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A Critical Evaluation Of The Undergraduate Accounting Curriculum In The Philippine College Of Commerce

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A Critical Evaluation Of The Undergraduate Accounting Curriculum In The Philippine College Of Commerce

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Content A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE UNDERGRADUATE ACCOUNTING
CURRICULUM IN THE PHILIPPINE COLLEGE OF COMMERCE
A Dissertation
Presented to
the Faculty of the School of Education
University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
by
Flora Goyenechea-Gonzalez
January 1972
INFORMATION TO USERS
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University Microfilms
300 North Zeeb Road
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A Xerox Education Company
72-21,672
GOYENECHEA-GONZALEZ, Flora, 1922-
A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE UNDERGRADUATE
ACCOUNTING CURRICULUM IN THE PHILIPPINE
COLLEGE OF COMMERCE.
University of Southern California, Ed.D., 1972
Education, higher
University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan
THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED.
This dissertation, w ritten under the direction
of the Chairm an of the candidate’s Guidance
Committee and approved by a ll members of the
Committee, has been presented to and accepted
by the Faculty of the School of Education in
p artial fu lfillm en t of the requirements fo r the
degree of D octor of Education.
Guidance Committee
PLEASE NOTE:
Some pages may have
indistinct print.
Filmed as received.
University Microfilms, A Xerox Education Company
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
With a deep sense of gratitude I write my acknowl
edgments to my family, friends, and professors who made pos
sible the successful completion of my studies. Without the
confidence shown by my Study Committee in my capacity to
fulfill the requirements of my degree objective, I would not
have found the courage, patience, and determination to pur-
isue the trying ordeal and might have floundered on the way.
jwithout the help of my brother Ric and my father Jose who
! j
| took charge of the couple of surveys I needed back home in
i
the Philippines, I would not have completed my study within
the short time remaining of my study leave here in the
United States.
i
! I am equally indebted to my colleagues in the
jPhilippine College of Commerce who followed up the original
sources of my materials and helped bring my surveys to a
fruitful end, namely: Professors Maria D. Bueno, Soledad
Orlina, Rosalina Luna, and Flora Matela. I also appreciate
the help of Elena Juarez and Professor Pastor Cruz in expe
diting my requests for records from the College. And above
all, I owe President Nemesio E. Prudente of the Philippine
College of Commerce my profound thanks for his whole-hearted
cooperation in facilitating all my needs in order that I
I
might obtain my doctorate degree.
These acknowledgments would not be complete, how
ever, if I failed to mention my indebtedness to the family
of my closest friend, Ruth David-Angeles, whose mother
Felisa, husband Carlos and daughter Karla afforded me a fam
ily life during my four-year stay in the United States which
|
II could have missed terribly due to the absence of my own
i
family in the Philippines. Last but not least, I want to
thank Ruth's brother, Manny David, for assisting and encour
aging me to pursue my doctoral studies in this venerable
community of scholars, the University of Southern
I
•California.
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................
LIST OF TABLES ...................................
Chapter
I. INTRODUCTION ..............................
Background of the Problem
i Statement of the Problem Situation
! Method and Organization of the Study
| Delimitations of the Study
| II. FORMULATION OF CRITERIA THROUGH SURVEY OF
| LITERATURE ..............................
Review of Literature
Statement of Criteria
III. COMPARISON OF THE UNDERGRADUATE ACCOUNTING
CURRICULUM IN THE PHILIPPINE COLLEGE OF
COMMERCE WITH THOSE OF SELECTED SCHOOLS
Selection of Schools Included in
the Catalogue Survey
Limitations of the Catalogue Survey
Comparative Analyses
Summary of Findings
Chapter Page
IV. SURVEY OF THE ACCOUNTING GRADUATES OF
P C C ......................................... 96
The Survey Questionnaire
The Study Group
Analysis and Findings of the Survey
Summary of Findings
V. SURVEY OF THE ACCOUNTING FACULTY IN PCC . . . 157
The Study Group
Analysis and Findings
Summary of Findings and Comparison with
Results of the Survey of Graduates
VI . THE MODEL CURRICULUM........................... 178
Guiding Principles Used in Curriculum
Construction
Search for Ideas towards Excellence in
Accounting Education
A Presentation of the Model Curriculum
VII. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS . . 197
Summary
Conclusions
Recommendations
APPENDIXES
A. The Four-Year Accounting Curriculum ......... 218
B. Fifth Y e a r ................................... 22 3
C. Description of Courses...................... 225
D. Letter and Questionnaire to Graduate .... 239
E. Letter and Questionnaire to Faculty ......... 245
BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................... 249
v
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Comparative Enrollment in the Top Five
Collegiate Courses for the School
Year 1967-1968 6
2. Comparison of the Earlier Accounting Curriculum
with the New Accounting Curriculum Effective
the School Year 1969-1970 ................... 13
3. Comparison of Actual and Suggested Components
of the Undergraduate Accounting Curriculums
in the Philippines and in the United States . 47
4. List of Schools in Greater Manila Area,
Philippines, Included in the Catalogue
S u r v e y....................................... 67
5. Objectives of Undergraduate Accounting Programs
Disclosed by a Catalogue Survey of
Selected Schools ............................ 71
6. Comparative Data on the Length of Accounting
Programs of the Philippine College of
Commerce (PCC) and Selected Schools ......... 73
7. Balance between General and Specialized Studies
in the Undergraduate Accounting Curriculums
of PCC and Selected Schools................. 76
8. Comparative Data on the Components of General
Education in the Accounting Programs of
PCC and Selected Schools................... 80
vi
Table Page
9. Comparative Data on Components of Business
Education in the Accounting Programs of
PCC and Selected Schools ...................
10. Comparative Data on the Accounting Courses
Offered in PCC and Selected Schools .........
11. Analysis of Accounting Curriculum Patterns . .
12. Placement of Selected Subject Areas in the
Accounting Programs of PCC and
Selected Schools .... ...................
J
! 13. Comparative Distribution of Elective Semester
Units in the Accounting Programs of PCC
and Selected Schools . . . .................
i 14. Questionnaires Completed by Accounting
Graduates .....................................
j
! 15. Stage When Graduates First Seriously
! Considered Studying Accounting in
College .......................................
16. Main Reason for Pursuing Accounting in
College .......................................
17. Status: Whether Full-Time or Part-Time
i Student while Studying Accounting in
i College ........................................
I
1
18. Courses Taken before Admission to the
Upper Division, Accounting Major ...........
19. Reasons for Taking the Accounting Refresher
Course before Admission to the Upper
Division, Accounting Major ........... . . .
83
85
87
89
91
100
102
104
105
106
108
vii
Table
Page
20. Initial Accounting Positions Held by Graduates
after College Graduation ...................
21. Reasons for not Obtaining Initial Accounting
Positions after College Graduation . . . . .
22. Kinds of Positions Held by Graduates up to the
Time of Survey ..............................
2 3. Reasons Given by Graduates for Leaving Their
Accounting Occupations ......................
i 24. Opinions of Graduates as to Whether Choice of
| Accounting Major Fulfilled Personal
I Aspirations ...................................
I
i 25. Attitudes of Graduates towards Their Public
| Accounting Jobs ..............................
26. Attitudes of Graduates towards Their Private
Accounting Occupations ......................
27. Evaluation of Business Courses by Graduates
as to Usefulness of Courses in Their
Accounting Occupations ......................
28. Perception by Graduates of the Effectiveness
of Their College Education in Preparing
Them for Accounting Jobs ...................
29. Preparation for Professional Advancement Taken
by Graduates after College Graduation . . . .
! 30. Courses Pursued after College Graduation . . .
31. Perceptions by Graduates of How Well Their
College Education Prepared Them for the
CPA Examination ..............................
111
112
113
115
117
119
121
12 3
130
133
134
135
viii
Table Page
32. Subjects Passed in the CPA Examinations by
Candidates from PCC during First and
Second Sittings ................................ 138
33. Trends in Public Accounting Functions in the
Next Twenty-Five Years as Envisioned by
Graduates..................................... 139
34. Perceptions by Graduates of an Ideal
Distribution of Semester Units in the
Accounting Curriculum ........................ 141
35. Opinions of Graduates as to the Place of EDP
in the Undergraduate Accounting Curriculum . 144
36. Opinions of Graduates Regarding the Best
Pattern of Undergraduate Accounting
Education..................................... 146
37. Opinions of Graduates as to the Manner of
Effecting the Preparation for the CPA
Examination in the Undergraduate
Accounting Curriculum ........................ 148
38. Opinions of Graduates as to Distribution of
Accounting* General Business* and Liberal
Education Components in the Undergraduate
Accounting Curriculum ........................ 150
39. Opinions of Graduates as to Length of
Undergraduate Accounting Program ........... 151
40. Opinions of Graduates as to Type of
Undergraduate Program To Be Required for
Admission to the Graduate Program........... 153
41. Trends in Public Accounting Functions in the
Next Twenty-Five Years as Envisioned by the
Accounting Faculty of P C C .................... 161
viii 3
Table Page
42. Perceptions by the PCC Accounting Faculty of
an Ideal Distribution of Semester Units
in the Accounting Curriculum................. 162
43. Opinions of the PCC Accounting Faculty as to
the Place of EDP in the Undergraduate
Accounting Curriculum .......................... 165
44. Opinions of the PCC Accounting Faculty
Regarding the Best Pattern of Undergraduate
Accounting Education ........................ 167
45. Opinions of the PCC Accounting Faculty as to
the Manner of Effecting the Preparation for
the CPA Examination in the Undergraduate
Accounting Curriculum ........................ 169
46. Opinions of PCC Accounting Faculty as to
Distribution of Accounting, General Business,
and Liberal Education Components in the
Undergraduate Accounting Curriculum ......... 171
47. Opinions of PCC Accounting Faculty as to
Length of Undergraduate Accounting
Program....................................... 173
48. Opinions of PCC Accounting Faculty as to Type
of Undergraduate Program To Be Required for
Admission to the Graduate Program .......... 174
ix
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The growth of an education designed to provide prep
aration for a profession is intertwined with developments in
the profession. Likewise, the profession being a factor of
society, the problems obtaining in the social matrix of the
profession are reflected in the problems of both the profes
sion and training for the profession.
To provide an insight into the developments in
accounting education which serve as the background for the
problem, the writer relates in this chapter the problems of
accounting education to the problems of the accounting pro
fession in the Philippines and highlights the influences
that helped shape the direction of accounting education in
the country. This chapter further presents the framework of
the study.
1
2
Background of the Problem
Growth of accounting education
in the Philippines
Accountancy in the Philippines is a relatively young
profession compared to law, medicine, engineering, or any
other leading profession, yet today it ranks comparably in
prestige and popularity with other professions of older vin
tage (44:12). Notwithstanding its short history, it is one
of the leading and highest paid professions in the country
(70:1) .
About the turn of the present century, accounting
was introduced in college curriculums in the Philippines,
and has forged precociously ahead of its time since then.
Among the private schools, Jose Rizal College, which was
founded in 1919, was the first school that offered account
ing courses as an integral part of the college curriculum.
The Institute of Accountancy (now known as the Far Eastern
University) went a step further than its predecessor. It
was founded in 1928 with the aim of giving specialized
training in accounting. Thereafter, older private institu
tions in the country such as the Colegio de San Juan de
Letran, the Ateneo de Manila, and the University of Santo
Tomas, all of which were established under the Spanish
3
regime in the Philippines (1521-1898), followed the trend
and began one after another to offer accounting as a spe
cialized course in higher education (81:4).
The University of the Philippines, the only State
university then in existence, was not left lagging behind.
In 1916, it offered accounting courses from the third year
of college work under the Economics Department of the
College of Liberal Arts (81:4).
Accounting education grew sporadically from its
early stage. The passage of Commonwealth Act No. 3105 in
192 3 gave early impetus to the progress of accounting educa
tion in the country. This law was enacted by the Philippine
Legislature to create the Board of Accountancy to regulate
the practice of the accounting profession, and to provide
for examinations for the granting of certificates (84). It
was the initial step towards the formal recognition of
accountancy as a profession in the Philippines.
Recognizing the need for pfeparing qualified certi
fied public accountants, new schools began to appear while
older institutions saw the need and started offering
accounting as a field of specialization. Quickly the number
of institutions offering college accounting doubled after
the passage of the law. A survey conducted by the
4
Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA)
confirmed this finding. An examination of the report pre
pared by PICPA from the replies made by some private insti
tutions reveals that at least four private institutions were
offering accounting studies during the period from 1901 to
192 3. Thereafterj up until 1945 (the end of World War II),
the number increased to eleven (81:6-7).
The end of World War II in 1945 and the granting of
Philippine Independence by the United States in 1946 added
momentum to the growing popularity of accounting education.
The Philippines was then recovering from the ravages of war
and its economic activity was rapidly returning to a normal
state. The Filipino youth returning to resume their college
education were impatient to engage immediately in gainful
occupations. Commercial courses were in great demand. This
was particularly true of accounting study, which is consid
ered internationally as the language of business. The
enthusiasm of the Filipino youth for commercial courses was
heightened by their vision of the increasing national self-
sufficiency engendered by expansion in commerce and indus
try. This was a natural expectation for a nation with the
prospect of imminent independence (81:5). It is not sur
prising therefore to find that the number of schools
5
offering college accounting after 1945 through 1958 (the
latest date appearing in the aforementioned PICPA tabulation
of schools offering accounting) rose to thirty-three or
triple the number after the first spurt of growth in 192 3
(81:6-7).
Other significant influences that contributed to the
burgeoning enrollment in accounting education, as well as to
the proliferation of institutions of higher learning offer
ing accounting education today, were the demands for spe
cialization generated by the increasing complexity of busi
ness itself; the new technological advances requiring spe
cialized accounting skills and knowledges; and the vigorous
activities of the professional organization, the PICPA, in
elevating the standards of both accounting education and
the accounting profession (81:9-10). These factors are dis
cussed in subsequent sections of this chapter in connection
with the problems of accounting education. Hence, they are
not pursued in this section.
Latest available statistics compiled by the Board of
National Education in the Philippines for the school year
1967-1968 show that there are 668 private and twenty public
universities and colleges offering higher education (86:10).
Approximately one-third of these schools offer commercial
6
courses (79). Commerce enjoys the second highest enrollment
in higher education, exceeded only by education. Table 1
below shows the comparative enrollment for the top five col
legiate courses for the school year 1967-1968 (86:19-31).
TABLE 1
COMPARATIVE ENROLLMENT IN THE TOP
FIVE COLLEGIATE COURSES FOR THE
SCHOOL YEAR 1967-1968
Course Enrollment
Education 212,516
Commerce 145,059
Liberal arts 90,645
Engineering 65,633
Medical science 34,2 54
In 1960, a college dean estimated that accounting
courses made up about 85% of all commerce enrollment
(72:15). From personal observations of the writer, corrobo
rated by information gathered from a review of literature,
7
it is safe to assume that accounting continues to the pres
ent as the most popular field of specialization in commer
cial courses (32:324).
Problems of accounting
education today
Accounting education is on the threshold of change.
Three factors press for a sober re-examination of accounting
curriculums in the Philippines. First, because of the com
mon orientation of most accounting curriculums to the CPA
examinations, accounting educators are much concerned with
the most recent promulgations of the Board of Accountancy
made in 1968. Second, the Accountancy Act of 1968 created
the Board of Accounting Education to regulate accounting
education for those aspiring to take the CPA examination.
This made it imperative to revise present curriculums to
conform with the new Board's minimal curriculum requirements.
Third, there are new challenges to the accounting profession
generated by economic and technological changes in business
which perceptive educators cannot ignore in developing an
optimum education for the future accountant.
8
Orientation to CPA examinations
A major weakness in accounting education is its ori
entation not necessarily to the needs of the profession but
to the CPA examinations. The impact of CPA examinations on
accountancy education is demonstrated by the fact that some
private institutions which have grown rapidly over a short
period of time started as review schools offering prepara
tion for the CPA examinations; in this same way the present
University of the East and the Philippine School of Business
Administration started.
Another proof of the impact of the CPA examination
is that the quality of accounting education of an institu
tion is frequently measured by the number of its candidates
V
passing the Board examinations (54:45). Unfortunately, the
percentage of candidates passing the CPA examinations has
always been small. For instance, the mean of the national
average percentage of passing from 1961 to 1970 barely
exceeded 29% of total examinees (76). This fact seems not
to reflect favorably on the quality of accounting education
in the country. Commenting on this deplorable situation in
1952, Pascasio Banaria of the Far Eastern University
observed that the phenomenon "poses a thought-provoking
9
question as to the effectiveness of contemporary accounting
education" (34:64). Later in 1965, Filemon de las Alas of
the University of Santo Tomas re-echoed this apparent
indictment of accounting education when he stated that the
"poor results of past CPA examinations has oftentimes been
attributed to the 'weakness' of the accounting education"
(34:64).
With the predominant influence of the CPA examina
tion on accounting education, any change of examination
requirement imposed by the Board of Accountancy would have
significant effect on accounting education. On March 18,
1968, the Board of Accountancy promulgated new rules and
regulations repealing and/or modifying those first adopted
on March 10, 1954. Two specialized services, taxation and
management services, increasingly offered by the profession
al accountant, are now added to the traditional Board sub
jects. Moreover, there was also included among the
requirements for the CPA examination a practical experience
requirement of one year or a substitute in terms of two-
semester work covering twelve units of equivalent practical
training (85:3). The implication of these new requirements
cannot be overlooked. They contribute towards greater
10
specialization in the curriculum which is increasingly evi
dent in the development in accounting education (31, 30, 34,
54) .
The Board of Accounting
Education
Accounting educators in the Philippines recognize
the universality of accounting and are interested in its
development beyond the boundaries of the country. Philip
pine educators keep abreast with currents of "advanced
accounting thoughts evolved in highly developed indus
trialized nations such as the United States and United King
dom" (82:2), both of which have pronounced influence on the
practice of accounting in the Philippines.
Some educators drew inspiration from studies and
recommendations made abroad in attempting to effect certain
changes in the accounting curriculum prescribed in the
country. Those studies frequently cited in Philippine lit
erature are the Ford Foundation and Carnegie Foundation
reports that appeared in 1959 (80:89), and the Report of the
Commission on Standards of Education and Experience for
Certified Public Accountants in the United States (54:45).
These studies and recommendations suggest the broadening of
accounting curriculums.
11
Since 1957, the lack of an adequate liberal
education in the accounting curriculums in the country had
been constantly the subject of discussions in technical
articles and open forums (31:25-26). Professional organiza
tions in the country, likewise, made studies and proposals
to remedy this defect in the curriculum. The Philippine
Association of Collegiate Schools of Business (PACSB) began
advocating as early as 1962 a five-year accounting curric
ulum so as not to sacrifice the benefits of the general
business curriculum in the preoccupation for the certifi
cate within the standard four-year period (33:206-207). In
1965, a PICPA committee conducted a study of curriculum
standards for accounting education and recommended the
extension of the curriculum to five years for the purpose
of broadening the curriculum to meet the demands of the
profession (31:26). To this concerted effort, the response
of the Department of Education, which oversees professional
education in the Philippines, was sluggish and no prospect
of improvement in the prescribed curriculum was in the off
ing until the PICPA rallied all sectors interested in
accounting education to secure the passage of the Accoun
tancy Act of 1967 (Republic Act No. 5166). This Act created
the Board of Accounting Education which is now empowered to
12
prescribe the college accounting curriculum preparing future
entrants to the profession. The Board of Accounting Educa
tion is composed of the Secretary of Education or his duly
authorized representative as Chairman, the Chairman of the
Board of Accountancy, the PICPA President, the PACSB Presi
dent, and a representative of business and/or industry to be
appointed by the President of the Philippines (68:2-3).
Inasmuch as the educators, professionals, and business
group, are represented on the Board, it is possible that a
broadened and well-rounded curriculum will become a reality.
However, the new curriculum prescribed by the Board of
Accounting Education to take effect beginning with the
school year 1969-1970 (87) apparently does not show as much
improvement in the area of liberal education as the previous
claim of accounting educators suggests. Considering the
penchant of Filipino students for technical courses, the
nine-unit increase in free electives will undoubtedly result
in greater specialization than previously experienced.
Table 2 compares the old curriculum prescribed by the Bureau
of Private Schools and the new curriculum prescribed by the
Board of Accounting Education, indicating increase in units
gained in each area of distribution for easy comparison.
13
TABLE 2
COMPARISON OF THE EARLIER ACCOUNTING CURRICULUM WITH
THE NEW ACCOUNTING CURRICULUM EFFECTIVE THE
SCHOOL YEAR 1969-1970
Units
Earlier New Increase
Liberal education
Business education
Free electives
Total
54
72
18
144
60
75
27
162
6
3
9
18
Challenges to the accounting
profession
The advent of the computer on the business scene and
the growing complexity of corporate enterprise have contrib
uted immensely to the changing role of the accountant. He
has emerged from technician to a professional and his func
tions have expanded beyond the traditional custodian of
financial records. Today, the accountant has an enhanced
role as management consultant or a member of the management
team (52:222-223). Specialization begins to characterize
14
his professional services which are no longer confined to
financial accounting and auditing. Taxation and management
services are increasingly becoming important areas of spe
cialization, so much so that they are now included among the
Board subjects in the CPA examination.
Management services are the most recent addition to
the functions of the accountant. In 1959 and 1950, the
Long-Range Objectives Committee of the American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) considered it as a
proper function of CPAs (55:58). Management services
involve management consultation, advising on financial man
agement, personnel organization and firm tie-ups or expan
sion (32:326), all of which increase proportionately with
expansion in industry. Cost analysis and the design and
appraisal of accounting systems have become important
aspects of management services (62:352).
