Elizabeth Gammie

Personal skills development in the accounting curriculum

Todays challenging economic situation means that it is no longer sufficient for a new graduate to have knowledge of an academic subject; increasingly it is necessary for students to gain those skills which will enhance their prospects of employment. For over a decade, a number of employers have been sounding warnings to the higher education sector that a ‘skills gap’ was emerging at the employer/graduate interface. This paper highlights one strategy that attempts to facilitate the development of transferable and managerial skills in an undergraduate accounting degree. Using a stakeholder approach the adequacy of current in-house provision, and a comparison of this with best practice in the sector, was undertaken. Analysis of the findings resulted in the conclusion that skills development using an embedded delivery approach was insufficient. Likewise, a dedicated skills module in Year 1 was also inadequate and an appropriate course needed to be developed and incorporated as a core module in Year 2 of the programme. The result of this has been the creation of a module entitled Business Enterprise Skills.

Gender differences in accounting education: an undergraduate exploration

There is increasing evidence that females are outperforming males in secondary education across a range of subjects. The data in higher education, however, is not so clear-cut. Several studies have been undertaken examining the impact of gender on undergraduate accounting performance, ranging from early year performance to that of later years, with conflicting results. Some of the literature suggests that gender differences are dependent on the type of assessment utilized, reporting that females tend to perform better than males in coursework assessments with the position being reversed for examinations. This paper examines gender differences across several performance measures both prior to and post entry into an Accounting and Finance degree. Data was collected from the population of honours graduates of 1998, 1999 and 2000 (n = 132) on a thick sandwich Accounting and Finance degree at the Robert Gordon University in Scotland. All the data was extracted from student files to develop a multitude of independent performance related variables, categorized into: point of university entry data, early university performance data and final honours year performance data (examined on an individual module basis and also a global coursework and examination performance basis). Statistical differences were examined using a two independent sample technique, whereby the population was categorized by gender into male and female, with either a t-test or Mann–Whitney test being utilized dependent on the distribution of the independent variable. Only two gender differences were found: females outperformed their male counterparts in the first year accounting module and also in the auditing module, which was undertaken via distance learning during the third year of the programme. No gender differences were found in any of the final year modules, and this was also evident in the coursework and examination performance analysis. Single sex focus groups were set up to explore why gender differences were apparent in the auditing module.

Women Chartered Accountants – progressing in the right direction?

Increasing numbers of women are entering Chartered Accountancy. Focuses on the Scottish perspective exploring recruitment, examination performance and career progress. No discernable gender differences were found in recruitment and early career structure, although women do perform better in the examination process. However, at senior manager and particularly partner levels differences do arise. Examines by way of a case‐study approach, interviewing all the women partners in the “big six” Scottish offices, why so few reach the top. Also analyses their personal profiles in an attempt to construct role models for women who aspire to this level. Women choose to opt out of the top, prioritizing and balancing their lifestyles in a different manner to men. The barrier is there‐fore one of choice, although some form of discrimination was mentioned by two‐thirds of the women. The observations within the six firms were also different, suggesting that varying attitudes had been experienced.

Accountancy undergraduate performance: a statistical model

An understanding of the factors that determine a students final degree classification before the commencement of an honours year is important to many parties. This paper develops a statistical model using logistic regression to predict whether a student will achieve at least an upper second class honours degree in his/her final year. Data were collected from the population of honours graduates of 1998 and 1999 (n = 79) on a thick sandwich Accounting and Finance degree at the Robert Gordon University in Scotland. Information was extracted from student files to form 35 exploratory variables. Statistical analysis was undertaken to identify those variables which appeared to differentiate between students who achieved at least an upper second class degree and those who did not. The statistically significant variables were then entered into a logistic regression model using a forward stepwise approach. The resulting model contained three variables, performance in Financial Accounting in year 2, performance in Managerial Accounting in year 2, and the number of resits in year 1. The diagnostic statistics and classification accuracy suggest a robust model, which suffers little shrinkage when applied to the holdout sample of 43 students who graduated in 2000. The paper concludes with recommendations for counselling students regarding the appropriateness of undertaking an honours degree.

