Purpose: Given the implementation of a new Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensure exam and the CPA Evolution Model Curriculum, accounting educators must integrate more advanced skills in their coursework. We illustrate how a commonly-used project in accounting classes, which teaches technical accounting content, can address skills and…

It is well documented that the impact of assessments on students' learning is profound. There have been initiatives to incorporate innovative assessments in accounting and finance education to enhance students' learning experience in various ways. However, there is limited research investigating whether and how the students' learning experience is…

The paper reports on qualitative research carried out with qualified accountants who have made the move into Higher Education, to explore their perceptions of the knowledge and skills, attitudes and behaviours needed by accountants new to academia who wish to develop as researchers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 professionally…

Accounting education has been criticised for ill-equipping graduates for professional employment, with calls for accounting students to acquire a broader range of skills. Working in teams is an important employability skill, yet students generally have negative perceptions of group work. This paper describes a different approach to group work,…

This four-country study compares business students concentrating in marketing, accounting and finance (AF), and management with respect to five motives: lifestyle aspirations, reputational effects, relative ease of completion, career outcomes, and developmental skills. We find that, except for the developmental skills motive, the importance of…

Flexibility in assessment is usually achieved by giving students choice over the assessment weighting, type or format, the timing, the criteria, or the overall assessment result. This study, however, demonstrates the development of a flexible assessment regime where students were given the choice to invest in within-semester tasks designed to…

Studies of cooperative learning have focused largely on specific interventions within individual modules. The aim of this paper is to examine the student perceptions of their cumulative experiences at the end of a four-year undergraduate programme, during which cooperative learning work was implemented in a piecemeal manner, and explore how gender…

Business simulations are innovative instruction models for active or cooperative learning. In this paper, we look at the social constructionist roots of these education models in light of the current efforts to enhance employability skills in undergraduate and graduate studies. More specifically, we analyse the role of business simulations in…

This paper examines the influence of an authentic assessment item on three dimensions of oral communication in accounting education: skills, self-efficacy, and relevance. An explanatory mixed methods design is used to explore students' perceptions of their development. The results indicate that an elevator pitch assessment has a positive impact on…

This paper describes two co-curricular career development activities, mock interviews and speed networking that we provide for accounting majors at our university. The driving force behind both activities was to increase comfort levels for students when interacting with professionals and to enhance their job interview and networking skills.…

The changing nature of higher education and the structure of graduate labour markets have increased emphasis on employability and graduate outcomes. Universities have responded to this changed environment by embedding generic skills in the curriculum. This paper examines the generic skills that students perceived they acquired in their accounting…