Reinventing the Introductory Accounting Course

Candy BiancoCristi Lindblom

Mary MarcelKaren Osterheld

Bentley UniversityWaltham, MA

Preview

• Revision of General Business Core

• Integrating Accounting and Finance

• Unique aspects of the Course Sequence

• Academic Support

• Survey Results

• Discussion

Basic Course Overhaul

• General business core courses reviewed

• Accountancy and finance chairs decided

– to combine their introductory courses

– add Introduction to Business

Basic Course Overhaul

Two three-credit courses combining

– Introduction to business

– Financial accounting

– Finance

– Managerial accounting

Basic Course Overhaul

Funding• Bentley won a $400,000 5-year grant • from Ernst & Young Foundation • to support research and teaching activities

Basic Course Overhaul

Faculty team formed including:• Accounting • Finance

Basic Course Overhaul

Info design & corporate communication for• oral• written • visual

components of the course

Integrating AC and FI• AC and FI typically taught by separate dept.s But• AC and FI not separate in the business world

Integrating AC and FITopics explicitly shared

• Cash flows

• Financial statement analysis

• Time value of money

• Working capital

• Debt and equity

• Decision making and budgets

Integrating AC and FITopics implicitly shared

• Financial statements

• The accounting cycle

• Interest rates

• Risk and return

• Cost behavior

• Overhead allocation

• Cost-volume-profit analysis

Unique Aspects of the Course

• Enron Movie during First Week

• Custom Text

• Instructional Narrative

• Financial calculator

• Custom Slides and Teaching Notes

• Course-wide Consistency

Enron Movie

• Shown to all freshmen before school starts

• Reading sent out ahead of time

• Movie is stopped at specific points to ask

them questions

• Homework assignment

Custom TextIncludes chapters from• Business Essentials

– 10th ed. by R. Ebert and R. Griffin

• Financial Management: Principles and Applications – 12th ed. by Titman, Keown and Martin

• Financial Accounting– 10th ed. by Harrison, Jr., Horngren and Thomas

• Managerial Accounting– 4th ed. by Braun and Tietz.

• Auditing and Accounting Cases: Investigating Issues of Fraud and Professional Ethics– 4th ed. by Thibodeau and Freier

Instructional Narrative

• Two volumes • Twenty-one chapters• Technical material in a conversational tone

Instructional Narrative

•Life cycle of a business•Financing•Preparation of Financial Statements•Budgets and Variances•Internal Controls•SOX•Corporate Social Responsibility

Financial Calculator

• Replaces tables for time value of money

• Introduced as a tool

• Used in class and on exams

Custom Slides and Teaching Notes

Provides support for – finance faculty teaching accounting

– accounting faculty teaching finance

– Consistent learning objectives

• Blackboard site for faculty

Course-Wide Consistency

Common

• syllabus

• homework assignments

• online quizzes

• final exam

Unique Aspects of the Course

• Outside speakers

• Online library tutorials

• Team skills instruction

• Quiz on first course

• Trading room sessions

Outside Speakers

• Evening Program

• EY senior managers and partners in class

– Role of the auditor

– Earnings management and Fraud

• Presentations to young EY Professionals

Online Library Tutorial• Replaces a physical visit• Reference librarian designed – Slides– Voiceovers– questions for students to answer

• If not completed successfully, student must attend a live session in library

Team Skills Instruction

• Developed by management faculty

• Designed around course project in first course

• Team contracts

• Meeeting worksheets

• Peer evaluations

Quiz on First Course

Objectives

• Identify students at risk

• Reinforce carryover from prior course

• Encourage students to review basics

Quiz on First Course

• 25 multiple choice questions

• Covering topics from the first course

• Must score 70%

• Two attempts permitted

• Must meet with professor if unsuceessful

Trading Room Sessions

• Requiring the use of

– software

– databases

• Sessions specific to the assignments

• Students required to attend in first course

Academic Support

• Academic Services

• Review Sessions

• ACELAB/Eco-Fi Lab

• Graduate Assistant Office Hours

Survey Results: MajorsMajors % of total

UGs

Fall 2009

Fall 2012

Spring 2013

Spring 2014

AC + AIS 9.1% 11.9% 11% 11.1%

FI 8.3% 10.5% 11.2% 12.7%

CFA 8.0% 8.4% 9.5% 8.7%

Survey Results: AC & FI Integration

How connected?End of sequence survey

Fall 2010

Spring 2011

Spring 2012

Spring 2013

Same 0% 2% 1% 2%

Very connected 72% 69% 62% 59%

Slightly connected 21% 24% 30% 32%

Slightly disconnected 4% 3% 6% 5%

Very separate 3% 2% 2% 2%

Survey Results: AC MajorsHow connected?End of sequence survey

Fall 2010

Spring 2011

Spring 2012

Spring 2013

Same 0% .55% .8% .8%

Very connected 78.3% 72% 66.1% 64%

Slightly connected 16% 25.1% 25.4% 32%

Slightly disconnected 5.8% 1.6% 6.1% 1.7%

Very separate 0% 1.9% 1.5% 1.7%

Survey Results: CFAHow connected?End of sequence survey

Fall 2010

Spring 2011

Spring 2012

Spring 2013

Same 1.15% 2.8% 0% 2.2%

Very connected 84% 86% 78% 68.1%

Slightly connected 11.5% 9.0% 18.8% 26.4%

Slightly disconnected 1.15% .6% 2% 1.1%

Very separate 2.3% 1.1% 1% 2.2%

Conclusion

AC and FI typically taught

• As stand-alone topics

• In separate departments

• By faculty with AC or FI degrees

Conclusion

We’re fortunate to be able to challenge the norm

• Energized faculty

• Better prepared students