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2012
AI
The relationship between academic research and teaching in UK and Ireland accounting departments is explored, focusing on the interconnectedness of these two roles. The study employs a multi-method approach, incorporating literature review, interviews with academics and professional bodies, and a survey to assess the teaching-research nexus. Findings suggest a complex relationship, with varying perceptions about the influence of research on curriculum and teaching effectiveness, revealing both challenges and opportunities in aligning academic research with professional training needs.
For more than 40 years, there has been a continuous and heated debate in literature, with regard to the difficult relationship between the three components of the accounting profession: research, practice and teaching. With few exceptions, there is a large consensus of opinions that there is at least a gap between accounting research and practice, if not a schism. In bridging the gap, a better communication between the two parties seems to be the best solution and the professional bodies, the most proper moderator. Under these circumstances, starting from the identified results of previous research, we investigated the mutual relationships within the research-practice-teaching triangle, aiming at identifying and assessing the obstacles that determine and maintain the gap between the accounting academia and practice in the Western part of Romania. With regard to the research-practice line, our results were not significantly different from the ones of other authors. We found that the accounting profession in Romania is characterized by a disruption between the interests of academics and practitioners, determined by a lack of communication between the two parties. Our personal contribution to the debate consists however in a thorough analysis of the role of university education in narrowing the existing gap between academia and practice.
Journal of Accounting Education, 2008
Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 2019
It is not overly contentious to claim the term 'research culture' has become an accepted part of the academic lexicon in accounting faculties in universities across the globe. For senior as well as early career researchers, a 'vibrant' and 'enabling' research culture is commonly argued to foster a range of research outcomes by capitalizing upon the benefits that such an environment offers. However, not only has the importance of research culture seemingly assumed the status of conventional wisdom in academic accounting discourse, but the very term 'research culture' carries with it an implicit expectation of an 'ideal' way in which research outcomes within university accounting schools can be facilitated. What exactly is 'research culture', and in what ways does it contribute to research outcomes? This exploratory study seeks to unpack these questions based on interviews with 44 senior accounting academics, drawn from 37 universities across 11 counties. Far from an 'ideal', homogenized, one-size-fits-all research culture towards which accounting schools should aspire, the findings of this study point to a continuum of research culture types depending upon the predilection of researchers to adopt a task or relationship orientation to their research. On this basis, we propose a framework within which accounting research culture may be conceptualized. Our findings and their implications offer an empirically informed point of departure for future analysis and interpretation.
Publications, 2020
Criticism about the practical usefulness of academic accounting research produced in university business schools has been growing for some time. Due to accounting being an applied social science, many stakeholders question the relevance and value of research published in accounting journals to the accounting profession, practitioners and society in general. This paper highlights the various areas of criticism and discusses factors which underline the issue. While most of the criticism is anecdotal, this study sets about to empirically explore practitioners' perception of academia, and research published in academic accounting journals. To better understand the situation in accounting, a comparison of two other applied academic disciplines is undertaken, involving medical and engineering practitioners. The study found that for accounting there were major differences in the sourcing of information, and significant differences between the other two applied fields with respect to the utilisation and the need for academic material. The findings lead to the conclusion that academic accounting researchers are now nearly totally divorced from the real-world profession of accounting. If we were to take a singular view on the purpose of academic accounting research, then the current situation could leave accounting researchers very vulnerable to adverse decisions with respect to the allocation of future government funding. The conclusions of this paper propose a series of thought-provoking questions about the current state of accounting research, in the hope that it will stimulate debate and generate responses from the accounting community and other stakeholders.
Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, 2022
Purpose This paper aims to explore problems facing the recruitment of accounting and finance staff in research-led universities. “University accounting and finance (A&F) departments are experiencing difficulty in attracting and retaining suitably qualified staff” (Duff and Monk, 2006, p. 194). The literature identifies a number of reasons for the shortage of A&F phenomenon (Duff and Monk, 2006; Smith and Urquhart, 2018), including, the wide salary gap between academe and industry profession, difficulty in achieving publications in highly rated journal, high workload in teaching and marking due the limited number of A&F staff. Design/methodology/approach The paper provides new insights for the use of the grounded theory and how the theory has been generated from the semi-structured interviews. Findings This study has resulted in eight main challenges emerged, and a final theory has been generated. Implications of this research on business schools are valuable in research-led universi...
The ability to read and understand academic research can be an important tool for practitioners in an increasingly complex accounting and business environment. This guide was developed to introduce students to the world of academic research. It is not intended for PhD students or others who wish to perform academic research. Instead, the guide should make published academic research more accessible and less intimidating so that future practitioners will be able to read empirical research and profitably apply the relevant findings. The guide begins by examining the importance of academic research for practitioners in accounting and next reviews the basics of the research process. With that background in place, we then give some guidelines and helpful hints for reading and evaluating academic papers. This guide has been used for several years to introduce master's degree students to academic literature in an accounting theory class. After reading this guide and seeing a demonstration presentation by the professor, students have been able to successfully read and discuss research findings.
