Professional Development Programmes for Accountants Through Distance Education: An Australian Study

Abstract

This case study analyses the collaboration between the Australian Society of Accountants (ASA) and Deakin University in designing, developing, delivering and evaluating an induction and in‐service programme for graduate, practising accountants through distance education during 1984 and 1985. The case study is written from the perspective of two educational technologists employed on the project and uses a programme development analytical framework. This analytical framework is briefly described in the study. The case study describes an innovatory programme which has wide implications for professional continuing education and training programmes in general, from the academic, professional and administrative viewpoints. The ASA is a well‐established professional body and Deakin University has a well‐developed distance education infrastructure. The study includes information derived from a series of formative and summative evaluations conducted by the authors.