The Ethical Interview: Professional Engagement in Undergraduate Accounting

• In Event: Teaching and Learning Cases

Abstract

From the Accounting Education Change Commission to the final report of The Pathways Commission, accounting educators have been urged to make significant changes to the undergraduate curriculum. We are urged to introduce more complexity, ambiguity, and “adaptive anxiety”; to increase encounters between students and practitioners in the field; to promote research and structured inquiry; and to provide more opportunity for students to develop professional judgment skills.

To help fulfill these goals, we developed the ethical interview exercise, using the intentional learning model as a design template. This multi-phased exercise is completed over the course of the semester in four distinct, mutually reinforcing phases. The exercise involves student-directed inquiry and opportunities for feedback and self-assessment. Students develop questions, interview a practitioner of their choice, write a brief paper to summarize what they learned during the interview, and submit reflections on the nature of the experience.

This exercise was implemented in intermediate accounting courses at universities in the United States and Bolivia. Over 80% of students at both locations completed this challenging, self-directed exercise. As a result of the exercise, 82.6% of students described ethical challenges facing the business world in general, and 91.4% described a specific ethical challenge encountered by their interviewee. Overall, 95.7% of students agree or strongly agree the exercise improved their understanding of how accounting information is used in the "real" world, and 91.3% agree or strongly agree it improved their understanding of accounting-related careers. We conclude the exercise is effective in helping students achieve the learning goals outlined by The Pathways Commission and other sources.

Authors

• Larita J Killian, Indiana University - Purdue University - Columbus

• Fabiola Monje-Cueto, Universidad Privada Boliviana

• Christopher Brandon, Indiana University - Purdue University - Columbus