Volume 11, Number 2, December 2016
| Does a Tutor’s Industry Experience Makes the Teaching of Management Accounting More Effective? Some Evidence from Nigeria |
Abstract
This study investigated the relevance of a tutor’s industry experience in contributing to teaching effectiveness in Management Accounting (MA). Drawing from the Theory of Planned Behaviour, it was posited that a MA tutor should be sufficiently knowledgeable to use practical illustrations to simplify complexities surrounding topics in MA for students (normative belief); whilst acquisition of industry experience is expected to instil the practical knowledge needed to teach MA (behavioural beliefs), a tutor’s industry experience is a factor promoting teaching effectiveness (control beliefs). Data collection was through a structured questionnaire, administered on 120 respondents cutting across Accounting Students (undergraduate and postgraduate), MA Tutors and Practitioners. Top-ranking reasons a tutor’s industry-experience would contribute to teaching effectiveness are that — industry experience adds to the competence of a MA tutor; accounting is a professional discipline that requires deepening of theoretical knowledge with practical experience; cutting-edge MA researches require the ability to marry theory with practice; and industry experience enhances the ability of a tutor to reconcile curriculum review with changes in the industry. Stemming from the observation that a tutor’s industry experience is contributory to teaching effectiveness in MA, it was recommended that MA teachers should, at the minimum, have stint of relevant industry experience.
Keywords: Industry Experience, Management Accounting, Strategy, Performance Management
JEL Classification: M41