The development of management services is acceler
ated by the introduction of computers in business. Opera
tions research as a tool of management needs instant infor
mation as a basis for decision-making. The computer makes
possible the production of voluminous and current informa
tion needed for management decision. The accountant, being
in the nerve center of the financial information network,
15
has naturally begun to assume the new roles of management
advisor and management information executive.
The growth of computer use in the Philippines is not
yet impressive because the hardware is too expensive for
many businesses. Only seventy-eight computer systems have
been installed since 1960 when the first system was
installed and twenty-seven are on order (75). It may be a
long time before the computer is widely used in business due
to economic reasons, but the possibility of its use is
enhanced by research in technology resulting in reduction of
cost and availability of smaller units (51:337). The trend
towards computerization is significant since the use of the
hardware tends to reduce accounting personnel who perform
strictly clerical operations (71:8). As a result of com
puter utilization, new positions are created in the top
hierarchy of accounting occupations, e.g., management infor
mation executive, financial executive, operations executive,
etc.
Advancement in computer use and management science
opens new horizons in the accounting profession which
accounting educators should not lose sight of. It seems
reasonable to expect that in the near future accounting cur-
riculums will include some aspects of computer education and
16
there will be a demand for narrower fields of specialization
in accounting education. More importantly* the trend in
accounting education will not continue to proceed in one
direction. In spite of the various tendencies pulling it
towards more specialization* there is a counteracting force
to restore a balance in the curriculum. The greater the
participation of the accountant in decision-making* the more
need there is to provide him with a broad preparatory educa
tion for this function. Possessing a wide perspective and
imagination* an inquiring* open* and flexible mind* the
ability to analyze and form sound judgment* the courage to
face problems and the ability to apply reason to their solu
tion are attributes important to wise decision-making and
are goals that should not be neglected in the curriculum.
Pressing problem in accounting
education
Considering all the forces influencing the course of
accounting education* the pressing problem confronting
accounting education today is the tension between genera]
and specialized education. The problem is not new nor is it
peculiar only to accounting education in the Philippines.
It is a perennial question that has plagued all higher edu
cation in industrialized democracies since the dawn of
17
scientific and technological changes in the education envi
ronment of free societies. In the face of such a reality,
accounting educators should continue their search for a bal
ance in the curriculum that will meet the needs of the stu
dents, be responsive to the new demands of the profession,
and promote the purposes of higher education. General and
specialized education should both be considered in the cur
riculum to complement and reenforce each other in providing
a well-rounded education for the professional accountant.
Statement of the Problem Situation
History of accounting education
in the Philippine College of
Commerce
Faced with the same problems confronting accounting
education in general, the Philippine College of Commerce
which is a State college located in the commercial center of
Manila, has an additional dilemma peculiar to its campus.
To portray a clear picture of the problem situation, it is
relevant to discuss briefly the history of accounting educa
tion in the College.
The Philippine College of Commerce evolved from a
commercial school to a junior college of commerce, and
thence to a full-fledged college. Since 1904 when it was
18
founded, it has specialized in providing training for gov
ernment service and for business. When the Philippine
Educational System celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 1951,
the Philippine School of Commerce (the former name of the
College) was awarded a plaque in recognition of its achieve
ment "for bold and successful pioneering in vocational busi
ness education" (15:17). Students are generally drawn to
the College because of its prestige as a superior vocational
institution.
Although the College has offered college courses
since 1935 (15:13), it was not until 1960 that the upper
division in commerce came into existence. This division was
conceived as a continuation course for graduates of the two-
year commercial courses traditionally offered by the Col
lege . Accounting has been the most popular area of concen
tration in the four-year undergraduate business curriculum.
The prestige of the College has now assumed a new
dimension. Its popularity is enhanced by the successes
achieved by its accounting graduates in the Board and other
examinations.
From 1962 when its commerce graduates first partici
pated in the CPA examination, the College has been register
ing a higher percentage of candidates passing the CPA
19
examinations than the national average, showing an average
margin of 10% above the national average percentage through
the years 1962 to 1968 (77). This notable group performance
is coupled with distinctive individual performances of its
graduates in the CPA and competitive examinations. From
1963 through 1967, the College graduates placed among the
top ten successful examinees in three out of five years. In
the PICPA sponsored intercollegiate competitive accounting
examination held in 1968, the College obtained second and
sixth highest places in the overall ranking (78). For this
reason, accounting has maintained its position as the most
popular undergraduate course in the Philippine College of
Commerce. It has accounted for half of the total graduates
in commerce from the inception of the undergraduate program
up to the present (77).
Due to the circumstances of its evolution, the four-
year undergraduate accounting course has little room for a
desirable liberal component to support its academic status
in higher education. Stressing the need for a more liberal
college education, the College started in 1963 to offer a
liberal base as an alternate to the traditional vocational
base. The student population, however, continues to be
attracted to the vocational base almost totally. The
20
problem that arises apparently is how to serve the needs of
the students, meet the demands of the accounting profession,
and at the same time achieve the objectives of higher educa
tion .
.
Purpose of the study
In the previous sections, the concerted efforts of
accounting educators in improving accounting education in
the country were described. The literature is replete with
articles on the subject written by educators, board exam
iners, practitioners, and business executives, but it does
not yield the views coming from one important source, a sur
vey of graduates of accounting education. There is no gain
saying the fact that a feedback from graduates serves as an
indispensable tool for curriculum evaluation. With a survey
of graduates as one of the means employed for evaluation, it
is the purpose of this study to evaluate the accounting cur
riculum in the Philippine College of Commerce in order to
determine its adequacy or inadequacy as a college education
meeting the imperatives of higher education, satisfying the
student, and responding to the growing demands of the
accounting profession. The goal is to develop an optimum
undergraduate accounting curriculum for students that have
21
strong vocational inclination without overlooking the objec
tives of a sound professional education.
Questions to be answered
In the course of this study, the questions which
need to be answered in order to evaluate the curriculum and
to formulate the basis for its improvement are as follows:
1. How does the undergraduate accounting curriculum
in the Philippine College of Commerce compare
with similar curriculums of other colleges and
universities based on the set of criteria formu
lated for a well-balanced college education for
the future accountant?
2. To what extent do the graduates feel that their
college education has been satisfying to them
both in the fulfillment of their personal aspi
rations and achievement of their occupational
goals?
3. Has the accounting curriculum in the College
satisfactorily prepared its graduates for
entrance to the accounting profession as well as
progress in the profession?
22
4. In what respect can the present accounting cur
riculum be improved to meet the emerging needs
of the profession?
5. What is the consensus among graduates of the
accounting curriculum compared with that of the
faculty of the College regarding the following
proposals:
a. The undergraduate course should provide com
plete preparation for the whole career
instead of the first job in accounting, or
both.
b. The undergraduate program in accounting
should be extended to five years.
c. Preparation for the CPA examination should
be deferred until after graduation from the
undergraduate course.
d. Specialization in accounting should be post
poned to the graduate level.
Method and Organization of the Study
The information and data used in this study were
gathered from four main sources: (1) a review of litera
ture, (2) a catalogue survey, (3) a survey of graduates of
23
the accounting programs of PCC, and (4) a survey of the
accounting faculty of PCC.
Before an evaluation of the accounting curriculum
was attempted* a set of evaluative criteria was constructed
from a review of literature available in the field, both in
the United States and in the Philippines. The search was
directed to six aspects of the curriculum content as fol
lows: (1) objectives of the program, (2) length of the pro
gram, (3) balance of general and specialized studies,
(4) components of general and specialized studies, (5) cur
riculum pattern and sequence, and (6) electives. Chapter II
deals with the formulation of the criteria based on what the
literature disclosed as to the imperatives of higher educa
tion, the needs of the student, and the demands of the pro
fession being articulated by eminent authorities in higher
education and by leaders of the profession.
A catalogue survey of ten selected schools in the
Greater Manila area in the Philippines, which is the same
location of PCC, was undertaken to compare their accounting
curriculums with that of PCC based on the evaluative crite
ria formulated in Chapter II. Selection of the schools was
made on the basis of their contribution to the growth of
accountancy education, either quantitatively or
24
qualitatively, or to the advancement of higher education in
the country in general. The comparison of their accounting
curriculums with the curriculum of PCC and the consequent
evaluation of the latter are discussed and summarized in
Chapter III.
A questionnaire was designed and validated in a
pilot study before it was used in gathering facts and opin
ions from the graduates of the accounting program in PCC.
The survey was confined to the graduates from the beginning
of the program (school year 1962-1963) through the last
school year (1968-1969) when the graduates could have possi
bly taken the CPA exam and known the results thereof to be
able to respond to certain questions in the questionnaire.
Five hundred seventeen questionnaires were mailed to half of
the total graduates (1,034) for the period. Of this number,
167 (32%) were completed and returned. The purpose of the
survey was to obtain information from the graduates about
their occupational achievements and to determine the ade
quacy of their accounting education. The survey was also
intended to gather their opinion about certain aspects of
the accounting curriculum and what they think of certain
proposals to improve the curriculum. The analysis and find
ings of the survey are presented in Chapter IV.
25
Another source of information utilized in this study
came from a survey of the accounting faculty of PCC. A
questionnaire was designed to gather their opinion about the
same aspects of the curriculum and proposals to improve the
curriculum that were asked of the graduates, with the intent
of comparing the consensus from both sources. Question
naires were distributed to fifty-four faculty members on
campus at the opening of the current school year, 1971-1972.
Forty-six questionnaires were completed and returned and all
were found usable in this study. The analysis and summary
of findings of the faculty survey together with a comparison
of the responses of the faculty with those of the graduates
are found in Chapter V.
Chapter VI is devoted to the construction of a model
curriculum for accounting students with strong vocational
inclination like those coming to PCC. Aside from the opin
ions gathered from the survey of graduates and faculty,
ideas were drawn from a survey of catalogues of colleges and
universities in the United States in designing the model
curriculum.
The suggestions of Dr. A. N. Mosich, Chairman of the
Accounting Department of the Graduate School of Business
Administration in the University of Southern California,
26
were sought in regard to the schools that are appropriate
for the purpose of this study. A catalogue survey was
accomplished of twelve schools out of those suggested in
search of trends in contemporary accounting curriculums in
the United States which may influence developments in simi
lar curriculums in the Philippines. The model curriculum,
however, was blueprinted to suit Philippine conditions, par
ticularly those obtaining in PCC.
Chapter VII is the concluding chapter. It contains
the summary, conclusions, and recommendations. included in
the appendixes are the questionnaires that were designed and
circularized to the faculty and graduates, the model under
graduate accounting program, the fifth year designed for CPA
preparation beyond the undergraduate program, and the
description of courses.
Delimitations of the Study
The study was delimited in several respects as
follows:
1. It was limited to the campus of PCC where a
vocational-professional pattern of accounting
education exists.
27
2. The study was confined to the evaluation of cur
riculum content which poses as the pressing
issue in accounting education today.
3. The catalogue survey of accounting curriculums
was limited to colleges and universities in
Greater Manila area which are located in the
same environment as that of PCC and whose cur
riculums logically are sensitized to the same
demands on the accounting profession.
4. Current thinking on accounting education was
gleaned from a survey of literature without
undertaking an actual survey of accounting prac
titioners and educators outside of the PCC fac
ulty. Due to limitations of time that con
fronted the investigator, a wider scope was not
considered feasible, practical, nor necessary to
achieve the objectives of the study.
5. The survey of faculty was limited to the
accounting faculty of PCC who are intimately
acquainted with all the factors bearing on the
curriculum under study and are therefore in a
position to give informed and practical judgment
on the issues investigated.
CHAPTER II
FORMULATION OF CRITERIA THROUGH
SURVEY OF LITERATURE
Accounting education is pressed for change from dif
ferent directions. Along with other undergraduate education
for business, it is criticized for being so specialized as
to neglect liberal studies in the curriculum. With rapid
changes transpiring in business, the accounting profession
looks upon colleges and universities to provide the "new
look" in accounting education which will meet the emerging
challenges to the profession. The continuing knowledge
explosion, significant developments in behavioral science,
the increasing use of computers, sophisticated mathematical
tools and quantitative applications in business, and the new
dimensions added to organizational theory and decision
making all have profound implications for accounting
education.
28
29
Accounting educators in the United States and in the
Philippines were encouraged to re-examine their curriculums
when the Gorden and Pierson reports were published in 1959.
These paralleled the Flexner report in medicine fifty years
earlier. Since then, numerous proposals and suggestions for
i
quality accounting education have appeared in accounting
literature and several standards have been recommended to
j
jserve as guides in evaluating existing curriculums.
i Notwithstanding the availability of curriculum stan-
I
!
jdards in accounting education, a search was made by the
i
writer from among the suggestions and proposals yielded by a
|
jreview of literature in order to expand and amplify the
i
guidelines relating to the examination of undergraduate
accounting curriculum content to which this study was lim
ited. Chapter II is devoted to the review of literature and
j
| formulation of criteria which form an integral part of this
study.
|
Review of Literature
A review of literature was made in search of a set
of criteria which was subsequently used in evaluating the
undergraduate accounting curriculum in the Philippine
College of Commerce and in comparing it with curriculums of
30
other schools. The review covered the period from 1954,
when the Standards Rating Committee of the American Associa
tion of Accountants (AAA) made its recommendations on cur
riculum standards, through the first few months of 1971.
Six salient points were scrutinized in this review
I
for the purpose of setting up the criteria needed in the
study, namely: (1) objectives of the program, (2) length of
the program, (3) balance of general and specialized studies,
i
(4) components of general and specialized studies, (5) cur-
!
jriculum pattern and sequence, and (6) electives.
i Objectives of the program j
| j
j It is believed that the objectives of an undergrad-
j
uate accounting curriculum should be formulated with a view
to developing the kind of graduate envisioned, in the
course of the review, therefore, answers to the following
!
iquestions were sought.
i
j 1. Should undergraduate accounting preparation be
designed as a complete preparation for the pro
fessional accountant or as a take-off point for
the graduate to develop on his own initiative to
a fully qualified professional accountant?
31
2. Should the college program be oriented to a spe
cific accounting job, e.g., CPA, or should it be
the preparation for a general accountant ready
to pursue any specialized field after college
graduation?
3. Should equal attention be given in the under
graduate curriculum to the personal and social
development of the student as that given to spe
cialized studies?
Complete preparation versus take-off point.— It is
not uncommon that undergraduate courses are found to be ori
ented to the preparation of a fully qualified professional
with a high degree of technical competence. Such is the
case with over-specialized undergraduate curricula. Several
factors have already changed the minds of many educators
regarding this extreme. First, the role of the accountant
has changed. It has expanded from that of technician to
management consultant and member of management team, neces
sitating a broader educational preparation than before.
Second, the concept that the education of the accountant is
a lifelong career is now generally recognized in the profes
sion. The accountant's education does not end with college
32
graduationj but rather, begins with it and continues through
self-study or other means. Third, professional organiza
tions have increasingly assumed part of the professional
training of the a ccountant through seminars, workshops, and
similar devices for professional growth and improvement.
Earl McGrath in Liberal Education in the Professions
takes the position that the undergraduate student cannot be
prepared as an expert in any specific job if the several
values in a professional curriculum are to be kept in proper
balance. He commented that leaders of all the professions
advance cogent reasons to support the view that an under
graduate curriculum should embrace only those learning expe
riences necessary to orient the student broadly in his cho
sen occupation without aiming to cultivate a high degree of
competence in any of its specialized branches. in justify
ing breadth of preparation rather than narrow specialization
in the undergraduate curriculum, he remarked:
The accelerating growth of fact and theory, the
invariable characteristic of every intellectual
realm, explains why no one can become or remain a
genuine expert in a specialized branch of learning
except by long years of study and by continued
acquaintance with evolving fact, principle, tech
nique, and practice. It is for this reason that
even those who graduate from a school of business
administration with distinction and with the begin
ning of a specialization in insurance, management,
33
or retailing are nevertheless given positions rela
tively low in the organization structure. (14:36-37)
The areas of responsibility in the education of the profes
sional accountant are delineated by John Carey, in The
Accounting Profession— Where Is It Headed, into what should
be accomplished in the university and outside of it by staff
training programs and professional organizations. Carey
believes that the universities should concentrate on the
general principles and concepts of the technology while
staff training programs should concentrate on highly techni
cal and detailed procedures. With the accounting profession
in the United States as his frame of reference, Carey
pointed out that it is the responsibility of the American
Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) to keep
the profession professionally competent in all phases of
accounting practice (8:103).
In 1963, the Committee on Courses and Curricula of
the AAA expressed the opinion that "the development of the
professional accountant should be viewed as an amalgam of
formal and informal education in which college education
plays only one important part" (23:721). How much special
ized preparation then is considered sufficient and how much
of this responsibility should be embraced in an
34
undergraduate curriculum? John Carey clarified his position
on this point:
The proper view of the accounting curriculum at the
university is that it should not try to produce
fully qualified professional accountants. Rather,
the universities should educate students who are
sufficiently grounded in the basic principles of
measuring and communicating economic data so that
they can learn to be fully qualified professional
accountants. (8:108) (italics mine)
In its recommendation in 1954, the Standards Rating
Committee of the AAA deems it sufficient if the undergrad
uate curriculum provides sufficient technical training for
graduates to recognize problems they will face as accoun
tants and to equip them with tools to solve these problems
(21:40). This basic objective of undergraduate accounting
education was reaffirmed by the AICPA's Committee on the
Scope of the Four-Year Accounting Major Program in its
report in 1960 (25:205).
Robert Trueblood, in his article, "Education for a
Changing Profession" published in the 196 3 Spring issue of
the Journal of Accounting Research, articulated the prevail
ing opinion when he expressed that the purpose of profes
sional accounting education is to train students to learn to
become a practicing professional and not to be practicing
professionals at the end of their formal education (61:89).
35
The point of view that quality should be stressed
more than quantity in the accountant's educational prepara
tion is gaining wide adherence. Robert H. Roy and James H.
MacNeill, who completed a study on the Common Body of Knowl
edge for Certified Public Accountants (CBOK) under joint
sponsorship of the AICPA and Carnegie Corporation of New
York, recommended that beginning CPAs should have a concep-
itual grasp of accounting (17:21), not a mastery of detailed j
i
techniques and procedures. In the fifty-five seminars con- j
!
ducted by the AICPA following the CBOK study, one of the i
elements identified in the discussion for a CPA to be a pro-
j
jfessional is the pre-professional emphasis on conceptual
[
i
junderstanding (66:82).
It is evident that thinking in accounting education
has been veering away from an emphasis upon details and pro
cedures in the curriculum to a conceptual understanding of
I accounting sufficient to provide the ground for a successful
|
; take-off of the new entrant to the profession and not as a
i
complete preparation for his accounting career.
Specific job preparation versus general accounting
preparation.— Professional accounting education is generally
identified with preparation for public accounting which is
36
only one of the fields of specialization in accounting.
This concept, which limits the purpose of college accounting
education to preparation for public accounting, appears
erroneous if the aim of accounting education as declared by
the AAA were to be upheld. The AAA declared accounting edu
cation is intended to prepare students for careers in
accounting and in related fields (24:447). Limiting
accounting education to preparation for public accounting
alone is an unfair proposition considering the fact that, by
and large, only half of graduates are employed by indepen
dent certified public accountants (47:89). Approximately
half enter the fields of industrial or governmental account
ing (46:308) .
Doyle Williams, in his article entitled "Reactions
to Horizons for a Profession" published in the Journal of
Accountancy, June, 1969 issue, pointed out that the consen
sus of educators is for all accountants to have the same
basic qualifications and that specialization should be
developed after acquiring the common body of knowledge. It
was further the consensus that the preparation of the
accountant should permit him to enter any of the present or
future specializations. Williams stated that the conclusion
reached in the discussions was that it is not desirable to
37
distinguish basic education for small or large firm practi
tioner, industrial accountant, and governmental accountant
(66:82). From the economical point of view, no distinction
should be made in the educational preparation for industrial
and public accountants. Robert Trueblood argues that both
the accounting profession and the educational institution
can effect economies if distinction between the educational
processes are not enlarged and exaggerated (61:90).
Certainly, a four-year undergraduate program is much
too short to provide for any narrow specialization in
accounting. There are many other study possibilities that
can be utilized outside the undergraduate program to prepare
for public accounting like the internship program and the
CPA review course. The undergraduate program should be con
fined to the preparation of the general accountant with
potentialities to enter one or more specialized fields
through professional development after graduation from
college.
Personal and social development of the student.— The
aims of professional education should stem from the goals of
higher education with an added ingredient, a specialized
preparation in some direction. If college accounting would
38
be worthy of college academic stature, then its avowed aims
should include the fundamental objectives of higher educa
tion. John Stuart Mill once said, "A man needs to be a wise
man before he can be a good lawyer, physician, or indeed a
good specialist of any kind"(10:167). President Charles J.
Hitch of the University of California sounds the same note
in his remarks:
The university education ought not to be solely
occupational in its orientation but must also respond
to the needs of the student as a citizen, and even
more broadly, as a human being. (36:1)
Harvard's President A. Lawrence Lowell is more precise in
the kind of man a university should produce. He was quoted
to say:
The college ought to produce not defective special
ists but men intellectually well rounded, of wide
sympathies and unfettered judgment. At the same
time they ought to be trained to hard and accurate
thought, and this . . . requires a mastery of some
thing, acquired by continuous application. . . .
(1:131)
Is accounting education cognizant of such goals?
