An Evaluation Of An Integrated Case Study And Business Simulation To Develop Professional Skills In South African Accountancy Students

Abstract

One of the most debated topics in extant accounting education literature is that of professional skills. It appears that many universities are failing to sufficiently equip their graduates with the generic professional skills required for the workplace. The case study method and business simulations are two complementary teaching and learning tools that have proven successful in promoting the development and assessment of professional skills in accounting; however, very few existing cases or simulations appear to be integrated across the discipline areas within accountancy. This study aims to contribute to the field in three ways: 1) in aiding to fill the apparent gap in the literature on the usage of inter-disciplinary integrated case studies or simulations, 2) by producing a (hypothetical) case study and business simulation that can be used or adapted by accounting educators to develop and assess professional skills, and 3) by providing some evidence of students experiences (using a questionnaire adapted from a previous study) of such an assignment that can inform the development of future assignments. The findings show that the most obvious benefits of the assignment relate to the perceived level of learning that takes place and the exposure to real-life accountancy practice, as well as the perceived contribution to the development of various professional skills. A significant percentage of students did, however, experience high levels of stress and reported serious time constraints in completing the assignment.

Employing Case Studies To Develop Professional Skills In South African Accountancy Students: A Comparative Follow-Up Study

“…The third research question was answered by grouping the assessment criteria into "soft skills" and "professional attributes" to test whether the assignment was equally effective in addressing skills development and deeper learning. This study aimed to contribute to the accounting education literature by corroborating or contradicting the results of the original study (Van der Merwe, 2013) and by offering some insight into the effectiveness of integrated case studies in developing soft skills and professional attributes that are such important requirements in becoming a CA.…”

“…his paper is a continuation of a previous study (Van der Merwe, 2013) reporting on the perceptions of a group of South African (SA) accounting students on the introduction of an integrated case study assignment as part of their third-year degree course. The assignment was included in the curriculum in order to address the apparent failure of universities to sufficiently equip their students with the soft skills required in the workplace (Barac, 2009;De Lange, Jackling & Gut, 2006;Kavanagh & Drennan, 2008).…”

“…During a review of the literature, Van der Merwe (2013) identified numerous skills that are central to accounting practice. These skills can be broadly categorized into the following ten categories: Soft skills; communication; technology; time management; teamwork; real-world experience; financial literacy; critical thinking and problem solving; professional judgement; and ethics.…”

“…Soft skills and professional judgement (Finch et al, 2013;Robles, 2012), as well as technology and financial literacy (Finch et al, 2013;Howieson et al, 2014), were also reported to be high in demand. Low, Samkin and Liu (2013) found that some of the challenges reportedly faced by graduates in the workplace are soft skills, communication, time management, teamwork, and real-world experience, while a survey of heads of accounting departments found that almost all of the categories of skills identified by Van der Merwe (2013) are reported to be integrated into accounting curricula at the participating institutions. Martinov-Bennie and Mladenovic (2015) assessed the impact of training on students' sensitivity and judgement to ethical issues.…”

“…The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants' (SAICA) Competency Framework (CF) includes these pervasive skills as an important requirement for prospective chartered accountants (CAs) (SAICA, 2014). Van der Merwe (2013) cites numerous papers where case studies (e.g., Ashbaugh & Johnstone, 2000;Ahmad, 2011;Ballantine & McCourt Larres, 2004;Hassall & Milne, 2004;Healy & McCutcheon, 2010;Weil, Oyelere & Rainsbury, 2004;Wynn-Williams, Whiting & Adler, 2008) and business simulations, including role play (e.g., Avramenko, 2012;Fortin & Legault, 2010;Fouché & Visser, 2008;Hassall & Milne, 2004;Steenkamp & Rudman, 2007;Towler, Lean & Moizer, 2009;Xu & Yang, 2010) have been used successfully in promoting the development of soft skills in accounting, but highlights the lack of integration of all the core subject areas (auditing, financial accounting, corporate governance, managerial accounting and taxation) in a review of four years of accounting education literature by Apostolou, Hassell, Rebele and Watson (2010). Integration is an important feature of the assessment of professional competence (APC) that is written before qualifying as a South African CA, and the Higher Education Qualifications…”