Addressing the stagnation issue in accounting education research while incorporating mainstream publications and professional practice into the accounting curriculum

Abstract

The accounting practice and academic research-oriented sides of the profession have had difficulties concerning the integration of their outputs. The practice side has maintained that very little of the “mainstream” research produced by academics has been of value in their day to day activities, and the research side has complained about the lack of cooperation as to the availability of data from the practice segment that is needed to conduct academic research. Add to this situation the teaching focused faculty of the profession, who contend that the research conducted in the “mainstream” is of little value to their efforts in teaching undergraduate and graduate students. Additionally, faculty in the classroom need input from the practice side to determine what information the students need to be successful after graduation. The problems were noted in 2012 by the AICPA and AAA supported Pathways Commission in their major report, with questionable efforts to date addressing the concerns. Take all of these components together and you have a view of our current “situation” in accounting.

We attempt, in this paper, to further address the previously identified stagnation in accounting education research (Rebele and St. Pierre, 2015) and, at the same time, to bridge the gaps between these different accounting groups noted by the Pathways Commission. We do this by offering a potentially unique solution to address the current accounting environment. First, we analyze the findings from a mainstream research study that both examines the practice side of the equation and directly affects our classroom coverage of topics in several of the required undergraduate and graduate courses typically found in accounting programs around the country. Second, this paper breaks from many of the current education articles in that we examine what should be taught in the classroom based on actual real - world practice issues rather than hypothetical academic approaches to the topics covered. Third, our efforts in tying together the three components - mainstream research, practice, and classroom content - will hopefully move our colleagues in a direction that benefits our students and opens new accounting education research opportunities.