The AAA Committee on Standards Rating proposed in
1954 a four-year academic program with citizenship training
as one of the three main objectives of the curriculum
(6:22). Specifically, this portion of the educational pro
gram aims at developing leadership in the community and
39
national affairs, as well as developing an ability for sound
reasoning needed in a civilization motivated by man's eco
nomic and social activities (21:39). In 1963, the Committee
on Educational Standards of the AAA declared that the gen
eral education of the accountant is no different from gen
eral education of other college students. It is the purpose
of accounting education to deal effectively with the prob
lems they will face in practicing their profession or as
responsible citizens of the social and economic community in
which they live (24:447-448). The Committee on Courses and
Curricula of the AAA in 1963 specially dedicated itself to
the development of a comprehensive body of liberal arts and
general business knowledge to include in an accounting
major's college curriculum. The Committee came to the con
clusion that the development of abilities to reason, to com
municate, to organize and act when confronted with various
business situations are more important than the need in
technical and specialized skills more commonly associated
with the accounting profession (23:721).
Robert H. Roy and James H. MacNeill hold the same
view in Horizons for a Profession published in 1967. They
underscore the need for liberal arts by stating that an
accountant, as a true professional, should possess not only
40
technical skills but such personal attributes as wisdom,,
perception, imagination, circumspection, judgment, and
integrity. Without these a CPA is nothing more than a tech
nician (17:1).
From the foregoing review of curriculum standards
and the thinking of authorities appearing in accounting lit
erature, there is apparent unanimity of opinion in embracing
personal and social development of the student as a signifi
cant aspect of the professional accounting curriculum. Dif
ferences in opinion dwell slightly in the proportion of the
liberal and cultural component of the curriculum which will
be discussed later in this chapter.
Length of the program
The Standards Rating Committee of the AAA enunciated
three ultimate objectives of professional accounting educa
tion as follows: (1) Educating the Citizen, (2) Education
in Business, and (3) Education in Accounting (21:39).
Today, the prevalent four-year undergraduate profes
sional accounting program is deemed no longer sufficient to
accomplish these objectives. The Gordon-Howell report pub
lished in 1959 first stimulated thinking towards prolonging
the undergraduate program when it recommended a fifth year
41
for an adequate accounting preparation (12:132). More
recently, the definition of the Common Body of Knowledge
which encompasses broad fields of study in the preparation
of a beginning CPA brought to a focus the need long felt for
a longer preparatory education for the new entrant to the
accounting profession. In 1968, after reviewing reports of
fifty seminars held by the AICPA to discuss the CBOK study,
the AICPA's Committee on Education and Experience Require
ments for CPAs concluded that mastery of the body of knowl
edge which is commensurate with public responsibility will
require not less than five years of collegiate study
(28:57). The sentiment for a longer period of preparatory
program has pervaded educational circles since this authori
tative pronouncement.
There is another school of thought regarding this
matter, however. Some educators feel that due regard should
be given to the present occupational needs of students in
constructing the curriculum. In his remarks to the Board of
Regents on April 16, 1971, President Charles J. Hitch of the
University of California cited the needs of today's students
as a factor of change in educational patterns. He declared:
Today's student often has less need for the tradi
tional lengthy, continuous, formal education which
may have been designed to train him for a job which
42
would remain reasonably stable in its demands over a
long period of time. By contrast* the occupational
needs of the student today call increasingly for a
more intensive formal education in basic skills*
with the assumption that the individual will then
learn much that is specific in the job while he is
on the job. As a corollary* he must expect that the
state of the art and therefore the demands of his
job will change over time* and he must be prepared
to return for additional education* at whatever age
he may be* either on the campus or in some educa
tional facility off the campus* either for intermit
tent intensive educational sessions* or for a
longer* more continuous period* in order to keep
himself up to date in his field. (36:1)
Others are apprehensive about the untoward social
implications which an extended undergraduate program would
have. Earl McGrath invites attention to the serious social
problems in the steady extension of pre-employment educa
tion. He pointed out that it will result in the "curtail
ment of earning capacity* maladjustment in personal and fam
ily life* and an often unrecognized selection of individuals
whose parents are in the social and economic groups which
can afford the large capital investment required to complete
a long professional course of study" (14:3).
Remedies have been suggested from some sources to
resolve the issue regarding the length of the undergraduate
program. if the undergraduate program remains a four-year
course to suit the present occupational needs of the stu
dents and at the same time provide adequate preparation for
43
the professional accountant to meet the needs of the profes
sion, then a fifth year beyond the undergraduate curriculum
might be the solution (58:87). The undergraduate course can
fulfill the liberal arts and vocational objectives without
necessarily preparing the student outright for public
accounting or any specialized accounting preparation. In
his article entitled "The Fifth Year" published in the Feb
ruary, 1964 issue of the Journal of Accountancy, Robert K.
Mautz proposes a fifth year for those to whom we look for
real leadership in professional accounting which should be a
preparation for the needs of the profession and not a
stretched-out undergraduate course (47:92). in 1968, the
Committee on Education and Experience Requirements for CPAs
of the AICPA recommended that the Institute recognize the
need for education beyond the baccalaureate degree for those
who stand prepared to enter the profession (28:57).
In the Philippines, the First National Educational
Conference of Private School Administrators and Executives
held in 1957 adopted a resolution urging the lengthening of
the business curriculum from 12 0 to 165 semester-hours which
will virtually extend the curriculum from four to five years.
The Sub-Committee on Curriculum Development of the Philip
pine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA)
44
Committee on Education recommended in 1965 the extension of
the accounting program from four to five years in order to
develop competency not only in handling specialized problems
in accounting but also those problems which confront the
management of business enterprises (83:5-6). The relentless
efforts of business educators to extend the undergraduate
course spawned the increasing number of units prescribed by
the Bureau of Private Schools for the degree of Bachelor of
Science in Commerce from the original 12 0 semester-hours
before World War II to 144 semester-hours thereafter and up
to the school year 1968-69. Effective the school year
1969-70, the number of semester-hours required was further
raised to 162 (87).
It can be observed that while both in the United
States and in the Philippines the fifth year is considered
necessary to extend preparatory education for the accounting
profession, it is the prevailing opinion in the United
States that the fifth year should be on the graduate level,
whereas in the Philippines, the extension is a continuation
of the undergraduate program. Considering the occupational
needs of students in business as a whole, and the fact that
not all students in accounting intend to prepare for careers
in public accounting for which the extended educational
45
preparation is primarily designed,, the extension hardly
seems justified. A fifth year may be desirable but it
should be given outside of the four-year undergraduate pro
gram and preferably on the graduate level. It may also be
given towards a certificate program devoted to internship or
preparation for the CPA examination as the needs of the stu
dents may suggest in meeting the requirements to sit for the
CPA examination.
Balance of general and
specialized studies
The aims of accountancy education embrace the prepa
ration for a personally fruitful and socially useful life in
addition to developing competencies needed for success in
the profession. Liberal education as a necessary component
of the accounting curriculum is widely accepted in accoun
tancy education. What remains unresolved is the issue of
proper balance between general and specialized studies in
the curriculum.
Elan Abeles in The Student and the University
olaims:
There is not likely to be anything approaching a
consensus as to the proper "mix" of liberal (or gen
eral) education and vocational (or professional)
46
training desirable, for this is indeed a delicate
determination depending on many factors, the most
important of which is identification of what is
best for the students. (1:39)
The same concern for students was the guiding philosophy in
the search for balance in this study.
In his DBA dissertation presented in 1969, Donald
Keller made a comparison of the actual and suggested compo
sition of undergraduate accounting programs in the United
States (74:215). Some data from his tabulation are shown in
Table 3 below to provide comparison with components of the
latest curriculum prescribed by the Bureau of Private
Schools in the Philippines (87). The percentage distribu
tion recommended by the PICPA Committee on Curriculum Devel
opment in 1965 (83:7) is also shown in Table 3 for compara
tive purposes. It will be observed from Table 3 that there
are three areas of comparison: non-business, business core
courses, and accounting. Following the classification made
by Donald Keller, the non-business group includes all eco
nomics subjects and the accounting group includes introduc
tory subjects. On the basis of this classification, the
curriculum prescribed for private schools in the Philippines
compares more closely with the findings of the CBOK study in
1967 than the suggestions made by the Standards Rating
TABLE 3
COMPARISON OF ACTUAL AND SUGGESTED COMPONENTS OF THE UNDERGRADUATE ACCOUNTING
CURRICULUMS IN THE PHILIPPINES AND IN THE UNITED STATES
Percentages
Non-Business Business Accounting
Including All Core Including
Economics Subjects Introductory
AAA Standards Rating Committee (1954)a 50 25 25
Ford Report (1959)a 55-67.5 25-35 0-10
Carnegie Report (1959)a 62 .5-67.5 22 .5-27.5 12.5-15
AAA Education Standards Committee (1964)a 50 25-30 2 0-25
CBOK study findings (1967)a 41+ 19+ 21+
PICPA Curriculum Committee (1965) 40-50 25-30 25-30
Bureau of Private Schools (1969) 43+ 15+ 26+
aData taken from Donald E. Keller* "A Critical Evaluation of Some Aspects of Educating
Accountants for the Public Accounting Profession in California" (unpublished DBA
dissertation, University of California, 1969), p. 215.
- j
48
Committee in 1954, by Gordon-Howell (Ford Report) in 1959,
by Pierson (Carnegie Report) in 1959, by the AAA Educational
Standards Committee in 1964, and by the Committee on Curric
ulum Development of the PICPA in 1965.
The prescribed curriculum shows fewer general educa
tion subjects (except in comparison with the PICPA Committee
recommendation), fewer business core courses, and more
accounting subjects compared to the aforementioned studies
with exception of the findings of the CBOK study. Moreover,
there are twnety-seven semester units of free electives
included in the prescribed curriculum in the Philippines
which may increase the percentages in each area of classifi
cation depending on the choice of the students. Consider
ing, however, the penchant of Filipino students for special
ized courses, the curriculum tends to be more specialized in
operation than what appears on paper.
If the undergraduate accounting curriculum remains a
four-year course and the preparation for public accounting
is given in the fifth year beyond the undergraduate curric
ulum, the writer leans towards the proportion suggested by
the AAA Standards Rating Committee as follows: 50% non
business, 2 5% business core courses, and 2 5% accounting sub
jects. The choice may appear arbitrary, but if the fact is
49
taken into consideration that all courses other than non
business subjects are in reality business subjects and are
utilitarian or have a special purpose or application, the
proportion actually settles down to a fifty-fifty proposi
tion which is the desirable objective in point of balance
and which proportion was recommended in fact by the Curric
ulum Committee of the Philippine Association of Collegiate
Schools of Business (PACSB) in 1962 (33:211).
Where the undergraduate accounting curriculum is
stretched to five years, the AICPA Committee on Education
and Experience Requirements for CPAS made a recommendation
in 1968 that approximately 40% of the five-year program be
devoted to general education (28:58) which is also equiva
lent to 50% of a four-year program having the same number of
units per semester as the five-year program.
Curriculum pattern and sequence
Of equal importance in curriculum construction aside
from balance between general and specialized education is
the curriculum pattern to be achieved in order to maximize
integration of knowledge and avoid compartmentalization.
Two possible ways of joining liberal and professional
50
education are evident in the literature: (1) stratified or
horizontal integration and (2) vertical integration.
The advantages of both are presented in juxtaposi
tion by Earl McGrath in Liberal Education in the Profes
sions . He cited the following as among the advantages
secured by horizontal integration: (1) providing the oppor
tunity for late choosers under the tandem arrangement to
explore various subject matter prior to professional
studies, and (2) concentration of attention on general edu
cation when liberal arts courses are completed before pro
fessional studies are taken. On the other hand, he points
out, vertical integration capitalizes on the vocational
motivation of the student and injects more meaning in the
subject matter (14:50-53). McGrath quoted the President's
Commission on Higher Education which in 1947 summed up the
advantages of the concurrent arrangement as follows:
Liberal education can be thoroughly useful when
its relevance to life is brought sharply into focus
by a vocational purpose that gives point and direc
tion to the student's program. The danger of futil
ity lies in an unfocused, aimless study of liberal
subjects. For this reason the traditional segrega
tion of liberal education in one period of a per
son's college career and of professional education
in another has not served the best interests of
either.
51
The aim should be to integrate liberal and voca
tional education, letting them proceed simultaneously
though in varying proportions throughout the stu
dent ' s college life, each enriching and giving mean
ing to the other. (14:54)
The review of literature disclosed that the gamut of
opinion sways in favor of vertical integration. No less a
person than Woodrow Wilson stated, "Knowledge must be kept
together. . . . The liberal education that our professional
men must get must not only be antecedent to their technical
training; it must also be concurrent with it" (7:59). In
the report made by the AAA's Committee on Educational Stan
dards in 1963, it was specifically recommended that wherever
possible, vertical integration of general education, busi
ness courses, and accounting courses over the entire four
years be arranged (24:453).
The same Committee on Educational Standards
expounded on proper sequence, another aspect of curriculum
pattern that should be scrutinized in any curriculum exami
nation. The Committee declared that tool subjects such as
English and mathematics should be given early in the curric
ulum but that humanities, the social sciences and fine arts
are better spread throughout the four years (24:453-454).
In its report in 1964, the Committee on Courses and Curric
ula of the AAA recommended that philosophy or logic should
52
be given in the first or second year and statistics courses
be a continuation of mathematics courses (2 3:72 7-728).
Gordon and Howell in their report in 1959 of their
survey of business education, proposed that scheduling of
general and specialized education courses should be such as
to maximize the transference from principles to application
and from the general to the more specific. Thus they favor
giving the behavioral sciences, mathematics, elementary eco
nomics and English requirements before professional studies,
while history, which is not directly a foundation of profes
sional courses, need not come at a particular place. With
respect to professional courses, they suggested that basic
and tool courses should come first, then clinical and inte
grating courses (12:221). in speaking of sequence in pro
fessional school curriculums, William McGlothlin in Patterns
of Professional Education observed that the customary
sequence begins with basic sciences which underlie practice,
then proceeds to focus on those parts with particular appli
cability to practice and moves to knowledges and skills more
directly related to practice (13:56).
From the preceding observations and opinions of edu
cational authorities, it can be gleaned that there is gen
eral agreement on two aspects of the curriculum pattern as
53
follows: (1) vertical integration of general and special
ized education is desirable over the horizontal or strati
fied integration; and (2) the ordering of liberal and spe
cialized education should be made in the best possible way
to secure maximum transference from principles to practice
and from general to specific.
Components of creneral and
specialized studies
A careful design of the curriculum necessitates a
consideration of course titles and distribution although
these do not necessarily insure quality education. Never
theless , as each subject is a building block which should
contribute to the accomplishment of the aims of the program,
thoughtful consideration of the proposed course offerings is
of prime importance in curriculum planning.
In accounting education, there are three divisions
of subject matter generally observed, to wit: (1) liberal
arts or general education; (2) general business or business
"core" courses, and (3) accounting courses. In the discus
sion that follows, the objectives of each area of knowledge
are defined and the scope or coverage of each delineated.
54
Liberal arts or general education.— General educa
tion for the accountant is no different from general educa
tion for any other college student. In Liberal Education in
the Professions. Earl McGrath defines succinctly the pur
poses of liberal education in the context of present-day
life (14:18-25). They are essentially as follows:
1. To provide essential knowledge of the various
broad areas of learning. Earl McGrath said, "No
person can now live fully and effectively with
out at least a modest knowledge of what Ortega y
Gasset called 'the vital system of ideas of a
period'" (14:18). Natural science, social sci
ence, and the humanities, including fine arts,
are obviously the intended vehicles towards this
objective.
2. To cultivate intellectual skills, the power of
expression, and the use of reasoning in solving
problems. To achieve these ends necessitates
acquaintance with science and its methods, the
study of mathematics and the development of com
munication skills.
55
3. To develop traits of personality and character
such as intellectual curiosity, tolerance, open-
mindedness, intellectual humility and a "rea
soned view of existence." Earl McGrath refers
to these goals as the sine qua non of liberal
education (14:24). These are the qualities that
are the hallmark of a cultured man which every
student should develop as a responsible individ
ual and member of a democratic community.
General business or business "core" courses.— Busi
ness "core" courses or general business courses aim to pro
vide a broad foundation in business. There is general con
sensus that the core courses should be required of all busi
ness students regardless of specialty. They actually sup
plement and build on general education and expand on it to
build a pre-professional background and provide a spring
board to a specialty.
John J . Clark in Professional Education for Business
pointed out that business core subjects should provide the
student with an understanding of basic business concepts
that are common to all areas of business activity (9:24).
The AICPA Committee on Education and Experience Requirements
56
for CPAs stated the aims of general business in its report
in 1968 to encompass not only an understanding of the major
functions of the business society but also an understanding
of the social forces influencing business and such advanced
topics having particular business application. The Commit
tee includes economics, business law, the social environment
of business, the organization, functions and quantitative
applications in business as well as written communication
and business policy as courses contributing specifically to
the objectives of general business (28:59-61).
Accounting courses.— With regard to accounting
courses, the AICPA Committee on Education and Experience for
CPAs formulated an overall objective in its report in 1968.
Accounting education, the Committee postulated, should give
the student an understanding of the functions of accounting,
the underlying body of concepts that comprise accounting
theory and their applications to accounting business prob
lems and situations. The Committee classified accounting
courses into four areas: financial accounting, managerial
accounting, taxation, and auditing. The Committee also
treated the course in computer and information systems in
business as part of the accounting group (28:61-63).
57
A well-rounded education for the accountant should
be envisioned to include all three divisions of knowledge.
Courses in each division must be chosen on the basis of
their effective contribution towards the fulfillment of the
specific objectives of the subject area within the time
allotted for it in the whole program.
Electives
It is a common observation that students majoring in
accounting are inclined to add as many technical courses to
their program as possible. Frank C. Pierson in The Educa
tion of American Businessmen attests to this fact (15:355).
From the writer's observation in the Philippines, the same
tendency holds true among Filipino students. For this rea
son, while it is ideal to give as much freedom to the stu
dent in the choice of courses through adequate provision for
electives in the curriculum as possible, some caution should
be exercised in allowing indiscriminate choice lest the
achievement of the objectives of the program be threatened
for lack of needed direction.
Those who oppose complete freedom of students in the
choice of courses say that students should not have control
over the curriculum because it is a matter for trained
58
professional judgment except for broad electives (5:88-89).
Others would limit electives to course work with narrow
objectives such as preparation to enter a particular
accounting field like taxation, or preparation for the CPA
examination (22:602). There is not much in accounting lit
erature that treats with the extent of freedom to be allowed
in the choice of courses in the accounting curriculum
although the AAA's committee on Standards Rating made sug
gestion as early as 1954 that some elective courses should
be included in each of the three fields of study: general
education, general business, and accounting studies (6:22).
This matter of student prerogative to choose the courses
they need and what they want should not, however, be
slighted in blueprinting the curriculum. In order to ensure
minimal coverage under each area of knowledge selected for
accounting students, specified courses are important.
Beyond the minimal requirements, students should be allowed
freedom to choose their courses through adequate provision
for electives.
59
Statement of Criteria
The statement of criteria that follows is an eclec
tic synthesis and distillation of the imaginative thinking
of eminent authorities in higher education and the best
practices culled from past experiences in undergraduate
accounting education. They are designed to suggest a real
istic and forward-looking college education that is respon
sive to the needs of the students and the demands of the
profession, and at the same time measures up to the stan
dards of academic respectability in higher education.
Criterion 1— Aims
The aims of a sound undergraduate accounting curric
ulum should embrace the following:
a. The undergraduate program must be designed to
prepare the student to become a professional accountant
rather than to prepare him completely for his whole career.
The student should develop such knowledges, skills, abili
ties and attitudes as will enable him to grow, through self-
study and other means after college graduation, into a
responsible and competent professional. Training for lead
ership in the profession, while desirable, should not be the
immediate concern of the undergraduate program.
60
b. The college program should primarily be a prepa
ration of the general accountant with potentialities to
enter one or more specialized fields through professional
development after graduation from college. The undergrad
uate curriculum should not be oriented to the CPA examina
tion and courses designed specifically as preparation for
the CPA examination should be eschewed from the program.
c. The undergraduate curriculum should fulfill the
essence and purposes of higher education in a democratic and
technological society. It should provide for a wedding of
liberal arts and professional goals. The program should aim
for the development of the whole individual, the responsible
citizen, and the broad-gauge competent professional.
Criterion 2— Length of program
Considering the occupational needs of students in a
rapidly changing business environment, both technical and
sociological, a four-year undergraduate accounting program
is deemed sufficient to prepare the beginning professional
for the social and occupational responsibilities expected of
him. A fifth year beyond the undergraduate program may be
utilized for specialized accounting education, including
preparation for the CPA examination.
61
Criterion 3— Balance between
general and specialized studies
A desirable balance of specialized and liberal arts
studies should approximate the following proportion: 50%
general education, 25% general business, and 25% accounting
education. Another expression of the desired balance is
50% non-business courses and 50% business courses. This
criterion should be construed in conjunction with
Criterion 4 which follows.
Criterion 4— Components of
general and specialized
studies
A well-rounded education for the accountant should
include all three areas: general education, general busi
ness, and accounting. The component courses of each area
must be chosen on the basis of their effective contribution
towards the fulfillment of the specific objectives of the
area within the time allotted for it in the whole program.
The following guidelines should be observed in classifying
courses:
a. General education for the accountant is no dif
ferent from general education for other college students.
