Post on 17-Dec-2015
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Reinventing the Introductory Accounting Course
Candy BiancoCristi Lindblom
Mary MarcelKaren Osterheld
Bentley UniversityWaltham, MA
Preview
• Revision of General Business Core
• Integrating Accounting and Finance
• Unique aspects of the Course Sequence
• Academic Support
• Survey Results
• Discussion
Basic Course Overhaul
• General business core courses reviewed
• Accountancy and finance chairs decided
– to combine their introductory courses
– add Introduction to Business
Basic Course Overhaul
Two three-credit courses combining
– Introduction to business
– Financial accounting
– Finance
– Managerial accounting
Basic Course Overhaul
Funding• Bentley won a $400,000 5-year grant • from Ernst & Young Foundation • to support research and teaching activities
Basic Course Overhaul
Info design & corporate communication for• oral• written • visual
components of the course
Integrating AC and FI• AC and FI typically taught by separate dept.s But• AC and FI not separate in the business world
Integrating AC and FITopics explicitly shared
• Cash flows
• Financial statement analysis
• Time value of money
• Working capital
• Debt and equity
• Decision making and budgets
Integrating AC and FITopics implicitly shared
• Financial statements
• The accounting cycle
• Interest rates
• Risk and return
• Cost behavior
• Overhead allocation
• Cost-volume-profit analysis
Unique Aspects of the Course
• Enron Movie during First Week
• Custom Text
• Instructional Narrative
• Financial calculator
• Custom Slides and Teaching Notes
• Course-wide Consistency
Enron Movie
• Shown to all freshmen before school starts
• Reading sent out ahead of time
• Movie is stopped at specific points to ask
them questions
• Homework assignment
Custom TextIncludes chapters from• Business Essentials
– 10th ed. by R. Ebert and R. Griffin
• Financial Management: Principles and Applications – 12th ed. by Titman, Keown and Martin
• Financial Accounting– 10th ed. by Harrison, Jr., Horngren and Thomas
• Managerial Accounting– 4th ed. by Braun and Tietz.
• Auditing and Accounting Cases: Investigating Issues of Fraud and Professional Ethics– 4th ed. by Thibodeau and Freier
Instructional Narrative
• Two volumes • Twenty-one chapters• Technical material in a conversational tone
Instructional Narrative
•Life cycle of a business•Financing•Preparation of Financial Statements•Budgets and Variances•Internal Controls•SOX•Corporate Social Responsibility
Financial Calculator
• Replaces tables for time value of money
• Introduced as a tool
• Used in class and on exams
Custom Slides and Teaching Notes
Provides support for – finance faculty teaching accounting
– accounting faculty teaching finance
– Consistent learning objectives
• Blackboard site for faculty
Unique Aspects of the Course
• Outside speakers
• Online library tutorials
• Team skills instruction
• Quiz on first course
• Trading room sessions
Outside Speakers
• Evening Program
• EY senior managers and partners in class
– Role of the auditor
– Earnings management and Fraud
• Presentations to young EY Professionals
Online Library Tutorial• Replaces a physical visit• Reference librarian designed – Slides– Voiceovers– questions for students to answer
• If not completed successfully, student must attend a live session in library
Team Skills Instruction
• Developed by management faculty
• Designed around course project in first course
• Team contracts
• Meeeting worksheets
• Peer evaluations
Quiz on First Course
Objectives
• Identify students at risk
• Reinforce carryover from prior course
• Encourage students to review basics
Quiz on First Course
• 25 multiple choice questions
• Covering topics from the first course
• Must score 70%
• Two attempts permitted
• Must meet with professor if unsuceessful
Trading Room Sessions
• Requiring the use of
– software
– databases
• Sessions specific to the assignments
• Students required to attend in first course
Academic Support
• Academic Services
• Review Sessions
• ACELAB/Eco-Fi Lab
• Graduate Assistant Office Hours
Survey Results: MajorsMajors % of total
UGs
Fall 2009
Fall 2012
Spring 2013
Spring 2014
AC + AIS 9.1% 11.9% 11% 11.1%
FI 8.3% 10.5% 11.2% 12.7%
CFA 8.0% 8.4% 9.5% 8.7%
Survey Results: AC & FI Integration
How connected?End of sequence survey
Fall 2010
Spring 2011
Spring 2012
Spring 2013
Same 0% 2% 1% 2%
Very connected 72% 69% 62% 59%
Slightly connected 21% 24% 30% 32%
Slightly disconnected 4% 3% 6% 5%
Very separate 3% 2% 2% 2%
Survey Results: AC MajorsHow connected?End of sequence survey
Fall 2010
Spring 2011
Spring 2012
Spring 2013
Same 0% .55% .8% .8%
Very connected 78.3% 72% 66.1% 64%
Slightly connected 16% 25.1% 25.4% 32%
Slightly disconnected 5.8% 1.6% 6.1% 1.7%
Very separate 0% 1.9% 1.5% 1.7%
Survey Results: CFAHow connected?End of sequence survey
Fall 2010
Spring 2011
Spring 2012
Spring 2013
Same 1.15% 2.8% 0% 2.2%
Very connected 84% 86% 78% 68.1%
Slightly connected 11.5% 9.0% 18.8% 26.4%
Slightly disconnected 1.15% .6% 2% 1.1%
Very separate 2.3% 1.1% 1% 2.2%
Conclusion
AC and FI typically taught
• As stand-alone topics
• In separate departments
• By faculty with AC or FI degrees