The Switch: A Study of Promoting Introductory Managerial Accounting As the First Accounting Course for Business and Non-Business Majors

Abstract

Low student performance in introductory accounting courses prompted the authors to switch the order of the courses and offer managerial before financial accounting. This decision to introduce students to the use of accounting information in business decision-making (the focus of managerial accounting) before teaching students to generate accounting information in the financial course is supported by the Pathways Commission’s 2012 report, Charting a National Strategy for the Next Generation of Accountants. This paper presents our analysis of student performance as measured by the grades students earned in managerial and financial accounting for a three-year period both before and after the switch. We looked at both success and non-success measures for all students, as well as for business and non-business majors separately. We found, inter alia, that our decision to offer managerial accounting before financial accounting resulted in improved student performance in the introductory course sequence.