Cases in Point
CBT Case Simulations Prompt Some Review of School Curricula

By Simon Eskow

Students immersed in rigorous academics, heads buried in books, sometimes can only afford a glancing relationship with the outside world.

But since accounting majors began to take the new computer-based testing (CBT) of the CPA examination, the need to connect real-life accounting scenarios with knowledge in the classroom has become more apparent. There have been rumors that some students were taken aback when they faced the problem of connecting book knowledge with real-world applications, and had difficulty with CBT questions that were based on case studies.

“I don’t know if there have been any good empirical studies to show that,” Mary-Jo Kranacher, a professor with York College in Queens, N.Y. But anecdotally, Kranacher said, the case studies seem to have given students trouble and affected scores.

The CBT, which accounting majors began taking last April, includes multiple-choice questions and questions based on real-world scenarios, representing a significant change in the testing method. It’s possible that, while teaching methods already vary widely from classroom to classroom in the dozens of accounting programs across New York state, they may all reflect to some degree the application of real-life auditing and accounting problems as part of the curriculum.

Schools, though, may also be slow to formally alter their curriculum to change with the new test, in view of other pressing issues. Kranacher said that her school has been focusing on the 150-hour credit requirement.

“There have been so many issues at once,” she said. “It’s been difficult to address all of them effectively. So, between the 150-hour credit requirement and bringing more fraud-related curriculum into the classroom, to address new statutes like SAS 99 and Sarbanes-Oxley, and then the tests also changing with case simulations, I think a lot of educators are overwhelmed and don’t know what to address first.”

Ron Heufner, distinguished teaching professor in the Department of Accounting and Law at SUNY Buffalo, agreed that many things besides the CBT are forcing schools to revisit their pedagogy.

“Schools to some extent are facing a lot in curriculum which has been stable for a long time, perhaps too long,” he said. “Fraud, ethics, research, the CBT, the 150 hours: all these things are forcing people to spend time on curriculum.”

Heufner said that Buffalo’s program has taken the CBT into consideration in slowly altering its curriculum. The school intended to make sure that students had a “level of comfort with computerized databases” to acclimatize students to computer-based research. The school last year acquired a license for the Financial Accounting Oversight Board’s FARS database so that students wouldn’t have to rely on the voluminous print versions.

Other adaptations have included the use of a single set of research materials for juniors and seniors that will apply to all their accounting courses and after-school expert seminars. Students are required to attend two of those seminars a semester.

As for bringing in the real world, educators often haven’t been working in the auditing world for some time, but many still use their knowledge and firsthand experience in the classroom.

“On our faculty, virtually none are engaged in significant practice,” Heufner said. “But most of them have experience. Most of them are keeping up with things.”

Professors say that textbook publishers are slow to adapt real-world scenarios and case studies, slowing the evolution of a program. But others are beginning to see things described as “mini-case” studies at the end of a chapter that are designed to prompt discussion.

In any event, professors say that they are often too busy covering the general concepts to get to anything more specific, although everyone is making an effort.

“Sometimes you are so busy trying to teach the basic stuff you find there is little time left for what was once called the exotic,” said George Foundotos, professor of accounting at Dowling College. “I, for one, am learning…in my own class preparations and classroom work to squeeze out more time for the new ‘basic’ stuff. My kids go to school and work, so time is of the essence for them.”

Still, professors agree that curricula will eventually include more real-world scenarios and applications in such classes, but they aren’t worried that schools will “teach to the test” (i.e., sacrifice learning in favor of exam preparation).

“I don’t think that’s an issue,” Kranachaer said. “I’m trying to teach students concepts. When it comes time that they’re ready to take the CPA exam, the review courses will address the exam more effectively.”