It has been identified by research as early as 1986 (AAA's Bedford Report) that the business community requires accountants to display a wide range of vocational skills beyond the traditional requirement of just being good at the numbers. Denna et al. in 1993 identified that due to the increasing influence of Information Technology, accountants needed to possess a strong understanding of business, have significant interpersonal skills and leadership skills. The key vocational skill needed for this new philosophy that enables businesses to continually respond to a constantly changing world is communication (Stout and DaCrema 2004), but it has been noted that this skill is particularly lacking amongst accountants in either a written or verbal manner (Dagget and Liu 1997, Hirsch and Collins 1988, Borzi and Mills 2001, O'Connell 2015, Ireland 2016). The testing and results for one-hundred and thirty-one first year undergraduate accounting students indicate that many students possess high levels of communication apprehension (as first defined by McCroskey 1970). McCroskey's intervention to help reduce communication apprehension is too expensive both in terms of time and resources required. Therefore this thesis investigates the use of self-efficacy techniques (as advocated by Bandura 1977, 1986, 2006) in the first year accounting pedagogy at Sheffield Hallam University. The investigation into communication self-efficacy techniques may be limited to Sheffield Hallam University's first year undergraduate accounting and business studies students but it does indicate that different pedagogical interventions must be created to help male and female accounting students. Both and male and female accounting students indicated that the technique which had the strongest influence on their communication self-efficacy was that of personal mastery (practice). Male accounting students went on to suggest that support by their class colleagues and their tutor acting as a mentor had a significant influence. For female accounting students what has come through strongly is the need for more female accounting role models. There is a call for female professional accountants to get involved with universities. This involvement needs to be in the form of influencing the curriculum and giving guest lectures. This involvement will hopefully allow the female students to vicariously experience (observe) and gain inspiration to be the next future generation of female professional accountants.

Over the past few decades, there has been an expectation gap between what accounting education has delivered and what accounting practice has received. Practitioners want university education to train students for specific tasks and circumstances to prepare them for the reality of the work environment. On the other hand, academics want university education to be broad and comprehensive, and carrying an academic character. The research has made significant contributions to knowledge regarding the nature of the gap between accounting learning and practice in SA. The study has revealed unexpected results in relation to the gap in accounting education, which can be explained through the profession's first appearance in SA and the influence of the American accounting framework on professional accounting education in SA. Moreover, this study has made other contributions in terms of methodology, theory, and practice. This study uses a novel framework to understand the gap, in the context of Saudi Arabia. The study uses an abductive approach to investigate the 'what' and ' why' reasons for the gap, characterize its details, and propose recommendations for bridging it. It is the first of its kind to analyse qualitatively the perspectives of five main groups of stakeholders in the accounting system (accounting educators, final year students, fresh employees (1-4 year of experience), the professional body and employers) and compare their perspectives about the competencies of accounting graduates. The findings show that a gap between learning and practice exists in university accounting education in Saudi Arabia. Employers believe that accounting graduates lack the required technical competencies for the workplace. All participant groups affirmed that collaboration between the profession and the academic is in order, to bridge this gap. University accounting curricula need to change and be updated in order to meet the rapid developments in the business environment.

Critical thinking has been seen as the foundation of Western university education (Barnett, 1997). Today, educators and industry constantly emphasise the importance of acquiring critical thinking by students and graduates. One of the possible ways to facilitate critical thinking in students’ learning is group learning. The aim of this qualitative study grounded in Constructivism is to work towards an understanding of critical thinking in the context of group learning. The research objectives are concerning with the postgraduate accounting and finance students’ perceptions and experiences within and between students in this constructivist model of learning. The sample was composed of twenty students who enrolled in a Fundamentals of Financial Management (FFM) Module of the MSc Accounting and Finance. Students were required to participate in group learning and engaged in critical thinking to complete the group assignment. The primary data collection method was in-depth semi-structured interviews and the supportive method was students’ individual reflection reports. The study particularly interested in their perceptions and responses in relation to critical thinking and group learning. This study used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as the guide for data analysis. Student profiles were created in order to understand their perceptions and experiences according to their voices rather than the researcher’s. This study adopted two approaches to generate the findings. First, it considers the significant variations of the ways students described and revealed the perceptions and responses in the context of group learning. At this stage, the study identified presents findings which include students’ stance, perceptions, orientations to group learning, motivation and critical responses. Second, it used matrices to identify potential relationship between the identified findings at the first stage. This research identified there were both congruent and incongruent relationship between the findings. In other words, it revealed that group learning provided a complex environment for learning and engagement with critical thinking. Students brought with them particular stance, perceptions, orientations, and motivation that appeared to predispose them to engage in particular ways within the group. Hence, the congruent and incongruent relationship will make sense only after considering students as ‘the person who learn’ (Javis, 2006). This study concluded that students should take central role to engage in critical thinking and learning. This study also concluded that group learning provide the social contextual conditions for critical thinking to take place. However, it must be employed with students in mind. With these in mind, the implications and recommendations for pedagogy were made for the policy makers and educators. Limitations of the research were reported and a number of recommendations for future research were offered in relation to critical thinking and group learning. The study seeks to make a unique contribution to the research of critical thinking and group learning and illuminates the teaching and learning pedagogical practices in HE and AE. Its conclusion will be of value to policy makers and educators in advancing knowledge of critical thinking and group learning in HE and professional accounting education.

