Preparing Students For An Online Accounting Course

Abstract

Accounting education has been under intense examination for at least the past 20 years (American Accounting Association, 1986; Big Eight Accounting Firms, 1989; AECC, 1990).  Similarly, the value of an MBA education has been scrutinized (Leonhardt, 2000 and Mintzberg and Lampel, 2001). Over the past 10 years, online education has grown exponentially with the Internet (Bryant, Kahle and Schafer, 2005).  This paper examines the responses of students who have just completed an online MBA financial accounting course to the question “What advice would you give someone who is about to take the course?”  Over 60 students were polled, and their answers categorized into 36 repeated recommendations and seven themes:  Input Factors, Communication, External Activities, Technical Skills, Study Tips, Personal Factors, and Course Characteristics.  By far the predominate factor mentioned was time, but the breadth of additional advice provides a snapshot for educators of the student point of view.  The results of this study are useful to any professor who has taught or will be teaching an online financial accounting course.