Samantha Sin

Considerations of Quality in Phenomenographic Research

In this paper the author considers issues of quality in phenomenographic research. Research rigor, which is traditionally evaluated by validity and reliability criteria, ensures that research findings reflect the object of study. Quality in research subsumes rigor and extends considerably beyond satisfying the criteria for rigor. A piece of research has to convince readers of its quality when evaluated against criteria that have been developed through contributions and agreements within the research community. This paper tackles the quality issue in phenomenographic research in three steps. First, criteria for quality in qualitative research are discussed. Second and drawing on the literature, related issues when the criteria are applied to phenomenographic studies and the ways of addressing the issues are examined. Finally, the phenomenographic process is analyzed and suggestions are made for enhancing quality at each stage of the process. New phenomenographic researchers especially will find this paper as a useful guide.

Fit for Purpose: A Framework for Developing and Assessing Complex Graduate Attributes in a Changing Higher Education Environment.

Abstract This paper provides an assessment framework for shared collaboration among accounting educators. Key developments in higher education more broadly and challenges specific to accounting education are synthesised to identify their combined effects on the accounting curriculum and on accounting academics in fulfilling the teaching component of their academic role. The issue of assessment validity for complex graduate attributes that invariably encompass skills, disposition and values – beyond technical knowledge – is highlighted. This paper draws on multi-disciplinary research and principles of best practice to provide a framework to design innovative assessments. The framework is then used to illustrate the support and design of a set of assessment learning activities targeting graduate attributes. The authors also intend to share the framework with peers and to promote debate and further development to counter some of the challenges presently confronting accounting education in the already resource-scarce and high-demand higher education sector.

The conceptions of work in the accounting profession in the twenty-first century from the experiences of practitioners

The accounting profession, which has commercialised its services extensively in the past two to three decades, is facing the challenges of change. An early and concerted response to the changes in the scope of work was the emphasis on developing generic skills in accounting higher education. This study recognises the relevance of accounting practitioners’ experiences of the manifestations of change in actual work situations and investigates their conceptions of accounting work. A phenomenographic approach identified practitioners’ focus of awareness on the functional, outcome and ethical aspects of accounting work. In particular, practitioners described the prevalence of ethics in all facets of their work, their autonomous position and ethical tensions. The pressures of commercialism are also reflected in their conceptions. The findings have raised concerns regarding the adequacy of the present curriculum for preparing accounting graduates for the ethical challenges of work in todays accounting profession. The relevance of developing professional values and identities as a trajectory both within and beyond university learning is advanced.

The Role of Current and Non-Current Accruals in the Relation between Stock Returns and Earnings

This study examines the role of accruals in the relation between stock returns and earnings for intervals of one to four years. We argue that the roles of current and non-current accruals differ because the former turn over more frequently while the latter include long term timing differences and permanent differences. Accordingly, the roles of both categories of accruals are examined over intervals within and beyond the cycle of current accruals. The results suggest that accruals strengthen the association between stock returns and earnings and that they are more important for shorter intervals. Further, non-current accruals play a dominant role in the relation between stock returns and earnings while the effect of current accruals is negligible for all intervals examined.

Learning essential terms and concepts in Statistics and Accounting

This paper describes a terminological approach to the teaching and learning of fundamental concepts in foundation tertiary units in Statistics and Accounting, using an online dictionary-style resource (TermFinder) with customised termbanks for each discipline. Designed for independent learning, the termbanks support inquiring students from non-English-speaking backgrounds – including international students – in their understanding of the key concepts of their discipline. Two quasi-experimental studies of the use of these termbanks are reported here, showing the difference that they made in the performances of first-year students studying Statistics and Accounting, when compared with those from the previous year before the termbanks were available. In both units, the exam results for the experimental cohorts were significantly better than those of the cohorts in the preceding year. Higher success rates and raised levels of engagement with terminological questions were registered for all students, Australian domestic and international. Individual study patterns emerged in the trial of the accounting termbank, with international students making early use of the termbank with its translation equivalents in Mandarin Chinese, and Australian students more inclined to use it close to the final exam. The testing of the customised termbanks, developed collaboratively by lexicographers and academic staff, vindicates their use in large, diverse classes and their value to students as resources for independent learning. That apart, the research affirms the value of focusing on terminology and the nexus with disciplinary concepts in introductory courses.

Reflection/Commentary on a Past Article: “Considerations of Quality in Phenomenographic Research”: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/160940691000900401

I am from the Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance in the Faculty of Business and Economics at Macquarie University. Research in the business and accounting disciplines are mainly survey studies. This publication has brought to light the potential application of the phenomenographic method in business and accounting research. I have a few research students who have used phenomenography in their research.

Critical Thinking in Professional Accounting Practice: Conceptions of Employers and Practitioners

Over the past three decades or so it has become commonplace to lament the failure of universities to equip accounting graduates with the attributes and skills or abilities required for professional accounting practice, particularly as the latter has had to adapt to the demands of a rapidly changing business environment. With the aid of academics, professional accounting bodies have developed lists of competencies, skills, and attributes considered necessary for successful accounting practice. Employers have on the whole endorsed these lists. In this way “critical thinking” has entered the lexicon of both accountants and their employers, and when employers are asked to rank a range of named competencies in order of importance, critical thinking or some roughly synonymous term is frequently ranked highly, often at the top or near the top of their list of desirables (see, for example, Albrecht and Sack 2000). Although practical obstacles, such as content-focused curricula, have emerged to the inclusion of critical thinking as a learning objective in tertiary-level accounting courses, the presence of these obstacles has not altered “the collective conclusion from the accounting profession that critical thinking skills are a prerequisite for a successful accounting career and that accounting educators should assist students in the development of these skills” (Young and Warren 2011, 859). However, a problem that has not yet been widely recognized may lie in the language used to survey accountants and their employers, who may not be comfortable or familiar with the abstract and technicalized pedagogical discourse, for instance, the use of the phrase “developing self-regulating critical reflective capacities for sustainable feedback,” in which much skills talk is couched.