An analysis of the concerns of accounting educators.

Chandra, Akhilesh ; Cooper, William D. ; Cornick, Michael F. 等

INTRODUCTION

In order to identify these concerns, the authors present a brief background on the effects of declining enrollment within the accounting profession and a "Statement of the Problem" where six concerns that affect the teaching and learning process are listed. Next, the authors present the "Questionnaire Design and Methodology" where a description of the Questionnaire is noted along with discussion of the methodology.

Finally, the results of the questionnaire were analyzed using two different methods. The first method entitled "Statistical Analysis" presents the average mean responses upon which the researchers conducted an un-weighted mean analysis. The second method of analysis, entitled "Overall Concerns," identified the five most important concerns for all respondents. Further analysis identified the five most important concerns for male and female respondents.

A similar analysis, entitled "Size of Department," was preformed to determine the five most important concerns of female accounting educators based on the size of the accounting department. The results reveal interesting findings about concerns of accounting educators within each construct.

BACKGROUND

For much of the 1980's and certainly before, the accounting profession experienced rapid growth. This growth was not limited to practicing accountants alone but also affected accounting educators in a positive manner. For example, accounting educators raises tended to be higher, promotions and tenure decisions were made quicker in an attempt to 'lock- in' qualified people. Few, if any, accounting educators were worried about job security since almost all schools were looking for multiple accounting personnel.

This situation dramatically changed in the early 90's because of two factors. First, the number of students entering college significantly declined (AECC 1990; Bedford Committee 1986; Big Six 1989). This decline placed greater pressure on all departments in a college or university to accomplish their goals with fewer resources. This decline was further magnified in accounting departments by the second and a more important factor, the significant increase in the use of computers in the business environment (IFAC 1998). With the greater introduction of computers in businesses, the need for accountants greatly decreased which, in turn, led to increased concerns by accounting educators, as they have had to adapt to a changing environment.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

The purpose of this study was to analyze the concerns expressed by accounting educators. These concerns focused on six important factors: Human Relations, Instructional Activities and Methods, Personal Concerns, Conditions of Work, Evaluation Problems and Professional Growth. Each of the concerns had multiple observed variables. The independent variables included respondents' gender, experience, size of institution, and location of institution. Thus, the research design adopted a multidimensional analytic approach.

QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

Questionnaire Design

The basic structure of the questionnaire was obtained from Underwood and Davis (1985). These authors adapted their questionnaire from a doctoral dissertation developed and used by Dr. Barbara Underwood at Indiana University.

For the purposes of this study, the questionnaire was further adapted by asking additional information from the respondent. The original study by Underwood and Davis noted gender, size of school, and location of school. Additional questions concerning work experience and size of accounting department were also included. Also, a section in the Underwood and Davis questionnaire concerning "classroom management and routines" was omitted in our study since these questions were related to situations that primarily confront secondary school teachers. It may be helpful to note that the questionnaire used in our study defined a concern of accounting educators as "... any fears or problems that affect your role in the teaching-learning process."

As noted above, the questionnaire was divided into six categories. Within each category, the respondent was asked to rank his/her level of concern from "No Difficulty Whatever" to "Extremely Difficult" for a series of situations. For example, under Human Relations the respondent was asked to identify the degree of difficulty with "Establishing good relationships with Department Chair." A brief description of the questions asked under each of the six categories is presented below:

 Category Description

1. Human Relations Questions focused on interpersonal
 relationships within the department.

2. Instructional Activities Questions concerned with teaching and
 and Methods pedagogical issues.

3. Personal Concerns Questions centered on living conditions
 and demands on time the educator may
 experience.

4. Conditions of Work Questions focused on the quality of the
 work environment.

5. Evaluation Problems Questions related to concerns with
 testing activities the educator might
 encounter.

6. Professional Growth Questions pertain to professional
 opportunities and problems the educator
 may face.

Methodology

As a first step, a pilot sample of 25 questionnaires was mailed to respondents to record any ambiguities or mistakes made by the authors. None were noted. Once the pilot sample was completed, 500 questionnaires were sent to randomly selected accounting educators. All accounting educators in United States and many foreign countries are listed in the "Accounting Faculty Directory" published annually by James Hasselback.

A total of 209 accounting educators from several schools of various sizes and profiles responded to the questionnaire yielding a response rate of approximately 40%. About 80% were males and a little less than 20% were female respondents. On average, the respondents had an experience level of 6-9 years; the median fell in the category of over 10 years of experience. The general size of enrollment in the accounting program was between 200- 500 students. The respondents represented a mix of urban and rural schools with most falling in the category of small city locations having a population of less than 50,000. Only about 26% of the respondents represented doctoral granting school in accounting, the rest came from undergraduate programs. Over 70% of the respondents had doctoral degrees, while a little over 23% had masters qualifications, the rest had undergraduate degrees. While only 40% of the respondents came from departments with accounting accreditation, over 72% had business school accreditation.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

The first analysis conducted focused on the average mean response for the six categories of concerns noted earlier. These six categories of concerns were grouped into three sets of independent variables. The independent variables include gender, work experience, and size of the accounting department. The results of the analysis is shown in Table I below:

