Abstract: An Approach to Course Design for Introductory Financial Accounting

Issue Identification The issue identified in this article is the fact that universities are not equipping students with skills necessary for success in the profession. Moreover, there are constraints involved in the delivery of the introductory financial course such as class size, context, other regulatory bodies such as AACSB accreditation that leads us to the implicit research question of the article: How do you satisfy the needs of students, universities, and professors in effectively delivering accounting education that can optimize utility given the evident resource constraints?
Background
The article draws on the discussion of a systematic approach to delivering introductory financial accounting education that encompasses the universities program goals, supports AACSB accreditation, and satisfies other stakeholders. The general framework has five elements, which are used for the design and delivery of the course. They consist of purpose and objectives, competencies, content, themes and outcomes. At the center of the environmental factors is the content with others contributing to content. Competencies are comprised of critical thinking, communication, and group work. Content is comprised of accounting architecture, decision-making, and interpretation and evaluation, which are all inter-related.
Methodology
The methodology used in this article was a compilation of other previously published article that support Baker’s approach to the delivery of introductory financial accounting education.
Overview of Results The result of the article is a discussion of how the course should be delivered using the general framework for professors to deliver introductory financial accounting education. The article uses theories such as Bloom’s taxonomy to support the overall goal of delivering the course in a way that supports the overall goals and learning outcomes of the course.
Strengths and Weaknesses The article demonstrated strength in the area of illustrating to the reader that, although everything an accounting student learns in classes such as introductory financial accounting is used in the real world, educational institutions are not equipping students with the right skillsets to transfer this knowledge into real world situations. The author, Ron Baker, provides a solution for the problem in an exploratory manner. Bringing me to some of the weaknesses in the article is that it does not have any primary research to further support this general framework or anyway to deal with the dynamic constraints that institution’s that administer these courses face. The author could have been more convincing if primary research was conducted surveying all major stakeholders like universities, students, professors, and most importantly prospective employers.