Many accounting professors share with their students the myriad of positive things about the accounting profession via classroom discussions and/or Accounting Society and Beta Alpha Psi meetings. The concern we are investigating is whether accounting students (specifically at the Intermediate Accounting course level) also should be exposed to ‘negative’ views/opinions about accounting and the accounting profession.

 

We solicited the opinions of four groups: current Intermediate Accounting students, recent accounting interns/graduates, staff accountants with two to three years’ experience, and CPA firm managers/partners. The survey instrument we sent to all four groups provided ‘negative statements’ concerning topics covered in Intermediate Accounting: Depreciation (duh-preciation); LIFO inventory costing method (L(l)ie-Fo); and FASB, GAAP, and Objectives of Financial Reporting (Reducing Complexity - The Latest Red Herring from the FASB).   We asked each of the four groups surveyed the extent to which the negative statement should, or should not, be presented and discussed in Intermediate Accounting classes.  Following the three negative statements, we presented a fourth statement – a positive statement showing the high ranking the accounting firms achieve in the area of trustworthiness.  We then asked each group how their previously expressed opinions on the negative statements would have been impacted if the positive statement had been presented and discussed with students at the same time as the negative statements. Each survey instrument concluded with a request for open-ended comments.

 

Results indicate there were no significant differences in the responses from the first three groups surveyed.  Current Intermediate Accounting students, recent accounting interns/graduates, and staff accountants with two to three years’ experience each indicated they believed the three ‘negative’ statements should in fact be discussed in the classroom. Also there was no significant difference in these three groups’ response that discussing the positive fourth statement would have impacted their views on the three negative statements. We are currently in the process of completing the collection and analysis of comments from CPA firm managers and partners.