It should provide knowledge in broad areas of learning,
develop intellectual skills, and cultivate traits of person
ality and character. Under liberal arts should come courses
in natural science, social science (including economic prin
ciples), the humanities and fine arts, as well as tool sub
jects such as the less sophisticated college math subjects
and communication skills.
b. Business core courses or general business
courses should aim to provide a broad foundation in business
and should be common to all business students regardless of
specialty. General business should embrace economics
(except principles of economics), business law, business
functions and organization, and the special application of
tool subjects in business.
c. Accounting education should give the student an
understanding of the functions of accounting, the underlying
body of concepts that comprise accounting theory and their
application to business problems and situations. Emphasis
should be laid on concepts rather than detailed procedures.
Except for purposes of acquainting the student with broad
concepts, specialized accounting areas should be avoided in
the undergraduate curriculum. The course in computer appli
cations and information systems should be considered as part
of the accounting group.
63
Criterion 5— Curriculum
pattern and sequence
In constructing the curriculum it is desirable to
follow the pattern described below:
a. General and specialized education should be
integrated throughout the curriculum in order to provide
meaning and enrichment to each other. But it is preferable
that general education should taper off towards the end of
the program and specialized education should increase.
b. The ordering of liberal and specialized educa
tion in the curriculum should be accomplished in a manner
which secures maximum transference from principles to prac
tice and from general to specific.
A propos to the liberal arts, subjects such as
English and mathematics should be offered early in the cur
riculum but the humanities, the social sciences and fine
arts should be spread throughout the four years. It is
preferable to give philosophy or logic in the first or sec
ond year and statistics courses as a continuation of mathe
matics .
With respect to professional courses, basic and tool
courses should come before clinical and integrating courses.
The sequence should start with the basic sciences which
64
underlie practice, proceeding thereafter to focus on parts
with applicability to practice, and finally moving towards
knowledges and skills with direct bearing in practice.
Criterion 6— Electives
The use of electives in the curriculum, while desir
able should not be overdone. Beyond requirements to ensure
minimal coverage, students should be allowed to choose
courses they need and which they want in each of the three
classifications: general education, general business, and
accounting. Courses with narrow utilitarian objectives or
which appeal to special interests and suited to certain
abilities are better classified as free electives.
The following chapter deals with the application of
the criteria formulated in this study to the evaluation of
the undergraduate accounting curriculum of the Philippine
College of Commerce, a State college in the Philippines,
comparing it with undergraduate accounting curriculums of
selected schools located in the Greater Manila area, the
same vicinity in which PCC is located.
CHAPTER III
COMPARISON OF THE UNDERGRADUATE ACCOUNTING
CURRICULUM IN THE PHILIPPINE COLLEGE OF
COMMERCE WITH THOSE OF SELECTED SCHOOLS
The set of criteria formulated in the preceding
chapter was used to evaluate the undergraduate accounting
curriculum in the Philippine College of Commerce (PCC) and
to compare it with similar curriculums of selected colleges
and universities located within the boundaries of Greater
Manila, the hub of business and industrial activity in the
Philippines, and in which area PCC is located. The purpose
of the comparison was to determine how closely the under
graduate curriculum in PCC measures up to the curriculum
standards set up in this study and how it compares with the
norm of other schools.
65
66
Selection of Schools Included in the
Catalogue Survey
Ten colleges and universities listed in Table 4 were
selected for the catalogue survey with the intent to compare
the undergraduate accounting curriculum of PCC with those of
other schools. Selection was made on the basis of the con
tribution of these schools to the growth of accountancy edu
cation, either quantitatively or qualitatively, or to the
advancement of higher education in the country generally.
Four institutions known to have the greatest number of col
lege graduates were included in the survey: University of
the East, Far Eastern University, Arellano University, and
University of Manila. The Jose Rizal College and De La
Salle College were selected because of their distinction as
the earliest schools to offer accountancy as a field of con
centration. Two of the oldest schools in the country with
distinct liberal arts character and which to the present
have popularized accountancy education among their tradi
tional offerings were chosen: University of Santo Tomas and
Letran College. The Philippine School of Business Adminis
tration was selected because of its unusual process of
developing from a review school to a popular institution in
accounting education. The list was completed with the
67
TABLE 4
LIST OF SCHOOLS IN GREATER MANILA AREA, PHILIPPINES,
INCLUDED IN THE CATALOGUE SURVEY
School Year Founded
Arellano University 1938
De La Salle College 1911
University of the East 1947
Far Eastern University 1928
Jose Rizal College 1918
Letran College 162 0
University of Manila 1913
Philippine School of
Business Administration 1963
University of the Philippines 1908
University of Santo Tomas 1611
68
inclusion of the oldest State university in the Philippines,
a standard-bearer in many respects, the University of the
Philippines.
As stated in Chapter I (see supra, p. 12), the
undergraduate curriculum prescribed by the Board of Account
ing Education became effective for the school year 1969-70.
Hence, the catalogues used in this study were confined to
those issued for the school year 1969-70 or later in order
to be sure that the catalogues reflected the latest in
accounting education offered by the schools.
Limitations of the Catalogue Survey
The catalogue survey was not without limitations.
It was found that not all the catalogues gathered for the
survey provided complete information needed for the study.
Two of them were no better than brochures and curriculum
checklists. Three did not have a distribution of courses
into subject areas nor group classification of courses.
With such handicaps hindering the investigation, heavy reli
ance was made on course descriptions appearing in catalogues
of other schools for similar course titles which did not
have course descriptions in the curriculum checklists of
some schools. Course numbers were found useful in
69
identifying the group classification of the courses that
variably fall under different classifications. In cases
where course numbers were unavailable in the curriculum
checklists, courses were classified, for the purpose of
analysis, in accordance with group distribution required by
the Board of Accounting Education which it is presumed was
generally observed by all schools unless variation was obvi
ous in the school catalogues.
Comparative Analyses
The comparison made of the PCC accounting curriculum
with similar curriculums of the ten schools selected for the
purpose by using the criteria formulated in Chapter II of
this study and the consequent evaluation of the former are
discussed in the following paragraphs.
Criterion 1— Aims
From a study of the objectives either expressed or
implied in the statement of purposes for the college or uni
versity in general and the undergraduate accounting curric
ulum in particular, PCC appears to have the most comprehen
sive statement of purposes next to the University of the
East (UE) which produces the greatest number of college
graduates, including accounting graduates. Unlike UE,
70
however, PCC does not purport to provide preparation for the
CPA examination. Table 5 shows how many schools selected
for the study appear to embrace the different objectives
scrutinized in this investigation.
Half of the schools surveyed aim at preparing stu
dents for executive or management positions or for leader
ship in the profession. Most of these schools plan on a
liberal orientation of their curricula. Nine schools aim at
developing the whole individual whereas seven purport to
develop the effective citizen. On the other hand, only four
schools design their programs to provide preparation for
specialized accounting and two schools include among their
objectives preparation for the CPA examination. PCC, in
comparison with other schools, aims toward all these objec
tives except preparation for the CPA examination.
The facts disclosed by the examination of objectives
of the undergraduate accounting curriculums indicated that
PCC a ims at-a~ more comprehensive accounting curriculum than
most of those surveyed without orienting the curriculum,
however, to any particular field of accounting specializa
tion, and excluding preparation for the CPA examination.
Like the majority of the schools surveyed, PCC aims to pro
vide for the liberal education of the accounting student.
71
TABLE 5
OBJECTIVES OF UNDERGRADUATE ACCOUNTING PROGRAMS
DISCLOSED BY A CATALOGUE SURVEY
OF SELECTED SCHOOLS
Objectives
Number of Schools
Embracing Each
Objective
Developing the whole individual 9
Developing the effective citizen 7
Preparation for executive position
or leadership in the profession 5
Preparation for specialized fields
in accounting 4
Preparation for the CPA examination 2
N = 10
72
Criterion 2— Length of program
To place all the undergraduate accounting programs
on a comparative basis, a standard measuring instrument was
used. The traditional concept of a four-year program was
adopted as a standard consisting of eight semesters of eigh
teen units each, totalling 144 semester units for the entire
program. In Table 6, the selected schools are ordered from
highest to lowest in terms of total semester units in their
programs, exclusive of typewriting, stenography, and theol
ogy or religion. The average semester units for the first
and second years, third and fourth years, fifth year, and
Summer requirements are shown distributed in designated col
umns .
It will be observed from the table that a great dis
parity in lengths of programs exists (from 132 to 180 semes
ter units) although all schools included in the survey indi
cated in their catalogues they offered a four-year program
with the exception of the University of the Philippines
(UP), the only public school in the group surveyed. PCC,
which shows a total of 168 semester units, appears to
approximate the average semester units of the group
(167 semester units). It is evident that PCC and all
73
TABLE 6
COMPARATIVE DATA ON THE LENGTH OF ACCOUNTING PROGRAMS
OP THE PHILIPPINE COLLEGE OF COMMERCE (PCC)
AND SELECTED SCHOOLS
Number of Semester Units Required
for Graduation3
School
Total
Years
Summer . _
1 & 4
Years Year
3 & 4 5
U. of the East 180 18 21 20
U. of the Philippines 177 17 18 18
b
Arellano U. 174 12 21 20
t ^ b
Letran C . 174 20 23
U. of Manila 174 12 21 23
U. of Santo Tomas 168 21 21
De La Salle C . 162 20 21
Far Eastern U. 162 20 21
Philippine School of
Business Adm. 162 21 20
Jose Rizal C . 132 18 15
Average 167 20 20
PCC 168 21 21
aExcludes typewriting, stenography, and theology or
religion.
Includes internship or substitute academic courses in
lieu of the experience or apprenticeship requirement for
the CPA examination.
74
schools surveyed, except Jose Rizal College; far exceed the
standard in this study of 144 semester units.
As to the unit requirement per semester, PCC with
its twenty-one units per semester also exceeds the standard
of eighteen semester units. it compares favorably, however,
with the average of the selected schools, which is twenty
units per semester. The majority of the schools studied
require from twenty to twenty-one units per semester but
three of these schools obviously manage to keep their semes
ter requirements to the level of the common practice in
spite of a high total requirement for the whole program by
requiring two to three summers on top of the regular eight
semesters in the program, thus lengthening their programs
virtually to five years as does UP.
The data shown by the catalogue survey indicate that
PCC follows the general trend to lengthen the undergraduate
accounting program not by extending the program another year
but by overcrowding the four-year program.
Criterion 3— Balance between
general and specialized studies
In comparing the balance between general and spe
cialized studies in the undergraduate accounting program in
PCC with those of ten schools surveyed, the classifications
75
of courses into general education, business education, and
accounting appearing in the school catalogues were disre
garded in order to eliminate variations in treatment of sim
ilar courses by different schools and more essentially, to
conform with the standards suggested in Criterion 4.
Table 7 illustrates the comparative standing of PCC and the
schools surveyed with regard to balance in the curriculum.
The 50-25-25 or 50-50 balance being sought as ideal
in Criterion 3 is nowhere attained by any school studied.
De la Salle College, with its 50% general education, 17%
business education, and 24% accounting courses plus 9% pro
vision for free electives, appears nearest to the ideal con
sidering the penchant of the Filipino students to choose
business courses for their free electives. PCC with its 35%
general education, 32% business education, and 28% account
ing courses plus 4% free electives, does not represent a far
departure from the average for all the schools surveyed
which consists of 38% general education, 28% business educa
tion, and 32% accounting courses plus 2% free electives.
The curriculum of PCC evidently has a broader business base
and a smaller liberal base than the average for selected
schools surveyed. In spite, however, of its comprehensive
technical objective that includes preparation for varied
TABLE 7
BALANCE BETWEEN GENERAL AND SPECIALIZED STUDIES IN THE UNDERGRADUATE
ACCOUNTING CURRICULUMS OF PCC AND SELECTED SCHOOLS
Numbers of Semester Units and
Total
Number
of
Percentages of Total3
School
General
Education
Business
Education
Accounting Free
Courses Electives
Units
N
Per
N
Per
N p;r- n
centage
Per
centage centage centage
U. of the East 180 66 37 51 28 63 35
c
U. of the Philippines 177 66 37 57 32 54 31
Arellano U. 174 54 31 48 28 72 41
Letran C. 174 66 38 45 26 63 36
U. of Manila 174 69 40 39 22 48 28 18 10
U. of Santo Tomas 168 69 41 48 29 51 30
De La Salle C. 162 81 50 27 17 39 24 15 9
Far Eastern U. 162 57 35 54 33 48 30 3 2
Philippine School of
Business Adm. 162 60 37 48 30 54 33
Jose Rizal C. 132 48 36 48 36 36 28
C T l
TABLE 7 — Continued
Total
Number
o- f
Numbers of Semester
Percentages of
Units and
Total3
School
General
Education
Business
Education
Accounting
Courses
Free
Electives
Units
H Pf *
centage
N
Per
centage
N
Per
centage
N
Per
centage
Average 167 64 38 46 28 53 32 4 2
PCC 168 60 36 54 32 48 28 6 4
aExcludes typewriting, stenography, and theology or religion.
Includes Principles of Economics.
Q
UP is the only institution in the group that offers a five-year program.
<1
-j
78
accounting occupations, only one school, De La Salle College
cited above, prescribes a smaller percentage (24%) of
accounting courses than PCC which requires 28%.
Criterion 4— Components of
general and specialized
studies
A study was made of the components of general and
specialized studies of the accounting curriculums of PCC and
selected schools to compare breadth in general education and
general business education. With respect to specialized
studies, the examination was centered on the emphasis of the
course as well as scope of accounting specialization pro
vided in the undergraduate curriculum. The classification
of courses appearing in each school catalogue was utilized
in subsuming courses under each subject area. In the
absence of stated classifications, the guidelines provided
in Criterion 4 served as bases. The results of the study
are reported under each subject area as follows.
General education.— General education for the
accountant is no different from general education for other
college students. It should provide knowledge in broad
areas of learning, develop intellectual skills and cultivate
traits of personality and character. Hence, in the
79
investigation of the general education component, a search
was made for evidences of a broad liberal background, ade
quate provision for mathematics courses intended to develop
the intellectual skills and problem solving ability, and the
inclusion of ethics with the apparent objective of develop
ing the personality and character of a true professional.
Table 8 shows the comparative data on the number of sub-
areas in general education as required by PCC and the ten
selected schools. The broad subject areas used in classify
ing courses in general education are as follows: natural
science, mathematics, social science, and humanities. The
specific courses that are almost uniformly observed by the
schools because of legal requirements or prescription by the
Board of Accounting Education were excluded in counting the
number of courses. Thus humanities in Table 8 does not
include English or Spanish, the social sciences, Philippine
history or Philippine government; and the course on the life
and works of Jose Rizal (a national hero) was omitted.
Under social sciences and humanities, courses narrowly clas
sified in the catalogues were lumped together under a
broader and more inclusive sub-area appearing in the table.
From Table 8, it appears that PCC has a little less
broad coverage of general areas of human knowledge than most
80
TABLE 8
COMPARATIVE DATA ON THE COMPONENTS OF GENERAL EDUCATION
IN THE ACCOUNTING PROGRAMS OF PCC AND SELECTED SCHOOLS
Number of
Sub-Areas
Mode of
Schools PCC
Surveyed
Natural science 2 1 7 0 0 2
Mathematics 0 0 2 5 3 3
Social science 0 2 2 5 1 3
Humanities 2 5 3 0 0 1
Subject Areas
Distribution of Schools
by Number of Sub-Areas
N = 10
81
schools have. Comparing the number of sub-areas under each
broad subject area, PCC has less coverage than the mode of
the schools surveyed in two fields, natural science and
social science; is equal in one, humanities; and exceeds in
one, mathematics. Six of the selected schools include eco
nomics as a requirement under general education while PCC
shows it under general business, for which reason PCC suf
fers by comparison on paper, breadthwise. Like three of the
schools surveyed, PCC includes four courses in mathematics,
obviously placing more emphasis than the majority of the
schools on developing problem solving ability. PCC is like
eight other schools in not treating ethics as a separate
course in the curriculum, which fact conveys the impression
that personality development is not generally emphasized
through distinct courses in the curriculums.
General business.— Business core courses should aim
to provide a broad foundation in business and should be com
mon to all business students regardless of specialty.
Guided by this principle, analysis was made of the breadth
of offering in business education but there was no attempt
to explore the extent of common offerings required of all
business students. As much as possible, the classifications
82
used by schools were observed except in cases where the
nature of the courses dictate their more appropriate classi
fication under a different subject area, e.g., management
courses that encroach on the marketing area. Table 9 shows
the comparative standing of PCC with the ten selected
schools as to the number of courses covered under each sub
ject area.
Comparing the mode of the ten schools with respect
to the number of courses under each subject area, PCC shows
similarity with other schools in five subject areas: eco
nomics, business law, finance, production, and mathematics
and computer applications in business. PCC has more market
ing and management courses than are commonly offered by
other schools in the group surveyed which means more inten
sive study provided in those subject areas. In taxation,
however, PCC has no course offering under general business
classification; two of the other schools also do not. This
is not because the course is deemphasized in their curric
ulums but because taxation appears under the accounting
group in these schools.
With respect to the subject areas covered, PCC
spreads business education into five subject areas while
the common practice as shown by the mode of selected
83
TABLE 9
COMPARATIVE DATA ON COMPONENTS OF BUSINESS EDUCATION
IN THE ACCOUNTING PROGRAMS OF PCC AND
SELECTED SCHOOLS
Distribution of Schools
by Number of Courses
Subject Areas
Number of Courses
under Each
Subject Area
Mode of
Schools PCC
Surveyed
a
Economics 3 1 2 3 1 0 o
u>
3
Busin'ess law 0 0 0 2 5 3 4 4
Taxation 2 0 5 3 0 0 2 0
Finance 0 0 9 1 0 0 2 2
Management 0 4 4 1 1 0 1,2 3
Marketing 4 5 1 0 0 0 1 2
Production 9 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Mathematics3
and computer
applications 4 4 1 1 0 0 0,1 0
aSchools showing zero for economics and mathematics classify
these courses under general education.
N = 10
84
schools is seven. The foregoing analyses indicate that PCC
tends to seek more depth than breadth in business education
when compared to the practice obtaining in other schools.
Accounting education.— According to Criterion 4 used
in this study, accounting courses should give the student an
understanding of the functions of accounting, the underlying
body of concepts that comprise accounting theory and their
application to business problems and situations. Except for
purposes of acquainting with broad concepts, specialized
accounting should be eschewed from the undergraduate curric
ulums . In analyzing, therefore, the accounting curriculums
surveyed, attention was directed to the functions of
accounting that are taught in the program and to the extent
of specialized and advanced studies covered.
The findings of the study revealed that PCC and the
schools surveyed emphasize more of financial accounting than
any of the other functions: managerial, tax, and auditing.
Cost accounting was examined separately from financial
accounting because of its increasing importance in both
functions, financial and managerial. Table 10 shows how
closely PCC approximates the mode for the selected schools
in all functions. PCC differs from the mode only in the
85
TABLE 10
COMPARATIVE DATA ON THE ACCOUNTING COURSES
IN PCC AND SELECTED SCHOOLS
OFFERED
Nature of
Distribution of Schools
by Number of Courses3
Number of
Courses3
Mode of
Courses 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Schools
Surveyed
PCC
Basic Principles
and Applications
Financial 0 0 0 0 2 0 4 3 1 6 6
Cost 1 0 7 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 2
Managerial 2 4 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
m b
Tax 9 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Auditing 1 0 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 2
Specialized and
Advanced
Applications
Financial 2 0 2 5 1 0 0 0 0 3 3
Cost 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Managerial 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
m 1 3
Tax 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Auditing 8 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
aSix-unit courses were counted as two three-unit courses
Schools showing 0 for tax accounting treat taxation
courses separately from accounting.
N = 10
86
field of tax accounting which is explained by the fact that
unlike PCC, most schools treat taxation separately from
accounting.
Table 10 also reveals an overall emphasis on basic
principles and applications rather than specialized and
advanced applications in all schools surveyed, including
PCC. With the exception of financial accounting, the
requirement for specialized and advanced accounting applica
tions in the curriculums is almost nil.
Criterion 5— Curriculum
pattern and sequence
In examining curriculum pattern and sequence, a
search was made of the existence of vertical or horizontal
integration of general and specialized studies in the cur
riculums (see supra, p. 49) . In the course, however, of the
investigation, another method of integration became appar
ent, that of modified vertical integration wherein the con
current offering of general education, general business and
accounting courses does not extend throughout the four
years.
Table 11 shows the analysis made of curriculum pat
terns of the ten selected schools to compare them with
PCC's. PCC is like seven of the schools studied in using
87
TABLE 11
ANALYSIS OF ACCOUNTING CURRICULUM PATTERNS
Curriculum Patterns
School „ . . , Modified TT . .
Vertical TT . . . . Horizontal
Vertical
Arellano U.
i
X
i
De La Salle C . X
Far Eastern U. X
Jose Rizal C.
1
X
Letran C . X
Philippine School of
Business Adm. X
U. of the East X
U. of Manila X
U. of the Philippines X
U. of Santo Tomas X
Total 7 2 1
88
vertical integration. Two schools have adopted a modified
vertical combination, and only one shows a tandem or hori
zontal arrangement.
The sequencing of courses is an important aspect of
integration. Following the specifications in Criterion 5,
the ordering of liberal and specialized education in the
curriculum was also scrutinized. The inspection was limited
to the placement of selected courses as follows: English,
mathematics, the humanities other than languages, social
sciences including economics, logic, and statistics.
Table 12 shows the placement of these courses in the
accounting programs of PCC and the ten schools surveyed.
