Aug 17, 2002 08:21 AM
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(Updated Aug 17, 2002 08:23 AM)
Knowing that this article would entail lots of low rating I would wish to clarify that this topic is indeed in the right category if one wishes to take it as teaching is also a part of academics…
DISCLAIMER – THIS ARTICLE DOES NOT MAKE REFERENCE TO ANY TEACHER WHO HAS TAUGHT OR IS TEACHING ME !!! . ANY SUCH REFERENCE IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL.
Management education has seen the surge of many B schools or Business schools , each good in its own merit. These B Schools adapt a different approach to impart education to their pupils , a more relaxed participative approach , steering away from the authoritative teacher mould.
Among various subjects taught is the very important subject of Accounting , further branched into Financial and Management and Cost Accounting. Accounting is a very Structured subject and the way Accountants have been taught the same, it becomes increasing difficult to impart this knowledge to various students coming from the non financial background.
As all of us have been taught, some of us have also read that Management is an Art and a Science ..and this has been a matter of discussions and healthy arguments. I would like to apply this statement to accounting and state that akin to Management, Accounting too is an Art and a Science … Surprised !!! well … I would like to explain my theory.
Accounting is a Scientific way of Structuring the transactions grouping them into Journal, Ledgers , Subsidiary books , Trial Balance , the Profit and Loss account and the Balance Sheet. Similar to Science there is a definite way of preparing these Books and a solid theory to back the same. Accounting is an Art because, various transactions not being similar there is an Art involved in Accounting each transaction. Accountants find themselves in a soft spot often and tweaking their accounting knowledge and applying the same is an art.
Teaching Accountancy to Management students is quite an uphill task , especially as the class mix consists of students having a background of accounting and the ones who don’t. Hence starting from the scratch is a must and maintaining the interests of the commerce students and making sure that the students from other backgrounds grasp is quite tough. Most profs according to me go into what I would term as an “Accountant’s Trap” , this is when the person knows accounting inside out and is not structured when teaching and this entails throwing in advanced topics and jargons at basic sessions leading in total confusion.
The typical method should go like this –
First introduce or gently release the topic to the class and invoke response from the students and try and get a response from the commerce students and also make sure the other students grasp and involve themselves as well.
Build a strong base quoting definitions and concepts making sure the discussion does not go astray too often.
The mechanical or science part of Accounts i.e the golden rules cannot be evolved through discussion. The entire rules or a typical format of any statement must be displayed to the class. This has to taken in … and is mandatory hence no evolvement through discussion is needed. Then each aspect of that statement or eg Journal Entry must be taught and connected to the background explained earlier and the art of accounting should be shared as how to treat each entry.
One must stick to the topic rather than putting up advanced topics at basic session .. like talking about cash flows during journal entry .. this would confuse the class.
Well I guess that’s it , having only a single experience of teaching accounting to 1 student I guess this is what I could put up !!!