Proceedings of the …, 2010
Universities have traditionally been criticised for not producing 'work ready' accountants and the role and responsibilities of universities in educating professional accountants continues to be debated. This paper reviews the literature in accounting and other professions regarding the respective roles of universities and employers in the development of both technical and nontechnical skills of accounting practitioners. The literature review suggests that critics of university based education fail to recognise (a) the changes that have occurred in the roles and responsibilities of accounting practitioners and (b) the opportunity costs necessarily associated with providing generalist accounting degrees. The literature also suggests that universities and employers have comparative advantages for the development of different types of professional skills and knowledge. The paper reports the insights provided from a series of interviews with accounting practitioners and students about their perceptions of the respective responsibilities and roles of universities and employers. In general, although some interviewees recognised that universities cannot be 'all things to all people', there was a tendency to expect universities to have the major responsibility for the development in accounting graduates of both technical and non-technical knowledge and skills. Such perceptions tended to understate the responsibilities and comparative advantage of employers and result in unrealistic expectations about the outcomes of a university education. Employers need to be made more aware of the resource and other limitations associated with university programs and more attention should be provided to developing meaningful opportunities for learning and reflection within work place contexts.
Journal of Accounting Education, 1992
The Accounting Education Change Commission and others encourage accounting teachers to become versed in educational research and admonishes accounting programs to train their accounting doctoral candidates to be effective teachers. This article has two primary objectives. First, it determines whether current accounting faculty are well-trained in educational research methodology. Second, it ascertains whether doctoral programs in accounting are training the next generation of faculty in effective teaching techniques. The results indicate that accounting faculty are not well-trained in educational methodology and that very few accounting doctoral programs provide in-depth training to candidates on effective teaching methods.
Scientific Bulletin – Economic Sciences, 2016
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether and to what extent accounting education and research fit business needs. The study highlights differences between business needs and academic knowledge, including teaching and research in accounting. We used a structured questionnaire to reveal perceptions' differences through cluster analysis, including a sample of students, teaching staff from Accounting and Finance Departments and employers. The results indicated that all these groups have different perceptions.
Accounting academics in South Africa are now, more than ever before, defined not only as lecturers but as scientists who engage in scholarly activities; in research. It is general knowledge that accredited academic publications can only be possible after researches have been conducted. These publications are sometimes taken into consideration during promotion of these academics. Despite the importance and “push” to do research, many accounting academics in South Africa do not take this into consideration. This paper endeavoured to identify the research-related needs of accounting academics in South African universities. This was achieved through a survey (questionnaires and non-structured interview techniques) that was done mainly through the use of e-mail to all accounting academics in South Africa (a census) and some telephone communication. The findings show that accounting academics are aware of the importance of doing research but are in dire need of research training at different levels and stages. They need to further their postgraduate qualifications thereby creating an avenue for them to do research. The study indicates that accounting departments at some institutions have already started some interventions like research writing workshops and mentoring to bridge these research capacity-building needs. Out of all the research needs, mentoring and finding suitable research topics are the major ones.
Accounting Education, 2015
This paper presents an exploratory study into the nature and patterns of usage of accounting education research. The study adopts the most accessible metric, Google Advanced Scholar citations to analyse the impact of research published in the six principle English language accounting education journals. The analysis reveals a global readership for these journals but evidence of relatively low citation levels. However, papers tended to be cited more than expected in cross-disciplinary education journals, discipline-specific education journals, and non-education journals. Guidance is offered to authors seeking to maximise the impact of their research and issues of concern are identified for editors and publishers. This is the first paper to look beyond content at the usefulness of research in accounting education as indicated by citations. In doing so, it contributes to the current debate on the quality of this research, and of research in accounting and finance in general.
South African Accounting Education Stocktake, 2020
Not only does this book provide a reference for the novice accounting education researcher, but the findings of the book make it clear that there are ample research needs and opportunities within the field of accounting education. The final chapter, Chapter 10, critically pulls the other nine chapters together by organising themes for further research to accept the challenge of enhancing the research and practice of accounting education.
2011
Purpose – This editorial aims to consider the relationship between academic accounting research and professional practice. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of an editorial review and argument. Findings – The paper acknowledges that accounting academic research is important to the higher education system, careers and publishers.