This study is undertaken in a large post 92 university in which the intake each year for accountancy and finance is over 400. There is a prevailing assumption in the institution that the majority of the intake are classified as typical undergraduates coming straight from previous studies, with little or no sustained experience of the world of work. Little consideration is given to students identified as “mature” using the university definition of aged over 21 (HESA 2015). I became aware of a number of mature students in my roles as lecturer and latterly manager of this programme. Furthermore, the sacrifice of full-time paid employment for three years full-time study intrigued me. This study has three key aims. The first is to explore the processes involved in making a career change decision from full-time paid employment to full-time study for an accounting and finance undergraduate degree. The second is to analyse the ways that students identify and articulate changes to their identity, as they become mature full-time students. The third is to explore how structure and agency affect career choices of the mature undergraduate student. The research involved interviewing four accounting and finance undergraduate students. The choice of students was opportunistic as these were students known to me during the course of their studies. The analysis and discussion chapters delineate between pre and post university registration as two distinct phases. The pre university experience relates mainly to the first aim. The post university phase relates to the second aim and the third aim draws on both. The theoretical framework draws upon Bourdieu’s notions of capital, field and habitus and Holland et al’s (1998) concept of Figured Worlds with particular focus on notions such as the “standard plot” and “serious play”. A key finding from this research is that despite the ability to make the decision to change career themselves, the validation of this decision by others was important. The final chapter includes further findings concluding with impact on future practice and a critical reflection on and the limitations of the study.

Accounting, as a complex social phenomenon, is experienced by individuals in a multitude of ways. A changing professional business landscape coupled with the transforming role of the accountant highlights the need for a broader focus in accounting education. Critics of accounting education have expressed concern that less emphasis should be placed on technical skills and more focus on conceptual understanding and qualities of self-development. To facilitate this, a deeper understanding of how students relate to and contextualise accounting is imperative. Presage has therefore been identified as an area of critical importance to students’ learning. Prior research, predominantly in the sciences has indicated the importance of contrasting contexts in learning. In particular, that of the everyday and academic. As students move from an ‘everyday’ understanding of phenomena to more formalised learning contexts their conceptions of disciplinary concepts may differ significantly from a more ‘authorised’ view. This may result in misconceptions that are difficult to change. Therefore a broader interpretation of and investigation into presage, outside a purely cognitive perspective, is therefore warranted. This study takes a broad and explorative research approach to uncover variations in students’ perceptions of learning accounting. Phenomenography is used as it enables a deep investigation into the lifeworld of others. A flexible research design is created in order to successfully enter and uncover the lived experiences of students when investigating complex social phenomena. This research design and process ‘account’ further advances innovative and practical ways of gaining access to and successfully entering individuals’ lifeworlds when using the phenomenographic research approach. This study uncovers for the first time in accounting education the existence of two central worlds in the learning of introductory accounting: ‘accounting as learnt’ and ‘accounting as lived’. The findings show the ‘accounting as learnt’ world reveals a world in which accounting is perceived as something that needs to be discovered, learnt and acquired. Accounting, in this sense, is externally imposed upon students and they experience difficulty in connecting with accounting. Students struggle with the abstract nature of accounting and as such tend to focus on the concrete. They further search for relation between what they are learning in their formal university accounting education and their more ‘personal’ contexts. In stark contrast, the ‘accounting as lived’ world is a world in which students perceive accounting as familiar and part of their everyday experience. It was found that accounting provides students with future benefit and meets their need for control. Accounting further provides a social connection for students and this is linked with the image and status of accounting. Here, students connect with accounting through the way in which the control and planning aspects of accounting actively shape and play a role in their everyday lives. The findings further show students’ variations in the emphasis on motivation clearly underpin both these worlds, where the learning of accounting is fundamentally shaped by both context and relevance. These two worlds reveal an incredibly diverse and complex reality that exists within students’ studying introductory accounting, providing a new appreciation of student ‘presage’ in accounting education. An alternative pedagogical approach to introductory accounting is proposed that takes into account these two central worlds.