It is apparent from Table 12 that PCC, along with
other schools, conforms to the criterion in concentrating
most of the English and mathematics courses in the early
years. Table 12 also reveals that in all schools surveyed,
including PCC, there is a distribution of social sciences
from the first to the third or fourth years which is in con
formity with Criterion 5. This principle is not observed,
however, in the humanities where concentration of the
courses is heavy in the second year even if the language
requirements were subsumed under humanities.
89
TABLE 12
PLACEMENT OF SELECTED SUBJECT AREAS IN THE
ACCOUNTING PROGRAMS OF PCC AND
SELECTED SCHOOLS
Distribution of Schools
by Placement Level PCC's
Subject Areas — ---— ---— ---— Placement
1 2 3 4 (Year)
English 10 10 5 2 1,2,3
Mathematics 9 9 2 1 1,2
Humanities3 1 8 2 0 2
Social science*3 9 9 5 4 1-4
Logic 3 2 1 0 2
Statistics 0 4 6 0 3
£
Other than languages
^Including economics
N = 10
90
PCC, like five of the other schools surveyed, con
forms to Criterion 5 in placing logic either in the first
year or second year. In accordance also with the criterion
they put statistics in the second or third year after the
mathematics courses, to provide a continuity from mathe
matics .
In the light of the findings stated above, it is
valid to assert that PCC and the ten other schools surveyed
conform substantially to the standards for course placement
set in Criterion 5.
Criterion 6— Electives
An analysis of the comparative distribution of elec
tive semester hours in the accounting programs of PCC and
selected schools is shown in Table 13. The purpose of the
analysis was to determine the extent of freedom allowed to
the students in the selection of courses which suit their
interests, abilities and needs within the constraints set by
the objectives of the program. Table 13 shows that with the
exception of the two oldest schools in the group, Letran
College and the University of Santo Tomas, all schools sur
veyed provide electives in the accounting curriculum. It
seems that the authoritarian tradition in the Philippine
COMPARATIVE DISTRIBUTION
ACCOUNTING PROGRAMS
TABLE 13
OF ELECTIVE
OF PCC AND
SEMESTER UNITS IN THE
SELECTED SCHOOLS
School
Elective Semester Units
General
Education
General
Business
Accounting Free Total
Arellano U. 0 3 3 0 6
De La Salle C. 0 0 0 15 15
Far Eastern U. 0 6 0 3 9
Jose Rizal C. 3 6 24 0 33
Letran C. 0 0 0 0 0
Philippine School of
Business Adm. 9 9 3 0 21
U. of the East 6 12 0 0 18
U. of Manila 0 3 0 18 21
U. of the Philippines 0 3 0 0 3
U. of Santo Tomas 0 0 0 0 0
Average 2 4 3 4 13
PCC 3 6 6 6 21
H
92
schools has still its grip on these two institutions. Only
two of the schools surveyed provide electives in the three
areas stated in Criterion 6, namely: general education,
general business, and accounting.
PCC satisfies Criterion 6 and compares more favor
ably than the average of the group in providing greater lat
itude of choice in each of the three areas aforementioned
and also in the number of free electives as well as in the
overall total. An examination of the list of free electives
provided in the curriculum of PCC disclosed that the courses
classified as free electives by PCC also meet the requisites
specified in Criterion 6. They either have narrow utilitar
ian objectives such as typewriting, appeal to special inter
ests such as parliamentary procedures, or are suited to cer
tain abilities such as drama.
Summary of Findings
A summary of the findings in the catalogue survey
is presented below.
1. The facts disclosed by the examination of objec
tives of the undergraduate accounting curriculums of PCC and
ten selected schools indicated that PCC aims at a more com
prehensive accounting curriculum than most of those surveyed
93
without orienting the curriculum, however, to any particular
field of accounting specialization, and excluding prepara
tion for the CPA examination among its objectives. Like
most of the schools surveyed, PCC aims to provide for the
liberal education of the accounting student.
2. The data shown by the catalogue survey indicated
that PCC follows the general trend to lengthen the under
graduate accounting program not by extending the program
another year but by over-extending the four-year program.
3. The undergraduate accounting curriculum of PCC
does not measure up to the 50-25-25 balance between general
and specialized studies suggested in Criterion 3 which pro
portion is also not achieved by any of the schools surveyed.
In comparing the percentages for the three curriculum compo
nents of PCC with those of the selected schools, the curric
ulum of PCC has a broader business base and a smaller lib
eral base than the average for the selected schools, per
centagewise. In spite of its comprehensive technical objec
tive which includes preparation for varied accounting occu
pations, PCC shows the next smallest percentage of account
ing component among the schools surveyed.
4. The study of curriculum components disclosed
that the curriculum of PCC has a little less broad coverage
94
of liberal arts and general business courses in spite of a
greater percentage of its business education component which
indicates that PCC tends to seek more depth than breadth in
general business. PCC is similar to the selected schools in
laying emphasis on basic accounting principles and applica
tions rather than specialized and advanced accounting appli
cations .
5. PCC and most of the selected schools employ a
vertical integration of general and specialized studies.
This conforms to Criterion 5. With regard to year placement
of specified courses, PCC and most of the selected schools
also satisfy Criterion 5 in the case of English, mathematics,
social sciences including economics, logic, and statistics,
but not in the case of the humanities.
6. Regarding electives, PCC meets the stipulations
of Criterion 6 more closely than any of the other schools
surveyed. PCC has a greater number of electives than the
average for the group and the distribution of electives
among the three components of accounting education is more
even than most of the other schools. The choice of free
electives also meets the standards set by Criterion 6. They
either have narrow utilitarian objectives, appeal to special
interests, or are suited to certain abilities.
95
While it is worthwhile to evaluate the accounting
curriculum of PCC through an analysis of the curriculum, it
is not sufficient to gauge the merit of the educational pro
gram without considering other factors. Hence, the testi
mony of the products of the curriculum was secured through a
survey of graduates to which the following chapter is
devoted.
CHAPTER IV
SURVEY OF THE ACCOUNTING GRADUATES OF PCC
The survey of graduates of the undergraduate
accounting program in PCC was one of the three tools of cur
riculum evaluation employed in this study. The purpose of
the survey was to ascertain the extent to which the objec
tives of the accounting curriculum were realized and in what
ways the accounting curriculum can be improved to better
fulfill the personal and occupational needs of the students.
Chapter IV presents the analysis and findings of the survey.
The Survey Questionnaire
The questionnaire used in the survey of graduates
was constructed with a view to gathering facts and opinions
in answer to the following specific questions:
1. To what extent do the graduates feel that their
college education has been satisfying to them
96
97
both in the fulfillment of their personal aspi
rations and achievement of their occupational
goals?
2. Has the accounting curriculum in the College
satisfactorily prepared its graduates for
entrance to the accounting profession as well as
for progress in the profession?
3. In what respects can the present accounting cur-
r.i culum be improved to meet the emerging needs
of the profession?
4. What is the consensus among graduates of the
accounting curriculum regarding the following
proposals?
a. The undergraduate course should aim to pro
vide complete preparation for the whole
career instead of the first job in account
ing, or for both the first job and the whole
career.
b. The undergraduate program in accounting
should be extended to five years.
c. Preparation for the CPA examination should
be deferred until after graduation from the
undergraduate course.
98
Prior to finalizing the questionnaire, a pilot study
was conducted in which ten graduates participated. Although
the participants were not able to suggest concrete improve
ments in the questionnaire, their responses were useful in
bringing out evidences of ambiguity in the questions posed
which could have led to their misinterpretation of the ques
tions. Some participants indicated insufficiency of choice
provided for their responses. The questionnaire was
improved to eliminate these traces of structure deficiency
or imperfections before it went to print.
The Study Group
The survey was limited to the graduates of the
undergraduate accounting program in PCC from the inception
of the curriculum (school year 1962-1963) to the last school
(1968-1969) when the graduates could have possibly taken the
CPA examination and known the results thereof to be able to
respond to certain questions propounded in the question
naire. There were 1,034 graduates for the period involved.
A systematic sampling by choosing every other graduate in
the graduation list available in the Registrar's office of
PCC resulted in a large sample of 517 to whom the question
naires were mailed. Of this number, 167 or 32% were
99
completed and returned; 110 or 21% were returned to sender
undelivered to addressees. The remaining 240 questionnaires
or 47% were not returned by the graduates even after the
circularization of a follow-up letter which was done about a
month from the time the questionnaires were mailed out. The
troubled conditions in the Philippines at the time of the
survey which stemmed largely from heightened student acti
vism centering particularly in PCC might have caused some
graduates to ignore requests for their contribution to the
survey. Others probably did not realize the value of their
contribution as surveys of this nature are still rare in the
Philippines. Moreover, many of the graduates were known to
have left the Philippines to find better opportunities
abroad since the economy in the Philippines had long been
deteriorating. At any rate, a return of 32% completed ques
tionnaires was deemed satisfactory inasmuch as the results
of the survey were utilized only as one of the three tools
of evaluation used in the appraisal of the undergraduate
accounting program in PCC. Table 14 shows the number and
percentage of questionnaires completed and returned for each
year segregated into day and night classes.
100
TABLE 14
QUESTIONNAIRES COMPLETED BY ACCOUNTING GRADUATES
Number of Graduates Questionnaires
Class
Day Night Total
Number
Mailed3
Completed
Number Par
centageD
1962-63 0 68 68 34 6 18
1963-64 0 42 42 21 2 10
1964-65 0 64 64 32 9 29
1965-66 28 85 113 56 16 29
1966-67 55 12 9 184 92 33 36
1967-68 81 149 230 115 44 38
1968-69 64 269 333 167 57 34
Total 228 806 1034 517 167 32
aOne-half the number of total graduates for the class
Number of questionnaires mailed = 100%
101
Analysis and Findings of the Survey
Vocational characteristics of
the graduates
The Philippine College of Commerce, popularly known
as a "poor man's school," generally attracts ambitious stu
dents who come from poor families and whose uppermost desire
is to gain personal, social, and occupational advancement
through education. Seven questions were asked in the ques
tionnaire to probe which of these three motivations was the
overriding influence when the respondents undertook their
college accounting. From their answers, it appears that the
principal motivation of the respondents in taking college
education was their desire to engage in gainful occupations
as soon as they became equipped for a job, regardless of
whether the job was accounting or not.
As shown in Table 15, sixty-five respondents or 39%
did not decide to study accounting until after obtaining
their associate title and thirty-eight respondents or 2 3%
planned on studying accounting while in the lower division
in college. The majority, therefore, did not plan to take
up accounting until after they felt a need for it.
102
TABLE 15
STAGE WHEN GRADUATES FIRST SERIOUSLY CONSIDERED
STUDYING ACCOUNTING IN COLLEGE
Responses
Number Percentage
High school 45 27
Lower division, college 38 23
Upper division, college 11 7
After obtaining associate title 65 39
After obtaining bachelor's degree 7 4
Total 167 100
103
Table 16 contains a breakdown of the answers to the
question as to what was their main reason for pursuing
accounting in college. Sixty-nine respondents or 42% indi
cated that occupational need was the influencing factor in
their pursuit of accounting in college.
To probe whether their college accounting education
was an offshoot of their high school training in bookkeeping
or pre-college employment, two questions were asked to
elicit this information. The responses indicated that the
previous educational and employment background of the
respondents was not a determining factor in their later
choice of accounting as a college education: 89% did not
have pre-college bookkeeping education and 70% did not have
employment before attending college. Of the 30% who had
pre-college employment, less than half were employed in
accounting occupations.
When asked if they were full-time students while
taking the undergraduate accounting program, only forty-two
respondents or 2 5% answered that they were full-time stu
dents during the entire course as shown in Table 17. More
over, 75% of all those who answered they were full-time
either for the duration of the course or part of the course
indicated that they worked while attending college.
104
TABLE 16
MAIN REASON FOR PURSUING ACCOUNTING IN COLLEGE
Responses
Reasons
Number Percentage
Ambition in youth 11 6
Desire of family 34 20
Discussion with friends 20 12
Advice of college faculty 6 4
Success in aptitude tests 13 8
Advice of high school faculty 5 3
Occupational needs 69 42
Total responses 158 95
Total nonresponses 9 5
Total respondents 167 100
105
TABLE 17
STATUS: WHETHER FULL-TIME OR PART
STUDYING ACCOUNTING IN
-TIME STUDENT WHILE
COLLEGE
Responses
Status
Number Percentage
Full-time student during the
entire course 42 25
Full-time student for half or
more of the time during the
course 53 32
Full-time student for less than
half of the time during the
course 45 27
Never a full-time student 2 7 16
Total 167 100
106
These figures tend to show that the respondents did not wait
to finish college to find employment, thus sustaining the
hypothesis that they came to college with strong vocational
inclinations.
The next question was concerned with the nature of
their college training before admission to the upper divi
sion accounting major. Table 18 shows that with the excep
tion of five respondents, all took a two-year course offered
in PCC.
TABLE 18
COURSES TAKEN BEFORE ADMISSION TO THE
UPPER DIVISION, ACCOUNTING MAJOR
Responses
Courses Taken
Number Percentage
Basic
Liberalized accounting
Specialized accounting
Other courses
Total
12 9
27
6
5
167
77
16
4
3
100
107
The responses revealed that 77% took the basic
course which is terminal and vocational in nature. This
brings out the fact that in the lower division in college, a
great majority of the respondents cared little for a liberal
education because of their consuming vocational aspiration.
Seventy-one respondents or 43% took the accounting
refresher course before admission to the upper division in
order to strengthen their accounting foundation and improve
their chances of succeeding in advanced accounting given in
the upper years. Table 19 shows that 70% of all those who
took the accounting refresher course did not meet the grade
requirement for admission to the upper division, accounting
major. These students apparently did not take seriously
their accounting studies while pursuing the lower division
program. Their interests in accounting developed only when
they felt a need for it.
From the disclosures above-mentioned, it can be
assumed that the respondents had intense vocational motiva
tion in attending college and generally looked for employ
ment before finishing the undergraduate accounting program,
a fact that explains why they patronized the vocational cur
riculum more than the liberal curriculum in the lower divi
sion in college and why they did not particularly seek to
108
TABLE 19
REASONS FOR TAKING THE ACCOUNTING REFRESHER COURSE BEFORE
ADMISSION TO THE UPPER DIVISION, ACCOUNTING MAJOR
Reasons for Taking
Accounting Refresher
Responses
Number Percentage
Did not meet the grade requirement
for admission to the upper
division, accounting major 50 70
Met the grade requirement for
admission but needed to review
due to non-use of accounting
knowledge 8 11
Met the grade requirement for
admission but took refresher
course for integrating effect 13 19
Total 71 100
109
major in accounting upon entrance to college. The basic
curriculum which most of the respondents took in the lower
division in PCC gave them preparation for more jobs than
just the beginning jobs in accounting occupations.
Extent to which graduates felt
satisfied with their college
education
The graduates were asked seven questions to secure
jinformation as to whether they felt their college education
had been satisfying both in the fulfillment of their per
sonal aspirations and achievement of their occupational
i
goals. The hypothesis is that the vocational objective of
the program is being achieved if the graduates are success
ful in obtaining accounting positions after graduation and
are enjoying their accounting occupations. At the same
time, the attainment of the general education objective of
the program can be reasonably measured by the amount of
satisfaction the graduates have in achieving their personal
aspirations.
First job after graduation.— To the question if
their first job after graduation was accounting, 106 or 63%
answered "yes" and sixty-one or 37% answered "no." Of those
who answered in the positive, only seventeen or 16% held
110
their initial jobs in public accounting. Table 2 0 shows the
number of respondents holding beginning jobs in different
accounting occupations. On the other hand, most of those
who answered "no" gave as their reason for failure to get an
accounting job their commitment to the jobs held at the time
|of their graduation from college. Table 21 gives a break
down of the reasons why they did not get an accounting posi
tion after college graduation. Considering that about two-
thirds of the respondents held their first jobs in account
ing after college, and that the majority of those who did
not get their initial jobs in accounting had other jobs they
|
idid not like to leave, the accounting preparation of the
respondents was deemed useful in obtaining their first posi
tions in accounting after college graduation.
Kinds of positions held to the present.— The grad
uates were asked the kinds of positions they have held up tc
the present and to indicate the position level, whether non-
supervisory, supervisory, or executive. Their answers dis
closed that 46% found occupations in the field of industrial
accounting; 19% in non-accounting occupations; and 16% in
public accounting. Table 22 summarizes the answers of 164
respondents who made replies to this question. It can be
Ill
TABLE 20
INITIAL ACCOUNTING POSITIONS HELD BY
AFTER COLLEGE GRADUATION
GRADUATES
Responses
Fields
Number Percentage
Public accounting 17 16
Government accounting 5 5
Industrial accounting 69 65
Others:
Commercial 3 3
Institutional 3 3
Service 6 5
Total responses 103 97
Total nonresponses 3 3
Total respondents with
initial accounting positions 106 100
112
TABLE 21
REASONS FOR NOT OBTAINING INITIAL ACCOUNTING POSITIONS
AFTER COLLEGE GRADUATION
Responses
Reasons
Number Percentage
Looked for accounting job but no
immediate opening available
Applied for accounting job but
not hired
Did not like to leave job held
at the time of graduation
Others
21 34
31
3
51
5
Total responses 59 97
Total nonresponses 2 3
Total respondents who reported
they had not obtained
initial positions in
accounting 51 100
TABLE 22
KINDS OF POSITIONS HELD BY GRADUATES UP TO THE TIME OF SURVEY
Fields
Total Position Levels
Number Percentage Executive Supervisory
Non-
supervisory
Public 29 16 0 10 19
Government 13 7 0 1 12
Industrial 85 46 4 33 48
Education 9 5 0 1 8
Others:
Institutional 13 7 0 4 9
Total 149 81 4 49 96
Non-accounting 35 19 1 5 29
Number of positions 184 100 5 54 125
Less changes in
position levels 20 20
Net 164 5 54 105
Percentages 100% 3% 33% 64%
113
114
gathered from the table that out of the total 184 positions
held by 164 respondents answering the question, twenty must
have been changes in positions during the span of ten years
from the first graduation in 1962-63 to the present time.
It is interesting to note that, as was mentioned somewhere
in surveys made in the United States, only 3% held executive
positions in ten years' time. If the twenty respondents who
moved into higher position levels were to be subtracted from
the total of fifty-nine executive and supervisory positions
held, it is implied that thirty-nine respondents assumed
jsupervisory positions as their initial positions. These
disclosures are a revelation that the curriculum objective
of preparing for leadership in the profession is being
achieved.
Since only 16% held their initial jobs in public
accounting, a deemphasis of accounting specialization in the
undergraduate curriculum seems warranted.
Reasons given for leaving the accounting occupa
tion .— The reasons for leaving the accounting occupation
were asked of the graduates to ascertain their attitude
toward the accounting occupation. As shown in Table 2 3, no
one of the fifty-two who reported they made a change from
115
TABLE 2 3
REASONS GIVEN BY GRADUATES FOR LEAVING
THEIR ACCOUNTING OCCUPATIONS
Reasons for Leaving
Responses
Accounting Occupations
Number Percentage
Had an opportunity for a
favorable change to
another job 33 54
Was promoted to a non-accounting
job 7 14
Quit for personal reasons 12 22
Was not suited for accounting job 0 0
Total 52 100
116
accounting occupations at one time or another reasoned out
that he was not suited for an accounting job. Thirty-three
or 64% stated that they had an opportunity for a favorable
|
change to another job. There were twelve or 22% who quit j
t
their jobs for personal reasons. The remaining seven j
i i
I
respondents, or 14%, reported that they were promoted to a j
non-accounting job. Evidently, the respondents possessed a |
favorable attitude toward their jobs in accounting which is
i
jan important factor in achieving success in the profession.
i
j
Realization of personal aspirations.— With a "yes"
!or "no" answer required, the graduates were asked if they
felt that their choice of accounting as their undergraduate
major had helped them realize their personal aspirations
with regard to six objectives: financial satisfaction,
prestige, opportunity for professional practice, interesting
and challenging work, opportunity for advancement, and
I
satisfactory family life. Table 24 contains the number and
percentage of responses for each of the aforementioned
objectives.
All personal goals seemed to be satisfactorily
achieved with the exception of financial satisfaction. The
economic dislocation being experienced in the Philippines
117
TABLE 24
OPINIONS OF GRADUATES AS TO WHETHER CHOICE OF
ACCOUNTING MAJOR FULFILLED
PERSONAL ASPIRATIONS
Personal
Total
Responses
"Yes "
Responses
Aspirations
N
Per
centage3 N
Per
centage1 3 Rank
Financial
satisfaction 134 80 98 73 6
Prestige 151 90 135 89 3
Opportunity for
professional
practice 153 91 122 80 5
Interesting and
challenging work 15 3 91 138 90 2
Opportunity for
advancement 154 92 143 93 1
Satisfactory
family life 137 82 116 85 4
Total possible number of responses = 167 = 100%
Total number of responses
indicated = 100%
for each personal aspiration
118
especially for the past five years might be the root of this
dissatisfaction* not because accounting occupations are less
materially rewarding than other occupations* and in view of
j
which some graduates were known to have gone abroad to seek j
j !
Ibetter opportunities. The graduates fulfilled most of theiri
jpersonal aspirations especially the opportunity for advance-;
j - ;
ment* interesting and challenging work* and prestige which
i
[ranked 1* 2* and 3* respectively* in point of satisfaction ;
i
derived from their accounting occupations. As a matter of
fact* of the 164 who answered the question whether they werej
[satisfied with their choice of accounting as their under- j
i
I
[graduate major* 126 responded positively.
