-post evaluate the initial introduction of MDLOs, and then to inform and evaluate the modification of those MDLOs. This paper responds to Mostyn's (2012) call [Cognitive load theory: What it is, why it's important for accounting instruction and research. "Issues in Accounting Education", 27(1), 227-245] for accounting educators to recognise the insights of CLT.

New technologies in accounting are widely regarded as crucial to building organisational success. They have, and continue, to impact on the requisite skills for graduate and early career accounting professionals. This research focuses on how well universities, employing organisations, and professional associations are preparing early career accountants for new technology, and the future pathways to build technology-related skills. Drawing on a mixed-method study of 315 early career accountants and 175 managers/recruiters in Australia, we find different perceptions exist between these two groups. Early career accountants were generally more positive in their assessment of how well organisations' training systems prepared them for new technology while managers/recruiters expressed greater confidence in universities' ability to develop accountants to meet emergent skill demands. We argue there is an important, complementary, and yet slightly different role played by stakeholders (universities/employing organisations/professional associations) in building technology-related skills to help collectively nurture early career accountant talent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software package SAP was integrated into the curriculum of an accounting information systems (AIS) course in an Australian university. Furthermore, the paper provides a systematic literature review of articles published between 1990 and 2013 to understand how ERP systems were integrated into curriculums of other institutions, and to inform the curriculum designers on approaches for adopting SAP, the benefits and potential limitations. The experiences of integrating SAP into an AIS course from both the students and teaching staff perspectives are described and evaluated. The main finding was the importance of resourcing the instructors with technical and pedagogical support to achieve the learning outcomes. The paper concludes by proposing critical success factors for integrating ERP effectively into an AIS course.

This paper examines whether universities are delivering pedagogical value to international accounting students commensurate with the costs of studying abroad. The paper uses survey and interview methods to explore the extent to which Chinese Learners (CLs) in an Australian postgraduate accounting subject have distinct learning needs. The paper then reviews universities' responses to these needs, especially in light of funding and resource pressures. The paper reinforces findings that CLs have different learning approaches to local students, but not inferior or "shallow" approaches. However, since CLs face distinctive financial and social pressures to achieve high results, their learning practices may be more sensitive to changes in teaching and assessment, such that cost constraints on educational resources might disproportionately affect their learning. This suggests that a paradoxical result of the funding pressures on many universities may be to encourage large international student cohorts while constraining available resources to meet their learning needs.

This paper reports on a project which is designed to increase the participation of high school students in accounting work experience placements. The focus of the paper is on an Australian-based project which overcomes the identified barriers to offering high school accounting work experience placements with a resultant increase in the number and quality of placements offered. The research project responds to a decline in both the number and quality of students enrolling in accounting degree programmes in Australia. The paper draws on the work experience, social psychology, careers, and accounting education literatures to design a "connective" model (Guile & Griffiths, 2001) of accounting work experience for high school students. The project adopts an action research methodology which engages professional accounting practice, high school career advisors, and the university sector to deliver a structured work experience programme which addresses barriers to participation in accounting work experience and improves the quality of the work experience "experience" for both employers and students.

A key role of universities is the credentialing of student learning by awarding degrees and diplomas. This requires universities to have confidence in the integrity of their assessment processes and in turn, external stakeholders to have the same confidence. This study investigates the following research question: 'Has COVID-19 had an impact on the assessment and invigilation of accounting courses in Australia and New Zealand and, if so, how?' This is a critical issue for accounting faculty in many countries as COVID-19 has forced a shift in the way assessments are administered -- from face to face to online. The study involved a survey of accounting faculty in Australia and New Zealand and found changes occurred to how students were assessed because of COVID-19 and a variety of institutional responses to this. The paper makes recommendations for accounting educators, universities, and the professional accounting bodies.

This paper analyses Australian rural accountants' attitudes and levels of satisfaction with continuing professional development (CPD), based on whether the CPD was delivered by a professional accounting body in a rural or metropolitan area. The paper responds to prior research that finds rural accountants are dissatisfied with professional accounting bodies [Rural and regional Australian public accounting firm services: Service provision, concerns and tensions. "Australian Accounting Review," 23(23), 163-176]. Findings of a survey to which 156 rural accountants responded were that when CPD is delivered into the rural areas, there are greater levels of CPD satisfaction. The study also found that cost was significantly better for rural-delivered CPD and that when more rural-based CPD was attended differences became more significant across a number of satisfaction measures. The findings have important implications for both rural accountants and professional accounting bodies.

This paper presents an exploratory study into the nature and patterns of usage of accounting education research. The study adopts the most accessible metric, "Google Advanced Scholar" citations, to analyse the impact of research published in the six principal English-language accounting education journals. The analysis reveals a global readership for these journals but evidence of relatively low citation levels. However, papers tended to be cited more than expected in cross-disciplinary education journals, discipline-specific education journals, and non-education journals. Guidance is offered to authors seeking to maximise the impact of their research, and issues of concern are identified for editors and publishers. This is the first paper to look beyond content at the usefulness of research in accounting education as indicated by citations. In doing so, it contributes to the current debate on the quality of this research, and of research in accounting and finance in general.

