| The accounting profession has given ever-increasing focus and attention to the effectiveness and nature of accounting education. Prominent or within the profession have expressed growing concerns about the loss of the “best and brightest” to other career options. Research indicates that accounting majors choose this academic concentration while taking the college accounting principles course. Accounting educators have been asked to examine new and innovative methods for effectively conveying the technical concepts and principles of accounting while enhancing the attractiveness of the discipline to potential accounting majors. Experiential learning models including simulations are one educational approach that has been studied recently in higher education. This empirical study was designed to investigate the effect of integrating an accounting simulation, The Accounting Game, into an introductory course, on students' self-reported perceptions and on course performance.; Using a nonrandomized control group pretest-posttest design, the quasi-experiment was conducted in four classes of accounting principles. Sections were randomly divided into experimental and control groups (n = 80 and 75, respectively). Traditional accounting instruction from the same tenured accounting faculty member was given both groups. The experimental group however, was exposed to the 8-hour accounting simulation near the beginning of the academic term. Both groups were given a pretest prior to the experimental intervention, and both completed two survey instruments upon completion of the course. Measures of student performance (examinations) were identical for all participants.; Results indicated that The Accounting Game was effective in improving student performance, i.e. examination scores, in the experimental group over participants in the control group. Data did not support the research hypotheses regarding improved student perceptions about the accounting course. However, 89.9% of experimental group participants indicated that exposure to the simulation had a positive impact on their attitude toward accounting in general. Suggestions for future research are offered. |
