a descriptive profile of intermediate accounting students

A Descriptive Profile ofIntermediate Accounting Students*

ANNE FORTIN Universite du Quebec a Montreal

JOEL H. AMERNIC University of Toronto

I have for more than thirty years, with the most intense interest, watched and listened to stu-dents. What they bring to their higher education, in passions, curiosities, longings, and espe-cially previous experience, has changed: and therewith the task of educating them haschanged. (Allan Bloom [1987, 21-22], the distinguished political philosopher)

In order to educate, in order to assist those who populate our university coursesin becoming what they were not, we must, as Professor Bloom so eloquentlyreminds us, know as much about our students as possible. It is the interplaybetween the individual and the content and context of the curriculum that large-ly influences the success or failure of the educational enterprise. The recogni-tion of the importance of this interplay, along with challenges created by tech-nology, by changing societal demands of accounting, and much else, have stim-ulated the re-discovery of teaching as an accepted aspect of accounting scholar-ship (Arnold 1992; Boyer 1992a and 1992b).

The problems and opportunities facing higher education in accounting aremany, and must necessarily be addressed in a variety of ways and at a variety oflevels. As a preliminary step in the overall task of developing new ways of con-ceptualizing and delivering accounting education, descriptive information aboutthe state of higher education in accounting must be gathered in order to enhanceresearchers', teachers', and policy-makers' understanding of where we are now.One important component resulting from this description is the development ofan improved understanding of students, not only those who are ctirrently inaccounting programs but also those who are members of the pool of potentialaccounting majors, although resource limitations required that students not yetin accounting programs be excluded from the current study. The present paper isdevoted to contributing to the development of a rich description of a sample ofintermediate accounting majors, including demographic and personality charac-teristics. From the perspective offered about graduates' desirable competencies

* The authors acknowledge the useful comments of the critics. The research reported upon inthis paper was supported by a grant from the Canadian Academic Accounting As.sociation.

Contemporary Accounting Research Special Education Research Issue 1994 pp 21-73 ®CAAA

22 Contemporary Accounting Research

in recent literature devoted to accounting education change,' such insights maybe useful in the development of teaching strategies and materials. They mayalso be useful in contesting premature acquiescence to some of the educationalgoals implicit in such literature.2

The paper is set out as follows. The next section presents an overall frame-work, which serves as the basis for organizing the literature review as well asfor stimulating the design of the research instrument. Our intent is not to pro-vide empirical evidence as part of a hypothesis-testing regimen. Subsequent sec-tions deal with methodology, the presentation of results, and a discussion there-of within the overall framework.

Framework and literature reviewEducation may be viewed as a process of transformation as the student interactswith an educational environment. An individual, having certain characteristics(demographic, physiological, cognitive, psychological, life experiences, priorknowledge, etc.), enters into an educational program and submits to variousinfluences. Ultimately, the individual exits the program with certain abilities andskills, and perhaps some changed personal characteristics, aspiring to enter theworld of work. Viewing education as a process of transformation in this wayemphasizes the interaction of behaviour, person, and environment, and isembedded in the B-P-E paradigm attributed to Lewin (1935) and elaborated onby numerous others. Hunt (1975, 191), providing the perspective of the educa-tional psychologist and researcher, illustrates the importance of this paradigmwhen he writes.

The B-P-E way of thinking requires that prohlems be stated and conclusions be drawn in a dif-ferential form. Therefore, one does not ask, "Which instructional approach is better?", butincludes "For whom?" and "For what purpose?" ... In the classroom, the Behavior (leaming)would be considered as determined both by Person (kind of student) and Environment (way ofteaching).

This process of transformation is outlined in the framework of Figure 1, whichis discussed in the following paragraphs as the relevant literature is reviewed.The present paper focuses on only those aspects of the overall framework thatare student-related, as noted in Figure 1 .

Students' demographic and physiological factorsIndividuals entering accounting programs may be characterized in differentways. In terms of demographic and physiological factors, research on the supplyof U.S. accounting graduates (Daidone and Young 1992) suggest that half of thestudents in the United States are female and that 83 percent of all students arewhite. Graves, Nelson, and Davis (1992) reported that females constituted 54percent of seniors attending institutions affiliated with the Federation of Schoolsof Accountancy, although this number fell to 43 percent for graduate students.They also reported that 75 percent of senior accounting majors were under 25years of age. However, data on other potentially important demographic factors

A Descriptive Profile of Intermediate Accounting Students 25

that altmistic and social concems and creative and artistic goals have declined inimportance" since the 1960s. Finally, another attitudinal variable, attitudetowards hard work, was related to success in accounting in a study by Bottin(1977), who obtained a negative relationship between attitude towards hardwork and grade points eamed in an accounting class. An important caveat tokeep in mind in interpreting attitudinal research is that such results may verywell be culture- or group-specific.

It is plausible, however, that needs and values of individuals play a key rolein choice of career, along with aptitudes, interests, and personality. These con-structs are important variables in vocational theories (Super 1985; Meece,Parsons, Kaczala, Goff, and Futterman 1982; Dick and Rallis 1991). Super andBohn (1971, 21) define needs as "forces that organize behavior, driving the indi-vidual to act in certain ways" and values as "objectives that one seeks to attain... and that are chosen to satisfy a need" (ibid., 24). Therefore, needs and valuesin part drive individuals' choice of career. Both intrinsic and extrinsic needs andvalues intervene in students' career orientation. Intrinsic values linked to thework perfomied are sought for their own sake and stem from doing the workitself; they include intellectual stimulation, independence in action and decision,possibility to exert one's creativity, and opportunity to manifest altruism and toachieve one's goals. Extrinsic values relate to the work environment and therewards brought by work; they include dimensions such as job security, eco-nomic retums, prestige, social relations, and so on. Studies in the accounting lit-erature on students' career choice have investigated some of the possible infiu-ences of needs and values, together with possible social influences such as par-ents and teachers. Amongst the most important factors infiuencing a student'schoice of accounting are job satisfaction (which is linked to needs and values,see Dawis and Lofquist 1984), eaming potential, job availability, aptitude forthe subject matter, job security, and social status, with parents', teachers', andpeers' influence ranking very low (Paolillo and Estes 1982; Haswell andHolmes 1988; Gul, Andrew, Leong, and Ismail 1989). Graves et al. (1992)reported that either availability of jobs or money were most often cited by senioraccounting students as the single factor having most influenced their decision topursue accounting as a major.

Student leaming style was found to have a significant influence on resultsin an introductory accounting course (Togo and Baldwin 1990). Leaming styleof the particular student population should be considered in the choice of theappropriate teaching/leaming method mix. Studies such as Brown and Burke(1987) and Collins and Milliron (1987) have found that practicing accountantstend towards the converger style (practical individuals, problem-solvers, andprefer technical tasks more than interpersonal relations, as defined by Kolb1975). Evidence on accounting students, however, is mixed and needs furtherstudy, especially in light of current debate conceming the measurement proper-ties of Kolb's questionnaire (Stout and Ruble 1991a and 1991b; Veres, Sims,and Locklear 1991; Pinto and Geiger 1991; Geiger 1992). Baker, Simon, andBazeli (1986, 1987) found accounting majors to be of the converger leaming


style in their first study and of the assimilator style (logical and concise) in theirsecond study. Geiger (1992), using the 1985 version of Kolb's learning styleinventory, found that learning style significantly affected students' overall examperformance and ratings of course satisfaction. Students having the same learn-ing style as the instructor performed best and rated the course highest. However,in a subsequent study in which instructor and student learning style werematched, Geiger and Boyle (1992) obtained no effect of learning style on courseand teacher satisfaction, nor on students' course perfonnance.

Level of cognitive complexity also has a role in the learning process, espe-cially with respect to emergent calls by the AECC and other bodies for theincreased integration of unstructured teaching materials into the accounting cur-riculum. Amemic and Beechy (1984) found that accounting students with high-er cognitive complexity performed significantly better on unstructured casematerials than did those with lower cognitive complexity, whereas both groupsperformed the same on more highly-structured materials.

Scholastic aptitude, as measured by American College Test (ACT) scores orhigh school grades, constitutes another variable related to performance inaccounting courses, as evidenced by several studies (Doran, Bouillon, andSmith 1991; Booker 1991; Eckel and Johnson 1983).

Personality, together with aptitude and attitudinal variables, interacts withthe various aspects of education such as variations in curriculum, instructorteaching style, and environment for learning, as evidenced by research in educa-tion reported in Cronbach and Snow (1977), Snow, Federico, and Montague(1980), and Snow and Farr (1987). In fact, Gul and Fong (1993) reported that,among introductory accounting students, introverted students performed betterthan extroverted students.

Further, personality is potentially a determinant of success in an accountingcareer. As indicated in Arthur Andersen & Co. et al. (1989), interpersonal skills,including the ability to work with others, leadership, organization, and delega-tion of tasks, are needed to function effectively. Aranya, Meir, and Bar-Ilan(1978) have characterized accounting students as conformists, in terms ofHolland's (1985) typology, whereas Amemic, Aranya, and Pollock (1979) foundthat practicing accountants were conformists, but also scored high on enterpris-ing and social scales. The presence of the enterprising trait increased as onemoved up the hierarchy in public accounting firms. In a recent study using the16 Personality Factors Questionnaire (Cattell, Eber, and Tatsuoka 1970),Davidson and Dalby (1993) found that the historical stereotypes did not holdamong a sample of Canadian accountants; they found that accountants were, onthe contrary, intelligent, assertive, enthusiastic, and independent.

