EASY STEPS ON HOW TO IMPROVE ACCOUNTING EDUCATION IN THE UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMME
The effectiveness of higher education is in evaluating students learning and academic performance which has taken the center stage of the education system. Accounting which is one of the most vital sciences practiced today in the business world and even individuals in their dealings with others has become a concern to education stakeholders on ways to improve the accounting education especially in the undergraduate programme for students that are set for their final year project topics research.
Global financial markets calls for the need for clear and reliable accounting information which of course is highly dependent on output of accounting education in higher institutions. Therefore, the undergraduate level is seen as critical and vital in the accounting profession of undergraduate students. In this stage, the accounting students try to build their accounting skills as they learn progressively different accounting courses.
Accounting has become significant especially for people in the business world. This is because it helps in providing them with accurate information on all financial matters, resources, tax budgets as well as helps them in regulating systematic transactions and vital information on potential investors and creditors in the business world.
Therefore, the accounting profession can be said to play vital roles in business and also a key function in any Nations economy. However, in order to play this role effectively in business and the overall economy of a Nation, the accounting function must hinge on the quality of accounting education.
However, irrespective of the growing demand for accounting career, accounting education has witnessed a significant decline recently. Several bodies like the professional accounting bodies, managers and other academics have perceived the failure of universities to provide accounting graduates with the competencies required for the current business environment for many reasons. However, accounting education, as a part of the whole education system in any country, is subject to many changes but it is not clear how these changes affect the accounting education system.
Nevertheless, there have been voices that have called for the improvement in accounting education. Out of these numerous calls, education stakeholders in the accounting profession have collaborated at several levels to come up with international standards that will guide accounting education. Therefore, there is a call to higher institutions to commit resources and expertise to ensuring that such standards are implemented and evaluated to bring about the needed improvement in the accounting education.
ACCOUNTING EDUCATION
Accounting Education means that education which teaches recording and maintaining books of accounts. The accounting education came in existence after mathematics and Economics science. In the point of facts, if it should be said that above education is the base of accounting education.
HOW TO IMPROVE ACCOUNTING EDUCATION
A) THE USE OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL
One of the ways the accounting education can be improved is the use of instructional material. Instructional materials are vital in the teaching and learning of accounting. Undergraduate students tend to learn and comprehend faster with the use of instructional materials in the teachi9ng and learning process.
B) THE USE OF FIELD TRIP
A field trip, which may also be termed as an instructional trip, school excursion, or school journey, is to be a school or class trip with an educational intent, in which students interact with the setting, displays, and exhibits to gain an experiential connection to the ideas, concepts, and subject matter. Field trips is students experiences outside of the classroom at interactive locations designed for educational purposes.
Fieldtrips is said to enhance students’ learning and increased their practical knowledge in the absence of actual work experience. Besides enhancement of student learning, fieldtrips also benefit faculty members with valuable professional development experience especially for younger tourism educators.
Students who directly participate during a field experience generate a more positive attitude about the subject. Field trips help students to have a firsthand knowledge and experience of what they are taught in the classroom, it serves a s a motivator and stimulate interest in the accounting education, add relevance to learning and interrelationships and promote personal and social development.
In short, the connection between the field trip venue and the classroom links the field trip’s experiential learning with prior experiences and learning from the classroom.
C) TEACHERS EXPERIENCE
Teachers experience is another way to improving the accounting education. Teachers who are well schooled with experience are better teachers of the accounting education because they must have had a firsthand knowledge to all that there’s in accounting education as well as better ways and strategies to teaching and learning process.
D) LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
The learning environment must be conducive enough to allow for an inflow of knowledge which will increase comprehension, assimilation, and retention. Students will be more motivated ton study in a well conducive academic environment devoid of any sort of inconveniences.
CONCLUSION
Accountancy program of Nigerian universities as currently structured is outdated and inappropriate in terms of helping graduates acquire the skills and competencies needed in the real world. This undoubtedly contributed to massive unemployment, high poverty rate, crime and other social ills experienced in the country.
There is increasing evidences, based on observations, that Nigeria University graduates in general and graduates of accountancy education in particular lack the necessary and essential real-world employable skills and competencies needed in growing knowledge industries, complex business environment, and globalised capital market. The present day organizations and companies want their new hires to possess skills that require practical application and feasibility.
The Nigerian kind of education has been consumptive instead of productive. The Nigerian youths are taught to master their subjects, but have failed to relate those subjects to Nigerian needs in order to enable school graduates solve the fundamental problems of the country as well as any organization they find themselves in.
Therefore, in order to tackle these problems of the accounting education in higher institutions it calls for ways to improve on the accounting education among undergraduate students in higher institutions. The education stakeholders can also consider the restructuring of the university accountancy program which involve determining the skills companies’ prize most highly in their new hires, and structuring curriculum around those skills is a step in the right direction.
