Alan Sangster

Computer-based instruction in accounting education

The recent introduction of four computer-based instruction packages for accounting may offer an alternative to existing teaching methods, thereby providing staff with more time to undertake their other duties. This paper assesses the background to the use of packages of this type, and proposes a six-stage cycle to be followed if they are to be successfully integrated into accounting course. A report is then given of a study into the use of nine modules from one of the packages (the PEER Statements of Standard Accounting Practice course) by a class of second-year accounting students. It finds that the modules have limited value as an additional resource, but that supplantive use (i.e.lecturer substitution) may be a practical alternative to conventional teaching; that students like the approach and wish to see it used in other areas; and that low computer literacy is no barrier to use.

ERP implementations and their impact upon management accountants

This paper considers the impact of ERP implementations upon the role of management accountants, upon management accounting in general, and upon business processes. It does so in the context of the perceived success of the ERP implementation. A postal questionnaire was circulated to almost 700 management accountants working in large UK-based organisations. It finds that under successful ERP implementations, management accountants have time for other, less mundane activities and their role becomes more enriching. In contrast, when the implementation is unsuccessful, the role of the management accountant increases: the ERP system deficiencies require increased activity on their part without any noticeable reduction in the tasks they traditionally perform.

THE MARKET FOR LUCA PACIOLI'S SUMMA ARITHMETICA

This paper looks at an aspect of Luca Pacioli and his Summa Arithmetica that has not previously been explored in detail--the market for which he wrote the book. In order to do so, it follows a path identified by two clues in the bookkeeping treatise as to the nature of this market that modern eyes, unaware of how life was in late 15th century Italy, have missed. After discussing the curriculum taught in schools at that time, this paper considers a range of possible markets for which the book may have been written. The paper concludes that it was written primarily for, and sold mainly to, merchants who used the book as a reference text, as a source of pleasure from the mathematical puzzles it contained, and as an aid for the education of their sons.

The ABS Journal Quality Guide: A Personal View

In the course of my career, I have worked in seven different universities, been head of department in two of them, and have been a full professor since 1996. In the first university in which I worked, research was not considered to be at all important. In all the others, it has been seen as something which you needed to do in order to progress your career. Like many others, I have found myself promoted through the system as my research began to appear and achieved a relatively steady state level of annual output of two-to-three published articles in peer-reviewed academic journals. In 1992, having published but a handful of papers in journals including Accounting Education: an international journal, Journal of Information Technology, and British Accounting Review, I was awarded an Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) scholarship along with perhaps 15 others at similar stages in their careers. The scholarships were awarded to those who had been proposed by their departments and confirmed by the ICAEW adviser as having potential to become prominent academics within our discipline. Since then, I have been chair of a section of the American Accounting Association (AAA) and of the Accounting Education Special Interest Group of the British Accounting and Finance Association (BAFA); was a member of the original UK benchmarking panel for accounting and finance; served on the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) exercise of 1995/96, which assessed the quality of teaching across all UK universities; and spent over 10 years as a member and then regional chair of the Board of Accreditation of Accountancy Educational Courses (BAAEC) which oversaw the award of exemptions from examinations of the UK and Irish professional accountancy bodies to graduates of British and Irish universities. At all stages of my career since my first academic appointment, my promotion, salary rises, and appointments have all been obtained largely on the basis of the quality of my research. I have published almost 50 refereed academic articles, a number of book chapters and monographs and, most recently, co-authored a book on ERP systems implementation in the UK, the research for which had been funded by a grant from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). My research over the past 22 years has been mainly in accounting education (20 papers); accounting systems (18 papers); and accounting Accounting Education: an international journal Vol. 20, No. 6, 575–580, December 2011

You Cannot Judge a Book by Its Cover: The Problems with Journal Rankings

Abstract Journal rankings lists have impacted and are impacting accounting educators and accounting education researchers around the world. Nowhere is the impact positive. It ranges from slight constraints on academic freedom to admonition, censure, reduced research allowances, non-promotion, non-short-listing for jobs, increased teaching loads, and re-designation as a non-researcher, all because the chosen research specialism of someone who was vocationally motivated to become a teacher of accounting is, ironically, accounting education. University managers believe that these journal ranking lists show that accounting faculty publish top-quality research on accounting regulation, financial markets, business finance, auditing, international accounting, management accounting, taxation, accounting in society, and more, but not on what they do in their ‘day job’ – teaching accounting. These same managers also believe that the journal ranking lists indicate that accounting faculty do not publish top-quality research in accounting history and accounting systems. And they also believe that journal ranking lists show that accounting faculty write top-quality research in education, history, and systems, but only if they publish it in specialist journals that do not have the word ‘accounting’ in their title, or in mainstream journals that do. Tarring everyone with the same brush because of the journal in which they publish is inequitable. We would not allow it in other walks of life. It is time the discrimination ended.