Trait anxiety and tolerance for ambiguity are factors that affect an individ-ual's ability to perform well in a constantly-changing environment.^ As indicat-ed in Arthur Andersen & Co. et al. (1989), the effective practitioner must beable to manage the various sources of stress encountered daily in the exercise ofhis or her profession. Accountants may also regularly face ambiguous andunclear situations in which they must apply their judgment. It may be inferred

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are missing in these studies; for example, data on marital status, income, sourceof fmancial support, and so on. These factors may have a bearing on the perfor-mance of students during their years in the program.

Williams, Tiller, Herring, and Scheiner (1988, 5) concluded that "researchin the area of achievement aspirations indicates that there are systematic differ-ences between men and women" in this area. Carpenter, Friar, and Lipe (1993)found that females in introductory accounting courses had lower performanceexpectations than males, but that this did not translate into lower effective per-formance for the course. It is possible that such differences tend to disappearover a program, as both male and female students experience a common processof socialization. For example, in a study of 332 newly-hired entry-level account-ing students who had just completed their studies, Saks (1990) found that gen-der did not have a significant effect on self-efficacy perceptions, contrary toexpectations.

Contextual conditions may interact with student gender to induce differen-tial performance between men and women. A student-instructor gender interac-tive effect was observed by Lipe (1989); however, that effect disappeared whengeneral academic aptitude was controlled for (Buckless, Lipe, and Ravenscroft1991). Ravenscroft and Buckless (1992) found that grading policy (when gradesare attributed to homework) interacted with student gender.

Students' cognitive and psychological factorsAttitude, perception, and attribution relate to the feelings, beliefs, and behav-ioural tendencies of an individual, which can have a bearing on the person'sselection of accounting as a major and on the person's actual behaviour duringthe course of the program. Motivation may also be closely linked to the stu-dent's success in accounting education at the university level.

Dillard and Ferris (1989, 210), citing prior work, defme attitudes as "therelatively lasting organization of feelings, beliefs, and behavioural tendenciesdirected towards specific persons, groups, ideas, or subjects." The cognitioncomponent of attitudes is related to perception, which "refers to the process ofselection and organization of environmental stimuli to provide meaningful expe-riences for the perceiver" (Dillard and Ferris 1989, 210), and to attribution,which is the process by which individuals interpret what they observe. Finally,motivation is related to the inner forces within a person that induce particularbehaviours.

Need for achievement, which could be thought of as a component of moti-vation, has been positively linked to the career aspirations of first-semesterjuniors at a Canadian university in an accounting setting (Belkaoui 1986).Harrell and Stahl (1983) found that students with high achievement needs andlow affiliation needs had greater academic success than the opposite type.Harrell, Caldwell, and Doty (1985) found that, for a sample of students takingintermediate accounting, performance correlated positively with motivation forsuccess. As far as values are concerned, Schultz (1989, 44) reported that"money, power, and status have become more important to college students and


from a study by Clark and Schwartz (1989) that the lower an individual's traitanxiety is, the better his or her performance. Further, the level of trait anxietydoes not seem to be affected by workshops designed to reduce stress.

Students' prior knowledgeGeneral and accounting knowledge are both sought in an individual entering theaccounting profession, as well as written and oral communication skills (ArthurAndersen & Co. et al. 1989). Each student entering an accounting program pos-sesses these elements to a certain degree. Students' entering skills will influencethe way they perform during their studies, and will potentially affect the instruc-tion needed over the program.

Several researchers have studied the impact of prior exposure to account-ing, in the form of either high school courses or practical bookkeeping experi-ence, on grades in the first college-level financial accounting course. Generally,they found a significant effect (Gul and Fong 1993; Calderon 1989; Eskew andFaley 1988; Mitchell 1988; Schroeder 1986; Bergin 1983; Baldwin and Howe1982). Some research indicates that the greater the extent of high schoolaccounting exposure, the higher the exam scores will be in the introductoryfinancial accounting course (Schroeder 1986), although these results are verytentative and at variance with the work of Keef (1992). The work summarized inthis paragraph must be viewed with caution, since the nature of the first collegecourse could be an explanatory variable here. That is, if the first college courseis highly structured and procedural, then prior exposure to a similar pedagogy atthe high school level might be expected to contribute to enhanced performanceon the college course. However, if the college course is relatively unstructured,then little effect might be expected.

In their review paper, Rebele and Tiller (1986, 12) conclude that "commu-nication skills are considered important for success in accounting, but... newly-graduated accountants are often perceived as deficient in this area." No study ofwhich we are aware examines the entry level of students' communication skills.Williams et al. (1988), commenting on Daly (1978), indicate that communica-tion apprehension affects written communication skills: the greater communica-tion apprehension is, the lower is the quality of students' writing and knowledgeof writing skills. Questions therefore arise about accounting majors' communi-cation apprehension: are they apprehensive, and do they chose accounting partlybecause of this factor, particularly since they may perceive that written commu-nication skills are not very important for practicing accountants (Rebele 1985)?Preliminary findings on the oral communication apprehension of accountingmajors in introductory accounting courses, reported by Stanga and Ladd (1990),suggest that accounting majors have above-average levels of communicationapprehension.5

As we have seen, individuals entering accounting programs are character-ized by a number of different factors. These will interact in numerous ways withthe instruction the individual will receive, together with the events the individualexperiences concurrently in life. To comprehend the impact and interactions of


all the variables to produce the type of persons that come out of accounting pro-grams is, needless to say, a complex task. A number of studies have addressedsome of the issues; they are reviewed in the following paragraphs.

The accounting program and .students' concurrent life experiencesResearch related to the content and context of the accounting program is thesubject of other papers in the Canadian Academic Accounting Association(CAAA) accounting education research project, and is thus not reviewed here.We do, however, comment on some research that bears upon students' life expe-rience while in the program. Some of the most important issues related to theaccounting program concem instructors and in-class activities, such as examina-tion format, instructional strategies, computer-assisted instruction, and so on.Other issues include environmental factors related to teaching, such as deliverymode, class size, and examination policy. Finally, the institution and programcontent will bear upon the program's effectiveness. Models proposed for thestudy of the impact of college programs by several researchers (Chickering1969; Tinto 1975; Pascarella 1980; Parker and Schmidt 1982) "all appear tohave as a core the four basic components ... : student pre-enrolment characteris-tics, institutional structural traits, interactions with faculty and peers, and inter-actions with the institution's academic system" (Pascarella 1985, 640).

Related working experience during the course of education has been report-ed to have a positive effect on the increase in students' cumulative grade-pointaverage (GPA) (Koehler 1974). Further, internship experience was found tohave a significant influence on grades in an auditing course (Giacomino 1990;Kneckel and Snowball 1987). Paul's work (1982), discussed in Williams et al.(1988, 60), "indicates that a statistically significant inverse relationship mayexist between hours of outside employment and grades." O'Connor, Chassie,and Walther (1980), also discussed in Williams et al. (1988), found a significantnegative correlation between hours of study and grades in introductory psychol-ogy. Inefficient use of time, deficient study skills, and inadequate intensity instudying were suggested to explain this surprising result.

All the issues discussed so far need further research, either by replication orby posing new research questions related to these themes. Rebele, Stout, andHassell (1991) and Williams et al. (1988) present an impressive inventory ofsuch research questions.

Outcome ofthe accounting programAgain, because our study does not focus on this part of the framework, ourreview of literature bearing upon outcomes is brief. Deppe, Sonderegger, Stice,Clark, and Streuling (1991) provide a review ofthe literature on the competen-cies ostensibly needed for the practice of accountancy, and develop a list of 27competencies in seven categories ranging from communication skills to leader-ship development. They report that a sample of practitioners felt that several ofthe required competencies that were learned after college graduation shouldhave been learned at college. This list included competencies such as "solve


diverse and unstructured problems in unfamiliar settings", and "ability to pre-sent views in writing", among others. These results suggest that there are somedeficiencies in current accounting programs. Further research is needed to iden-tify pervasive skills and content that should be developed through the account-ing curriculum. This raises the issue of the appropriate division of educationalinitiatives and training between the university and the profession.

There is a need for assessment of outcomes of accounting programs todetermine the success of current curricula. Herring and Izard (1992) report onthe beginnings of such a process. They present a taxonomy based on Ewell'sanalysis (1988) that specifies the dimensions along which such an assessmentought to take place: cognitive outcomes (including knowledge, verbal, and prob-lem-solving skills), behavioural outcomes (including interpersonal skills andethical behaviour), and affective outcomes (such as independence and open-mindedness).

This paper is concerned with the initial step in understanding the output ofaccounting programs, namely the study of the characteristics of the populationof students. With enhanced understanding of the situation, we hope to provideinformation for the subsequent study of the issues related to accounting pro-grams and their interaction with students' characteristics. The next section dis-cusses the methodology employed in the research.

MethodThe data for this descriptive paper were collected by questionnaire, which pro-vided a reasonably effective means of capturing individual student information.This section outlines the development of the questionnaire, describes the targetpopulation and why it was chosen, describes the administration of the question-naire at eight participating universities, and mentions some database considera-tions.

Development ofthe questionnaireThe questionnaire consisted of two parts: part one dealt with demographic andattitudinal information, and part two consisted of the Jackson PersonalityInventory (JPI) (Jackson 1976). The questionnaire was designed to capture datarelated to the aspects of the framework in Figure 1 that were of direct concern tothis study. Part one went through several iterations over the summer and autumnof 1992, with a view to keeping a balance among the data requirements suggest-ed by the descriptive framework outlined above, the intrusiveness of some of thequestions, and the time required to complete both parts of the questionnaire.Part one of the questionnaire is available from the authors upon request.

