Using an Essay Paper to Help Business Students Understand the Value of Accounting in their Future Profession

Dr. Walter Smith
Division of Accountancy and Legal Environment
Lewis College of Business
Marshall University
One John Marshall Drive
Huntington, WV 25755-2310

Many business students fail to understand the importance of accounting in their future careers. This may cause them to have a poor attitude during the first principles of accounting course. More importantly, this poor attitude may lead to the student retaining little knowledge from the course. In an attempt to never again hear a student say “I am not an accounting major, I will never need this again in my life!”, students are required to write an essay paper in the first principles of accounting course. In this paper, the students must search out and find examples of how accounting is used by professionals in their field of study.
The goal of the assignment is to get the students to realize that they will use accounting for decision-making and evaluation purposes on a regular basis in their careers. By requiring the students to discover this information on their own, the students may come to understand that a working knowledge of accounting basics is required to be successful in their chosen profession.

Using an Essay Paper to Help Business Students Understand the Value of Accounting in their Future Profession

Dr. Walter Smith

WHY BUSINESS STUDENTS NEED HELP TO UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF ACCOUNTING

In principles of accounting, many accounting professors have heard the infamous words “I am not an accounting major, I will never need to do this again in my life!” or the equally impressive “I just want my ‘D’ so I can get on with my life.” This attitude exists in business students from all majors, excluding accounting. One possible response by the instructor to this attitude is “This student is in for a rude awakening at some point in their career.” A more appropriate response is to realize that it is our job, as accounting instructors in the first principles of accounting course, to help the students understand that accounting is valuable to all business professions.

Many introductory accounting textbooks begin by presenting material that is designed to help students realize the importance of accounting in the business world. Instructors tell their students that accounting is the language of business and that all business majors must understand accounting or they will be at a disadvantage in the workplace. A long list of users of accounting information from all areas of the business world is presented as evidence that accounting is important. Examples of how the students will use accounting in other classes, in their careers, and in their personal lives are presented. Still, some students maintain the belief that “I am not an accounting major, I will never need this again in my life.” Their attitude demonstrates that they are trying to “check-off” a degree requirement instead of trying to comprehend information that will be valuable to their future career.

HOW TO HELP BUSINESS STUDENTS UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF ACCOUNTING

In order for the students to understand the value of accounting, they must accept the fact that accounting is important to all business majors and that they will use accounting in their future careers and personal lives. A source of information more convincing than the instructor is needed to help the students, that source is the most convincing of all…the student. To accomplish this, students in the first principles of accounting course are required to write an essay paper that explains how and why professionals in their major use accounting on a regular basis.

The writing-across-the curriculum literature claims that writing may be used to help students learn more in a course (Stocks et al. 1992). This claim is based on the premise that, when the student engages in the act of writing, the student is more engaged in the learning process. Birken (1989) states that anecdotal evidence suggests that writing assignments help students think about what they are doing and why they are doing it. Therefore, during the process of writing about the importance of accounting to their future career, the students will think about the evidence they find and may convince themselves that accounting is important and valuable.

The goals of the assignment are to help the students accept the fact that accounting is important to their profession, to improve their attitude, and to instill within them a desire to learn as much as they can about accounting. The students are encouraged to use any source they can find; textbooks, professors in their major, the Internet, magazine and journal articles, and personal interviews with professionals in their major. By finding multiple sources that support the fact that accounting is important to their career, many students will awaken, improve their attitude, and realize that they need to learn accounting for their own benefit. While a few students resist, writing a token paper using only the accounting textbook as a reference, most students find many examples of how and why accounting is important to their major and thus to their future. Many students have acknowledged in their papers that they initially believed that accounting was not important for their major, however, after finding so many examples of the benefits of accounting, they now realize how important it is to obtain a good basic knowledge of accounting. Other students have stated that “accounting is very important for my major” and “I had no idea that I would ever use accounting again.” As a side benefit, the infamous words are not repeated by the students after they have completed the assignment.

The first chapter of most principles of financial accounting textbooks discuss the history, uses, and users of accounting information. Discussion of this chapter is the beginning of the wake up call. Requiring the students to find proof that accounting information is important to their future profession, will hopefully convince the student to learn as much about accounting as possible. As the course progresses, it is essential to continue to demonstrate the importance of accounting information to the decision-making process of all business majors, so that the students maintain their interest and faith that accounting is important to their future.

THE ASSIGNMENT

If the students do not take the assignment seriously, they will npt learn anything during the process. To encourage the students to take the assignment seriously, it is listed in the syllabus and is discussed on the first day of class. To further stress the importance of the essay paper, it is given the same weight as an exam. The students are told (and shown on the syllabus) the percentage of their total grade that depends on this paper.

The assignment itself is provided on a handout (see the appendix) that details the content of the paper, the due date, and the grading process. The instructions begin by stating the due date and the total points for the assignment, which are also contained in the syllabus. Next, the instructions provide students with a list of requirements and the allocation of points to each requirement.