2001
Research, teaching and service are the main activities carried out in almost all European universities. Previous research, which has been mainly centred in North-American universities, has found solid results indicating that research and teaching are not equally valued when deciding on faculty promotion. This conclusion creates a potential conflict for accounting academics on how to distribute working time in order to accomplish personal career objectives. This paper presents the results of a survey realised in two European countries:
With economic empirical research emphasized in accounting at the majority of universities worldwide in the past three to four decades, would this enhance the teaching effectiveness of accounting or would this be at the expense of teaching and learning of accounting? The purpose of this study is twofold (a) To determine through literature review the different views between research productivity and teaching effectiveness, what academic research today is all about and its relevance to practitioners. (b) To conduct a survey of accounting academics and the accounting profession in Hong Kong via a survey questionnaire (12 questions) followed by interviews of respondents with respect to their emphasis on teaching and research and the relevance of academic accounting research to practitioners. The conclusion of the study is derived from answering the following three research questions developed through the completion of a questionnaire by accounting academics,the accounting profession and the accounting practitioners in Hong Kong followed by interviews with the respondents: 1. Should there be a greater emphasis on teaching skills and a better balance between teaching and research? 2. Does faculty mix (e.g. qualifications) affect teaching? 3. Should faculty research cater to the needs of practitioners?
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 2020
PurposeThe overall aim of this paper was to examine the impact of the Australian research assessment exercise on the research approaches (positivist/non-positivist) favoured by accounting disciplines in Australia. Our key research question examined how the outputs and foci of research in elite accounting disciplines changed over a 16-year period. Our analysis was informed by Bourdieu's notions of academic elitism and symbolic violence.Design/methodology/approachWe analysed all papers published in 20 major accounting journals across a 16-year period by Australian accounting disciplines that were highly rated in the research assessment exercise. We also compared our results from this group against two case study accounting disciplines that were not rated as “world class”.FindingsOur key finding is that the introduction of a research assessment exercise in Australia has resulted in research outputs of elite accounting disciplines over this period being increasingly focused on posit...
The present study aims at describing the lines of scientific research engaged in by doctors who presented their dissertations on "Accounting Education and Research" in the School of Economics, Business Administration and Accounting of the University of São Paulo (Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade da Universidade de São Paulo -FEA/USP) during the period from 2005 to 2009. We evaluate whether publications in this field are treated in a prejudiced manner in Brazil -the phenomenon identified internationally by Pierre, Wilson, Richard, Ravenscroft, and Rebel (2009) -which may indicate disinterest on the part of researchers. We used descriptive research with a quantitative approach for our purposes. Data were collected from documentary research on the Lattes Platform and accounting dissertations defended at the USP, comprising a total of 203 PhDs. We found that the number of dissertations defended has practically doubled every decade and that the number of females obtaining doctoral degrees has increased significantly. Of the PhDs surveyed, 7% were productivity grant recipients from the National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico -CNPq), 76% were linked to some research group and 56% identified a research line on their Lattes resume. Of the research groups and lines, 8% and 6%, respectively, were related to accounting education. We found that the research line, "Accounting Education and Research", showed the lowest percentage of defended studies (8% of dissertations, 4% in the "Accounting Education" field). With respect to publications, the most prominent subjects were those dealing with specific accounting issues and topics related to teaching institutions; there was little research on instructional and pedagogical issues. These results may indicate a gap in researchers' knowledge on the subject and highlights the need to better prepare accounting PhDs for teaching practice. Education and Research was the line that showed the greatest number of women. These findings highlight the need for accounting education research to be valued to benefit the development of the accounting profession and improve teacher training.
Ovidius University Annals Economic Sciences Series, 2024
Assessing the relevance of scientific accounting research to the practice of the profession is a topic less present in the literature, and the results of empirical research are often divided. In this context, the research aims to analyse the extent to which scientific accounting research is necessary and relevant for the practice of the profession. The views and opinions presented in this paper will represent the author's perceptions of students' and practitioners' attitudes towards indigenous accounting research, formed both from an academic perspective and from the perspective of the practicing accountant.
Studies in Higher Education, 2020
Many within and outside of academia argue that research conducted in our universities should have impact on society, especially research from the applied fields. One discipline attracting disproportional criticism over the relevance of its research is business schools. While anecdotal evidence surrounding the practical usefulness of business schools research is growing, empirical support for the problem is limited. This study explores the issue from the perspective of accounting practitioners by examining their sources of information, including the use of articles from academic accounting research journals. The issue is further examined by comparing accountants with practitioners from two other applied disciplines, engineering and medicine. A survey of 560 practitioners was undertaken and the data analysed using both descriptive and regression methods. The study found that accounting practitioners’ perception of academia and use of academic research is very low, and when compared with engineers and medical practitioners, the differences were found to be statistically significant. Due to a disconnect from the real-world of practice, academic business researchers and business schools become increasingly vulnerable to adverse research funding decisions in the future.
Accounting Education, 1998
The theme of this conference Accounting Education Research Methods and Methodology is indeed a timely topic. Interest in accounting education research is at an all time high (AAA, 1995). Indeed, what could be a more important role for accounting educators, particularly members of the British Accounting Association's Special Interest Group in Accounting Education than addressing issues such as those related to the educational experiences of accounting students? This paper focuses on the monograph A Framework for the Development of Accounting Education Research [Williams, et al. (1988)] hereafter, referred to as the Framework.
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