پایگاه دانش و توسعه مهارت در آموزش حسابداری: شواهدی از چین

This paper presents the result of a survey on the required knowledge, skills, and pedagogy for accounting education as perceived by accounting practitioners, educators, and students in China. Respondents generally agreed to a series of knowledge and skills that are important to the training of accounting students, although some variance exists among the respondent groups regarding the perceived importance of those knowledge and skills. The findings also reveal that the respondents were dissatisfied with the present delivery of the needed knowledge and skills. Thus it is contended that accounting education reform in China is not only necessary, but imperative. This study also makes a comparative analysis with similar studies in the US, in terms of commonalities and differences in respondents’ perceptions between the varied economic, technological and cultural environments in China and the US.

Accounting education has been under attack for many years. Resulting from rapid technological advances and growing market globalization, the role of today’s accountants has switched from the scorekeeper of business operations or financial information generator to the provider and interpreter of diversified information to various internal and external users of financial information (Albrecht and Sack, 2000, Sundem, 1992 and Williams, 1994). Such developments require expanding the knowledge and skills of accounting professionals to meet the changing demands stemming from the new business environment. Several studies have examined the issue of what should be the knowledge and skill components of today’s accounting education programs that can satisfy the demands for training future accountants. Consensus has emerged and efforts have been made to implement accounting education reform in the US and in other countries in recent years (AAA, 1996, Albrecht and Sack, 2000, AICPA, 1998, Chabrow and Hayes, 2001, Forristal, 2002, Gill, 1998 and Williams, 1994). This paper examines the development of accounting education in China, focusing mainly on identifying the needed knowledge and skills for accounting professionals in China’s changing business environment. Through a questionnaire survey, we gathered perceptions from Chinese accounting practitioners, educators, and students about the required knowledge, skills, and pedagogy underlying accounting programs. Our results reveal that the majority of respondents agree on a set of fundamental and expanded knowledge and skills for the training of professional accountants, although there is some variance in the perceptions of the three groups of respondents. The respondents also agreed that the present state of accounting education in China fell significantly behind the demands for the needed knowledge and skills of professional accountants, indicating that accounting education reform in China is imperative. This paper also compares and analyzes the needed knowledge and skills as perceived by respondents in the US and China. We found that there is commonality in the perceived knowledge and skills and their importance ranking as recognized by the respondents in the two countries, but some distinct differences in the respondents’ perceptions exist. It is argued that the differences stem from the varied levels of economic and technological development, as well as from different social and cultural influences in the two countries. The paper consists of five sections. The study background is presented and relevant literature is reviewed in the next section, followed by the elaboration of research questions and methodology. Survey results and analysis are then sequentially presented. A brief conclusions section completes this paper.

This study used a survey to examine the perceived importance of knowledge, skills, and pedagogy for accounting education in China. Our results reveal the respondents generally agreed on a number of knowledge subjects and skills that should be developed in Chinese accounting education. The views about the importance of the required knowledge and skills for accounting professionals and the effectiveness of the pedagogy as perceived by Chinese accounting practitioners, educators, and students are reasonably consistent, although some differences exist in the perceptions of the three groups of respondent. Overall, our findings reveal that the knowledge base of accounting education in China is still quite narrow as the importance of ‘broader-type’ knowledge subjects has not been sufficiently addressed. In addition, skill development remains a relatively weak area that must be strengthened significantly in Chinese accounting education. Respondents also believed that the current state of accounting education in China could not satisfy the development of the needed knowledge and skills. The overall lower scores for the respondents’ assessment of whether the specified knowledge and skills are being provided by the existing accounting programs suggest that the present state of accounting education lag substantially behind the demands for training future accounting professionals. Thus accounting education reform is not only necessary, but imperative in China. Therefore Chinese accounting educators must fully understand what is demanded for accounting graduates by the accounting profession, and redesign accounting curriculum and pedagogy to deliver effectively the required knowledge and skills in accounting education. Our findings reveal some commonalities in attitude towards the importance of the needed knowledge and skills as perceived by the respondents in China and the US but some variances do exist in the general views of the respondents in the two countries. It is argued that the causes underlying those differences may be due to varied development in economies, technology and social and cultural influences, but the needs for accounting education reforms to expand the knowledge base and enhance the training of professional skills for accounting students are the same in the two countries. The relevance of US experience in accounting education reform should be recognized although further efforts should be made to examine and analyze the effects of different economic, technological, and social or cultural factors on the development of the needed knowledge and skills in Chinese accounting education. The results of this study are beneficial to accounting education in China. In China’s present course of economic restructuring, new demands for professional accounting services have emerged in practice, such as financial planning, data analysis, consultation in business strategy formulation and implementation, management information system design and business decision-making. A great amount of new knowledge and skills is now deemed relevant and important for professional accountants. Thus our findings should provide empirical and relevant input for assessing the content and delivery means of the existing accounting programs and facilitate the redesign of curriculum and pedagogy to develop the needed knowledge and skills in accounting education in order to meet the growing demands for fostering more accounting professionals in China.