Table I: Total Average Mean Response for Gender,
Experience and Size

Code/Description # of HR IAM
 Responses

Gender

1 Male 168 1.9056 1.9902
2 Female 41 1.9443 2.1080

Experience

1 1 Year 2 2.2143 2.8571
2 2-5 years 20 1.9643 2.1214
3 6-9 years 39 1.8535 2.1319
4 10 & up 148 1.9180 1.9561

Size (Enrollment)

1 Less than 100 14 1.8163 2.2194
2 100-199 22 1.9156 2.0097
3 200-499 85 1.9798 2.0252
4 500-999 60 1.8095 1.9488
5 1000 & up 28 1.9796 2.0153

Code/Description PR CW

Gender

1 Male 1.9182 2.0493
2 Female 1.9116 2.2182

Experience

1 1 Year 2.1250 2.0833
2 2-5 years 1.9000 2.1500
3 6-9 years 1.9263 2.0114
4 10 & up 1.9139 2.0920

Size (Enrollment)

1 Less than 100 1.7946 1.9286
2 100-199 1.8750 2.0025
3 200-499 1.9941 2.1601
4 500-999 1.8375 1.9463
5 1000 & up 1.9464 2.2778

Code/Description EP P

Gender

1 Male 1.8966 2.2765
2 Female 1.9665 2.3814

Experience

1 1 Year 2.5000 2.5000
2 2-5 years 2.1250 2.4818
3 6-9 years 1.8622 2.3333
4 10 & up 1.8860 2.2598

Size (Enrollment)

1 Less than 100 2.0982 2.0390
2 100-199 1.7727 2.3430
3 200-499 1.9441 2.3519
4 500-999 1.8563 2.2333
5 1000 & up 1.9375 2.3604

Notes:

HR Human Relations

IAM Instructional Activities and Methods

PR Personal Relations

CW Conditions of Work

EP Evaluation Problems

PG Professional Growth

Null Hypotheses

In order to determine if there were any significance differences in the perceptions of accounting educators on the six categories across the independent variables, an un-weighted mean analysis was conducted.

The unequal and disproportional cell frequency in the research design dictated the choice of un-weighted mean analysis (Clark & Schade, 1979). The following set of null hypotheses were tested using students' t-test at 5% and 10% levels of significance:

H1: There is no significant difference in the degree of difficulty of perceived concerns across the experience levels of accounting educators.

H2: There is no significant difference in the degree of difficulty of perceived concerns across males and females.

H3: There is no significant difference in the degree of difficulty of perceived concerns among accounting educators across various sized schools.

Discussion of Findings

Our findings from the tests of null hypotheses are listed below:

1. Experience effect was significant for "Instructional Activities and Methods" and "Evaluation Problems."

As might be expected, the results revealed that the experience of accounting educators had a significant affect on teaching and evaluation activities. It was noted that more experienced respondents found less difficulty in instructional activities and evaluation problems, such as grading and constructing tests. It appears that more experienced respondents have effectively answered the questions of how they were going to teach their course and how they were going to test the student.

2. Our tests reveals that gender effects were found to be significant for only the "Conditions of Work" at 10% alpha level. There were, however, no significant differences among males and females in other categories of concerns.

The researchers found that female respondents were more concerned than their male counterparts about the conditions of work. This category contained questions that focused on the quality of resources, class schedule, workspace and sick leave. Higher concerns for "conditions of work" amongst female respondents may be attributed to differential background, profile, and information needs compared to their male counterparts.

3. The size of the accounting program revealed significant difference in all but one of the concern categories, viz. "Professional Growth."

The size of the accounting program is based on the number of students enrolled in the accounting department. Within this segment, the two extremes, departments less than l00 students and departments 1000 and above reveal significant differences in all categories except professional growth.

The researchers found that educators in larger departments were more concerned than their counterparts in smaller departments in the "Human Relations", "Personal Relations", and "Conditions of Work" categories. This condition was reversed in the case of "Instructional Activities and Methods" and "Evaluation Problems" where educators at smaller department expressed greater concern.

Overall Concerns

In this section, we list below, in order of importance, tables that indicate concerns of accounting educators. These tables are grouped into two broad classes. The first classification lists the top five concerns of all accounting educators. The second classification focuses on gender issues and identifies concerns for both male and female respondents.

I-A: Top Five Concerns of All Accounting Educators

Rank Concerns

1 Developing in students good work and study habits

2 Demands on time

3 Giving students a share in planning objectives and learning
 activities

4 Stimulating critical thinking

5 Change in research requirements towards academic journals

Observations

There appears to be two broad areas of concern for accounting educators. First, accounting educators are concerned about creating a more stimulating classroom that will encourage the student towards a lifetime commitment of studying, and develop the ability to make decisions in an unstructured environment. In order to accomplish this, the accounting educator is willing to relinquish some of his/her authority and let students share in planning objectives and learning activities. Second, the primary limitations noted by respondents are demands on time and the changing research requirements. The unstructured environment the accounting, the educator is willing to foster within the classroom, requires a large investment of time on his/her part to develop and administer course material. This time may not be available if research is given greater emphasis.

