About Me
I have spent the last 20+ years teaching undergraduate and master’s-level auditing courses at Valparaiso University (1988-1990), University of Wisconsin – Madison (1993-1995), and University of Richmond (1995 – present).
Like many auditing professors, I design my courses to prepare students to (1) pass the Auditing section of the CPA exam, and (2) become staff auditors at public accounting firms. If my auditing courses are unique, it is probably in the emphasis I place on the following three activities.
Use of professional journals and current news stories. Textbooks provide wonderful breadth of coverage, but little depth and few of the “real life” stories that make auditing fascinating. For almost every class meeting, I assign my students to read one article from a professional journal (e.g., Journal of Accountancy, Internal Auditor) and one relatively recent news story (e.g., Business Week, Wall Street Journal). I explain in my syllabus that the supplemental readings are selected to (1) maximize students’ exposure to “real world” topics, (2) address up-to-the-minute issues in auditing, and (3) introduce students to the sources that will serve as their “textbooks” throughout their professional careers. The third purpose is vital. Because auditing standards and practices change constantly, professional accountants must be life-long learners. I want my students to know how to continue learning long after they have sold their textbooks back to the bookstore. My readings, organized by topic area, are listed in the Resources section of this website.
In addition, I begin most class meetings with a five-minute discussion of a news story from the current week – lawsuits, mergers, scandals, Congressional hearings, new standards, whatever is interesting. I take students to the websites and blogs listed in the Links section, and show them the wide variety of accounting-related news items that are posted every day. By the third or fourth day that I begin my undergraduate auditing class in this manner, some student always asks if the articles we discuss will be covered on the exams. “No,” I respond, “These articles are MORE important than the material that will be covered on the exams. It’s time to stop thinking about accounting as your major and begin thinking about accounting as your profession. That means knowing what is going on in the world.”
Use of case studies. Auditing is a complex task. Auditors must understand the client’s operations, assess risk, gather evidence, and evaluate the materiality of misstatements. Sarah Bonner (Issues in Accounting Education, 1999) wrote that while simple skills can be learned through passive teaching techniques such as lectures and assigned readings, complex tasks require active learning techniques such as case studies, role playing and simulation games. I find that the short problems and recycled CPA exam questions contained in textbooks fail to require complex analysis or reasoned judgment. Nor do they contain enough interesting details to pique students’ interest. Fortunately, the accounting education journals contain dozens of auditing-related case studies. I require my students to submit a written solution to approximately one case study per week. The Resources section lists most of the auditing-related case studies published in Issues in Accounting Education and Journal of Accounting Education since 1990.
Integration of academic research. William Beaver wrote in the Spring 1984 edition of Issues in Accounting Education: “One of the major consequences of introducing research is to alter students’ perception of accounting as a discipline. Accounting does involve judgments and research has been conducted that provides evidence on the nature and consequences of those judgments. Other fields, such as finance, incorporate nontechnical summaries of research into their introductory (and more advanced) texts to a much greater extent that we appear to do in accounting. The reason for this disparity is not obvious.”
Integrating research studies into my auditing courses helps me describe the rich environment in which auditing is practiced. Surveys of financial statement users document the expectation gap that exists between auditors and members of the general public. Archival studies of audit work papers illustrate how inherent risk varies across accounts and classes of transactions. Studies that investigate the reliability of audit evidence demonstrate the risks and tradeoffs involved in choosing audit procedures. Surveys of auditors describe the economic and legal pressures they face. Behavioral studies show how auditors’ judgments might be influenced by heuristics and biases.
The key is to discuss the research at a level appropriate for the students. In my undergraduate classes, I describe research studies during my lectures, emphasizing the major findings and implications for practice. The CPA Journal sometimes publishes articles describing academic research in language practicing accountants (and undergraduate students) can understand. Such articles make good reading assignments.
In my master’s-level auditing course, I require each student to present two research summaries to the class. Articles are chosen from mainstream academic journals such as Accounting Review and Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory. Students prepare a one-page outline of each article describing (1) the research question, (2) the data gathered to answer the research question, (3) the major findings and conclusions of the study, and (4) the implications of the research findings for practicing auditors. Students distribute copies of their outlines to the class and make a 3-5 minute presentation summarizing the research. When necessary, I supplement the presentation by explaining the methodology.
Relevant research studies, organized by topic area, are listed in the Resources section of this website. For specific examples of how I integrate research into my auditing classes, see my article “Integrating Research into the Initial Auditing Course,” Advances in Accounting Education, 2000, 113-130.