The research is an inquiry into students’ learning experiences within a blended learning Accounting course in a sub-degree programme at a university in Hong Kong. In this course, the students were required to attend face-to-face classes and to participate in learning activities in the online platform. A case study research approach was adopted that involved 2 classes of 2 teachers and 80 students. Qualitative data were generated through classroom observations, online participation observations, student learning logs and reflections, student focus group interviews, student individual interviews, individual teacher interviews and an individual interview with the course leader. Thematic data analysis was used and a Community of Inquiry (CoI) model was used as a theoretical framework. The analysis showed that the students engaged in learning by integrating traditional and online learning activities and many of these were located within the social, cognitive and teaching presences within the CoI model. However, the students were found to be involved actively in non-prescribed activities that included the use of social network applications. The active learning exploration driven by students’ intrinsic motivation and the consequent collaborative learning among students using social media tools were not reflected in the CoI model. Hence, a new element of autonomy is proposed as an addition to the framework, to reveal the link of autonomous learning to the learning community. By extending the CoI framework, the contribution of this research is to provide a holistic model for the successful design and implementation of blended learning in higher education institutions.

This thesis employs a new institutional sociology perspective to investigate factors influencing accounting education practices in Libyan universities. For this purpose, two pieces of empirical work, a case study and an analysis of accounting textbooks used in Libyan universities, were conducted. The case study was undertaken at one Libyan university and included interviews of accounting academics, document analysis and observations. The findings of the case study informed the second part of the empirical work of this thesis analysing the accounting textbooks used in Libyan universities through interviews with accounting academics and a content analysis of accounting textbooks. The main findings of this thesis indicate that accounting education practices in Libyan universities are largely shaped by coercive pressure emanating from the Libyan political context and political regime and a lack of funding that has fundamentally transcended normative or mimetic isomorphism from international accounting education practices. The influence of this coercive pressure also has led to embedded institutional logic of having a second job and not conducting research as the dominant logic of Libyan accounting academics. Hence, there is a lack of a systematic development and update of the accounting curriculum, syllabus and textbooks in Libyan universities leading to an outdated syllabus that is irrelevant to the needs of Libyan accounting students or to the profession. In addition, the teaching methods adopted to deliver the accounting syllabus are traditional methods such as lectures and tutorials that are led by teachers with little interaction with students which limits the skills development of Libyan accounting students.

This submission represents a journey of learning about learning within accounting education, and, in particular, the role of learning technologies and students’ skills in the process of learning. The work presented was published over the past decade and a half and addresses issues concerned with accounting education both past and present, and includes research on the author of the first printed text on double entry bookkeeping, Fra’ Luca Pacioli. The overriding research interest at the core of this submission and which has guided the various and varied phases and themes within in it is a concern to learn from how learning technologies are and have been an integral part of the educational environment, and to gain insight into how learning technologies might best be utilised in the field of accounting education. The work is presented in two themes with an additional two publications related to methodological approach. The first theme is related to students’ skills and technology and the second theme includes historical research into early accounting education. The published work in these themes is predominantly represented by research published in leading refereed journals in the fields of accounting education and accounting history. The additional two publications are included as they relate to and illustrate the methodological approaches that underlie the overall approach to the research that is presented and developed in the two themes: an approach that privileges, as far as practical, subjects’ contextual understandings of their worlds. Given the diversity of the work included in this submission there is no single research question and there are a diverse range of contributions. The work included contributes to our understanding of the introduction and utilisation of learning technologies in the teaching of accounting, both printed books in the 15th century and Information Technology (IT) in the late 20th/early 21st centuries, and the skills required to facilitate learning within the discipline of accounting. The practical value and importance of the research is supported by, inter alia, reference to the author’s applied work (not part of the submission) that illustrates how the published work contributes to good practice in skills development and the introduction and integration of learning technologies in the accounting curriculum. The papers on IT skills adds to our understanding of the IT skills that students bring with them to university, and raises awareness of the need to challenge the taken for granted assumptions about the abilities of new generations of students. The work on generic skills, whilst showing the importance of skills development also highlights the complexities in this area particularly in relation to issues concerned with confidence in making choices, in the subject matter, via modelling choices, and in time management: not knowing what to do, what to study. The paper on matrix accounting in a Russian university illustrates the potential of an approach to accounting education that is facilitated by the use of IT based learning. The work on Pacioli contributes significantly to our knowledge and understanding of Pacioli as a pioneer in the field of accounting education, and the role of his writing within Summa in the education, development and spread of double entry bookkeeping and accounting, in particular by relating the works to literature in fields such as renaissance art, educational systems and social development. In contrast, the sole authored work on Pacioli concentrates on an element of the minutiae of the bookkeeping process, the accounting for goods inventory, traces the longevity of this method of recording transactions, and shows how this had potential to provide important decision information to merchants, who were the prime market for Pacioli’s writing at the time. The two themes addressed in this submission include works that have individually made unique and significant contributions to the fields of accounting education and accounting history, and the two publications included to illustrate the methodological approach have made a contribution methodologically and to the finance literature. Taken together the works presented also provide a significant and original contribution to the knowledge and understanding of the role of learning technologies in accounting education and, by investigating new learning technologies in the different periods of time, provide a platform for further research to help us to appreciate the importance of technologies in accounting, and in accounting education.