An investigation of the emerging trend towards a laptop requirement for accounting majors in the USA

Abstract

The dramatic technological revolution that has taken place in the last decade makes it imperative for students to emerge from their undergraduate education technologically proficient, comfortable with technology, and ready to pursue their chosen fields. Computers, like pencils and notebooks, have become an integral part of the college experience. In the last five years there has been an emerging national trend to require laptop computers for accounting majors as well as in other disciplines. A laptop computer requirement can be extremely beneficial to accounting majors. While courses in accounting information systems have typically required students to gain hands-on experience using software such as Microsoft Access, Peachtree, QuickBooks, Great Plains and others, incorporation of technology into the other accounting courses has generally been more limited and has varied from programme to programme. The implementation of a laptop requirement necessitates a thorough analysis of the entire accounting curriculum and should result in the incorporation of information technology in all accounting courses. This also requires that faculty become technologically proficient and thus able to incorporate the laptop use into the curriculum so that the value of the laptop computer is realized. This paper: (1) examines the laptop requirement trend for accounting majors and the related aspects/characteristics in a sample of US institutions accredited and not accredited by AACSB International, and (2) provides a case study of the implementation of a laptop requirement for undergraduate accounting majors in an AACSB-accredited institution and feedback based on student evaluations of the requirement over a two-year period.

Keywords:

• laptop computers
• computers
• accounting programme
• accounting faculty

Notes

¹A copy of the course specific survey and general survey are available from the corresponding author.

²The following is a description of a scenario where the student did not report a problem to the instructor and this adversely affected his grade. A student who scored well on exams and completed homework assignments satisfactorily submitted electronic files and printed documents related to an IT project due at the end of the semester, that were identical to those of a classmate. They were clearly a copy because although each student printout was supposed to show the student's name as the logon id, this student altered the classmate's user id with a pen to reflect his own id. This student received a lower grade and was mystified as to why, because his exam grades had been excellent. When the reason was explained to him, he argued that this occurred because he was unable to print from his laptop, and thus copied his classmate's files, since they had both worked on the project together. The instructor saw no justification for changing this student's grade because he had not informed the instructor of the problem, which could have been easily resolved. In fact there had been an in-class demonstration of how to save the documents created by this particular software package, to disk as text files and subsequently printing them out from the printer in the department's computer lab. In this case the student necessarily absorbed the liability relative to the technical difficulties he was having in the form of a lower grade, because he did not act responsibly.