Constructed gender, approach to learning and academic performance

Abstract This paper examines the relationship between constructed gender, approach to learning and academic performance for 121 final year students at the Robert Gordon University in Scotland. Data was collected from two cohorts of students, namely Accounting and Finance students and Business students. Constructed gender (gender identity) was measured using the Bem Sex Role Inventory (Bem, 1974, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42(2), pp. 155–162) and approach to learning was measured using the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory (Entwistle and Tait, 1995, The Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory, Centre for Research on Learning and Instruction, Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh). The results found that neither biological gender nor constructed gender was related to academic performance. In respect of approaches to learning, the findings were similar for biological gender and constructed gender. Female students scored highly on the surface approach and this was the case for students with a feminine constructed gender. Statistically significant differences in academic performance were found for students who scored higher on the deep approach, strategic approach, academic self confidence dimension and metacognitive awareness dimension, although there was no significant negative correlation identified between adopting a surface approach and academic performance. Thus, approaches to learning would appear to explain more in terms of differences in academic performance than either constructed or biological gender.

Career progression in accountancy ‐ the role of personal and situational factors

Examines the personal and situational factors that determine career progression for women in the accountancy profession within the context of the Big Six firms in Scotland from data generated by a postal questionnaire focusing specifically on both male and female senior managers within these firms. The results relating to person‐centred data indicate that the most common aspiration of the senior managers relates to the attainment of partnership status. Motherhood appears to modify career expectations and there is also evidence of a different gender attitude towards acceptability of long working hours with women indicating a general reluctance to match the number of hours worked by men. Analysis of situational factors revealed that men have moved into the new areas of work resulting in women being segregated into the less prestigious, more routine functions of the profession. The results also suggest that men are head‐hunted into senior management positions, while women remain loyal to their training firms in order to be promoted. Thus there appear to be both person and situational factors that determine the pace and structure of the careers and pace of senior managers in the accountancy profession when analysed from a gender perspective.

Women and the Prospects for Partnership in Professional Accountancy Firms

This paper examines three possible reasons (stereotypical discrimination, structural obstacles and employees preferences) for the lack of women partners in professional accountancy firms in Australia, UK and New Zealand. Data are collected from an experimental survey and interviews of current partners. Whilst womens perceived preferences and organisational structural barriers contributed strongly to the lack of women partners in all sizes of firms, traditional stereotypical discrimination against women at the partnership decision point was only displayed in metropolitan large non-Big 4 firms, and it is suggested that this is related to intense competitive pressure and a constrained partnership resource.

The moral awareness of future accounting and business professionals

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the moral awareness and ethical virtue of current university students with a view to identifying whether there are any gender differences.Design/methodology/approach – The study analysed undergraduate responses from final year honours student cohorts, one from a degree in accounting and finance (n=51), the other from a programme in business studies (n=79), to a series of value statements and a number of academic and business‐related scenarios. The study employed a Kantian approach to ethics.Findings – Accounting students who had been exposed to ethical educational interventions do not display a higher level of moral awareness or ethical intention than their business counterparts. Whilst gender differences were apparent, this was only evident for moral awareness not ethical virtue and only the case for business students, thus suggesting that gender id may have more explanatory power than biological gender.Research limitations/implications – The sample size ...

Accountancy graduate selection procedures ‐ a critical analysis

The importance of selection in the accounting environment is of particular relevance as accounting is a service function which relies heavily on human resources, and its future depends on its ability to attract, train and retain the best and most capable people. A graduate entrant into a professional accountancy office constitutes a major investment involving substantial outlay to cover the costs of recruitment, training and replacement. The external training cost is easy to quantify; however the quantification of the opportunity cost is more difficult. Both these costs rise if the graduate fails to proceed through the examination system without resits or fails to qualify altogether, resulting in a human capital loss for the firm and a personal loss for the candidate. Analyses and discusses the results of a survey into the selection techniques of professional accountancy firms which are training students under the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland System. Centres on the need for and method of pre‐selection, together with selection techniques and their relative success. Concludes that adopting statistical procedures to process biodata for subsequent candidate performance will have ramifications for the firms, the trainees and the profession as a whole.

Selection techniques within the accountancy profession in Scotland

The ever‐increasing cost of seeing a graduate training contract through to its successful completion has made the selection decision, and indeed the choice of selection techniques used, increasingly vital. This paper identifies the selection methods currently used by the Scottish accountancy profession to recruit graduate trainees, compares these against best practice and highlights a number of areas where improvements to current practice would be recommended. Analysis of the selection literature revealed the range of selection techniques on offer, and from a consideration of the validity and reliability of each technique, it was possible to identify best practice in graduate selection. Data was collected by sending a questionnaire to 79 firms of Scottish Chartered Accountants. The targeted firms constituted the entire population of Scottish firms seeking to recruit a graduate trainee to commence in Autumn 2002 (as detailed within the annual ICAS Directory of Training Vacancies). Using the results of the ...