Excel in the Accounting Curriculum: Perceptions from Accounting Professors

Ramachandran Rackliffe, Usha; Ragland, Linda

Accounting Education, v25 n2 p139-166 2016

Public accounting firms emphasize the importance of accounting graduates being proficient in Excel. Since many accounting graduates often aspire to work in public accounting, a question arises as to whether there should be an emphasis on Excel in accounting education. The purpose of this paper is to specifically look at this issue by examining accounting faculty's perceptions of Excel in public accounting and accounting education. We survey 245 faculty members at over 100 accounting programs. We find that a majority of faculty incorporate Excel in their accounting classes consistent with their perception of Excel importance. However, we find that students are not fully proficient in Excel based on faculty's perceptions. This study contributes to the accounting education literature by identifying possible disconnections between Excel skills faculty include in the accounting curriculum and specific Excel skills faculty believe new hires (i.e. recent accounting graduates) most often use in public accounting.

Descriptors: Accounting, Spreadsheets, Teacher Attitudes, Technology Uses in Education, Educational Technology, Job Skills, Online Surveys, Student Interests, Career Choice, Curriculum, College Faculty

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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research

Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education

Audience: N/A

Language: English

Sponsor: N/A

Authoring Institution: N/A

Identifiers - Location: Georgia