The JPI was selected as a means of collecting data on students' attitudes,needs, values, and so on. It contains scales that are much more closely aligned,theoretically, with apparent desirable competencies for the practice of accoun-tancy (Deppe et al. 1991) than are alternatives such as the Vocational PreferenceInventory (Holland 1985). The JPI was designed for, and normed on, the basisof a university-age population similar to our target group, including Canadian


college students, and has a "built-in" scale to assist in identifying unreliableresponses. The JPI was designed to assess personality variables important to aperson's functioning in various settings, such as those involving work, educa-tion, interpersonal settings, and so on. It was developed for use with "popula-tions of average or above average ability" (Jackson 1976, 9), and is comprisedof 320 true-false questions distributed over 15 substantive scales and one validi-ty scale. The scales are labelled as follows (the labels only hint at the richness ofthe underlying constructs; brief indications of the details are provided inAppendix I):

Anxiety Interpersonal Affect Social AdroitnessBreadth of Interest Organization Social ParticipationComplexity Responsibility ToleranceConformity Risk Taking Value OrthodoxyEnergy Level Self Esteem InfrequencyInnovationEnglish and French versions of the questionnaire were prepared. The JPI is

published in both languages, so that only part one of the questionnaire had to betranslated. The translation was performed by one of the researchers. Approval ofthe final version of the questionnaire was obtained by research ethics commit-tees at both authors' academic institutions.

Target populationInitially, students already in accounting programs and first-year students not yetadmitted to a program were both considered as subjects for study. Students notyet admitted are important research subjects, because accounting educators areinterested in the characteristics and attitudes of those not selecting accounting,as well as those who are. However, resources were limited, and it was decidedto restrict the study to students in accounting programs because they had alreadysignalled a commitment to the accounting profession. Students currentlyenrolled in intermediate accounting courses were selected to represent thisgroup, in order to ensure some commonality in experience, age, and prior expo-sure across the eight universities. These students also represented a cohort thatwas near the beginning of the transformation process as viewed in the frame-work presented earlier (Figure 1).

Administration of the questionnaireBased upon a pre-test, completion of the entire questionnaire was expected totake between 75 and 90 minutes, and to require considerable focused effort onthe part of the respondents. In order to encourage students to complete the ques-tionnaire, and to complete it in a forthright manner, we settled on the followingstrategies:1. A covering letter addressed to the students, stressing the importance of

completion, was included in the questionnaire package^.2. Respondents were given the option of completing the questionnaire anony-

mously.


3. Respondents completed the questionnaire at home, because the 90 minutescompletion time plus another twenty minutes or so for administration of thequestionnaire represented an excessive and unreasonable drain on scarceclassroom instructional time.Members of the overall CAAA Educational Research project team were the

contact persons at Simon Fraser University (SF), University of Alberta (AL),University of Waterloo (WA), Queen's University (QU), Saint Mary'sUniversity (SM), Universite du Quebec a Montreal (UQAM), Laval University(LA), and the University of Toronto (TO). Sufficient quantities of packagedquestionnaires were sent to each contact person, along with a letter of instruc-tion covering details of questionnaire administration. At LA, UQAM, TO, andWA, these same persons administered the questionnaire in class, explained theoverall objectives of the research and the fact that the questionnaires were to becompleted "at home", and arranged for collection and return to the authors. AtSM, the chair of the accounting department and the associate dean administeredthe questionnaires. At SF, AL, and QU the contact person arranged for the inter-mediate accounting instructor to administer the questionnaires.

Details of the initial sampling plan are set out in Appendix 2. The responserates by university are in Table 1. Response rates varied from a high of 74.5 per-cent to a low of 35.6 percent. We attribute the variability in response rates partlyto the differences in administration. At SM, for instance, the fact that senioradministrative officials administered the questionnaire was a very vivid sign ofits importance, and probably enhanced the response rate. The overall responserate of 54.7 percent was quite encouraging, given the significant time and effortrequired by respondents, the intrusive nature of some of the questions, and theunavoidable variability in the means of administration.

TABLE 1Sample data

Institution

Saint Mary'sLavalU.Q.A.M.TorontoWaterlooQueen'sAlbertaSimon Fraser

Total

Number ofquestionnaires

distributed

149187374131205

8776

132

1341

Number of

questionnairescollected

111109

20389

105313253

733

Responserate

74.558.354.367.951.235.642.140.2

54.7


Non-response bias represents a potential threat to the validity of this research. Itwas not feasible to perform non-response bias tests for the whole sample basedupon the assumption that late respondents are similar to non-respondents. Thiswas so since the persons who administered the questionnaires were instructed totell students that "everything is to be returned to [the person administering thequestionnaire] in the following week ... " in order to encourage the prompt turn-around of the questionnaire. The questionnaire administrators were also toldthat "No more than two weeks after your initial distribution of the material (toallow for the possibility of some late returns), please send" the material to theresearchers. In other words, this was not a mail survey in which the postmarkeddate of mailed returns could be tracked.

However, at UQAM questionnaires retumed one week after the intial distri-bution (A'=I43) were kept separately from those received at a later date {N-60).Tests were run comparing answers between early and late respondents for sever-al of the variables. The proportion of females in both groups was similar, and t-tests indicated no significant differences (at p=.O5) with respect to variablessuch as age, secondary school average, number of hours of study, certainty ofchoice of major, the degree to which accounting is interesting, accounting'ssocial importance, the importance attributed to both oral and written communi-cation skills, and all JPI scales except Ses and Spt. College d'enseignementgeneral et professionel (CEGEP) grades were higher among late respondents, aswas satisfaction with major chosen.

Building the databaseAll the completed questionnaires were processed at UQAM, where the data wasentered into a DBase III file. Accuracy of data entry was assessed by randomlyselecting 104 of the 733 completed questionnaires, and checking their accuracy100 percent. Thus, 14.2 percent of the database was checked. Since each ques-tionnaire contained 157 variables, 16,328 entries were checked. Nine errorswere discovered and corrected, for a data-entry error rate of .00055.

Results: Describing some aspects of intermediate aecounting studentsResults are presented and discussed following the framework outlined above(Figure 1). Because "there are wide differences in the cultures of individualCanadian universities, not just between francophone and anglophone, but alsofrom province to province and even within provinces" (Skinner 1993, 2),accounting students within each of the eight universities became the focus ofdescription for some of the data reported in this study. However, although thevalue of acknowledging "differences in the cultures" of the universities is recog-nized, descriptive material focusing on the overall breakdown between fran-cophone and anglophone, and male and female, is also provided. Further, asreported in Table 2, 55 students indicated a major other than accounting. Thus,for the variables dealing with students' feelings, motivations, and attitudes, andfor the personality measures, the data are presented separately for accountingmajors and non-accounting majors.


TABLE 2Students' major

University

Saint Mary'sLavalU.Q.A.MTorontoWaterlooQueen'sAlbertaSimon Fraser

Total

Ace.

8910019967

100162933

633

One majorFin.

21

9

62

20

Manag.

34

281111

21

Two majorsAce. +

13

1

235

16

40

Fin.+

4

2

1

7

Threemajorsace. -1-other

11

3

5

Un-dec-ided

3

3

Un-known

2

2

4

To-tal

U l109203

89105

3132

53

733

Demographic and physiological aspects of the frameworkAs indicated in Table 3, there were slightly more females in our database thanmales (52.2 percent to 47.8 percent); this result was driven mainly by the fran-cophone universities and TO. However, our sample's percentage of full-timemales was similar to the percentage of males in undergraduate programs acrossCanadian universities (47.4 percent). Further, as Table 3 indicates, this percent-age was similar across provinces. Differences appeared when the percentage offull-time male students at each university in the sample was considered. AtUQAM and SM, the percentage of male students was similar to that reported forthe university as a whole. However, at LA, TO, and WA, males represented asmaller proportion of the student body in accounting than they did in the partic-ular university's total student population. The opposite situation was seen atQU, AL, and SF. An interesting result with respect to the gender distribution ofpart-time students was that males represented only 24.1 percent in accounting atUQAM, a proportion that was much smaller than for UQAM as a whole and forthe province of Quebec.

Table 4 shows the age distribution of our respondents, the majority (68.3percent) being of the age range (19 to 22 years old) that one would expect forundergraduate intermediate accounting students. However, many of the students(31.6 percent of the sample) were older than 22, with several of these beingpart-time students. UQAM, AL, and SF seemed to have a greater proportion ofolder students, whereas WA and QU had mainly younger students. As the per-centage of older students in undergraduate accounting programs increases, itmay be that instructors must adapt teaching approaches to more closely suit theneeds of a more experienced, perhaps more cognitively-developed, studentbody. Assumptions about how relatively inexperienced 21 year-olds leam mightnot hold for their older classmates, and more than one approach might be


TABLE 3Gender distribution (% male)

University

Saint Mary's(Nova Scotia)

Laval(Quebec)U.Q.A.M.