Paul M. Clikeman, PhD, CIA, CFE
University of Richmond
Paul@AuditEducation.info
I have spent the last 20+ years teaching undergraduate and master’s-level auditing courses at Valparaiso University (1988-1990), University of Wisconsin – Madison (1993-1995), and University of Richmond (1995 – present).
Like many auditing professors, I design my courses to prepare students to (1) pass the Auditing section of the CPA exam, and (2) become staff auditors at public accounting firms. If my auditing courses are unique, it is probably in the emphasis I place on the following three activities.
Use of professional journals and current news stories. Textbooks provide wonderful breadth of coverage, but little depth and few of the “real life” stories that make auditing fascinating. For almost every class meeting, I assign my students to read one article from a professional journal (e.g., Journal of Accountancy, Internal Auditor) and one relatively recent news story (e.g., Business Week, Wall Street Journal). I explain in my syllabus that the supplemental readings are selected to (1) maximize students’ exposure to “real world” topics, (2) address up-to-the-minute issues in auditing, and (3) introduce students to the sources that will serve as their “textbooks” throughout their professional careers. The third purpose is vital. Because auditing standards and practices change constantly, professional accountants must be life-long learners. I want my students to know how to continue learning long after they have sold their textbooks back to the bookstore. My readings, organized by topic area, are listed in the Resources section of this website.
In addition, I begin most class meetings with a five-minute discussion of a news story from the current week – lawsuits, mergers, scandals, Congressional hearings, new standards, whatever is interesting. I take students to the websites and blogs listed in the Links section, and show them the wide variety of accounting-related news items that are posted every day. By the third or fourth day that I begin my undergraduate auditing class in this manner, some student always asks if the articles we discuss will be covered on the exams. “No,” I respond, “These articles are MORE important than the material that will be covered on the exams. It’s time to stop thinking about accounting as your major and begin thinking about accounting as your profession. That means knowing what is going on in the world.”
Use of case studies. Auditing is a complex task. Auditors must understand the client’s operations, assess risk, gather evidence, and evaluate the materiality of misstatements. Sarah Bonner (Issues in Accounting Education, 1999) wrote that while simple skills can be learned through passive teaching techniques such as lectures and assigned readings, complex tasks require active learning techniques such as case studies, role playing and simulation games. I find that the short problems and recycled CPA exam questions contained in textbooks fail to require complex analysis or reasoned judgment. Nor do they contain enough interesting details to pique students’ interest. Fortunately, the accounting education journals contain dozens of auditing-related case studies. I require my students to submit a written solution to approximately one case study per week. The Resources section lists most of the auditing-related case studies published in Issues in Accounting Education and Journal of Accounting Education since 1990.
Integration of academic research. William Beaver wrote in the Spring 1984 edition of Issues in Accounting Education: “One of the major consequences of introducing research is to alter students’ perception of accounting as a discipline. Accounting does involve judgments and research has been conducted that provides evidence on the nature and consequences of those judgments. Other fields, such as finance, incorporate nontechnical summaries of research into their introductory (and more advanced) texts to a much greater extent that we appear to do in accounting. The reason for this disparity is not obvious.”
Integrating research studies into my auditing courses helps me describe the rich environment in which auditing is practiced. Surveys of financial statement users document the expectation gap that exists between auditors and members of the general public. Archival studies of audit work papers illustrate how inherent risk varies across accounts and classes of transactions. Studies that investigate the reliability of audit evidence demonstrate the risks and tradeoffs involved in choosing audit procedures. Surveys of auditors describe the economic and legal pressures they face. Behavioral studies show how auditors’ judgments might be influenced by heuristics and biases.
The key is to discuss the research at a level appropriate for the students. In my undergraduate classes, I describe research studies during my lectures, emphasizing the major findings and implications for practice. The CPA Journal sometimes publishes articles describing academic research in language practicing accountants (and undergraduate students) can understand. Such articles make good reading assignments.
In my master’s-level auditing course, I require each student to present two research summaries to the class. Articles are chosen from mainstream academic journals such as Accounting Review and Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory. Students prepare a one-page outline of each article describing (1) the research question, (2) the data gathered to answer the research question, (3) the major findings and conclusions of the study, and (4) the implications of the research findings for practicing auditors. Students distribute copies of their outlines to the class and make a 3-5 minute presentation summarizing the research. When necessary, I supplement the presentation by explaining the methodology.
Relevant research studies, organized by topic area, are listed in the Resources section of this website. For specific examples of how I integrate research into my auditing classes, see my article “Integrating Research into the Initial Auditing Course,” Advances in Accounting Education, 2000, 113-130.
Paul M. Clikeman, PhD, CIA, CFE
University of Richmond
Paul@AuditEducation.info