Using accounting history and Luca Pacioli to put relevance back into the teaching of double entry

Double entry bookkeeping is generally considered to be a topic that students struggle to learn. In part, this is seen as being due to their lacking awareness of both business processes and of the business environment in which accounting operates, which makes double entry appear an abstract concept and one they find hard to justify the effort of learning. It is also seen by many faculties as failing to encourage critical thinking; and as a purely mechanical process that is unnecessary in a university degree in accounting – that it belongs in the professional office where it can be taught in context in the work environment. This paper argues that there is an alternative justifiable view that, far from being unnecessary and failing to encourage critical thinking, knowledge and understanding of double entry is a key element required of anyone who seeks to fully engage in critical thinking concerning the validity of accounting information. It argues that double entry should be retained in the undergraduate accounting curriculum – that its absence from the curriculum encourages blind acceptance of accounting information as ‘truth’ and makes it more difficult to encourage accounting students to think critically about accounting information at later stages of their studies. This paper suggests that by adopting an accounting history-based approach, students can be presented with a context that may overcome their traditional failure to grasp the topic well at an early stage in their accounting studies. To support this claim, the paper suggests themes that could be covered when introducing the topic, suggests sources of teaching material, and offers access to historical background material concerning the ‘father of accounting’, Luca Pacioli, in order to assist faculties that wish to try it for themselves in the classroom.

The diffusion of activity-based costing in Jordanian industrial companies

Purpose - This paper seeks to focus on the diffusion of activity-based costing (ABC) in Jordan. A conceptual framework from general diffusion theory is adopted to describe the diffusion process within the Jordanian industrial sector. The main objective of the study is to determine the motivations for the implementation or non-implementation of ABC. Design/methodology/approach - Semi-structured interviews were conducted with financial managers and heads of costing departments of companies within the Jordanian industrial sector. Both face-to-face and telephone interviews were used to achieve the research objective. Findings - It was found that the rate of implementation of ABC in the Jordanian industrial sector follows the classical S-shape. It is also suggested that the supply side of the diffusion process, most notably the role played by consultants, was an influence on many companies. This was not, however, a sufficient condition for companies to implement ABC. Originality/value - Most previous studies focus on the implementation of ABC in Western developed countries. The results of this study make a contribution to existing knowledge in the area of the implementation of ABC, especially in Eastern developing countries such as Jordan. In addition, this research adds further evidence to the value of studying management accounting, and more specifically changes in management accounting practice. It describes the developments undertaken in the implementation of a new system and how a new system becomes accepted in practice.

Luca Pacioli: the father of accounting education

Luca Pacioli, was a Franciscan friar born in Borgo San Sepolcro in what is now Northern Italy in 1446 or 1447. It is believed that he died in the same town on 19 June 1517. He is best remembered for his 615-page mathematical compendium, Summa de Arithmetica Geometria Proportioni et Proportionalità, published in 1494; and for his friendship with Leonardo da Vinci. Many accountants perceive his greatest contribution as being the 27-page treatise on double-entry bookkeeping and business contained within his Summa. Today, we still teach doubl-entry bookkeeping following the principles set down by Pacioli, and all manual and computerized accounting systems owe much of their processing logic to the principles and processes he described. However, there is another aspect to this treatise that has been largely overlooked: in it, Pacioli set down not only the principles of double entry bookkeeping but also presented an approach to teaching the subject that is unique and largely forgotten. This paper considers Paciolis pedagogic approach within the educational environment in which he worked. It concludes that Luca Pacioli was a man of pedagogic insight and expertise who knew how to pitch his presentation so as to engage his students and maximize their likelihood of learning and understanding the material he presented using techniques that, even today, would be considered innovative. In doing so, he brings a subject (double entry bookkeeping) to life that is in sharp contrast to the abstract and often meaningless (in terms of context) way in which it is often taught today.

THE PRINTING OF PACIOLI'S SUMMA IN 1494: HOW MANY COPIES WERE PRINTED?

This paper considers the printing of Paciolis Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita (Summa) in 1494. In particular, it attempts to answer the question, how many copies of Summa were printed in 1494? It does so through consideration of the printing process, the printer of Summa, the size of the book, survival rates of other “serious” books of the period, and the dates it contains revealing when parts of it were completed. It finds that more copies were published than was previously suggested, and that the survival rate of copies has probably as much to do with the manner in which it was treated once acquired as in the number of copies printed.

Exporting the RAE: adoption of similar practices in Australia and New Zealand

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide a comparative description of performance evaluation schemes in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Design/methodology/approach - The main content of the paper is a description of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) followed by an analysis of the structure and intent of operation. This is followed by an examination of three Australasian systems, the Research Quality Framework (RQF) (abandoned before implementation), the Excellence in Research in Australia (ERA) (yet to be provided in detail), and the NZ Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF) (operated twice over a period of six years). Findings - The final section attempts to discern whether traces of the RAE can be seen in the Australasian systems and also considers the attributes of each attempt to measure performance. Originality/value - This paper presents a description of both the RAE, the RQF/ERA and the PBRF, followed by an analysis of the structure and intent of the latter two and a comparison of these evaluation systems.