Backward Design for Intermediate Financial Accounting 2

The accounting curriculum is overburdened by a nearly-impossible scope of material, as textbooks attempt to comprehensively cover accounting topics to meet the coverage of the CPA exam. The effective professor, however, must make tough choices about what to focus on - and even more importantly, what not to focus on. Backward Design provides a framework in which to make these choices. Under Backward Design, assessment is planned before the design of learning experiences and instruction plans. This paper describes how an Intermediate Accounting 2 professor used Backward Design to consciously choose to de-emphasize CPA exam coverage and to emphasize the informational role of accountants in preparing financial statements that are used by readers.