Wax on, wax off: Transfer of Learning through an Experiential Learning Project

Abstract

Masters of accounting students engaged in an experiential learning project on behalf of a federal court judge. The project required students to review attorneys’ expense reimbursement requests for accuracy and existence and assess their compliance with the judge’s pre-established guidelines. When students’ pre- and post-project answers to questionnaire items are compared and evaluated in the context of transfer of learning theory, results suggest that the court project prepared students for future professional endeavors in financial statement auditing. Transfer of learning theory is a concept that has not received much attention in the accounting literature; this paper uniquely applies transfer of learning to an authentic, real-world project. Based on the efficacy of the project in improving students’ auditing knowledge, educators are encouraged to seek similar experiential learning interventions for upper-level undergraduate students or masters of accounting students.