In-Class Manufacturing Simulation: A Hands On Approach

Abstract

Many suggestions on ways to improve accounting education have been presented by professional and academic organizations.  These studies are critical of current accounting education for being too focused on the transfer of information from faculty member to student (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2003), failing to involve students as active participants in the learning process (AECC, 1990), and reinforcing student perception that accounting is boring and uninspiring (Cohen and Hanno, 1993).  To address these concerns we developed an in-class simulation of a manufacturing environment that introduces students to the terminology and processes found in a typical manufacturing environment.  The simulation requires students to work in teams to be the low cost manufacturer of the product, in this case paper airplanes, and to deal with real situations that are typically encountered by many manufacturers.  Students are active participants in the process and are able to compare their teams’ performance against the performance of their classmates.  Students indicate this exercise is interesting, informative, fun and a welcome change from the normal lecture format. Faculty members have also found the exercise a refreshing break from the normal lecture, especially since students are enthusiastic and interested participants.