South African students’ perceptions of the usefulness of an audit simulation

Abstract

The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and the International Federation of Accountants require Information Technology (IT) to be integrated with the professional subjects, including Auditing, qualified chartered accountants need. Internationally, people want changes to Auditing teaching. The Accounting Department of Stellenbosch University developed an audit simulation of the whole audit process from client acceptance to completion. Students must prepare working papers, using substantive procedures focusing on stock and a database large enough for students to use IT. The simulation's learning objectives are integrating auditing with IT, and exposing students to as authentic an audit as possible. A questionnaire tested students' perceptions on the simulation. Responses were favourable. Respondents felt that the simulation helped them to understand auditing and showed them the practical application of IT functionalities. However, respondents complained that the simulation took too long. The principles and findings apply to simulations and the use of case studies in any environment.

Interventions in accounting education

“…There are other examples of the advantages of simulations in accounting education (see, e.g. Hassall & Milne, 2004;Steenkamp & Rudman, 2007;Fouché & Visser, 2008;Towler, Lean & Moizer, 2009;Xu & Yang, 2010;Fortin & Legault, 2010;Avramenko, 2012). Kastantin and Novicevic (2008) contend that current trends in accounting education focus on student-centred learning and simulations are useful for this purpose.…”

“…3.2.1 Audit process simulation I Steenkamp and Rudman (2007) describe a simulated audit of the whole auditing process in which students have to prepare working papers and use substantive procedures focusing on the stock. The database is large enough for students to use information technology (IT).…”

Teaching methodology in accounting education

“…Teaching methodologies must align with contextual learning theory as the aim of accounting education is the integration of technical content with real-world experiences (Steenkamp & Rudman, 2007;Rudman & Terblanche, 2011). Another goal of teaching accounting is to turn accounting students into competent and lifelong learners through the application of relevant and effective teaching methods that will promote deep learning rather than surface learning.…”

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

“…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…”