Attitude towards public accounting experience.— Two
questions were asked to find out how graduates felt about
their accounting occupations. In Table 25* it can be seen
that not one of the thirty who reported they had public
accounting occupations felt that he regretted having chosen
public accounting as his occupation; however* seventeen said
that they liked public accounting but would give it up for a
better occupation. Only ten stated that they wanted public
accounting as a lifetime work.
119
TABLE 25
ATTITUDES OF GRADUATES TOWARDS THEIR
PUBLIC ACCOUNTING JOBS
Responses
Attitudes
Number Percentage
Like public accounting and intend
to make it a lifetime work
Like public accounting but will
give it up for a better
occupation
Like public accounting only as a
means to other occupations
Regret having chosen public
accounting as an occupation
Total
10
17
0
30
33
57
10
0
100
12 0
Ninety-two of the 167 respondents reported that they
were engaged in the accounting occupation outside of public
accounting. As shown in Table 26, only forty-one of these
wished to change to public accounting, three of whom did not
like their accounting occupations. Eighty-five liked their i
i :
occupations but thirty-eight of them wished to change to j
I
public accounting. i
I
!
From the facts disclosed by the survey, it is the |
i
impression that those who were engaged in accounting gener- j
|
i
ally like their jobs. Preference was not predominantly j
shown by the respondents in favor of public accounting as j
compared to other accounting occupations.
Effectiveness of preparation
for the profession
Six questions were asked to secure the evaluation of
the accounting curriculum by the graduates as to how effec
tive it was in preparing them to enter as well as progress
in the profession. The questions asked for the appraisal of
the business courses in the curriculum, adequacy of prepara
tion for the job of junior accountant in public accounting
or equivalent jobs in private accounting, sufficiency of
foundation to advance on one's own in the profession, and
121
TABLE 26
ATTITUDES OF GRADUATES
PRIVATE ACCOUNTING
TOWARDS THEIR
OCCUPATIONS
Attitudes
Responses
Number Percentage
Like occupation and intend to
make it a lifetime work 47 51
Like occupation but wish to
change to public accounting 38 42
Do not like occupation and wish to
change to public accounting 3 3
Do not like occupation but do not
wish to change to public
accounting 4 4
Total 92 100
122
provision to prepare adequately for the CPA board examina
tion .
| Value of business courses in accounting jobs held by
i
jgraduates.— A checklist of courses in seven business areas
i
including accounting was provided in the questionnaire to |
1
obtain the appraisal of the graduates as to the value to |
their accounting occupations of the business courses listed
j
in the questionnaire. Table 2 7 shows how the courses ranked
I in usefulness after converting the number of "useful"
(
|
jresponses into percentage of total responses for each i
' I
! I
icourse, the other choices being "slightly useful" and "not :
useful." It is apparent from Table 2 7 that the courses in
accounting which were rated highly by the respondents as
they found them useful in their accounting occupations are
as follows: (1) those that deal in principles like intro
ductory accounting and theory of accounts; and (2) those
that are immediately needed in beginning occupations like
analysis of financial statements, auditing, construction of
accounts, accounting machine operations, and accounting
practice. The graduates relegated the more specialized
aspects of accounting to lesser importance, e.g., tax
accounting, cost accounting, advanced accounting, accounting
TABLE 2 7
EVALUATION OF BUSINESS COURSES BY GRADUATES AS TO USEFULNESS OF COURSES
IN THEIR ACCOUNTING OCCUPATIONS
"Useful" Responses
Business Courses
Total
a
Responses
Took
Course
Did Not
Take
Course
Total
Per-
centage
c
Rank
Accounting:
Introductory 136 132 0 132 97 1
Accounting Machine
Operations 167 72 66 138 83 6.5
Accounting Practice 148 109 22 131 89 4
Accounting Theory 139 128 2 130 93 2
Tax Accounting 142 113 0 113 80 8
Cost Accounting 142 106 0 106 75 10
Analysis of Financial
Statements 137 122 0 122 89 4
Auditing 135 12 0 0 12 0 89 4
Advanced Accounting 138 105 0 105 76
1 2 3
O ' .
TABLE 2 7— Continued
"Useful" Responses
Business Courses
Total
Responses
Took
Course
Did Not
Take
Course
m . , Per- ,
Total ^ b
centage
RankC
Accounting Systems and
Data Processing 136 40 52 92 68 11
Government Accounting 138 33 2 35 25 13
Consolidations 133 59 0 59 44 12
Construction of Accounts 139 115 0 115 83 6.5
Law:
Obligations and Contracts 135 102 0 102 76 3
Agency and Sales 138 86 0 86 62 4
Partnerships and
Corporations 140 108 0 108 77 1.5
Negotiable Instruments 141 109 0 109 77 1.5
Labor and Social Laws 141 81 0 81 57
124
in
TABLE 2 7— Continued
"Useful" Responses
Business Courses
Total
a
Responses
Took
Course
Did Not
Take
Course
Total
Per-
centage
, c
Rank
Finance:
Corporation Finance 137 70 1 71 52 3
Public Finance 140 41 7 48 34 5
Investments 135 83 5 88 65 1
Money and Banking 140 85 3 88 63 2
Banking Theory and
Practice 12 9 46 20 66 51 4
Marketing:
Principles of Marketing 137 58 2 60 44 1
Principles of Retail
Merchandis ing 132 39 3 42 32 3
Principles of Advertising 131 32 11 43 33 2
Principles of Cooperatives 135 28 4 32 24
125
TABLE 2 7— Continued
Business Courses
Total
a
Responses
Took
Course
"Useful
Did Not
Take
Course
" Responses
Per—
Total b
centage
Rank°
Economics:
Principles of Economics 138 73 1 74 54 2
Introductory Economic
Analysis 143 47 11 58 41 3
Micro-Economic Theory 135 17 21 38 28 6
National Income Analysis 12 7 17 28 45 35 4
Business Fluctuations and
Forecasting 134 28 47 75 56 1
Comparative Economic
Systems 12 3 14 26 40 33 5
Management:
Business Organization
and Management 139 97 3 100 72 2
Decision Making 138 45 53 98 71 3
126
TABLE 2 7— Continued
Business Courses
Total
Responses
Took
Course
"Useful" Responses
Did Not
Take Total fr b
centage
Course
c
Rank
Business Systems and
Procedures 128 82 16 98 77 1
Personnel Management 134 39 40 79 59 4
Management Research
Seminars on Management
128 14 46 60 47 6
Problems 139 15 53 58 49 5
Mathematics:
Business Mathematics 137 115 1 116 85 1
College Algebra 130 59 13 72 55 3
General Statistics 134 69 1 70 52 4
Mathematics of Investments 107 61 1 62 58 2
aThere were three choices in the questionnaire: useful, slightly useful
Total number of responses for each course = 100%.
, and not useful.
H*
NJ
-J
TABLE 2 7— Continued
Ranking was made within each subject area, e-g-j accounting, economics, based on the
percentage of "useful" responses.
i —1
to
o o
12 9
systems and data processing, and consolidations. Government
jaccounting appears to be the least useful of all accounting
i
jsubjects from the viewpoint of the respondents.
i
j The same observation as found in accounting holds
! i
Itrue with law, finance, management, marketing and economics.
i
jln mathematics, however, it seems that statistics, which has
gained ascendancy in the past decade as an important tool in
j
business, vies with college algebra and mathematics of
investments in occupying secondary importance to business
i i
mathematics.
j j
i Adequacy of preparation for the ~iob.— A direct ques-;
|
|tion was asked if their college education had satisfactorily
!
prepared them for the job of junior accountant in public
accounting or equivalent job in private accounting. From
Table 28, it is evident that the majority of the respondents
(56%) claimed they had sufficient preparation for the job,
|
while 2 3% thought it provided a more rigorous training than
what is actually needed. The 10% who said it did not pre
pare them adequately for the job thought that their college
preparation was deficient in specialized accounting.
130
TABLE 28
PERCEPTION BY GRADUATES OF THE EFFECTIVENESS
OF THEIR COLLEGE EDUCATION IN PREPARING
THEM FOR ACCOUNTING JOBS
Perceptions of College Education
Responses
Number Percentage
It has provided a more rigorous
training than what is actually
needed for the job 38 23
It has provided just sufficient
preparation for the job 94 56
It has not provided an adequate
preparation for the job 10 6
No response 25 15
Total 167 100
131
The responses thus far discussed conform with Crite-
!
rion 4-c (see supra, p. 62), in that specialized accounting
should be eschewed from the undergraduate curriculum. This
assertion is made for two reasons: (1) the respondents
rated the specialized accounting subjects relatively low in
utility, and (2) the ten respondents who considered that
|
they had an inadequate preparation for the job believed that!
I
i
their preparation was deficient in specialized accounting, j
i
It follows, therefore, that instead of providing a superfi- |
I
!
cial coverage in the undergraduate program for these j
i
courses, specialized accounting courses are better deferred j
!
to the graduate level in order to render them more valuable
in practice.
Adequacy of preparation for progress on the job.—
The graduates were asked another direct question as to
whether their undergraduate education was sufficient to
enable them to progress in the accounting profession.
Ninety-seven respondents or 58% answered in the positive.
Sixty-seven respondents who answered negatively and fifty-
eight who answered positively indicated in their answers to
a sub-question that they prepared themselves for advancement
in the accounting profession largely through in-service
132
training which was followed next in frequency by self-study.
Table 2 9 shows the responses made pertaining to the means
jemployed for professional advancement by the respondents.
| In the succeeding question, the graduates were asked
which courses they pursued after college graduation. From
i
their answers, it appears that the courses which were popu- j
i
i
lar with graduates after they left college are accounting, j
law, management, and electronic data processing, in that
order. All of these can give preparation for the expanding S
i
functions of the professional accountant. Table 30 shows j
the frequency of responses for the courses pursued after I
i
i
college graduation.
I
Preparation for the CPA examination.— Two questions
were devoted to inquiring from the graduates about how they
felt towards their preparation for the CPA examination.
Table 31 shows their responses. Twenty-eight respondents
omitted the question. Of the 139 who made responses, 104
said that their college education made them feel confident
of passing the CPA examination with the help of a formal
review. Four indicated it made them feel confident of pass
ing the CPA examination without need of a formal review.
133
TABLE 29
PREPARATION FOR PROFESSIONAL ADVANCEMENT TAKEN
BY GRADUATES AFTER COLLEGE GRADUATION
Means Employed
Responses
Number Percentage
Self-study
On-the-job training
PICPA professional development
program
College programs in continuing
education
Graduate studies
CPA review
34
56
11
15
2
27
45
9
12
1
Total 125 100
134
TABLE 30
COURSES PURSUED AFTER COLLEGE GRADUATION
Responses
Courses
Number Percentage
Accounting 19 23
Law 14 17
Finance 5 6
Management 13 15
Production 3 4
Marketing 6 7
Mathematics 3 4
Statistics 3 4
Electronic Data Processing 10 12
Education 2 2
Liberal arts 3 4
Others:
Economics 1 1
Engineering 1 1
Total 83 100
135
TABLE 31
PERCEPTIONS BY GRADUATES OF HOW WELL
COLLEGE EDUCATION PREPARED THEM FOR
CPA EXAMINATION
THEIR
THE
Perceptions of
Responses
Educational Preparation
Number Percentage
Gave confidence of passing
CPA examination without need
of formal review 4 2
Gave confidence of passing
CPA examination with the help
of formal review 104 62
Did not give confidence of passing
CPA examination 31 19
No response 28 17
Total 167 100
136
Thirty-one, however, said that it did not make them feel !
!
confident at all. j
I
When asked if they took the CPA examination, 119 j
answered in the positive and forty-four in the negative.
Four respondents did not answer the question. Thirty-five
of those who answered indicated they passed at first sitting
i
and eight at second sitting; i.e., a total of forty-three j
i
!
passed. Based on the number who took the examination, the
number who passed at first sitting represents 30% which is a
little higher than the national percentage of passing in thej
CPA examination (about 2 9% for the period covered by the
jstudy), but not up to expectations, considering that the
records bear out that PCC enjoyed a passing average of at
least 10% above the national percentage of passing through
the span of years under study. Probably the fact that some
results of the CPA examination were not yet released for ten
1
candidates at the time of the survey might have contributed
!
to the disparity, and most likely the element of chance was
a factor.
Among the Board subjects passed at first sitting,
business law placed highest with successful examinees from
PCC, followed by taxation, theory of accounts, practical
accounting, auditing, and management services, in that
137
order. Table 32 shows the number who passed at first sit
ting and at second sitting in the CPA examinations.
From the facts disclosed above, it can be gathered
that the undergraduate accounting curriculum in PCC provides
I
! sufficient potency for graduates to prepare for the CPA j
I !
examination and pass it with a formal review outside of the
program. j
|
|
Improvement needed in the j
accounting curriculum to meet
the emerging needs of j
the profession j
Two questions in the questionnaire were designed to
I elicit information from the graduates about their awareness
|
|of trends in public accounting practice and, based on their
knowledge, what they considered as an ideal preparation for
the future entrant to the accounting profession expressed in
terms of semester units for courses listed in the question
naire .
Trends in public accounting practice.— The first
question posed to the graduates was what trends they could
foresee in public accounting practice in the next twenty-
five years for each accounting function, whether there would
be an increase, decrease, or no change. Table 33 shows the
138
TABLE 32
SUBJECTS PASSED IN THE CPA EXAMINATIONS BY CANDIDATES
FROM PCC DURING FIRST AND SECOND SITTINGS
Board Subjects
First
Sitting
Second
Sitting
Theory of accounts 62 4
Business law 74 3
Auditing 60 4
Practical accounting 61 6
Taxation 68 6
Management services 41 6
139
forecast made by the respondents regarding trends in audit
ing, management consulting services, and tax service. From
the table, it is apparent that the overwhelming majority of
respondents envisioned an increase in all functions of
iaccounting. In relation to their conjecture, the graduates
j
were asked to check for each subject area listed in the
questionnaire the number of units in an undergraduate pro
gram which they deemed most desirable to prepare the future
entrant to the profession.
TABLE 33
TRENDS IN PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FUNCTIONS IN THE
NEXT TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AS ENVISIONED
BY GRADUATES
Public
Responses Indicating Trends
Accounting
Functions
Total Increase Decrease
No
Change
Auditing 165 137 4 24
Management consulting
services 152 142 4 6
Tax service 153 133 2 18
N = 167
140
Table 34 summarizes their responses. Accounting
received the most number of units, the median range being
thirteen or more. The distribution within this range had a
i
median of exactly eighteen semester units. Commercial law
followed accounting with a median range of ten to twelve
i !
semester units. The functional areas in accounting got the j
i
same median range as oral and written English. Auditing,
!
jtaxation, and management services had a median range of fromj
i ' I
jseven to nine semester units just like oral and written j
English. The functional areas of business and the tool sub
jects like mathematics and statistics followed the func- !
|
tional areas of accounting with a median range of four to
six semester units. The liberal education courses were
represented least with a resulting median range of one to
three semester units.
Thus it can be deduced from the foregoing discussion
that the respondents were cognizant of the trends in public
accounting which impression is conveyed by the profile of an
accounting curriculum they envisioned.
Place of electronic data processing in the under
graduate accounting curriculum.— The next question centered
on the need for EDP in the undergraduate education of the
TABLE 34
PERCEPTIONS BY GRADUATES OF AN IDEAL
SEMESTER UNITS IN THE ACCOUNTING
DISTRIBUTION
CURRICULUM
141
OF
Courses
Median
Range
Total
Distribution of Responses
by Semester Units
1-3 4-6 7-9 10-12
13 or
More
Accounting 13+ 147 0 7 5 20 115 3
Auditing 7-9 153 4 28 47 46 28
Taxation 7-9 147 7 46 52 33 9
Management
services 7-9 143 16 47 44 31 5
Commercial
law 10-12 147 9 18 32 52 36
Statistics 4-6 12 9 50 42 28 8 1
Mathematics 4-6 138 16 53 37 26 6
Economics 4-6 151 24 66 35 24 2
Production 4-6 15 3 52 68 27 6 0
Marketing 4-6 143 44 63 28 8 0
Finance 4-6 139 29 53 40 15 2
Personnel
management 4-6 147 50 54 24 17 2
Business
management 4-6 147 34 71 24 14 4
142
TABLE 34— Cont inued
Courses
Median
Range
Total
Distribution of Responses
by Semester Units
1-3 4-6 7-9 10-12
13 or
More
Oral English 7-9 153 8 56 36 39 14
Written
English 7-9 150 11 41 34 47 17
Philosophy 1-3 158 95 40 15 7 1
Psychology 1-3 150 98 35 14 2 1
Sociology 1-3 134 103 23 6 1 1
Other:
Secretarial 1-3 5 3 2 0 0 0
aAn analysis of the 115 responses under 13 or more semester
units for accounting revealed a median of exactly 18
semester units.
N = 167
143
future accountant. The data from the survey showed that
about three-fifths of the respondents were in favor of
including EDP as a separate course to acquaint students withj
EDP applications in accounting while about two-fifths |
i i
| I
jbelieved that EDP should be integrated with accounting |
! j
courses and not taught as a separate subject. Of the 167 j
respondents, only ten felt that EDP should not be included
in the curriculum as it can be better learned in the field.
One respondent suggested that it should be a separate field
I
of study. A summary of their responses is shown in
Table 35.
i
When those in favor of the inclusion of EDP in the
undergraduate accounting education were asked how many
semester units they believed are needed for exposure to EDP,
the majority answered from one to three semester units.
There is clear indication from the responses that while the
respondents were inclined to include EDP in the accounting
curriculum, they wanted it to occupy a minor place in the
curriculum and to be included only on an acquaintanceship
level, not mastery.
144
TABLE 35
OPINIONS OF GRADUATES AS TO THE PLACE OF EDP IN THE
UNDERGRADUATE ACCOUNTING CURRICULUM
Opinions of Graduates
Responses
Number Percentage
EDP should be included as a
separate course to acquaint
students with EDP applications
in accounting
EDP should be integrated with
accounting courses and not
j taught as a separate course
EDP should not be included in the
curriculum as it can be better
learned in the field
EDP should be a separate field
of study
Total
93
63
10
1
167
55
38
1
100
145
Consensus of graduates
regarding certain aspects of
accountancy education
The last question in the survey of graduate dealt
with the consensus of graduates regarding certain aspects of
iaccounting education which have stimulated many studies and
|
discussions in professional and educational circles. The i
I
objective of this question was threefold. First, it was j
| i
intended to find out if the undergraduate program should
jgive complete preparation for the whole career instead of
the first job, or both. Second, it sought the opinion of
graduates as to whether the undergraduate accounting program
i
should be extended to five years. Third, it sought to gauge
the feeling of the graduates about deferring the preparation
I
for the CPA examination until after graduation from the
undergraduate program.
Complete preparation for career, first job, or
both.— To get the views of the graduates on the first issue,
they were asked what pattern of undergraduate curriculum
they believed is best for the education of future entrants
to the profession. Table 36 shows that the respondents were
equally divided (37% each) in their choice of a specialized
146
TABLE 36
OPINIONS OP GRADUATES REGARDING THE BEST PATTERN
OF UNDERGRADUATE ACCOUNTING EDUCATION
Responses
Curriculum Pattern Favored
Number Percentage
Broadly based (liberal) curriculum
with a minimum of technical
courses 41 25
Specialized studies with a minimum
of liberal studies 62 37
Combination of liberal and
technical studies in a
well-balanced proportion 62 37
Total responses 165 99
No opinion 2 1
Total respondents 167 100
147
education with a minimum of specialized studies on the one
hand, and a combination of liberal studies and technical
courses in a well-balanced proportion on the other hand.
Forty-one respondents or 25% favored a broadly based
curriculum with a minimum of technical courses emphasizing
i t
concepts and simple applications only. Two respondents or j
!
I
1% did not give their opinion. In their answers to a sub- |
i i
i . I
jquestion, 107 respondents or 64% thought that the technical
|
jcourses should be oriented to the CPA examination. Further
more, as can be seen in Table 37, of these 107 respondents, j
i
iforty-nine respondents, or 46%, were of the opinion that the!
i I
I j
preparation for the CPA exam should be the emphasis through
out the course in teaching technical subjects in the curric-
!ulum. Forty-two respondents or 39% were of the opinion that
it should be a review and integrating course in itself, and
sixteen respondents of 15% believed it should be the culmi
nating and integrating point in teaching technical subjects
in the curriculum.
