Abstract:

Nowadays, professional accountants employ extensively computer applications to perform their tasks such as email to communicate, Internet for search, and accounting software to record and analyze financial transactions for decision-making. Computerized accounting systems have now replaced manual accounting systems in most organisations. In business schools, accounting students are more and more exposed to the benefits and usefulness of computers, being encouraged to utilize information technology. Accordingly, courses incorporating business cases using accounting software have been developed to assist students in their knowledge acquisition of the accounting cycle.

The study main research question is “to what extent using the computer to study accounting leads to better learning performance?” Little investigation has been performed on the usefulness and impact that accounting software may have on business students’ performance.

To study the main research question, three different groups of students could be examined: 1) those having performed an accounting case manually (traditional paper and pencil approach), 2) those having perform the same case but using accounting software, and 3) those having perform the case manually first, then perform the same case using accounting software. With this setting, we may investigate the differences in performance between these three groups. Performance is here defined as knowledge acquisition by students of the accounting cycle.

The paper’s motivation is threefold: 1) provide evidence on students’ acquisition of accounting knowledge in using software; 2) investigate the potential impact of factors such as gender, age, and student’ status on performance; and 3) provide to accounting professors, and those involved in accounting curriculum design, supplementary information to assist them for computer implementation decision, and distance education.

The survey method appears the more appropriate to collect information from accounting students in business schools. The usefulness of this study has the potential to make a difference for accounting educators and business students. Accounting education may be improved in using wisely software in the classroom.

The paper investigates the impact that accounting software utilization may have on students’ learning performance. A literature review has been conducted from where five research hypotheses can be further tested empirically through questionnaire.

Keywords:

Accounting education, Knowledge acquisition, Software utilization, Accounting information systems.