This paper reports on the processes and outcomes of an experiential learning intervention designed to improve intercultural skills in accounting students by building cross-cultural alliances in culturally mixed groups. The cultural backgrounds of students in accounting units are diverse, and it has proved difficult to break down barriers to interaction between students from different countries. Students were required to complete some alliance building activities as well as working in multicultural groups when completing a major piece of assessment. At the end of the semester, these students were surveyed about their cultural learning, and the results were compared with those from students in similar accounting units who had not participated in the intervention. The results show that students participating in the intervention units reported higher levels of cultural learning than those in corresponding control units. The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings and their wider implications.

This paper examines a multi-faceted workplace simulation project as a curriculum design strategy to address the expanding core competencies that constrained accounting programmes must incorporate. The problem-based learning simulation incorporates technical content with communication and cross-cultural skills competencies. Using Q methodology, this study reveals how students perceived their engagement in the simulation project. The results indicate strong agreement amongst students regarding the effectiveness of the simulation project procedures and the usefulness of its outcomes. However, a clear disparity was evident in terms of students' perspectives on the level of acquiring the cross-cultural and team competencies that the simulation project sought to instil. Suggestions for future implementations are explored.

In the higher education environment, work-integrated learning (WIL) is widely considered a key component of developing work-ready and professional graduates. Quality evaluation systems are needed to ensure continual improvement and development of WIL programs focusing on all stakeholder perspectives, not just the students or the sponsoring organisations. This paper describes the process a team of business academics and educational developers at an Australian university adopted to design a 360-degree approach to WIL evaluation, using action research methodology. The team developed an evaluation tool, comprising an online survey and associated web-enabled platform. The tool was trialled in a final year accounting unit, which had recently introduced a placement-based WIL project. Peer reflections from WIL educators across our institution in addition to internal testing, complemented our findings regarding what further changes were required to make this innovative tool applicable to different WIL contexts and disciplines.

Professional scepticism forms an integral part of a professional accountant's skill set and is fundamental to their training. Recent revisions to IESs 2, 3, 4 and 8 reflect changes in the market expectation in relation to professional scepticism. In this paper, we answer calls for additional research into professional scepticism by investigating its role and training beyond audit. We also consider the important role that education can play in developing the trait professional scepticism. Through semi-structured interviews of academics, employers and the professional bodies, we find that professional scepticism is not considered a specific learning outcome nor is its development specifically evaluated. Despite being relevant across different accounting roles, educators do not consciously embed professional scepticism within accounting units other than auditing. We provide examples of how professional scepticism is addressed in the accounting curriculum and consider whether employers' expectations are being met.

This paper investigates how authentic co-created role-play may assist audit students in developing creativity, a much-needed aptitude for auditors. Role-plays used in audit education are often structured, formal case approaches, limiting student creativity. In contrast, this role-play allows students to interact with a performance artist and encourages students to bring their interests, lived experiences, and audit context into the development of a storyboard and role-play performance. A total of 650 students at a large Australian University participated in this innovative role-play assignment and 313 (48.2%) responded to a follow-up survey. While some students experienced difficulties with the ambiguity and relatively unstructured nature, most students perceived enhanced creativity and human skills and reported high levels of engagement, motivation, and enthusiasm. Overall, this study contributes to accounting role-play literature by showing that co-created role-plays can be effective teaching tools to enhance creativity skill development and provide students with an enriching educational experience.

This paper examines the 'state of play' with regard to accounting education reform, which has been advocated for decades but is notable for having failed to produce significant change. We build on prior calls to 'liberalise' accounting education, recommending a move to a more relevant curriculum that considers accounting in its social context. Based on an analysis of the accounting curriculum in 31 Australian and 8 New Zealand universities, we find that, despite widespread and continuing calls for a broader educational approach, there are very few examples of systemic curricular-wide change to the traditional technical and vocational focus of accounting education. As a way forward, a sociologically-informed accounting curriculum is proposed to overcome the widely-recognised limitations of current approaches and the apparent failure of efforts to liberalise the curriculum. We argue that our approach would facilitate the broadening of the curriculum, and the development of better-educated, well-rounded, and socially-aware graduates.

This paper investigates the effects of two instructional strategies on accounting students' performance and the gender differences within the strategies. In an experiment, undergraduate students at an Australian university were randomly assigned to either the self-managed or split-attention condition. Participants were required to self-manage graphical and textual presentations in introductory accounting as an alternative to learning by studying instructor-managed materials. Students in the self-managed group were guided on how to integrate spatially separated text and diagrammatic information by moving text as close as possible to associated parts of a diagram. Results indicated significant differences between the two presentation formats. In addition, significant interactions between gender and presentation format were found. Follow-up analysis showed that females benefited by using self-management techniques than males. The gender differences have implications for instructional design, both in the manner in which the text and graphs are structured and in the way information is presented.