(Quebec)

Toronto(Ontario)Waterloo(Qntario)Queen's

(Qntario)

Alberta

(Alberta)

Simon Fraser(British Columbia)

Total +

Sample% male (number*)

56.3 (103 FT)62.5 ( 8 PT)

38.9 ( 95 FT)28.6 ( 14 PT)41.6 (149 FT)24.1 ( 54 PT)

42.9 ( 84 FT)60.0 ( 5 PT)48.6 (105 FT)

64.5 ( 31 FT)

59,4 ( 32 FT)

55.3 ( 47 FT)66.7 ( 6 PT)

47.8 (646 FT)33.3 ( 87 PT)

University t% male

53.4 (FT)46.3 (PT)

47.0 (FT)33.4 (PT)

42.8 (FT)36.0 (PT)

47.3 (FT)38.1 (PT)58.6 (FT)

46.7 (FT)

47.9 (FT)

47.6 (FT)43.3 (PT)

N/A

Province t% male

45.7 (FT)36.3 (PT)

47.5 (FT)37.2 (PT)

47.7 (FT)36.1 (PT)

48.4 (FT)

49.4 (FT)41.3 (PT)

47.4 (FT)36.0 (PT)

* The numbers in parentheses represent the number of full-time (FT) and part-time (PT)students in the sample for each university and for the total sample.t Source: Statistics Canada 1990.f The totals in the Province's column represent nation-wide statistics.

required in classes with mixed-age groups.Table 5 summarizes the first language of our respondents. Aside from the

two official languages, Chinese was the most common first language in oursample (12.3 percent). These students attended mainly TO, SF, and WA.Increasing linguistic and cultural diversity in undergraduate accounting classes,combined with resource shortages and large class sizes, create new challengesin designing curricula.

Table 6 reports that our sample indicated a greater proportion of foreignstudents than for undergraduate students in Canada overall (based upon 1990statistics). Table 7 shows that 16.7 percent of our sample reported being mar-ried, and that several had children. The greatest proportion of married studentscame from UQAM, which also had a high proportion of older students.

A Descriptive Profile of Ititermediate Accoutiting Students 35

TABLE 4Age distribution

Age

192021222324

25-2930-34

35-3940-1-

Unknown

Total

Students of 22University


Total

Frequency

10170222

995128673524

1710

733

years of age

Percentage

1.423.230.313.57.03.89.04.83.32.31.4

100.0

and lessPercentageof studentsof 22 and

less

71.273.449.075.095.087.160.054.7

68.3

Numberfull time

10166

219934927431955

10

646

Numberpart time

04

3621

24

1619120

87

Percentage of studentsof 22 and less that

are full-timestudents

97.596.395.097.0

100.0100.0100.096.6

97.4

Tables 8 to 11 report parents' occupation and highest degree for bothfathers and mothers, thus providing some insight into our students' socioeco-nomic background. For example, Table 8 shows that, compared to the overallCanadian results, our sample reported a much higher proportion of fathers hold-ing a managerial or administrative position and lower proportion of fathers with"blue collar" positions. Nevertheless, the occupational percentages seem to sug-gest that our students came from a diversity of socioeconomic backgrounds(only 6.1 percent of the students described their father's occupation as "con-


TABLE 5Respondents' first language

First language

FrenchEnglish

Spanish. It., Port.ChineseHindi, Punjahi, TamilOther

Unknown

Total

Percentage of dominantUniversity

Saint Mary's

LavalU.Q.A.M.

Toronto

Waterloo

Queen's

Alberta

Simon Fraser

Frequency

284289

11

901242

5

733

languages per ijniversityLanguage and percentage

EnglishChineseFrenchFrench

ChineseEnglishChineseEnglishChineseEnglish

EnglishChineseEnglish

Chinese

90.17.2

97.086.73.4

36.041.669.514.377.4

84.09.4

58.534.0

Percentage

38.739.3

1.5

12.31.65.90.7

100.0

Province % *(English or French)

94.0

83.3

77.5

83.5

81.4

*Source: Statistics Canada 1993c.

troller" or "accountant"). Tables 10 and 11 indicate that only 24.4 percent offathers and 17.0 percent of mothers had a university education; thus, it may bethat parents' education was not a dominant factor in our students' decision toattend university. This is reflected in Table 15, which summarizes the factorsreported to bear upon a student's decision in choosing his or her major in uni-versity: parental influence as self-reported had one of the lowest means (3.46 foraccounting majors and 3.58 for non-accounting majors on a scale of 1 to 5,where 5 corresponded to "not important") among the 22 potentially influentialelements. Table 15 will be discussed in more detail later.


TABLE 6Citizenship

Country Percentage (number)

CanadaOther countriesUnknown

Total

90.2 (661)8.9 ( 65)1.0 ( 7)

100.0 (733)

Enrolment of foreign studentsin Canada (undergraduates) * 6.3

' Source: Statistics Canada 1990.

TABLE 7Family status

University

Saint Mary'sLavalU.Q.A.M.TorontoWaterlooQueen'sAlbertaS. Fraser

Total

Singlestudents(number)

9882

13884

10527

2647

607

Marriedstudents

(number)

II27

65403

66

122

Percentageof marriedstudents

9.924.832.0

4.50

9.718.811.3

16.7

Numberof marriedstudentsthat are

part-time

47

343

N/AN/AN/A

2

50

Number ofindividualswith X kids

1 2 3 4

1 3 - -6 - 3 -

13 15 4 3_ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ _1 1 - -1 1 - -

22 20 7 3


TABLE 8Fathers' occupation

Occupation Number Percentage Canadian % '

Home makerRetiredDeceasedNo answer orunemployed

Total *

2463228

0.26.34.43.8

N/AN/AN/AN/A

108 14.7 20.5

Managerial,administrative

Natural Sciences,engineeringSocial SciencesTeachers

Medicine, healthArts, literaryClericalSalesServicesFarming, fishing,forestry, miningProcessing,machining, etc.ConstructionTransportation

GovernmentSelf-employedUnclassified

Total t

170

55

72

625

27.2

8.8

11.5

100.0

13.9

5.9

420131216385221

0.63.22.11.92.66.18.33.4

1.62.91.91.87.19.010.16.8

22.6

6520202522

10.43.23.24.03.5

10.55.9N/AN/AN/A

100.0

* The Canadian percentage represents the proportion of the population between 40 and 59years of age that do not work or are unemployed at the time of the census. The percentage forthe population between 40 and 64 years of age is 25.9 percent.Source: Statistics Canada 1993b.T The percentages of the various occupations are expressed in relation to either the number ofworking individuals in the sample or the total working population of 15 years and over inCanada.Source: Statistics Canada 1993d.

A Descriptive Profile of Intermediate Accoutititig Students 39

TABLE 9Mothers' occupation

Occupation

Home makerRetiredDeceasedNo answer orunemployed

Total *

Managerial,administrativeNatural Sciences,engineeringSocial SciencesTeachersMedicine, healthArts, literaryClericalSalesServicesFarming, fishing.forestry, miningProcessing,machining, etc.ConstructionTransportationGovernmentSelf-employedUnclassified

Total t

Number

226331517

291

60

4

45849

41153056

6

19529

147

442

Percentage

30.84.5

2.12.3

39.7

13.6

0.90.9

13.111.10.9

26.06.8

12.7

1.3

4.3

1.10.52.03.21.6

100.0

Canadian % *

N/AN/AN/AN/A

42.3

10.2

1.83.06.39.01.7

31.79.4

16.1

2.3

7.40.4

0.7N/AN/AN/A

100.0

* The Canadian percentage represents the proportion of the population between 40 and 59years of age that do not work or are unemployed at the time of the census. The percentage forthe population between 40 and 64 years of age is 48.4 percent.Source: Statistics Canada 1993b.t The percentages of the various occupations are expressed in relation to either the number ofworking individuals in the sample or the total working population of 15 years and over inCanada.Source: Statistics Canada 1993d.


TABLE 10Fathers' highest diploma

Diploma Number Percentage Canadian %

31.2 34.422.0 19.8

9.1 6.77.2 8.0

2.9 9.8

NoneHigh schoolTrade diplomaCEGEP or collegeCEGEP or collegewith tradediplomaUniversitycertificateBaccalaureateand higherUnknown orunclassified t

2291616753

21

37

142

23

5.0 N/A

19.4 16.2

3.2 5.1

Total 733 100.0 100.0

•This column presents statistics concerning the schooling of the Canadian population between35 and 64 years of age.Source: Statistics Canada 1993a.tThe data provided by the census in this category includes several types of diplomas: it con-cerns persons having done some university schooling who possess a diversity of prior educa-tion and who do not hold a bachelor's degree.

A Descriptive Profile of Intennediate Accounting Students 41

TABLE 11Mothers' highest diploma

Diplotna

NoneHigh schoolTrade diplomaCEGEP or collegeCEGEP or collegewith tradediplotnaUniversitycertificateBaccalaureateand higherUnknown orunclassified t

Total

Number

2432313170

12

31

94

21

733

Percentage

33.231.54.29.6

1.6

4.2

12.8

2.9

100.0

Canadian %

36.926.13.1

11.7

4.8

N/A

11.1

6.3

100.0

* This column presents statistics concerning the schooling of the Canadian populationbetween 35 and 64 years of age.Source: Statistics Canada 1993a.t The data provided by the census in this category includes several types of diplomas: it con-cerns persons having done some university schooling who possess a diversity of prior educa-tion and who do not hold a bachelor's degree.


Table 12 reports on students' source(s) of financial support. Parents playedan important role in financing studies (62.5 percent of all mentions of supportover the 733 respondents). This source was supplemented mainly by part-timework and/or by loan arrangements. Scholarships and summer work were alsoimportant sources of financial support.

TABLE 12Students' sources of financial support

Rank of the source of support

Source1 2 3 4 Row % *

Parents 246 120 72Family 20 8 4Scholarships 23 54 46& hursariesLoan 147 73 25arrangementsPart-time 96 133 52workFull-time 63 I 0workCo-op 51 45 7work termSummer work 65 65 19Savings, 14 15 5inheritance

Other 8 7 1 0 2.2

* Percentages are computed over 733 students.

Percentage of students who have: one source of fmancial support 28.0%

two 40.0%three 22.5%four or more 9.0%

Cognitive and psychological dimensions of the frameworkTables 13 to 23 summarize results relating to a number of attitudinal and otherfactors. In Table 13, 83.8 percent of accounting majors reported feeling thataccounting was moderately or very interesting; however, note that students'interest towards accounting varied considerably across the eight universities. Asalso reported in Table 13, 77.5 percent of accounting majors responded thataccounting had a crucial (20.7 percent) or important (56.8 percent) social role,again with wide variations across universities.

