A Unique Sequence Of Financial Accounting Courses Featuring Team Teaching, Linked Courses, Challenging Assignments, And Instruments For Evaluation And Assessment

Abstract

The Department of Accounting at California State University Northridge (CSUN) has developed a unique sequence of courses designed to ensure that accounting students are trained not only in technical accounting, but also acquire critical thinking, research and communication skills. The courses have proven effective and have embedded assessment measures that are used to evaluate and document student progress. The assessment measures also provide feedback to faculty and have led to numerous improvements over time. The Intermediate Accounting Sequence begins with a one (semester) unit bridge course that reviews the lower-division accounting material, introduces intermediate accounting concepts, and provides a base measure of students communication skills through a writing assignment. The next three-unit intermediate accounting course (ACCT351) is linked with a two-unit accounting communication course (351COM). These linked courses share unstructured case assignments written by the accounting faculty that require students to identify the accounting issue(s), research the authoritative literature in GAAP, and write a professional one-page document for each case that demonstrates critical thinking and appropriate documentation. The structure of the linked courses is based on team work, and has the indirect benefit of promoting collegiality among faculty and fostering a culture of critical thinking throughout the accounting program. The skills acquired in 351/351COM are reinforced in subsequent courses through the use of similar assignments and evaluation and assessment

Written and Computer-Mediated Accounting Communication Skills

“…One possible explanation is that the CSUN undergraduate accounting curriculum was revised more than seven years ago to place a greater emphasis on professional communication. In response to employer feedback, a corequisite course in accounting communication (ACCT 351COM Communications for Accountants) with a business communication prerequisite was added to Intermediate Accounting II (Lundblad & Wilson, 2008). The accounting communications course is offered through the Accounting and Information Systems Department; the prerequisite business communication course (ENGL 205 Business Communication in Rhetorical Contexts) is provided by the English Department housed in the College of Humanities.…”

“…How documentation instruction should be integrated into the accounting curriculum is beyond the scope of this research. However, one possible approach would be that used at CSUN (Lundblad & Wilson, 2008). The communication skills “Preparing documents that are concise, accurate, and supportive of the subject matter” (Table 2, Importance Rank 4) and “Properly cites references to authoritative literature and other sources” (Table 2, Importance Rank 18) are assigned for coverage to the professional communication course students take as a corequisite with Intermediate Accounting II.…”