The survey disclosed that the respondents were not
only in favor of a specialized education but also were
inclined to include preparation for the CPA examination in
the undergraduate accounting program. Following this find
ing, it can be inferred that the respondents desired that
148
TABLE 37
OPINIONS OF GRADUATES AS TO THE MANNER OF EFFECTING
THE PREPARATION FOR THE CPA EXAMINATION IN THE
UNDERGRADUATE ACCOUNTING CURRICULUM
Opinions of Graduates
Responses
Number Percentage
The CPA examination should be the
emphasis throughout the course
in teaching technical subjects 49 46
The CPA examination should be the
culminating and integrating
point in teaching technical
subjects 16 15
The CPA examination should be a
review and integrating course in
itself occupying the last year
of the undergraduate accounting
curriculum 42 39
Total 107 100
149
the undergraduate accounting program be a preparation for
the first job which is construed as the junior accountant in
public accounting or equivalent job in private accounting. i
i
i
i
!
| Length and components of the undergraduate account-
j ing program.— The next question dwelt on the length of the j
I
undergraduate accounting program and the percentage distri- |
I
bution of the accounting, general business, and liberal edu-j
[
Ication components of the program. Table 38 discloses that
I
the median range for all components under both the four-yearj
i
I
and five-year programs are the same, i.e., 51% to 60% for j
I j
jaccounting; 21% to 30% for general business; and 11% to 2 0% ;
for liberal education. Here again, the respondents showed
their bent towards specialization in the curriculum.
|
As to length of program the respondents were about
equally divided in choosing four or five years as shown in
Table 39. I
Deferring accounting specialization to the graduate
level.— When asked if they favored postponing accounting
specialization to the graduate level, sixty-seven of the 167
respondents answered "yes," and ninety-five "no." Five did
not answer this question. Out of the sixty-seven who
answered "yes," forty-one thought that the best
TABLE 38
OPINIONS OF GRADUATES AS TO DISTRIBUTION OF ACCOUNTING, GENERAL BUSINESS, AND
LIBERAL EDUCATION COMPONENTS IN THE UNDERGRADUATE ACCOUNTING CURRICULUM
Program
Allocation
in
Percentages
Number of Responses
Four--Year Program Five--Year Program
Accounting
General Liberal
Business Education
Accounting
General Liberal
Business Education
0-10 0 11 67 0 12 59
11-2 0 1 59 60 0 54 51
21-30 1 63 20 1 61 22
31-40 6 10 3 6 9 2
41-50 37 2 2 42 0 1
51-60 44 3 0 38 1 0
61-70 31 2 0 29 0 0
71-80 29 3 0 19 0 0
81-90 3 0 0 3 0 0
Total 152 153 152 138 137 135
N = 167
Ln
O
151
TABLE 39
OPINIONS OP GRADUATES AS TO LENGTH OF
UNDERGRADUATE ACCOUNTING PROGRAM
Length of Program
Number
Responses
Percentage
Three years and under 8 5
Four years 66 39
Five years 67 40
Six years and over 5 3
Total responses 146 87
No opinion 21 13
Total respondents 167 100
152
undergraduate requirement for admission to the graduate pro
gram is a preparatory course specially designed for account
ing specialization on the graduate level. Twenty-five main
tained it should be in commerce and only one proposed the
|
jliberal arts undergraduate preparation. Table 40 shows the I
|
number of respondents preferring each type of undergraduate j
preparation that should be required for admission to the
graduate program.
Summary of Findings
The findings of the survey bear out the following |
I
facts. |
i
1. The respondents generally went to college to
fulfill their vocational need. A majority took employment
before graduation from the undergraduate program. Most of
them became interested in accounting education after taking
the vocational two-year program and fulfilling their immedi
ate employment needs.
2. There was a general feeling of satisfaction
expressed by the graduates about their undergraduate college
education in achieving both personal and occupational objec
tives. A majority found employment in accounting occupa
tions after graduation and enjoyed their occupations.
153
I . .
TABLE 40
OPINIONS OP GRADUATES AS TO TYPE OF UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM
TO BE REQUIRED FOR ADMISSION TO THE GRADUATE PROGRAM
'Type of Undergraduate Program
Favorable Responses
Number Percentage
Commerce
Liberal arts
25
1
38
1
Specially designed preparatory
course 41 61
Total 67 100
There were 67 out of 167 respondents who preferred to
postpone accounting specialization to the graduate level,
154
Preference was not predominantly in favor of public account-
I
ing occupations as against other accounting occupations. It
was found that 3% held executive positions over a period of
i
(ten years. About one-fourth of the respondents held super-
j I
Ivisory positions as their initial employment. Those who j
| j
changed occupations did so for advancement or favorable j
|
|change. All personal goals were satisfactorily achieved
I
iwith the exception of financial satisfaction.
3. With regard to the effectiveness of the curric-
|
julum in preparing entrants to the accounting profession, a
i
I
[majority of the respondents felt that they had sufficient
i :
i
college preparation for their accounting jobs. They found
useful to their occupations courses that deal with prin
ciples and those that are immediately relevant to beginning
occupations. They relegated the more specialized aspects of
accounting to lesser importance in their jobs.
Most of the respondents prepared themselves for
advancement in the accounting profession through in-service
training and self-study. Those who pursued further studies
concentrated on courses which prepared them for the expand
ing functions of the professional accountant.
A propos to their preparation for the CPA examina
tion, a majority of the respondents were of the opinion that
155
the undergraduate accounting curriculum in PCC provided suf
ficient potency for graduates to prepare for the CPA exami
nation and pass it with the help of a formal review outside
i
jof the program.
)
i
i 4. The respondents were found to be aware of trends
in public accounting practice. An overwhelming majority
envisioned an increase in all functions of accounting.
Their idea of an undergraduate accounting curriculum favored
a specialized program but their responses indicated more
emphasis on the traditional accounting and law subjects than
|on the enhanced functions of auditing, taxation, and manage
ment services. They were inclined to include EDP in the
accounting curriculum on the acquaintanceship level only.
5. With respect to the consensus of graduates about
certain aspects of accounting education which have stimu
lated many studies and discussions in professional and edu
cational circles over the years, the following seem to stand
out:
a. A majority of the respondents were in favor
of a specialized undergraduate education
which includes preparation for the CPA exam
ination .
156
b. They were almost equally divided in the
choice of a four-year or a five-year under-
I
I graduate accounting program. The distribu- ,
i
| tion of the different components of the cur-
i
! riculum suggested by their responses are as
I
follows: 51% to 60% for accounting; 21% to
30% for general business; and 11% to 2 0% for
j liberal education.
c. A majority were not in favor of postponing
!
accounting specialization to the graduate i
level. Those who thought otherwise, pre
ferred a preparatory course specially de
signed for accounting specialization on the
graduate level as an admission requirement
to the graduate program.
In the next chapter, a comparison was made of the
consensus of graduates with that of the PCC accounting fac
ulty regarding prevailing issues in undergraduate accounting
education. We now turn to the opinionnaire survey of
faculty.
CHAPTER V
l
SURVEY OF THE ACCOUNTING FACULTY IN PCC
j i
Curriculum development in colleges and universities
usually has been a responsibility of the faculty and the
jPhilippine College of Commerce is no exception to this rule.!
i
If there should be any innovation or improvement contem
plated of the undergraduate accounting curriculum in PCC,
the thinking of the faculty about the prevailing issues
i
should be known beforehand as it can be a barometer of what
changes will gain acceptance and can be effected success
fully if adopted. With this purpose in mind and for want of
another measuring rod to evaluate the accounting curriculum
of PCC, four questions with their sub-questions appearing in
the questionnaire circularized to the graduates were
embodied in the questionnaire constructed for the faculty
survey.
Chapter V deals with the analysis and summary of
findings of the faculty survey together with a comparison
157
158
of the consensus of the faculty with that of the graduates
regarding the vital issues in accountancy education that
jwere studied.
I
!
| The Study Group
|
The faculty survey was conducted on campus when the j
j
present school year opened in July, 1971. Knowing the dif- i
ficulties of surveys like this, the faculty survey was con- j
i
Jfined to the accounting faculty on campus at the opening of
i
the school year in order to capitalize on their proximity to
the college, thereby hoping to maximize results. Prior per-
i |
jmission of the college authorities was secured before con- ;
ducting the survey. A month after the distribution of the
opinionnaires, a personal follow-up was made by the acting
department head of accounting and some faculty members.
Fifty-four accounting faculty members were surveyed.
Forty-six or 85% completed and returned the opinionnaires,
of whom seventeen were full-time and twenty-nine part-time
members. The median age of the group surveyed was thirty-
nine years. The highest degree attained by them was the
Master's with four of them holding t degree. Three, how
ever, held Bachelor's degrees in othi elds, in addition
to commerce.
159
Only two reported they were not CPAs but twenty-two
or 48% reported that they did not have any public accounting
practice. Fifteen faculty members or 33% had from one to
five years public accounting practice, and the remaining 19%
had from six to twenty years and over.
As to college teaching experience, twenty-three or
50% reported they had from one to five years college teach
ing and nine or 2 0% had from six to ten years. The remain
ing faculty had from eleven to twenty years and over.
I
j The impression conveyed by the data gathered is that
j
ithe accounting faculty of PCC at the time of the survey was
|
jcomposed largely of a young group of bachelor's degree hold-
i
jers, about half of whom had not had public accounting prac-
I
I
jtice and whose college teaching experiences varied from five
years and below to twenty-one years and above, but with a
median range of from one to five years of college teaching.
j
j Analysis and Findings
j The same questions that were asked of graduates in
j
the last phase of the questionnaire survey were repeated in
the opinionnaire survey of the accounting faculty of PCC.
The objective was to get their opinions on how to improve
160
the accounting curriculum to keep it abreast of the emerg
ing needs of the profession. Their consensus was sought
regarding pressing issues in accountancy education today.
The analysis and findings of the opinionnaire survey of the
i
!
jaccounting faculty of PCC are set forth in the following
paragraphs.
i
I
Improvement needed in the
accounting curriculum to meet
the emerging needs of
the profession
Two questions were designed to elicit from the fac
ulty their concept of an ideal preparation for the future
accountant. One question dealt with the trends in account
ing practice and the other with the inclusion of EDP in the
undergraduate accounting curriculum.
Trends in public accounting practice.— The faculty
were asked what they foresaw as a trend in public accounting
practice in the next twenty-five years for such functions as
auditing, management services, and tax service. As shown in
Table 41, a majority of the faculty envisioned an increase
in all functions.
161
TABLE 41
TRENDS IN PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FUNCTIONS IN THE
NEXT TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AS ENVISIONED BY THE
ACCOUNTING FACULTY OF PCC
Public
Responses Indicating Trends
Accounting
Functions
Total Increase Decrease
No
Change
Auditing 46 27 6 13
Management consulting
services 46 42 2 2
Tax service 46 37 2 7
N = 46
In relation to this forecast, the accounting faculty
were asked to check for each subject area listed in the
opinionnaire the number of units in an undergraduate program
which they deemed most desirable to prepare the future
entrant to the profession. Table 42 summarizes their
responses.
TABLE 42
PERCEPTIONS BY THE PCC ACCOUNTING FACULTY OF AN
IDEAL DISTRIBUTION OF SEMESTER UNITS IN THE
ACCOUNTING CURRICULUM
162
Courses
Median
Range
Total
Distribution of Responses
by Semester Units
1-3 4-6 7-9 10-12
13 or
More
Accounting 13+ 45 0 0 0 8 37a
Auditing 7-9 45 1 12 17 10 5
Taxation 7-9 45 2 17 16 8 2
Management
services 7-9 45 8 12 15 8 2
Commercial
law 10-12 46 1 6 5 17 17
Statistics 4-6 42 14 20 5 3 0
Mathematics 7-9 45 3 16 16 10 0
Economics 7-9 44 1 18 15 9 1
Production 4-6 43 14 18 6 5 0
Marketing 4-6 43 11 19 10 3 0
Finance 4-6 43 16 10 11 6 0
Personnel
management 4-6 43 17 17 7 2 0
Business
management 4-6 42 6 24 6 6 0
TABLE 42— Continued
163
Courses
Median
Range
Total
Distribution of Responses
by Semester Units
1-3 4-6 7-9 10-12
13 or
More
Oral English 4-6 41 10 17 9 3 2
Written
English 7-9 44 2 19 15 6 2
Philosophy 1-3 43 25 13 3 2 0
Psychology 1-3 46 23 19 2 2 0
Sociology 1-3 43 24 15 3 1 0
aAn analysis of the 37 responses under 13 or more semester
units revealed a median of 39 semester units.
N = 46
164
The median range of thirteen plus semester units for
accounting was highest followed closely by commercial law
which had a median range of ten to twelve semester units.
i
|The functional areas in accounting such as auditing, manage-
i
i
Jment services, and taxation got the same median range of
seven to nine semester units as mathematics, economics, and
written English. Oral English shared with the functional
areas of business and the tool subject of statistics a
median range of four to six semester units. The liberal
I
education courses came last with a median range of one to
I three units. It is apparent from Table 42 that the account
ing faculty liked to place emphasis on specialization and
cared little for a broadened base in the accounting curric
ulum.
Place of EDP in the undergraduate accounting
curriculum.— The second question asked the faculty of their
opinion as to the place of EDP in the undergraduate account
ing curriculum. Their opinions are shown in Table 43. A
majority of thirty-one or 68% thought that EDP should be
taught as a separate course in the curriculum on an
acquaintanceship level.
165
TABLE 43
OPINIONS OF THE PCC ACCOUNTING FACULTY AS TO
THE PLACE OF EDP IN THE UNDERGRADUATE
ACCOUNTING CURRICULUM
Opinions of Faculty
Responses
Number Percentage
EDP should be included as a
separate course to acquaint
students with EDP applications
in accounting
EDP should be integrated with
accounting courses and not
taught as a separate course
EDP should not be included in the
curriculum as it can be better
learned in the field
Total
31
13
2
46
68
28
4
100
166
When asked in a sub-question how many semester units
are needed for exposure to EDP, twenty-one or 46% indicated
[from four to six semester units whereas fourteen or 30%
i !
indicated three units and below. These responses suggest
a range of three to six units as acceptable to the faculty.
Consensus of faculty
regarding certain aspects of
accountancy education
I
The objective of the last two questions was three
fold. The first question asked about the pattern of under
graduate curriculum believed best for the education of the
future entrants into the accounting profession. The next
question dealt with the length of the undergraduate account
ing program and if the preparation for the CPA examination
should be given outside of the undergraduate curriculum.
Complete preparation for career, first job, or
both.— To get the views of the faculty regarding the objec
tive of an undergraduate accounting curriculum, whether it
should embrace preparation for the career, first job, or
both, they were asked what pattern of accounting education
they believed will be best for the education of future
entrants to the profession. Their responses are shown in
Table 44.
167
TABLE 44
OPINIONS OF THE PCC ACCOUNTING FACULTY REGARDING THE
BEST PATTERN OF UNDERGRADUATE ACCOUNTING EDUCATION
Responses
Curriculum Pattern Favored
Number Percentage
Broadly based (liberal) curriculum
with a minimum of technical
courses 10 22
Specialized studies with a minimum
of liberal studies 21 45
Combination of liberal and
technical studies in a
well-balanced proportion 15 33
Total 46 100
168
Twenty-one respondents or 45% preferred a special
ized education with a minimum of liberal studies. Fifteen
i
respondents or 33% were in favor of a combination of liberal
I
[studies and technical courses in a well-balanced proportion;
I
i
jthe remaining ten respondents, or 22%, favored a broadly
based curriculum.
When asked in a sub-question if the technical j
courses should be oriented to the CPA examination, two- j
i
thirds of the respondents answered in the positive, of whom j
j
I
thirteen or 43% were in favor of considering the preparationj
for the CPA examination as a review and integrating course [
i 1
| .
in itself occupying the last year of the undergraduate cur
riculum. Nine or 30% of them indicated that the preparation
for the CPA examination should be the emphasis throughout
the course in teaching technical subjects; and only eight
respondents or 2 7% of those answering positively to the pre
vious question stated that the preparation for the CPA exam
ination should be the culminating and integrating point in
teaching technical subjects in the curriculum. Their
responses are summarized in Table 45.
169
TABLE 45
OPINIONS OF THE PCC ACCOUNTING FACULTY AS TO THE MANNER
OF EFFECTING THE PREPARATION FOR THE CPA EXAMINATION
IN THE UNDERGRADUATE ACCOUNTING CURRICULUM
Opinions of Faculty
Responses
Number Percentage
The CPA examination should be the
emphasis throughout the course
in teaching technical subjects 9 30
The CPA examination should be the
culminating and integrating
point in teaching technical
subjects 8 27
The CPA examination should be a
review and integrating course in
itself occupying the last year
of the undergraduate accounting
curriculum 13 43
Total 30 100
170
From the data presented in Tables 44 and 45 it is
evident that the accounting faculty believed not only in a
specialized accounting curriculum but one that is oriented
to the CPA examination and includes preparation for the CPA
examination as a review and integrating course in itself in
the last year of the program. It can be inferred from these
tendencies that the accounting faculty believed in an
accounting curriculum geared to the preparation for the
first job in public accounting.
Length and components of the undergraduate account
ing program.— The next question centered on the length of
the undergraduate accounting program and the percentage dis
tribution of accounting, general business, and liberal edu
cation components of the program. Table 46 shows the opin
ions of the PCC accounting faculty as to the distribution of
the components of the program. The table shows that the
median range for all components under both the four-year and
five-year programs are the same, i.e., 41% to 50% for
accounting; 21% to 30% for general business; and 11% to 2 0%
for liberal education. It is evident from the responses
given that the faculty leaned towards specialization in the
curriculum.
TABLE 46
OPINIONS OF PCC ACCOUNTING
AND LIBERAL EDUCATION
FACULTY AS
COMPONENTS
TO DISTRIBUTION OF ACCOUNTING, GENERAL BUSINESS,
IN THE UNDERGRADUATE ACCOUNTING CURRICULUM
Program
Allocation
Number of Responses
Four--Year Program Five-Year Program
m
Percentages
Accounting
General
Business
Liberal
Education
Accounting
General
Business
Liberal
Education
0-10 0 3 12 0 2 10
11-2 0 1 12 14 3 10 15
21-30 1 20 10 2 21 9
31-40 10 5 4 10 4 5
41-50 12 3 3 11 2 2
51-60 13 0 0 7 2 0
61-70 2 0 0 4 0 0
71-80 4 0 0 3 0 0
81-90 0 0 0 1 0 0
Total 43 43 43 41 41 41
N = 46
i - 1
c
172
As to the length of program, the respondents were
about equally divided in their choice of a four-year or
[
jfive-year program as shown in Table 47.
Deferring accounting specialization to the graduate
j
jlevel.— To the question which asked if they favored postpon
ing accounting specialization to the graduate level, thirty-
one respondents or 85% replied in the negative. Only seven
|or 15% were in favor and these were almost equally divided j
! i
! i
in their choice of commerce or a specially designed prepara-!
tory course as a requirement for admission to the graduate
i
program. Their answers are shown in Table 48.
Summary of Findings and Comparison with
Results of the Survey of Graduates
The findings of the faculty survey are summarized
and concurrently compared with the findings of the survey of
graduates in the discussion that follows.
1. There was evidence that the accounting faculty
members were sensitive to the changing needs of the profes
sion. As was true of the graduates, the accounting faculty
envisioned an increase in all public accounting functions.
In the profile of an undergraduate accounting curriculum
formed by the number of semester units they indicated for
173
TABLE 47
OPINIONS OF PCC ACCOUNTING FACULTY AS TO LENGTH OF
UNDERGRADUATE ACCOUNTING PROGRAM
Length of Program
Number
Responses
Percentage
Three years and under 1 2
Four years 21 46
Five years 22 48
Total responses 44 96
No opinion 2 4
Total respondents 46 100
174
TABLE 48
OPINIONS OF PCC ACCOUNTING FACULTY AS TO TYPE OF
UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM TO BE REQUIRED FOR
ADMISSION TO THE GRADUATE PROGRAM
Type of Undergraduate Program
Favorable Responses
Number Percentage
Commerce
Liberal arts
Specially designed preparatory
course
Total
3
0
43
0
57
100
£
There were 7 out of 46 respondents who preferred to
postpone accounting specialization to the graduate level.
175
the courses included in the checklist contained in the opin-
ionnaire, the accounting faculty showed the same preference
for a specialized curriculum as the graduates. The only
difference noted was more emphasis given by the faculty on
mathematics and economics and less emphasis on oral English
i i
as compared with the graduates. The majority of both fac- i
j
ulty and graduates were in favor of including EDP in the
undergraduate accounting curriculum as a separate course on |
an acquaintanceship level only. The faculty, however,
favored more semester units than did the graduates for EDP
in the curriculum.
I
2. While the accounting faculty and graduates both
leaned towards a specialized undergraduate education, the
accounting faculty showed a greater tendency toward special
ization. In the choice of which pattern of accounting cur
riculum they favored, the graduates were equally divided in
their choice of a specialized curriculum and a curriculum
combining both liberal and specialized education in a well-
balanced proportion. Most of the accounting faculty showed
preference for the specialized curriculum.
While both faculty and graduates favored the inclu
sion of the preparation for the CPA examination in the
undergraduate accounting curriculum, most of the graduates
176
wanted it to be the emphasis in the technical courses. This
was unlike most faculty who preferred it to be a review
course in the last year of the program. It was evident that
i
both the faculty and graduates believed in an accounting
curriculum geared to the preparation for the first job in
jpublic accounting or equivalent jobs in private accounting.
j 3. As to length of the accounting program, both
I i
! i
ifaculty and graduates were almost equally divided in their j
j |
choice of a four-year or five-year program. They were j
together in the percentage allocation for the different com
ponents of the curriculum, except in accounting, which the j
i
graduates preferred to give more semester units than did the
I
faculty. The faculty indicated for accounting 41% to 50%;
for business education, 21% to 30%; and for liberal educa
tion, 11% to 2 0%. The graduates had similar percentage dis
tribution for general business education and liberal educa
tion but differed in accounting which they allocated 51% to
60%.
4. The graduates and faculty were also together in
their views that accounting specialization should not be
deferred to the graduate level. When those who were in
favor of postponement were asked what should be the admis
sion requirement to the graduate program, the faculty were
177
almost equally divided in choosing commerce and the spe
cially designed preparatory course whereas the graduates
clearly preferred the latter over the former.
With the help of the findings in both surveys, a
model curriculum was constructed for accounting students
i
with a strong vocational inclination like those coming to
PCC. For the same purpose, a review of the catalogues of
colleges and universities in the United States was made to
gather ideas of a forward-looking curriculum that will ade
quately meet the emerging needs of the profession.
Chapter VI presents the study on the model curriculum.
CHAPTER VI
i
THE MODEL CURRICULUM
This chapter is devoted to the construction of a
model curriculum for students with strong vocational incli
nation. The curriculum was designed in keeping with the
criteria set forth in Chapter II and in recognition of the
limitations of accountancy education in the Philippines.