201

41

14

14

2

5

90

62.54.5

22.4

35.3

40.3

9.0

14.7

21.65.1


TABLE 13Students' feeling toward accounting and perception of the role of accounting

Degree

Veryint./CrucialModer-ately /Import.Neutral/ Some-whatNotvery/MinimalBoringUnknown

Students'

Numberace.

majors

263

305

60

40

82

feeling

%

38.8

45.0

8.8

5.9

1.2

0.3

toward accounting

Numbern-acc.majors

3

18

20

7

4

3

%

5.4

32.7

36.4

12.7

7.35.4

Students' perception of the

Numberace.

majors

140

385

126

24

N/A3

of accounting

%

20.7

56.8

18.6

3.5

N/A0.4

Numbern-acc.majors

1

29

16

6

N/A3

role

%

1.8

52.7

29.1

10.9

N/A5.5

Percentage of students at each university that find accounting very or moder-ately interesting and percentage of students that find accounting's role crucialor important - Accounting majors

Percentage - Acc.'s role

75.586.082.074.365.466.779.378.8

University


Percentage - Interest

82.497.091.565.776.980.986.269.2

Related to the results in Table 13 on accounting's social role were theresponses to question 25 of the first part of the questionnaire, "In each of thefollowing pairs of professions which one is, in your opinion, the more importantin general?" The percentage of students responding in favour of accounting, incomparison to six other professions, was as follows (A'=654): Law (41.1 per-cent). Engineering (52.3 percent). Social Work (74.2 percent). Clergy (89.4


percent). Medicine (12.4 percent), and Management (70.2 percent). Theseresults suggest that intetmediate accounting students viewed accounting morefavourably in comparison to a profession which may require similar skills andabilities (Management), about as favourably as Engineering, and somewhat lessfavourably than Law, a profession with which Accounting has also been com-pared. Accounting was quite definitely viewed as being of less importance thanMedicine, but as being of greater importance than Social Work and the Clergy.

TABLE 14Students' attitude toward the importance of oral and written communicationabilities in accounting

Degree

Veryimp.Import.Some-whatNotvery

Not atallUnknown

Students' attitude towardoral communication abilities

Numberace.

majors

352

22082

21

1

2

%

51.9

32.412.1

3.1

0.2

0.3

Numbern-acc.majors

21

1510

5

1

3

%

38.2

27.318.2

9.1

1.8

5.4

Students' attitude towardwritten

Numberace.

majors

383

22760

6

0

2

communication abilities

%

56.5

33.58.8

0.9

0.0

0.3

Number

n-acc.majors

24

21

6

0

1

3

%

43.6

38.210.9

0.0

1.8

5.5

Percentage of students at each university that find oral and written communi-cation abilities in accounting important or very important - Accountingmajors

university


Percentage - Oralcommunication abilities

85.384.077.087.198.176.282.784.6

Percentage - Writtencommunication abilities

89.289.086.095.794.295.289.690.4

A Descriptive Profile of Intemiediate Accounting Students 45

Table 14 indicates students' awareness of the importance of oral and writ-ten communication skills in accounting. Therefore, even though it may be possi-ble that students were apprehensive towards communication (Stanga and Ladd1990), they still intended to pursue an accounting career, a career for which theyknew such skills were important. Perhaps the nature of the subject matter ofaccounting itself overcame any such apprehension, since the students inaccounting reported (in Table 15) that important determinants in choosing theaccounting major were interest and aptitude for the subject matter. Not surpris-ingly, availability of employment, pay, job security, and opportunities foradvancement were also among the most important determinants. Parents' influ-ence (as noted previously) was rather low on the list, as were teacher and peerinfluence. These are aggregate results, and the pattern of apparent influence dif-fered for some subgroups.

A comparison between male and female accounting majors of the students'self-reported determinants of the choice of a major suggests that females may

TABLE 15Factors bearing on students' decision in choosing their university major

Factors

ParentsinfluenceCost ofeducation

Years of formaleducation

requiredAptitude forthe subject

Interest inthe subjectTeacherinfluence

PeerinfluencePrevious workexperienceJobavailabilityPay

Work that ishighly regardedin society

Ace. majors

3.46(1.26)3.75

(1.16)3.27

(1.17)

1.88(0.81)1.64

(0.80)3.43

(1.21)3.86

(1.09)3.36

(1.33)2.13

(1.04)2.06

(0.96)2.51

(1.06)

Non-acc.majors

3.58(1.33)3.88

(1.17)3.12

(1.15)

1.98(0.90)1.71

(0.94)3.42

(1.29)3.65

(1.20)3.10

(1.21)2.38

(1.03)2.29

(0.91)2.52

(0.98)

Ace. majorsmales

3.50(1.23)3.81

(1.18)3.29

(1.19)

1.92(0.81)1.66

(0.76)3.44

(1.22)3.79

(1.11)3.44

(1.28)2.20

(1.11)1.94

(0.92)2.41

(1.04)

Ace. majorsfemales

3.44(1.29)3.70

(1.15)3.25

(1.16)

1.86(0.82)1.63

(0.84)3.42

(1.20)3.92

(1.08)3.29

(1.36)2.08

(0.97)2.15

(0.98)2.60

(1.06)

46 Contetnporary Accounting Research

TABLE 15 (coticluded)

Factors

Work thatallows themaking offriendshipsWork for whicha person islooked up toResults demons-trate the goodwork doneAdvancement

Provide help toothersExerciseleadershipDecide and actby myselfDevelop newideasOpportunitiesfor doing many.different tasksJob security

Solvechallengingproblems

Ace. majors

2.86

(1.13)

2.42

(1.10)

2.14(0.97)

1.73(0.82)2.43

(0.97)2.44

(1.02)1.97

(0.88)2.58

(1.00)2.08

(0.98)

1.90

(1.01)2.15

(0.92)

Non-acc.majors

2.81

(1.16)

2.37

(1.10)

2.12(0.90)

1.79(0.82)2.46

(0.98)2.35

(1.10)1.98

(1.16)2.50

(1.04)2.13

(1.17)

1.98(1.09)2.21

(1.09)

Ace. majorsmales

2.82(1.16)

2.43

(1.13)

2.18(0.97)

1.65

(0.81)2.43

(0.98)2.27

(0.98)1.93

(0.88)2.53

(1.02)2.09

(1.01)

1.93(1.02)

2.18(0.93)

Ace. majorsfemales

2.89(1.10)

2.42

(1.08)

2.11(0.96)

1.79(0.82)2.42

(0.96)2.57

(1.03)2.0i

(0.89)2.62

(0.98)2.08

(0.95)

1.87(0.99)2.13

(0.90)

Numbers in each group are:Accounting majors = 678Non-accounting majors = 52

(women = 369 and men = 309)There is no

significant differencebetween ace. and non-

acc. majors

have been less affected than males by the extrinsic rewards linked to employ-ment. In Table 16, an analysis suggests significant differences on self-reportedfactors such as pay, prestige (work that is highly regarded in society), andadvancement; these differences seemed to be driven by the French students,who scored lower on these dimensions than English students. Further, theopportunity to exercise leadership in their work was apparently significantly lessimportant for women than for men in their choice of a major; this factor did notseem to be culture-driven (at least for the two broad groups that we defined as


English and French in our sample), because there were significant differences inthe same direction in both cultural milieus. This result may be related to the sig-nificant difference between male and female students on two personality mea-sures involving leadership (Table 23): women scored lower than men on risktaking and social adroitness. Such gender differences involving self-reportedattitudes and beliefs must, however, be treated with caution; at most, they aresuggestive, and could well be at least partly due to response biases that maythemselves be gender-based.

Overall, interesting differences were revealed in Table 16 when the twobroad cultural groups were compared. Parents, teacbers, and peers were report-ed to have a greater influence on choice of a major among English students than

TABLE 16Factors bearing on students' decision in choosing their university major:Comparisons between groups - Accounting majors - Significant differences

Females Females Females French French French OtherFactors > or < > or < > or < > or < > or < > or < lang.

males males males English English English > or <all French English all males females F. & E.

ParentsinfluenceCost ofeducationYears offormal educationrequiredAptitudefor thesubjectInterestin thesubjectTeacher

influencePeer

influencePreviouswork exp.JobavailabilityPay

**

Work that ishighly regarded **in society

+*

+

+

+*

***

**

***

****

*

***

+**

****

****

+***

****

****


TABLE 16 (concluded)

Females Females Females FrenchFactors > or < > or < > or < > or <

males males males Englishall French English all

French French Other> or < > or < lang.

English English > or <males females F. & E.

Work thatallows thetnaking offriendshipsWork forwhich aperson islooked uptoResultsdemonstratethe goodwork doneAdvance-mentProvidehelp toothers

Exerciseleader-shipDecideand actbymyselfDevelopnew ideasDoing manydifferenttasks

Jobsecurity

+

****

** *

-1-

Solvechalleng-ingproblems

Numbers in each group are: Degrees of significance -French ace. maj. =272 (women = 174 and men = 98) ANOVAS:Englishacc. maj. =260 (women = 112 and men = 148) * p<=.05 *** p<=.(K)lOther ace. maj. =146 ** p<=.01 **** p<=.0001


among French students. Further, intrinsic work characteristics (altruism,independence of action, development of new ideas, and facing challengingtasks) were more important to French students than to English students, whereasthe reverse seemed to hold for extrinsic characteristics (pay, prestige, status,advancement, and job security). Several of the observed differences were alsosignificant in the same direction when English and French males and femaleswere compared separately.