The first requirement, worth fifteen percent of the grade, is simply to follow the directions. While this may seem unnecessary, past experience has shown otherwise. Before the assignment included explicit directions, some students attempted to cheapen the assignment by using large point sizes, two-inch margins, one-half of the first page to provide the title of their paper, and other similar shortcuts. Students receive significant penalties for failing to follow the directions to help them realize that their future supervisor will expect them to follow company procedures.

The second requirement, also worth fifteen percent of the grade, is for spelling, grammar, and professional presentation. Each mistake results in a grade reduction with the maximum reduction being the total points assigned for this requirement. Students are encouraged to use a spelling and grammar checker, to proof read their paper, and to seek help from the campus writing center. Students will lose points if they submit a paper with spelling errors, wrong or misused words, poor grammar, or unprofessional presentation. The following are examples of submissions that have received point deductions: printing on the back of used paper, using the word physical instead of fiscal, hand-written corrections, failure to cite references, and spelling errors. The students are penalized to help them understand the importance of good writing skills and professional presentation in the business world.

Finally, seventy percent of the grade is assigned to the content requirements of the paper. The content requirements are discussed in class and the students are encouraged to ask any questions they have about the assignment. The assignment is different for accounting majors versus non-accounting majors. Accounting majors are required to explore career opportunities in accounting. They must also discuss the various certification opportunities and any requirements necessary to obtain certification. The goal for accounting majors is to help them realize that accounting has a wide variety of career options. Non-accounting students must identify and describe how accounting is used by professionals in their major. The goal is to help the non-accounting majors discover how accounting is used on an ongoing basis for planning, decision making, and evaluation. They are free to explore any area of accounting such as financial, managerial, taxation, etc. as long as it pertains to their future career.

CONCLUSION

While this assignment is a continuous work in process, it has been a success. The students no longer say the infamous words “I am not an accounting major, I will never need to this again in my life.” In their papers, the non-accounting majors often acknowledge that accounting is a necessary part of the business world and that they will have to understand it to be successful in their careers. The accounting majors learn that there are many career opportunities outside of auditing and taxation.

Future plans to improve this assignment include requiring the students to conduct an interview with a professional in their area of study. Students who conduct an interview for their paper are the biggest believers in the value of accounting. The interview also requires that the student talks one on one with a professional in their field which may provide other benefits to the student. The interview process appears to be the most convincing source of information and students that conduct an interview have the most positive response to the assignment.

Experimentation with the due date suggests that the earlier in the semester the paper is due, the more benefit students receive from the assignment. The sooner that the student believes accounting is valuable, the sooner that they take the course seriously and the more they learn. This results in students acquiring a better understanding of the basics of accounting and achieving a better grade in the course.

APPENDIX A – THE SINGLE PAPER APPROACH

The essay paper is due at the end of class on (appropriate due date). The essay is worth 100 points towards your final grade. The object of this assignment is to expose you to the importance of accounting to people in the business world. It is important for you to discover that people in all business professions use accounting. The paper should be well organized and provide a good demonstration of the goal of the paper as listed below. Treat this paper as a learning experience! You should begin the paper by telling me your major (or intended major). If you have any questions about this assignment please ask!

15 points of the paper are based upon following the directions. The paper must meet the following guidelines or points will be deducted:

· The paper must be word-processed, left justified, double-spaced, and use the Times New Roman 12 point font.

· All margins must be 1”.

· You must use a title page stating your name, your major, and the title of the paper.

· You must provide a list of all references at the end of the paper. You may use books, textbooks, magazines, newspapers, journals, the Internet, personal interviews, etc. If you quote a source, it must be given credit in your paper.

· The body of the paper must be at least 3 pages but no more than 7 pages, excluding the title page and the reference page. A page is a FULL page, not a partial page.

15 points of the paper are based on spelling, grammar, and professionalism. Any spelling or grammar errors will reduce your score by one point each to a maximum reduction of 15 points. Make use of a spelling and grammar checker, proof read your paper, and seek help from the writing center if you need it. Poorly written, hard to follow papers will also receive a reduction in score.

70 points are for the contents of the paper based on the following information:
For non-accounting majors: Identify and describe ways that accounting is used in by professionals in your major. You should cover both the use of annual accounting reports and the use of accounting on a daily basis. The more uses and supporting explanations you provide, the higher your potential grade. I know some majors use accounting more than others, thus two different papers that each provide the same amount of examples and are equally well written might receive different grades. You may need to look at the table of contents in the textbook to get a better idea of the various types of accounting. You may discuss any branch of accounting (financial, managerial, auditing, tax, etc.). Personal interview are an excellent source of information for this paper!

For accounting majors: Explore in depth the career opportunities in accounting. Include a complete investigation of certification requirements for these careers and explain what is necessary to obtain these certifications. Describe these careers at both the entry and experienced levels.