An Examination and Analysis of Technologies Employed by Accounting Educators

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the current state of accounting education in terms of the technology being employed by professors in accounting courses. We address the following two interrelated research questions: (1) what technologies are accounting educators using in the classroom, and (2) what technologies and related software and databases are accounting educators requiring their students to use in and outside of the classroom? We used a survey-based cross-sectional field research design to gather information from accounting educators related to the above research questions. We find that, in general, today’s accounting students are obtaining valuable experience with a wide array of IT tools – both hardware and software – in their accounting courses. However, we also note some areas in which better use of technology could be made and provide recommendations for the community of accounting educators to consider. Finally, our study’s results provide a baseline representation of the current use of technology in accounting education programs. Such a baseline should prove valuable to future researchers studying trends in the use of technological tools in accounting education.