In Table 17, students' self-reports about their certainty and satisfaction withtheir choice of major are summarized. Only 58.4 percent of accounting majors

TABLE 17Students' certainty and satisfaction of their choice of major

Degree

Very cer.or satisf.Cer. orsatisf.Some-whatNotveryNot atallTooearlyUnknown

Numberace.

majors

154

242

197

66

19

N/A

0

Students'

%

22.7

35.7

29.1

9.7

2.8

N/A

0.0

certainty

Numbern-acc.majors

7

16

18

6

4

N/A

4

%

12.7

29.1

32.7

10.9

7.3

N/A

7.3

Students'

Numberace.

majors

166

280

157

48

7

20

0

satisfaction

%

24.5

41.3

23.2

7.0

1.0

3.0

0.0

Numbern-acc.majors

9

21

15

1

2

3

4

%

16.4

38.2

27.3

1.8

3.6

5.4

7.3

Percentage of certain or very certain students and of satisfied or very satisfiedstudents at each university - Accounting majors

University


Percentage - Certain

58.858.070.540.052.961.941.355.8

Percentage - Satisfied

71.667.067.047.165.481.069.065.4


seemed certain or very certain that their choice of accounting was right forthem, and only 65.8 percent reported being satisfied or very satisfied. Further,the results suggested wide variation in certainty and satisfaction among respon-dents from different universities. Although there could be many reasons for suchapparent differences between schools, and for the low levels of certainty andsatisfaction for the overall sample (ways in which accounting is taught, stu-dents' cultural-linguistic background, overall treatment accorded students invarious universities, etc.), further investigation of the factors affecting these atti-tudes seems very important. Given scarce teaching resources, it is appropriate tobe concerned about the significant percentage of apparently uncertain, dissatis-fied students currently in accounting programs.

A number of other aspects related to accounting students' choice of majorcan be explored with the data. Table 18 reports on the point in time when stu-dents chose their major, and Table 19 presents the previous major of studentswho had changed their major. Table 20 details the reasons motivating those stu-dents who changed their major. Most students reported choosing a major ratherearly: in high school (40.1 percent), in pre-university college (17 percent), or intheir first year at university (14.4 percent). Overall, only 16.5 percent ofaccounting students in our sample reported changing their major, with those atUQAM and LA indicating the highest propensity to change (Table 19). Studentschanged to accounting primarily because they did not like their previous major(21.4 percent) or because they felt that job opportunities were better in account-ing (21.4 percent; see Table 20).

Tables 21, 22 and 23 contain data on students' apparent personality, as mea-sured by scores on the JPI. Using the norms of university and college studentsas a basis of comparison,' our results suggest that future male and femaleaccountants scored lower on the breadth of interest (especially females), com-plexity, innovation, interpersonal affect, self esteem, and social participation(again, especially females) scales than the "average" student, but that theyscored higher on the organization and value orthodoxy scales.*^ Further, maleaccounting students seemed to demonstrate much more conformity than the"average" male student (Table 22). Comparing accounting majors with non-accounting majors in our sample suggested several significant differencesbetween the two groups: accounting majors scored higher on anxiety, organiza-tion, and interpersonal affect than non-accounting majors, but scored lower oninnovation and risk-taking (Table 21).

A comparison between male and female accounting students in our sample(Table 23) suggests that females scored higher than males on the followingscales: anxiety, conformity (especially English women), organization (especiallyFrench women), responsibility, interpersonal affect, and value orthodoxy.Males, however, scored higher than females on: innovation, energy level (partic-ulary French men), risk-taking, and social adroitness (especially French men).All of these significant differences were in the same directions as the differencesbetween men and women observed in the university and college norms.However, as pointed out above, some significant differences seemed to be


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TABLE 21Personality dimensions - Comparisons between groups:College norms - Sample's accounting majors and non-accounting majors

Dimensions

Anxiety

Breath ofinterestComplexity

Conformity

Energy level

Innovation

Inter-personalaffectOrganization

Responsibi-lityRisk-taking

Self esteem

SocialadroitnessSocial par-ticipationTolerance

ValueorthodoxyInfrequency

Collegenorms *

12.60(4.37)11.08(4.37)10.90(3.31)8.55

(4.46)11.32(3.98)12.77(5.00)13.55(3.95)

11.00(4.26)12.58(3.19)8.16

(4.69)12.46(4.56)10.47(3.45)10.61(4.55)11.79(3.37)8.82

(4.22)0.47

(0.91)

Accountingmajors

11.97(4.00)10.05(4.26)8.79

(2.83)9.44

(4.23)10.81(3.96)10.17(4.65)11.10(4.06)

12.53(3.77)12.46(3.03)7.87

(4.52)10.78(4.80)9.78

(3.31)9.59

(4.26)10.98(3.54)10.16(3.41)0.98

(1.72)

Differences> than 1.0sample &

norms

_

—

-

+

Non-Acc.majors

10.31(4.07)10.20(4.16)9.12

(3.04)8.31

(4.73)11.14(4.14)11.49(4.04)9.88

(4.00)

11.24(3.92)12.22(3.35)9.80

(4.72)11.39(4.63)10.06(3.49)10.00(3.73)11.08(3.65)9.71

(3.92)0.90

(1.79)

SignificantdifferencesAce. maj. >or < n-Acc.

**

_*

*

*

_***

* College norms were established in the spring of 1993.

Numbers in each group are:College students =1,107Accounting majors = 649Non-accounting majors = 51

Degrees of significance -ANOVAS:* p<=.05 *** p<=.001** p<=.01 **** p<=.0001


TABLE 22Personality dimensions - Comparisons between groups:College norms and sample's accounting majors - Males and females

Dimensions

Anxiety

Breath ofinterestComplexity

Confonnity

EnergylevelInnovation

Inter-personalaffectOrganiz-ationResponsi-bilityRisk-takingSelfesteemSocialadroitnessSocialpartici-pationTolerance

ValueorthodoxyInfre-quency

Collegenorms *males

11.20(4.50)10.98(4.34)10.73(3.38)7.87

(4.12)11.85(4.21)13.87(4.82)11.72(4.08)

10.33(4.07)11.43(3.43)10.07(4.79)12.50(4.52)10.89(3.47)10.30(4.72)

11.80(3.42)8.27

(4.35)0.47

(1.11)

Sample Differencesace. maj. >than 1.0

males sample &norms - M.

10.85(3.99)10.29(4.36)8.80

(2.88)9.01 -1-

(4.33)11.53(3.88)11.00(4.52)9.71

(4.12)

11.99 +(3.99)11.81(3.39)9.66

(4.71)11.12(4.63)10.20(3.29)9.44

(4.38)

11.00(3.70)9.78 +

(3.78)0.96

(1.81)

* College norms were established in the spring of 1993

Numbers in each group are:College students:Sample's ace. majors:

women = 740women = 360

Collegenorms *females

13.29(4.13)11.13(4.39)10.98(3.28)8.90

(4.58)11.05(3.84)12.22(5.00)14.46(3.55)

11.33(4.32)13.15(2.90)7.21

(4.33)12.44(4.58)10.26(3.42)10.76(4.46)

11.79(3.35)9.09

(4.13)0.47

(0.79)

men = 367men = 289

Sampleace. maj.females

12.87(3.78)9.85

(4.18)8.79

(2.79)9.79

(4.13)10.24(3.94)9.51

(4.66)12.22(3.66)

12.96(3.53)12.98(2.60)6.43

(3.79)10.50(4.92)9.44

(3.29)9.70

(4.15)

10.97(3.40)10.47(3.06)0.99

(1.65)

Differences>than 1.0sample &norms - F.

-

-

-_

+

_

-

+


TABLE 23Personality dimensions - Comparisons between groups:Accounting majors - Signiftcant differences

Females Females Females French French French OtherDimen- > or < > or < > or < > or < > or < > or < lang.

sions males males males English English English > or <all French English all males females F. & E.

Anxiety

BreathofinterestComplex-ityConform-ityEnergylevelInnova-tionInter-personalaffectOrganiz-ation

Respon-sibilityRisk-takingSelfesteemSocialadroit-nessSocialpartici-pationToler-anceValueorthod.Infre-quency

-1-* * * *

* *

* « *

* « *

* * * *

4-

****

* * * *

-1-

* * * *

* * * *

-1-

**

*-*

-1-

+*

-1-

* * * *

*

*

*"*

* *

*

* *

-1-

* +

**

* * *

* * * *

t

*

+

*;

+

+

Numbers in each group are: Degrees of significance -French ace. maj. =268 (women = 172 and men = 96) ANOVAS:English ace. maj. =244 (women = 109 and men = 135) * p<=.05 *** p<=.001Other ace. maj. =137 ** p<=.01 **** p<=.0001


driven by students from one or the other of the two broad cultural-linguisticgroups.

The database provides an opportunity to compare JPI measures for account-ing students from francophone and anglophone linguistic milieus. There weresignificant differences among males on five of the scales: francophone malesscored higher on the breadth of interest scale, the energy level scale, and theinnovation scale, but scored lower on the social participation and the tolerancescales. Francophone females scored lower than anglophone females on the anxi-ety, responsibility, tolerance, and social participation scales, but higher on thebreadth of interest, innovation, and organization scales, and on the infrequencymeasure,' Lastly, when accounting majors whose first language was neitherEnglish nor French were compared to French and English students, we foundthat they scored significantly higher on the conformity, value orthodoxy, andinfrequency scales,"^ and lower on the energy level, responsibility, and self-esteem scales. These observations must still be interpreted within a theoreticalframework of expected cultural differences, perhaps such as that elaborated byHofstede (1984),

Students' background before entering the accounting programTables 24 and 25 present details on students' prior education. Almost all the stu-dents in the sample had their high school diploma (and 47,9 percent of the stu-dents indicated no other diploma). The majority of students from the francopho-ne universities had their CEGEP degree because it is usually a prerequisite foruniversity entrance in Quebec, A fair number of students (59, or 8 percent)already held a bachelor's degree. Table 26 indicates students' high school orCEGEP graduating year averages, as self-reported. Table 27 reports on students'pre-university accounting courses. Table 28 reports that most students had someexperience with accounting or business, particulary in bookkeeping or in anaccounting firm.

