Determining differences in the preferred undergraduate accounting curriculum among students, practitioners and educators

Scope of study. This dissertation detailed research on the disagreement between accounting educators and accounting practitioners on how best to institute changes in accounting education in order to better prepare students for professional positions in today's complex, global market-place. The dilemma for accounting educators and accounting practitioners was how to create an effective undergraduate accounting program when there was no clear opinion of what was needed and how to deliver the needed information. This dissertation consisted of a questionnaire transmitted to four categories of accounting participants: (a) recent graduates, (b) public accountants, (c) management accountants and (d) educators. This research study, through a survey utilizing the Likert-scale, obtained the preferred accounting undergraduate curriculum from accounting educators public accountants, management accountants and recent graduates. The variables studied were (a) accounting courses required and electives for an accounting degree, (b) accounting topics accounting students should understand, (c) accounting topics that should be developed more thoroughly, (d) time devoted to developing each of 25 designated skills in an undergraduate program and (e) ranking the most effective teaching methods of accounting. As surveys were forwarded to 3,255 individuals, the response rate of 495 (15% response rate) was sufficient to project the survey results to a larger population.; Findings and conclusions. The study found that educators, graduates, public accountants and management accountants agreed on seven of the nine required courses: Accounting Principles; Managerial Accounting, Accounting Information Systems, Intermediate Accounting I, Intermediate Accounting II, Auditing and Advanced Accounting. The only elective course selected by all four categories of respondents was Ethical Responsibilities of Accountants. The categories of respondents agreed that academic institutions should offer a program whereby students could obtain the equivalent of 150 semester hours to sit for the CPA exam. The categories of respondents agreed that seven of 44 undergraduate topics required more than an introductory level knowledge: generally accepted auditing standards, internal control, accounting ethics, preparation and presentation of financial statements, including footnotes, disclosure standards, revenue recognition and expense recognition. The categories of respondents agreed that only three of 25 skills required more than a medium level of classroom time: problem solving in diverse and unstructured situations, written communications and analytical. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...