The State of Accounting Education in Business Schools: an Examination and Analysis of Active Learning Techniques

The purpose of this study is to explore the learning and teaching techniques that accounting professors use in their courses to educate students. In this chapter, we answer the following questions: (1) What methods are accounting faculty currently using in the classroom? (2) To what extent are active learning techniques being utilized relative to passive techniques? (3) What are the perceptions of accounting faculty regarding the use of active learning in the classroom?

To answer these questions, we conducted an Internet-based survey of accounting educators (n = 300). We found that, on average, passive learning methods (e.g., lectures) comprise approximately 50% of class time, active learning methods cover slightly more than 35% of class time, while assessment activities (e.g., exams) use about 15% of class time. Regarding faculty perceptions of the usefulness of various learning methods, we found that the faculty recommend the use of every learning method included in the survey at higher levels than are currently being used. Our findings provide a baseline profile of the current use of both passive and active learning methods in accounting and their perceived usefulness by accounting educators. This baseline should enable future research to track changes and trends in accounting pedagogy, particularly the learning and teaching techniques employed in the classroom.