This paper reports how short 10-minute role-plays can be used as an effective tool for ethics education within university auditing classes. A mixed method approach elicited student perceptions of role-plays in developing ethical awareness. While many students self-reported difficulty in recognising and dealing with the ethical dilemmas appropriately, most agreed role-plays helped them to prepare for dealing with these issues in the workplace. This was especially the case for students with English as an additional language. Students reported the role-play ethical dilemmas raised their awareness of the need to protect their professional independence. Students commented that they had a better understanding of the importance of the professional code of conduct and the code of ethics. Role-plays are a simple experiential learning approach that helps students to recognise ethical dilemmas, explore strategies to deal with such dilemmas in a safe environment, and practice listening and questioning skills to obtain information. Short role-plays can offer critical thinking opportunities that are more relevant to the student's personal experience than case studies of historical ethical breaches.

This study explores the development of student self-management skills through an oral presentation task. It is motivated by the challenge to maintain consistent quality in students’ oral skills and to incorporate national accounting curriculum requirements for threshold learning standards into an accounting subject. The study has been conducted in Australia using a sample of postgraduate accounting students, and the task required the students to prepare a group presentation using action learning. The data were collected using in-class observation and a survey. Students indicated that they were more confident and comfortable in preparing and presenting the oral presentations as compared with their previous experiences. This was especially due to students having a second opportunity to improve their presentations allowing a better understanding of the expected standard. The oral presentation task benefitted all students but was especially useful for those who had limited experience speaking in front of a larger audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the foundational subjects comprising most Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs is an introductory accounting course, in which students are exposed to the study of financial and management accounting at a basic level. For many students accounting is arguably the most feared subject in the MBA program. Although some students embrace the challenge and opportunity to develop an appreciation of accounting, the part it plays in organisations, and its role in management decision-making, for others the prospect of entering the world of accounting is one fraught with apprehension. Frequently described as "the language of business," for students with limited experience or prior instruction in accounting, engaging with this language is formidable, and the demystification of the accounting lexicon represents a major challenge to accounting educators. This paper advocates the use of analogies, metaphors, and similes in helping MBA students understand accounting principles and engage with the conceptual underpinnings of the discipline.

Students' conceptions of learning (CoL) play an important role in the learning process leading to the development of generic skills. This paper investigates whether CoL of accounting students can be developed by incorporating high-level cognitive skills progressively within the accounting curriculum. First, the study explored, using phenomenography, the variation in accounting students' CoL. The findings highlighted some nuances in accountings students' CoL and that lower-order CoL were prevalent among accounting students. However, more (less) third-year students than second-year students adopted higher- (lower-) order CoL. Upon examining the learning objectives, teaching methods and assessment of all units comprising the accounting major of the host university, evidence was found that CoL are progressively developed and shaped, albeit in a limited way, based on the levels of cognitive domain emphasised within the curriculum. The findings highlight the need for accounting educators to take a "whole of the programme" approach to developing higher-order CoL.

This exploratory study is designed to elicit and understand the views of Mainland Chinese students concerning their learning experience in an Australian accounting education programme. The article contributes to the literature by investigating the issues and implications associated with international students’ perceptions of teaching, as little research has been undertaken in this context. Data were obtained from focus group interviews at two Australian universities, comprising students who had no prior experience of Western education. Based on an adaptation of Ramsden's 2003 model [Learning to teach in higher education(2nd ed.). London: Routledge], the data show that the students’ educational experience in China has a direct and negative influence on their perceptions of the teaching and learning experience in Australia. The negativity is particularly strong for entry-level students but dissipates to some extent with time. Issues concerning teachers’ enthusiasm, commitment, delivery skills and students’ expectations also emerged as important factors affecting student perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses an attempt to share best practices among Australian university professors through the online resource "Stories in Teaching." Topics include the sharing of stories regarding teaching innovations, the promotion of educational technology in online videos, and the workload facing university instructors.

This study reports the results of a survey of student study times and perceptions of workload in undergraduate and graduate accounting courses at a large Australian public university. The study was in response to student feedback expressing concerns about workload in courses. The presage factors of student workload and assessment in Biggs’ 3P model are used because these factors can influence students' approaches to learning and therefore course improvements based on these factors could bring the greatest benefits. The findings suggest that the workload is not too heavy but that student perceptions of workload can be improved by clearer communication of teacher expectations and targeted course review to implement constructively aligned curricula. Initiatives implemented in assessment and to better match workload expectations between student and teacher are discussed and could be generalized to most courses. Areas for further research in student workload management are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]