I-B: Top Five Concerns of Male Accounting Educators

Rank Concerns

 1 Developing in students good work and study habit

 2 Demands on time

 3 Change in research requirements toward academic journals

 4 Stimulating critical thinking

 5 Giving students a share in planning objectives and learning
 activities

I-C

Top Five Concerns of Female Accounting Educators

Rank Our Study

 1 Developing in students good work and study habits

 2 Demands on time

 3 Giving students a share in planning objectives and learning
 activities

 4 Stimulating critical thinking

 5 Change in promotion and tenure requirements

Observations

Probably the most striking observation one can make about male and female accounting educators is how similar are the concerns of the two groups. "Developing in students good work and study habits" was clearly the most important concern facing accounting educators of both genders. The second most important concern, "demands on time," is a difficulty that all faculties experience and is a continual complaint of all workers. The main difference between the two gender groups was that male educators felt that the "change in research requirements toward academic journals" was important while the female educators felt that "change in promotion and tenure requirements" was of more concern. This difference may be based on the background of the respondents. A greater number of male educators were tenured and had higher academic rankings than female educators. Thus, males were concerned about the change in research requirements while females focused on changing promotion and tenure requirements.

Size of Department

After analyzing the top five concerns of accounting educators by gender, the researchers looked at the size of the department. The two extremes, small and large departments, provided the most information for analysis. The questionnaire divided departments into three categories small (less than 100 accounting majors), medium (between 100 to 499 accounting majors), and large (greater than 500.)

It was found that the overall concerns of accounting educators by department were similar to that found in the proceeding analysis. Large and small accounting departments were primarily concerned with "developing in students good work and study habits", "demands on time", and "stimulating critical thinking." The results were also the same when the gender of the respondent was taken into consideration, at least for male accounting educators. It was found that male accounting educators at both large and small accounting departments have almost the same concerns.

Female accounting educators at large and small departments, however, gave very different responses as evident from the tables below:

The Five Most Difficult Concerns of Female Members
in Small Departments:

Rank Concerns

 1 Demands on time

 2 Giving students a share in planning
 objectives and learning activities

 3 Establishing good relationships with
 administrative personnel

 4 Developing in students good work and
 study habits

 5 Opportunities for advancement

The Five Most Difficult Concerns of Female Members
in Large Departments:

Rank Concerns

 1 Demands on time

 2 Salary

 3 Acquiring up-to-date equipment

 4 Giving students a share in planning
 objectives and learning activities

 5 Having enough equipment for effective
 instruction

Observations

Female accountants at small and large departments provided surprising responses. At small schools, the female respondents were concerned with sharing planning and learning activities, and developing in students, good work and study habits. While at larger departments, females were concerned with salary, and in acquiring up-to-date equipment. These responses are almost exactly opposite of what the researchers expected. The cause for this reversal is unknown since it is beyond the scope of the research instrument. Further research and analysis may provide useful results.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study reinforce hypothesized expectations the researchers had before the start of this study. For example, it was found that more experienced accounting educators had little difficulty in presenting the subject or planning and preparing lessons (which are part of "Instructional Activities and Methods" category), nor did these educators find "Evaluation Problems" to be difficult.

However, the effects of gender and size of the accounting program did prove to be significant. It was found that female accounting educators were more concerned about "Conditions of Work" than their male co- workers. Also, the researchers found that the size of the accounting program provided dramatic differences between large and small accounting programs.

The analysis according to "Overall Concerns" revealed that when responses of all accounting educators were pooled, they were primarily concerned with developing in student's good work and study habits. Further, the educators noted that their major limitation was increased demands on time.

Finally, the researchers were surprised to find that female accounting educators at large and small departments were opposite in their concerns' rankings from what was anticipated. Female accounting educators in large departments were very concerned about salary and acquiring up-to-date equipment. Female accounting educators in small departments, on the other hand, were more concerned with giving students a share in planning objectives and learning activities, and establishing good relationships with administrative personnel.

REFERENCES

AECC (Accounting Education Change Commission). (1990). Objectives of education for accountants: Position Statement Number One. Issues in Accounting Education, Fall: 307-312.

Bedford Committee (Committee on the Future Structure, Content, and Scope of Accounting Education). (1986). Future accounting education: Preparing for the expanding profession. Issues in Accounting Education. Spring: 168-195.

Big Six (Arthur Anderson & Co., et. al). (1989). Perspective on Education: Capabilities for Success in the Accounting Profession -The White paper.

Clark, C. T. & L. L. Schkade. (1979). Statistical Analysis for Administrative Decision. Cincinnati: South-Western Publishing Co.

IFAC (International Federation of Accountants). (1998). Information Technology in Accounting Curriculums.

Underwood, R. & R. Davis. (1985). A comparison of the perceived concerns of Indiana secondary school business and distributive education teachers. NABTE Review. 12, 65- 70.

Akhilesh Chandra, University of Akron

William D. Cooper, North Carolina A&T State University

Michael F. Cornick, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte