THE CURRICULUM DESIGN IN UNIVERSITIES FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF PROVIDERS IN ACCOUNTING EDUCATION

Abstract

Under the influence of globalization and the ongoing expansion of technology, many scholars believe that there is an obvious discrepancy of expectation between the providers of accounting education (i.e. teachers and students) and the demanders of that education (i.e. accounting firms and business enterprises) (Albrecht & Sack, 2000; Li, 1999; Ma, 1996; Tu, 1989; Cheng, 2002; Cheng, 2005). This research presented questionnaires to the providers of accounting education, to explore the future directions of "curricula design" in accounting education at the university level to acquire suggestions on how to decrease the expectation gap between business and the academic practitioners in this field. The research results show that there are five directions that universities can take as follows to upgrade accounting education: 1. Basic accounting, intermediate accounting, advanced accounting, cost accounting, management accounting, and auditing should be integrated. 2. Some courses, like business english, english conversation, communication skills and abilities, e-commerce, strategic cost management, and enterprise resource planning, should be supplemented. 3. Students should be divided into employment and advanced study groups according to their interests. 4. Case study approach should be more emphasized and promoted in universities. 5. A more flexible school-year system should be proposed.