Abstract
When double entry bookkeeping emerged in the late 13th century, students
of accounting were mainly sons or employees of merchants and other craftsmen.
They were highly motivated to learn and had ready access to real examples of what
they were learning.
Students today see little relevance in learning double entry bookkeeping
and find it difficult to learn how to prepare journal entries correctly and, in particular,
struggle with the first stage of the double entry process: identifying which accounts
are to be debited and which are to be credited for each transaction.
One possible solution to this situation, which can be identified in the
literature, is to embed the topic within its historical foundation. This paper reports
on an attempt to do so using the first printed instructional text on the subject (Pacioli
1494) as the principal textbook on a 20-hour component of the introductory financial
accounting course in a U.K. undergraduate accounting degree program. Instruction
followed the pedagogy presented by Pacioli and only minimal additional costs to
faculty were incurred.
The innovation was successful. In their assessment, students not only
demonstrated that they had learnt, understood, and knew the correct entries to make
into the Journal, they did so correctly to an extent that no-one could have foreseen.
Details
| Other ID | JA49BH78DY |
|---|---|
| Journal Section | Articles |
| Authors | |
| Publication Date | January 1, 2015 |
| Published in Issue | Year 2015 Issue: 8 - Issue: 8 |