Abstract:

Accounting education evolved in order to integrate new technologies. In 2003, the School of Accounting and Administration of Porto introduced in the graduation of Accounting and Administration a new course named Business Simulation. The course is a compulsory curricular unit, divided into two semesters, with a workload of thirty sessions, three hours in each one. This course is held in the last year of graduation. It intends to synthesize the subjects taught during the entire graduation and to connect education to real life. Accordingly, the course is based on information systems. The aim of this study is to present the technological, human and physical structures behind the course. Students create and manage virtual organizations, interacting in real-time. To support the course two types of information technologies are used: educational (technology-based assessment and simulation support technology) and entrepreneurial (ERP and a complementary system). There are also two simulation laboratories, one room for the support team and a room for the five servers. Students work in simulation laboratories with physical and digital materials to allow multiuser company operation. Each laboratory contains thirty-one computers, sixteen printers, fifteen scanners, fifteen handheld bar code scanners, and sixteen telephones, amongst other materials. At present, the curricular unit is called the Business Simulation Project and is no longer obligatory. The student may choose between the course or a Curricular Internship. Despite this, the number of registered students remained stable.

Keywords:

Accounting, Simulation, Evaluation, Education Technology.