Keywords

transaction-based learning, tax knowledge organization, curriculum design

Abstract

An important part of accounting curriculum reform is a movement away from traditional methods of organizing accounting courses toward improved organization schemes. Two basic approaches to organizing the content of tax courses are a transaction-based scheme and an entity-based scheme. This paper reports the results of an experiment that investigates which scheme is more consistent with how incoming masters in tax students organize tax knowledge and how different schemes affect the manner in which graduating students organize tax knowledge. Ninety students drawn from two full-time masters in taxation programs participated in the study. Subjects individually completed three separate tasks that measured how they organize tax knowledge at both the start of their degree program and three semesters later at or near the end of their program. The results for all three tasks indicate that incoming tax students organize tax knowledge around the type of transaction involved. The results for two of the three tasks indicate that the students' transaction focus did not change during their graduate tax program, whereas the results for the third task indicate that the students' transaction focus increased during their graduate tax experience. The implications of these findings for improving tax instruction are discussed.

Original Publication Citation

“Organizing Tax Instruction: Evidence Regarding the Way Students Organize Tax Knowledge.” Journal of Accounting Education, Winter 1995: 45-58 (with S. Limberg and M. Schadewald).

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

1995

Publisher

Journal of Accounting Education

Language

English

College

Marriott School of Business

Department

Accountancy

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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