Accounting Teaching and Education Driven by Extrinsic Motivators of

Students’ Learning

Dr. Annie Yuet-ngo Mok

City University of Hong Kong

Introduction

• Students’ learning is driven by two broad types of motivators in their learning, – intrinsic motivators and – extrinsic motivators.

Intrinsic motivation

• Traditionally, educators create students’ intrinsic motivation by – arousing their interest and – building their confidence in studies

• through the specially designed ways of delivery in lectures and tutorial classes.

Extrinsic motivation

• students’ desire to excel in their future careers is also an important extrinsic motivator that deserves more effort of educators.

• For accounting major students, they want to:– To excel in future careers, joining a big four

accounting firm.

• So, culture, values and recruitment criteria of big 4 firms serve as key extrinsic motivators of accounting students

in their studies.

Extrinsic motivation

• In the following presentation, 3 extrinsic motivation factors are derived from the recruitment materials and published information of big four accounting firms as reflected in their websites:– Diversity and Inclusion– Integrity and Corporate Responsibility– Innovation and Ideas

1. Diversity and Inclusion

• Pricewaterhouse Coopers emphasizes on their commitment to the diversity of people [1].

• Deloitte also sees diversity and inclusion as an investment in their people and the organization [2].

• Ernst & Young explicitly states that they look for people who recognize the value of different backgrounds, perspectives and

experiences [3]. • KPMG believes in diversity, they become more vibrant and better thinkers [4].

2. Integrity and Corporate Responsibility

• Ernst & Young explicitly states that they want people with integrity [3].

• Deloitte also recognizes integrity as an element of their commitment to corporate responsibility [2].

3. Innovation and Ideas

• Deloitte has a culture of innovation and it wants to hear ideas [2].

• Pricewaterhouse Coopers welcomes ideas in an atmosphere of collaboration and teamwork [1].

• KPMG need people to be global thinkers [4].

How to achieve?

• To achieve the 3 “Requirements”, students need to develop – not just an awareness – but a commitment towards community and

environmental projects so that when they apply for jobs there is evidence of involvement as well as concern.

• Students in CityU has this competitive edge because CityU is actively providing them opportunity to commit to the various community and environmental projects held in CityU

Environmental projects

• Various community and environmental projects committed by students in CityU:– United at CityU to reduce food– Putting People and Planet first– Food waste campaign kicks off on campus– Social Responsibility Day– Campus Earth Hours – Green light movement

• Full story: http://www6.cityu.edu.hk/puo/newscentre/usr/activities.htm

Pictures of Activities

Conclusion

• This paper shows that the three attributes of soft skills and cognitive mind-sets can be effective motivators for accounting students to fulfill their drive to excel in future careers in accounting.

• Therefore, it is recommended that educators should take into accounts in the designing of teaching and education to incorporate training and inference to accounting students on the three attributes.

Reference

• Website of Pricewaterhouse Coopers, www.pwc.com

• Website of Deloitte, www.deloitte.com

• Website of Ernst & Young, www.ey.com

• Website of KPMG, www.kpmg.com