There is no doubt that accounting education scholarship and research in Australia is not only thriving, but is amongst the best in the world. Nor is there any doubt that Australian scholars in this field punch well above their weight within the international arena. This book is not derived from a conventional special issue (i.e. one focussing on a specific theme such as audit education, communication in accounting education, or the interface between accounting education and professional training). Instead, it presents a collection of leading edge contributions to accounting education research from Australian scholars on topics which have international relevance. These topics reflect the typical breadth of research in this field being undertaken in Australia - including coverage of students’ conceptions of accounting work, the impact of entry mode on accounting students’ approaches to learning, listening skills in accounting practice, and student’s performance in online accounting courses. Taken together, the contents of this book will help to enhance the educational base of accounting practice by providing guidance to educators in improving their pedagogic practice. This book was originally published as a special issue of Accounting Education: an international journal.

This book provides a comprehensive and critical overview of learning accounting. It illustrates that when learners need to mentally integrate two or more distinct items of information, it places unnecessary demands on cognitive load. The book discusses the cognitive load theory, which assumes that the task of mental integration increases the load on already limited working memory, and it does so to such an extent that learning may be severely impeded. The book also investigates how students could deal with cognitive overload when learning introductory accounting using three instructional design formats: the split-attention format, the integrated format, and the self-managed format.

An annual prize is awarded for the best paper appearing in Accounting Education: an international journal, and this book contains the prize-winning papers for every year from 1992 to 2012. The journal’s primary mission since the first issue was published in March 1992 has been to enhance the educational base of accounting practice, and all the papers in this book relate to that mission. These papers, reporting on research studies undertaken by accounting education scholars from around the world, build on research findings from the broader domain of education scholarship and embrace a wide array of topics – including: curriculum development, pedagogic innovation, improving the quality of learning, and assessing learning outcomes. Of particular interest are three themes, each of which runs through several of the papers: students’ approaches to learning and learning style preferences; ethics and moral intensity; and innovation within the accounting curriculum. Accounting educators will find many ideas in the book to help them in enriching their work, and accounting education researchers will be able to identify many points of departure for extending the studies on which the papers report – whether comparatively or longitudinally. This book is a compilation of papers originally published in Accounting Education: an international journal.

Topics included in Volume 14 are: ways to increase student interest in the accounting major, challenges and implications associated with integrating transfer students into accounting programs, techniques for improving performance in intermediate accounting classes, exercises for incorporating divergent and evolving standards in the audit class.

Over many decades the global development of professional accounting education programmes has been undertaken by higher education institutions, professional accounting bodies, and employers. These institutions have sometimes co-operated and sometimes been in conflict over the education and/or training of future accounting professionals. These ongoing problems of linkage and closure between academic accounting education and professional training have new currency because of pressures from students and employers to move accounting preparation onto a more efficient, economic and practical basis. The Interface of Accounting Education and Professional Training explores current elements of the interface between the academic education and professional training of accountants in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK. It argues for a reassessment of the considerations and requirements for developing professional accounting programs which can make a student: capable of being an accountant (the academy); ready to be an accountant (the workplace); and professional in being an accountant (the professional bodies). This book was originally published as a special issue of Accounting Education: An International Journal.

This is the first work of its kind. Original contributions from leading academicians, practitioners and accounting associations from around the world make this handbook a unique source of information on international accounting education and certification processes. A uniform format in most of the chapters allows for easy comparison between countries. This volume documents the development of accounting education and practice at country and global levels; studies the sensitivity of accounting education and practices to the unique socio-economic needs of its environment; and allows comparative studies at a time when attempts have begun to harmonize accounting education internationally. Most importantly, it shows how educational programmes around the world are preparing future accounting professionals to deal with the rapid technological and environmental changes of the 21st century.

AAE publishes empirical and non-empirical research in Accounting Education. Volume 24 addresses five key themes: (1) research on student attitudes and behaviour, (2) cases and pedagogical approaches in tax, (3) financial reporting and introductory accounting, (4) research about the CPA exam, and (5) international perspectives.

This guide is designed to assist all those who are responsible for providing or overseeing formal education or practical experience that forms part of the initial professional development of aspiring professional accountants, or the continuing professional development of professional accountants. It is particularly relevant to professional accountancy organizations. It is also intended for policy makers and regulators who determine which organizations are licensed to certify professional accountants and related specializations, for example, audit professionals. The purpose of the guide is to • increase understanding of the gap between the current skills of many accountants in some regions and the skills that are relevant in increasingly digitized and globalized economies; • convey the essential features of Competency-Based Accounting Education, Training, and Certification (CBAETC); • provide a common reference framework for organizations pursuing CBAETC and the consultants working with them; • assist countries in developing in-country plans and implementing in-country processes that produce accountants with higher-order skills relevant to their economy’s rapidly evolving needs; and • improve financial reporting, auditing, and regulation. This guide complements and builds on International Education Standards (IES™) of the International Accounting Education Standards Board™ (IAESB™).

This book presents the views of accounting educators, accounting education policy-makers, and accounting practitioners from across the world on the challenging topic of liberalising the accounting curriculum within university education. Accounting is a relatively new subject within universities and has been absorbed into a high level of education without any real attempt to do so within the traditional ethos of a liberal arts education. In this book, the logic of teaching using the liberal arts is described and contrasted with the practical vocational training approach of teaching which has formed the foundation of accountancy courses for many years. A proposal to change this established practice, by integrating the liberal arts into the university accounting curriculum, is followed by a series of short chapters which address the relevance, validity and worthiness of the proposed approach. Comments and counter-arguments are then discussed before further chapters illustrate how the proposed change may be achieved in a variety of different contexts – ranging from that of the global financial crisis (which began in 2008) to the inclusion of ethics and sustainability within the accounting curriculum. This book will aid those teaching accounting in universities to improve the design of their accounting degree programmes by moving away from an excessive emphasis on technical skills towards a broader consideration of a liberal contextualisation of the accounting curriculum. This book was originally published as a special issue of Accounting Education: an international journal.

Assessment is the daily life of a teacher; designing plans, setting questions, giving feedback and grading are all activities that teachers undertake on a regular basis. This book provides a practical guide on the effective use of assessment. It includes the use of assessment tools and pedagogical design that help students deepen their learning. Major issues on assessment and some excellent examples are presented as a useful resource to university teachers in enhancing teaching and students' learning.