TABLE 24Students' prior education

University

Saint Mary'sLavalU,Q,A,M,TorontoWaterlooQueen'sAlbertaS, Fraser

Total

Highschool

106109201

89105303253

725

Tradediploma

33

13011

02

23

Collegeor CEGEP

16103179

4326

13

326

Universitycertificate

17

2810002

39

Bachelor'sdegree

85

2670472

59

Master'sdegree

001

00011

3


TABLE 25

Field of study of students' highest diploma

Field

BusinessCEGEP inbusiness

PhysicalsciencesHealthsciencesHumani-tiesAccount-ingEcono-micsSecreta-riatComputerTechnicOtherUnknown

Highschoolonly

SM

92

3

1

111

9

81

LA

47

13

9

3

10

2

1

52

14

3

UQ

7225

15

3

21

15

7

2

2

2

3

29

7

TO

4

2

1

1

1

1

79

WA

31

1

100

QU

1

1

3

2

24

AL

2

5

1

1

1111

19

SF

3

1

3

1

1

1

4

1

38

Tot.

13647

26

6

40

24

16

4

6147

56

351

%

18.66.4

3.5

0.8

5.5

3.3

2.2

0.5

0.81.91.07.6

47.9


TABLE 26Students' high school average (graduating year) and college average

Average

Unknown or n/aBelow 59.960 to 64.965 to 69.970 to 74.975 to 79.980 to 84.985 to 89.990 to 94.995 +

Mean(std. dev.)

High schoolfrequency

383

1029

53132155220

8210

av. High school av.percentage

5.20.41.44.07.2

18.021.230.111.21.4

81.57(7.52)

College av.frequency

45904

850976644

50

College av.percentage

62.60

0.51.16.8

13.29.06.00.7

0

77.81( 5.94)

Students' high school average (graduating year) and college average byuniversity

University


High school av.

79.3081.8679.1183.7787.8987.3777.8676.31

Standard dev.

8.306.396.465.754.304.318,578.33

College av. *

79.5476.82

Standard dev.

6.295.51

* Students outside of the Province of Quebec were not questioned upon theircollege average.


TABLE 27Students' accounting education prior to university

Accountingmajors byuniversityand non-ace.majors overall

Saint Mary'sLavalU.Q.A.M.TorontoWaterlooQueen'sAlbertaSimon EraserNon-accountingmajors

Total

1

833

17

335

4

9

82

Number of ace.courses in

high

2

7

4

96

64

36

school

3 4

1611 1

1

10 1

1

42025

1

772

66

Number of ace.

Financial ace.

2

816

2

1

33

33

3

591

2

17

4

17

1

9

courses in

Cost ace.

1

33

II

621

26

2

37

1

21

14

college

Aud.

1

2

414

1

111

24

Tax

1

25

13

1

1

21

25

TABLE 28Students' type of experience in accounting or business

Type of exp.

BookkeepingAccounting firmTellerOffice clerkQwn company orfamily's comp.Tresorer

AdministratorCost accountingSalesTax returnsOtherNoneUnknown

Ace. majors

182131

121436

11

21107n

28297

9

N-Ace. majors

1221i

3

121

215

274

Total

194133

131539

12

231198

33324

13

Percentage

26.518.2

1.82.05.3

1.63.21.51.21.14.5

44.21.8

Note: Cumulative percentages exceed one hundred percent because 100 stu-dents indicated two types of experiences.

University

% of studentshaving indic-ated exp. withace. or bus.

SM

53

LA

44

UQ

46

TO

38

WA

100

QU

74

AL

50

SE

47


Students' life during university yearsTable 29 summarizes infomiation on the self-reported average number of hoursof study per week. Noteworthy observations include the following: the averagenumber of study hours per week for students taking four, five, or six courses persemester appeared to be fairly constant (notice also the consistent difference inthe number of study hours per week as reported by males and females). It maybe that students save some time for extra-curricular activities (about 46 percentof the students reported having some such activities, which were mainly sports;see Table 32), and for part-time work (about 43 percent of students taking fourto six courses reported working part-time; see Table 30).

TABLE 29Average number of hours of study per week

Number of courses takenby semester

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Average hours of study

Number

16

9

5

86

183

35

males

Mean(std. dev.)

7.9(6.2)12.0(5.8)21.0

(18.0)22.6

(10.7)23.6

(12.8)23.4

(12.2)

Average hours of studyfemales

Number

29

19

10

119

186

26

Mean(std. dev.)

8.3(5.1)13.1(6.7)22.2(9.9)25.4

(10.4)

24.6(10.6)25.6(9.3)

As expected, the percentage of students working part-time decreased as thenumber of courses taken increased: 54.6 percent of students taking four coursesworked part-time, whereas only 22.6 percent of those taking six courses report-ed doing so (Table 30). The great majority of students taking three courses orless (70 percent) reported working full-time.

Table 31 provides an idea of how students who work part-time allocatedtheir time between studies and work. One noteworthy observation was that, forhours of study up to the range of 16 to 20 hours per week, there were similarnumbers of students who reported working part-time as who reported not work-ing part-time. However, beyond this range, there were fewer part-time workersthan non-workers for a given number of declared hours of study. In fact, there isa limit to the total number of hours an individual can devote to work and studyeach week.

62 Contetnporary Accounting Research

TABLE 30Fart-time and full-time work during schooling

Numberof coursestaken

3 and less45

6

Total - 4courses andmore

Numberof

students

89205372

62

639

Numberpart-timeworkers

19112149

14

275

Percentagepart-timeworkers

21.654.640.122.6

43.0

Numberfull-timeworkers

6202

0

2

Percentagefull-timeworkers

70.00

0.010

0.01

Percentage of students working part-time or full-time at each university

University


Percentage workingpart-time

40.437.641.944.9

8.626.750.026.4

Percentage workingfull-time

6.48.3

20.72.2

000

7.5

TABLE 31Number of hours of study per week by number of hours of part-time work perweek for students taking four, five, or six courses per semester

No. ofhoursofstudy

6 to 1011 to 15

16 to 2021 to 2526 to 3031 to 3535 to 4041 to 5051 to 65Unknown

Total

1 to 5

23351

11

2

18

Number of hours of part-time work

6 to 10 11 to 15 16 to 20 21 to 30 Unknown

1011

51812543

68

8132

151132

11

56

91911

179532

75

471

62

21

23

85

10442

11

34

Total

41582271391714841

275

Nopart-time

work

2661299550392824

93

364


As pointed out earlier, sports appeared to be the most important extracurric-ular activity (Table 32), Tbere were apparently significant variations in studentsreporting extracurricular activities among the eight universities.

Professional designations sought by studentsTable 33 reports on the professional designation sought by the students in oursample.

TABLE 32Students' extra-curricular activities

Type ofactivity

On c, sports,organized offcamp, sportsSports plusother on oroff campusactivityAssociations,clubs.committeesVolunteer workMisc. courses.ex, in musicOccasionalact., ex.:conferences.off c, sports.and social orcburch act.No on campusact, but withoff campusactivities/Opposite foroff campusNone at allUnknown

Total

University

% of studentshaving extra-curricularactivities

On campus activities

Frequency

93

42

63

49

7

108

39512

733

SM LA

55 37

Percentage

12.7

5,7

8.6

0,61.2

1,0

14.7

53.91.6

100,0

UQ TO

23 45

Off campus activities

Frequency

31

9

13

2814

107

123

39513

733

WA QU

70 77

Percentage

4,2

1,2

1,8

3,81,9

14,6

16.8

53,91,8

100,0

AL SF

65 45


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Synthesis ofthe student profileThe data gathered in this project and summarized in the preceding paragraphsenables us to depict the "average" or "typical" intermediate accounting student(who in 92.5 percent of the sample is an accounting major) as follows: a 20-21year-old individual attending school full-time (being female in 52.2 percent ofthe cases), predominantly English or French speaking, single with no children,supported at least in part by parents (62.5 percent of the students), by part-timework (40 percent), by scholarships (22.4 percent), and by loans (35.3 percent).This individual fmds accounting at least moderately interesting (83.8 percent),and also believes that accounting's role in society is at least somewhat impor-tant (77.5 percent).

Interest and aptitude for the subject matter appear to be driving forcesbehind the student's choice of accounting as a major, with factors such as pay,advancement, job availability, job security, and task variety being important aswell. Further, intrinsic work values such as independence in action and solvingchallenging problems (intellectual stimulation) are also key factors apparentlymotivating the student's choice of concentration. Nevertheless, the accountingmajor is not entirely certain or satisfied with his or her choice of major (58.4percent of majors are certain or very certain, and 65.8 percent are satisfied orvery satisfied). The student chose accounting as a major quite eariy, most fre-quently in high school or pre-university college (57.1 percent), but sometimes infirst- or second-year university (26.8 percent). Up to intermediate accounting,the student did not usually change major (only 16.5 percent did so); when he orshe did change, it was mainly because of perceived opportunity of employmentin accounting or because of dislike of the previous major.

Using the 1993 norms of university and college students as the basis ofcomparison, it seems that the accounting major scores lower on JPI scales repre-senting breadth of interest (particularly females), complexity, innovation, inter-personal affect, self esteem, and social participation (again, especially females),than the "average" student, but scores higher on organization and value ortho-doxy.

The "typical" intermediate accounting student in our sample takes four tofive courses per semester and often works part-time (54 percent of the sampleworked part-time when taking four courses and 40 percent when taking five).The student reports studying about 23 hours (male) or 25 hours (female) perweek, and may participate in extracurricular activities (46 percent), mainlysports.

The student has a self-reported high school graduating year average of 81.5percent, often goes directly from high school into university (in provinces otherthan Quebec), and, if the student has a pre-university college diploma, it willmost likely be in business or accounting (28.3 percent). The student may havehad some pre-university accounting courses, as well as some experience inaccounting or business, either before entering university or while attending uni-versity (54 percent). Finally, the student's goal after graduation is to obtain aprofessional designation in accounting (84.5 percent of accounting majors).


The above description of the "typical" intennediate accounting student is,of course, a composite, and no single individual may display all of these charac-teristics. Further, a profile of the "average" student done on a university-by-uni-versity basis would undoubtedly show marked differences. For the purposes ofthis paper, it would be too lengthy to depict the "typical" student at each univer-sity; however, the data provided in tbe various tables enable the reader to forman impression.

ConclusionsThe objective of this project has been relatively modest: to contribute to thedevelopment of profiles of students currently in university accounting coursesand programs in Canada, and tbus to assist in providing an understanding of tbecharacteristics of our students. As sucb, this is part of a larger attempt at gamer-ing descriptive information about the state of higher education in accounting atthe undergraduate level.

Description is one of tbe first phases of research. It provides researchersand policy makers with a base line, an appreciation of "where we are now", andthus helps inform the process of assessing and instituting change. At the sametime, description involves choices (who to describe, the characteristics to bedescribed, the metbods of description, etc.), wbich may obscure as well asreveal.

The data captured and reported upon in this paper provide a somewhat lim-ited snapshot of a sample of tbe cohort of undergraduate intermediate account-ing students passing through our programs. In spite of the acknowledged limita-tions of such researcb, some potentially interesting descriptions begin toemerge, which can serve as the basis for furtber stages in tbe research enter-prise.


Appendix 1Trait descriptions for the Jackson Personality Inventory (Jackson 1976)

Scale

Anxiety

Breadth of Interest

Complexity

Conformity

Energy Level

Innovation

Interpersonal Affect

Organization

Responsibility

Risk Taking

Defining Trait Adjectives of High Scorer

Worried, tense, nervous, preoccupied, anxious, edgy,distressed, agitated, fearful

Curious, interested, inquiring, involved, inquisitive,seeking, exploring

Complex, contemplative, clever, discerning, intellectual,thoughtful, analytical

Compliant, agreeing, acquiescent, adapting, accommo-dating, cooperative, concurring, emulating

Lively, vigorous, active, persevering, industrious, tireless,dynamic, enthusiastic, eager

Ingenious, original, innovative, productive, imaginative

Emotional, tender, kind, affectionate, demonstrative,warm-hearted, sympathetic, compassionate

Orderly, disciplined, planful, tidy, consistent, methodical,precise, neat, meticulous, systematic

Responsible, honest, ethical, incorruptible, scrupulous,dependable, conscientious, reliable, stable, straight-forward

Reckless, bold, impetuous, intrepid, enterprising, incau-tious, venturesome, daring, rash

Self Esteem Self-assured, composed, egotistical, self-possessed,poised, self-sufficient

Social Adroitness Shrewd, sophisticated, tactful, crafty, influential, subtle,persuasive, discrete, worldly

Social Participation Sociable, friendly, gregarious, outgoing, "joiner", con-vivial, companionable, fun-loving, extrovert, congenial,cordial, good natured

Tolerance Broadminded, open-minded, unprejudiced, receptive,judicious, impartial, dispassionate, lenient, indulgent

Value Orthodoxy Moralistic, conventional, strict, prim, devout, prudish,puritanical, righteous, rigid

The above fifteen scales constitute "a set of measures of personality reflecting avariety of interpersonal, cognitive, and value orientations likely to have impor-tant implications for a person's functioning." (Jackson 1976, 9). A sixteenthscale, labelled "Infrequency", is designed to enable careless or random respond-ing to be identified; it consists of items that are "highly infrequently endorsed"(Jackson 1976, 17), and thus has a normed mean close to 0.50 on the 20-pointscale. An example of one of the items on this scale: "I run five miles every dayto keep healthy".


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Endnotes1. This literature includes Bedford et al. (1986); Arthur Andersen & Co. et al. (1989);

and the Accounting Education Change Commission (1990). Much ofthe pertinentliterature is summarized in Deppe et al. (1991).

2. Although we recognize that university accounting programs must do far more thanprepare students for entry-level positions in accounting and allied professions, wesubmit that accounting educators cannot ignore the fact that a portfolio of skills andabilities suitable for beginning readiness to practice is an important influence oncurriculum. The educator's role here is to ensure that such skills and abilities arelargely defined by academe - iti other words, to lead rather than follow in develop-ing curriculum goals.

3. Consequently, the parts of the framework that are not relevant to the data gatheredare omitted from the literature review, but are available on request from eitherauthor.

4. Trait anxiety has been defined as "relatively stable individual differences in anxietyproneness ... " (Speilberger, Gorsuch, and Lushene 1970, 3)

5. McCroskey's (1984, 13) definition of communication apprehension is: "an individ-ual's level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communica-tion with another person or persons."

6. A single questionnaire package, inserted into a manila envelope bearing the authors'names, consisted of the following:

1. The covering letter addressed to the student.2. The demographic and attitudinal part of the questionnaire.3. An instruction booklet for the JPI.4. A template-scorable answer sheet for the JPI (both the instruction booklet

and the scoring sheet are proprietary, and were acquired from and used withthe permission of Research Psychologists Press, Inc., London, Ontario).

7. Current student norms (collected in 1993) have generously been provided by RobertP. Tett of Research Psychologists Press, Inc.

8. Labels in the JPI have specific technical meanings, as noted previously.9. Anglophone female accounting majors scored lowest of all groups in our sample on

the JPFs infrequency scale.10. The fact that infrequency measures were highest among students with linguistic

origins other than English or French might suggest a problem with understandingsome questions in a second language. Therefore, analyses comparing these studentsto English and French students should be interpreted with care.

ReferencesAccounting Education Change Commission. Objectives of Education for Accountants:

Position Statement No. 1. Issues in Accounting Education (Fall 1990), 307-312.Amernic, J.H., and T.H. Beechy. Accounting Students' Performance and Cognitive

Complexity: Some Empirical Evidence. Accounting Review (April 1984), 300-313.Amernic, J.H., N. Aranya, and J. Pollock. Is There a Generally Accepted Standard

Accountant? CA Magazine (October 1979), 34-42.Aranya, N., E.I. Meir, and A. Bar-Ilan. An Empirical Examination ofthe Stereotype

Accountant Based on Holland's Theory. Journal of Occupational Psychology(1978), 139-145.

Arnold, J.L. Message from the Managing Editor. Accounting Horizons (March 1992),1-3.

Arthur Andersen & Co., Arthur Young, Coopers & Lybrand, Deloitte Haskins & Sells,Emst & Whinney, Peat Marwick Main & Co., Price Waterhouse, and Touche Ross.Perspectives on Education: Capabilities for Success in the Accounting Profession,1989.


Baker, R.E., J.R. Simon, and F.P. Bazeli. An Assessment of Learning Style Preferencesof Accounting Majors. Issues in Accounting Education (Spring 1986), 1-23.

. Selecting Instructional Design for Introductory Accounting Based on theExperential Learning Model. Journal of Accounting Education (Fall 1987), 207-226.

Baldwin, B.A., and K.R. Howe. Secondary-Level Study of Accounting and SubsequentPerformance in the First College Course. Accounting Review (July 1982), 619-626.

Bedford, N., et al. Future Accounting Education; Preparing for the ExpandingProfession; Report of the Committee on the Future Structure, Content, and Scope ofAccounting Education; American Accounting Association. Issues in AccountingEducation (Spring 1986), 168-195.

Belkaoui, A. The Accounting Students' Need for Achievement and Career Aspirations:An Experiment. Issues in Accounting Education (Fall 1986), 197-206.

Bergin, J.L. The Effect of Previous Accounting Study on Student Performance in theFirst College-Level Financial Accounting Course. Issues in Accounting Education(1983), 19-28.

Bloom, A. The Closing of the American Mind. Simon and Schuster, 1987.Booker, Q. A Case Study of the Relationship Between Undergraduate Black Accounting

Majors' ACT Scores and their Intermediate Accounting Perfonnance. Issues inAccoimting Education (Spring 1991), 66-73.

Bottin. R.R. An Investigation of the Relationship of the Protestant Ethic Value to Successin Accounting Courses. Accounting Review (April 1977), 479-484.

Boyer, E.L. Comments on Accounting Horizons. Accounting Horizons (March 1992a), 4.. Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. Lssues in

Accounting Education (Spring 1992h), 87-91.Brown, H.D., and R.C. Burke. Accounting Education: A Learning Styles Study of

Professional-Technical and Future Adaptation Issues. Journal of AccountingEducation (Fall 1987), 187-206.

Buckless, F.A., M.G. Lipe, and S.P. Ravenscroft. Do Gender Effects on AccountingCourse Performance Persist after Controlling for General Academic Aptitude?Issues in Accounting Education (Fall 1991), 248-261.

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