The suggestions implicit in the responses of the graduates
and faculty of PCC to the questions in the survey instru
ments relating to curriculum improvement were also taken
into consideration.
This chapter opens with a discussion of the prin
ciples formulated to serve as guidelines in blueprinting the
model curriculum. Following this is the search for ideas
toward excellence in accounting education which was done
through a review of catalogues of twelve colleges and uni
versities in the United States. The last part of the
178
179
chapter is a presentation of the important features of the
model curriculum.
Guiding Principles Used in
| Curriculum Construction
I
i j
j The ultimate goal of this study was to construct an j
!
optimum accounting curriculum for students that have strong j
j
vocational inclination like those who come to PCC, without
undermining the objectives of a sound professional educa
tion. The underlying philosophy is to serve the needs of
j
the student, to meet the demands of the profession and to
promote the purposes of higher education in a democratic and
I
technological society.
The initial step taken was to formulate the guiding
principles in the construction of the curriculum. In using
the approach of blending idealism and realism in the model
curriculum, it was necessary to bridge the gap between
vision and reality by comparing the criteria for a sound
accounting program formulated in Chapter II with the sugges
tions for improvement implicit in the findings of the two
surveys conducted in this study and thereafter distilling
the principles. The following paragraphs set forth each
principle used in the construction of the model curriculum
180
and the considerations that entered into the formulation of
each.
Principle 1
Criterion 1 suggests that an undergraduate account
ing curriculum should provide preparation for the general j
accountant, not oriented to the CPA examination, and which
combines both liberal and specialized studies in the curric-
I '
I
ulum (see supra, pp. 59-60). The findings of the survey
I
revealed that while both graduates and faculty favored a
specialized curriculum, the graduates were also agreeable to
a combination of liberal and specialized studies in the pro
gram. Moreover, the graduates reported they found special
ized accounting to be of little value for threir accounting
occupations after graduation.
Both graduates and faculty were disposed to include
preparation for the CPA examination in the curriculum
although the survey disclosed that only 16% of the respon
dents were engaged in public accounting occupations after
graduation. In spite of the obvious desire of the faculty
and graduates to gear the accounting curriculum to the CPA
examination, such preparation apparently is superfluous
since it goes to waste with a majority of the end-products
181
of the curriculum. Hence, Criterion 1 was essentially-
adopted as Principle 1. which reads: The undergraduate
j . . . . . .
jaccounting curriculum should develop the potentialities of
i
the student to enter professional accounting careers in
i
industry, business, and government: and eventually prepare |
i !
I j
|for entrance to the profession of public accountancy. It
I i
should further aim for the development of the whole individ
ual and the responsible citizen in a democratic and techno- ;
logical society. J
i
i
I
Principle 2 |
!
j A four-year undergraduate program is considered j
ideal under Criterion 2 (see supra, p. 60). The criterion
further states that a fifth year beyond the undergraduate
program may be utilized for specialized accounting educa
tion, including preparation for the CPA examination.
As revealed by the catalogue survey in this study,
the present undergraduate programs in the Philippines are
mostly an outstretching of the four-year program and PCC
follows the general trend (see supra. p. 93). The grad
uates, however, had a general feeling of satisfaction with
their educational preparation. Preference was not predomi
nantly in favor of public accounting occupations. As a
182
matter of fact, only 16% of the respondents were engaged in
public accounting practice after graduation.
i
| The faculty and graduates were almost equally
jdivided in their choice of a four-year or five-year program
I
land desired the CPA preparation to be included in the under-
i i
Jgraduate program. Since a five-year program was acceptable |
I !
| I
to the graduates and faculty and the graduates of the pro- |
! j
igram did not necessarily obtain jobs in public accounting j
after graduation, Criterion 2 was maintained and adopted as j
i
Principle 2, stated as follows: Considering the occupa- j
tional needs of students in a rapidly changing business j
environment, the preparation of a beginning professional
should be achieved in no more than four years. Accounting
specialization, including preparation for the CPA examina
tion, is better given in a fifth year beyond the undergrad
uate program.
principle 3
The proportion suggested in Criterion 3 to achieve
balance in the undergraduate accounting curriculum is 50%
general education, 2 5% general business education, and 2 5%
accounting education, or 50% business and 50% non-business
courses (see supra, p. 61). The catalogue survey conducted
183
in this study disclosed that this proportion was nowhere
attained by any school in the Philippines (see supra,
!
jP- 75). Most of the programs were found slanted towards
!
jspecialized studies. Even the minimal requirements promul-
j
! j
jgated by the Board of Accounting Education, which prescribesl
! i
accounting education leading to the CPA examination, depict
a bent towards specialization (see supra, p. 93). The find-j
; I
jings of the two surveys conducted in this study revealed j
i |
that faculty and graduates alike were not in favor of post- j
poning accounting specialization to the graduate level and I
| i
jthey both wanted stress on CPA preparation in the undergrad-
i
uate accounting program.
Despite all these indications of a strong desire for
specialization in the undergraduate program, the 50-50 bal
ance should be maintained in the undergraduate curriculum
jsince it is not intended to include preparation for the CPA
iexamination as one of its objectives. if a fifth year is
|
given for the purpose of preparing accounting majors for
admission to the CPA examination, a 50% provision for gen
eral education in the four-year program would amount to 40%
general education in a five-year program. This leaves a
balance of 60% of the five-year program to business courses
including accounting which should satisfy those who want to
184
stress CPA preparation without sacrificing the general edu
cation objectives in the four-year curriculum. Thus Crite
rion 3 was restated as Principle 3 as follows: The ideal
balance of specialized and liberal arts studies in the
I
[undergraduate accounting curriculum should approximate the j
i j
5 0-50 proportion.
I
Principle 4 |
According to Criterion 4, a well-rounded education
for the accountant should include all three areas: general |
education, general business, and accounting. It states fur-!
ither that the component courses of each must be chosen on I
I
the basis of their speedy contribution towards the specific
objectives of the program (see supra, p. 61). In planning
for the components of general and specialized education in a
four-year accounting program in the Philippines which will
eventually lead to the CPA preparation after the bachelor's
degree, the minimal requirements of the Board of Accounting
Education were taken into consideration inasmuch as they are
legislated requirements. The opinions of faculty and grad
uates with regards to desirable number of units for each
course in the curriculum were considered in determining the
desirable curriculum profile, e.g., more semester units
185
devoted to accounting theory and principles and less to the
i
|Specialized aspects of accounting. Criterion 4 in its
i
I
I
jentirety was adopted as Principle 4 which states; To pro-
i
j vide a well-rounded education for the beginning accountant.
I the undergraduate accounting curriculum should include all
three areas: general education, general business. and i
accounting. The component courses of each must be chosen on!
j
i the basis of their effective contribution towards the spe-
j cific objectives of the program.
I
Principle 5
I
| Criterion 5 states that it is desirable to integrate
general and specialized education throughout the curriculum
in order to provide meaning and enrichment to each other and
that it is preferable that general education should taper
off towards the end of the program while specialized educa-
jtion should be increasingly stressed. The ordering of
courses, according to Criterion 5, should insure maximum
transference from principles to practice and from general to
specific (see supra, p. 63).
As found in the catalogue survey of accounting
courses in the Philippines, most institutions including PCC
adhere to the vertical integration of general education and
186
specialized studies. Criterion 5 was therefore maintained
and adopted as Principle 5: General and specialized educa
tion should be integrated throughout the curriculum in order
jto provide meaning and enrichment to each other.
I
I
I i
Principle 6 ;
Pursuant to Criterion 6, the use of electives in the
i
jcurriculum, while desirable, should not be overdone. Beyond
requirements to insure minimal coverage, students should be
allowed to choose courses they need and that they want in j
i
each of the three classifications: general education, gen-
leral business, and accounting. Courses with narrow utili
tarian objectives, or which appeal to special interests and
are suited to certain abilities are better classified as
free electives (see supra, p. 64).
The catalogue survey of accounting curriculums in
the Philippines revealed a paucity of electives in some
schools. PCC, however, was found to satisfy Criterion 6 and
to compare more favorably than the average of the group sur
veyed in the Philippines in providing greater latitude of
choice in each of the three areas aforementioned and also in
the number of free electives as well as in the overall total
(see supra, p. 92). There is now, however, a mandatory
18 7
requirement of twenty-seven semester units of free electives
jin the accounting curriculum leading to the CPA examination
jwhich the Board of Accounting Education has prescribed and
jwhich schools in the Philippines understandably would want
i
i
!to observe. Criterion 6 was adopted as Principle 6. to
l
jread: Beyond the requirements to ensure minimal coverage,
t
■students should have freedom to choose the courses they need
; and that they want in each of the three classifications;
general education, general business, and accounting studies.
I
I
i
I Search for Ideas towards Excellence in
, Accounting Education
i
|
i It was mentioned in the first chapter that account-
i
jing educators in the Philippines recognize the universality
!
of accounting and are interested in its development beyond
the boundaries of the country. Philippine educators keep
abreast with currents of "advanced accounting thoughts
evolved in highly developed industrialized nations as the
United States and the United Kingdom," both of which have
pronounced influence on the practice of accounting in the
Philippines (see supra. p. 10). In the search for ideas in
building a future-oriented curriculum, a review of cata
logues of colleges and universities in the United States was
188
made for the reason that they are considered in the Philip
pines pace-setters in accountancy education.
i
j The suggestion of Dr. A. N. Mosich, Chairman of the
1
(Accounting Department of the Graduate School of Business
i
Administration in the University of Southern California was
i
i
sought in regard to the schools that were considered appro
priate for the purpose of this study. The latest catalogues
of twelve suggested schools which appeared on inspection to
yield helpful ideas were reviewed. Following is a list of
i
jthese schools:
California State Colleges
1
!
1. California State College, Long Beach
2. California State College of Los Angeles
3. California State Polytechnic College, Pomona
4. San Diego State College
5. San Fernando Valley State College
Universities, countrywide
6. University of Arizona
7. University of California, Berkeley
8. University of Houston
9. University of Nebraska
10. University of Oregon
189
11. University of Southern California
!
| 12. University of Wyoming
i
| The search for ideas was directed towards certain
aspects of the curriculum, to wit: (1) quantitative and
mathematical tool courses, in keeping with trends in their
I !
increasing use in business; (2) courses designed to acquaint!
I
students with EDP applications in accounting; (3) prepara- j
j
i |
tion for the CPA examination beyond the bachelor's degree
requirements; (4) components of accounting studies to pro-
!
vide basic accounting theory and applications; and (5) com
position of business core courses.
Quantitative and mathematics
tool courses
From the review of school catalogues, it appears
that the trend is in offering one or two courses in mathe
matics for business applications which encompass calculus
and elements of finite mathematics with emphasis on sets,
linear relations, vectors, and matrices, as well as proba-
i
bility theory and its application to business. Calculus
appears more frequently given as a distinct course than do
analytic geometry and college algebra.
Several schools provide a separate classification
for quantitative methods apart from mathematics. The
190
present emphasis in quantitative methods courses is the
application of statistics as a tool in decision-making,
jsome schools extend coverage of the elementary course in
jquantitative methods to the fundamental techniques of opera-
i
|tions analysis, construction and analysis of quantitative
i
business models and even programming and the use of elec-
!
tronic computers in business decision-making. A few schools!
|
Istick to offering the traditional statistics courses as sep-j
i
I
arate courses in the curriculum. |
EDP applications in accounting
i A majority of the programs reviewed include computer
programming and utilization as a curricular requirement,
either on a credit or non-credit basis. Some go to the
extent of introducing the students to a computer language
such as Fortran. Others include computer utilization in
accounting systems, management science, or quantitative
methods courses. It seems that electronic data processing
is now recognized in practice as a basic component of the
accounting curriculums in the United States.
191
Preparation for the
CPA examination beyond
the bachelor's deqree
It is a frequent practice that units in excess of
the requirements for the bachelor s degree are allowed in
regular sessions or in summer sessions to fulfill the objec-!
tives of students desiring to prepare for the CPA examina-
|
jtion. A fifth year is sometimes utilized to award another j
bachelor's degree in accountancy which aims to prepare for j
!
the profession of public accounting. Another practice is to
give credit for courses taken in a fifth year beyond the
jundergraduate program towards a Master of Accounting degree,
I
I
which includes courses preparing students more fully for the
CPA examination. Still another practice is to offer CPA
preparation as a distinct post-undergraduate program.
Basic accounting theory
and application
j There appears a uniformity in the course offerings
!
I
to provide basic concepts and theory of accounting together
with simple applications. The accounting group consists
mainly of accounting principles, intermediate financial
accounting, advanced financial accounting, cost accounting,
tax accounting, and auditing. Most schools require just one
term of each of the basic accounting courses aforementioned
192
but others do vary their requirements from one term to two
terms for one or two courses in the accounting group.
j
i
'Business core courses
j -----------------------
| The business core courses are mostly confined to j
j i
[courses in the functional areas of business, the legal envi-j
! i
jronment of business, and organizational theory and behavior.j
i l
jUnlike in the Philippines, the business law courses in the j
jschools reviewed in the United States are not spelled out
|
one by one in distinct law courses. A new course that has
cropped up among the more stable business core courses is
[that of decision-making.
i i
i
i
A Presentation of the Model Curriculum
Philosophy
The model curriculum is conceived to serve the needs
of students who come to college with strong vocational
inclination; to meet the challenges and demands of the
accounting profession today; and to promote the purposes of
higher education in a democratic and technological society.
Obi ect ive
The undergraduate program in accounting is designed
to provide the background knowledge, academic disciplines,
193
and professional skills for entrance to professional
accounting careers in industry, business, and government*
and eventual preparation for the practice of public accoun
tancy. The professional preparation is combined with lib-
'eral education to provide the broad foundation fundamental j
ito success in professional life, to develop the individual's!
i ;
I i
capacity to accelerate learning on his own, and to develop i
j I
jhis potentialities to assume positions of leadership and j
I !
Responsibility in the course of his professional career. j
|
Profile of the model curriculum
i The model four-year undergraduate accounting curric-j
j
julum, together with the fifth year designed for CPA prepara-
I
i
tion and the course descriptions, appears in Appendixes A-C.
Following the 50-50 balance ideally sought for, the
distribution of courses consists of 50% general education
and 50% business education including accounting studies.
i
i
There are seventy-two semester units in each division, out
jof which sixty semester units are specified courses and
twelve semester units are elective.
A total of twenty-four semester units of electives
is intended to give ample freedom to the students in choos
ing the subjects they need and want. Provision, however, is
194
made so that electives are not chosen indiscriminately to
the extent that the desired balance in the curriculum is not
observed. The electives are distributed to specific areas
where they are intended to contribute to the achievement of j
i
i !
;the objectives of the program. Hence, there are provisions i
i '
jfor a finance elective, management elective, economics elec-j
i ;
|tive, etc. j
Important features of the
model curriculum
i
I
The following is a review of the important features
iof the model curriculum that are embodied to make it in
i
! j
Ikeeping with the height of the times subject only to the
I
limitations of the environment of accountancy education in
the Philippines.
1. Emphasis is laid on the use of mathematics as a
tool in decision-making. Two courses in fundamental mathe
matics for business applications are included in the curric
ulum to attain this objective, aside from college algebra
and statistics.
2. It was considered premature to offer EDP as a
separate course in the curriculum since computer use in the
Philippines is still in its infancy. Topics in computer
195
applications are included in the course in accounting sys
tems rather than offered as a separate course.
| 3. The model four-year accounting curriculum meets
i
jail the requirements of legislation in the Philippines j
| i
affecting accountancy education except those of the curric- j
i !
julum requirements set by the Board of Accounting Education j
|for the obvious reason that the four-year undergraduate cur-
I
i
riculum is not oriented to the CPA examination. The compul
sory teaching of Spanish is observed by providing the
I
I
jrequired twelve semester units of Spanish. There is
i
■included a course on the life and works of Jose Rizal (a
I '
! !
! S
national hero) which is mandated by law. The model curric
ulum, however, is short of twelve semester units in account
ing and taxation, and six semester units of electives when
compared to the requirements set by the Board of Accounting
Education which is empowered by the Accountancy Law to pre
scribe collegiate curriculums leading to admission to the
i
jCPA examination.
To suit the needs of accounting majors who desire
eventually to take the CPA examination, a fifth year is pro
vided to give CPA preparation. The fifth year fulfills the
experience requirement of the Board of Accountancy besides
satisfying the academic requirements of the Board of
196
Accounting Education. Accounting majors taking the fifth
year are encouraged to go up a step further in the educa
tional ladder by applying a maximum of fifteen semester
: I
i . j
junits of the academic courses in the fifth year for credit j
i !
jin accounting on the graduate level. I
I
1 i
4. Following the trend to concentrate undergraduatej
{
instruction on accounting concepts and principles and not on!
|
a mass of detailed procedures, accounting courses including |
|
taxation are confined to thirty semester units which is a J
j
far cry from most practices in Philippine schools today. j
|
| 5. Specified courses in the general business area |
i ■ i
\
are confined to fundamentals in each functional area of
business. Courses in organizational behavior and decision
making are included to stress the importance of these phases
in contemporary business.
The construction of the model curriculum caps the
research adventure in this study. Following is the conclud-
i
ing chapter. It contains the summary, conclusions, and
recommendations.
| CHAPTER VII
i
|
| SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
i
I
I
l
I
I
Summary
Purpose
|
| The new challenges facing accounting education today
have stirred accounting educators in the Philippines to re
examine existing curriculums which have grown erratically
over past years in the attempt to gear the undergraduate
accounting program to the technical proficiency needed in
passing the CPA examinations, the traditional orientation of
accounting curriculums in the country. It is now widely
recognized in accounting education circles that the contem
porary accountant is not only an accounting technician but a
member of the management team in business and participates
in decision-making. To be effective in his new role, he
should acquire not only analytic training in accounting but
also management skills and mathematical ability more than
those possessed by his predecessors. At the same time, it
197
198
is considered basic that he become acquainted with computer
use and applications in business to be able to cope with the
'increasing impact of computer science on his profession.
! I
! !
jMore importantly, he should be broadly trained to carry on j
: j
jwith efficiency the new management consulting function now j
i !
jadded to the accountant's role. If the professional accoun-i
I !
| !
jtant should keep pace with the changes in the environment of
j
ibusiness and if he should perform with professional compe-
j |
Jtency the new role now thrust upon him by recent develop- !
I 1
jments in business, it is widely felt by all those involved j
| j
,in accounting education that college education preparing j
! i
i
entrants to the profession should accordingly be made
responsive to felt needs.
i
|
I Most schools in the Philippines have attempted to
|cope with the situation by extending the four-year under-
i
jgraduate accounting program to include the diversified prep
arations needed for the new functions assumed by the accoun
tant. The Philippine College of Commerce, which is the par
ticular focus of this study, is no exception to the general
rule. The problem that evidently confronts accounting edu
cators today is how to find the proper mix of liberal and
specialized studies needed for a well-rounded preparation of
the future accountant in the undergraduate curriculum which
199
is designed to fulfill the needs of students and to meet the
demands of the profession without slighting the objectives
jof higher education.
| The problem of PCC in this regard is compounded by
!the circumstances of its evolution from a vocational school
; i
I |
to a full-fledged college over a short period of time begin-J
ning 1960 when its upper division in commerce came into
I
I
jexistence. Because of its popularity as a superior voca- j
I
tional institution, students coming to PCC have strong voca-i
tional inclination and show minimal interest in a broadened !
!
i j
jeducational preparation which is the "new look" in account- I
i I
j i
jing education. It was the desire to construct an optimum
curriculum for students with strong vocational inclination
like those coming to PCC that generated this study. The
purpose of the study was to evaluate the undergraduate
accounting program in PCC in order to determine its ade-
i
quacy or inadequacy as a college education meeting the
imperatives of higher education, fulfilling the needs of the
students and in keeping with the growing needs of the pro
fession. The results of the curriculum evaluation were uti
lized in designing the target model curriculum.
2 00
Procedure
Over the last two decades, accounting educators,
!
jboard examiners, practitioners, and business executives
I
Jalike have articulated the need for a broadened accountancy
i
|
icurriculum to meet the emerging needs of the profession. I
j !
I j
iThe literature is replete with articles on the subject but !
|
I
jthere is a conspicuous absence of one important point of
i
! i
■view, that of the graduates of the program. There is no j
i i
Igainsaying the fact that a feedback from graduates serves as!
Ian indispensable tool for evaluating the adequacy of their
!
ieducational preparation. A survey of graduates was there-
i
jfore used as a principal tool of evaluating the undergrad-
!
juate accounting program of PCC. The other means employed
i
were an opinionnaire survey of the accounting faculty of PCC
and a comparative study of the accounting curriculum of PCC
with those of selected schools located in Greater Manila,
the environment of PCC.
The following are the procedures used in this study.
1. A review of literature was made to establish the
set of criteria for a sound professional education which was
subsequently utilized in evaluating the accounting program
2 01
of PCC and thereafter employed in the construction of the
[curriculum.
S
i 2. A catalogue survey was made of accounting cur-
jriculums of selected schools in the Philippines to compare
I
jthem with that of PCC on the basis of the criteria formu-
Jlated in the preceding paragraph. j
I :
! 3. A questionnaire to graduates was designed and
| j
| I
‘ validated in a pilot study before it was used in gathering
I
! facts and opinions from the graduates of the accounting pro-
j
gram in PCC for the school years 1962-63 through 1968-69.
! 4. A questionnaire was designed to gather the opin-
I
i
jions of the accounting faculty of PCC about the same aspects
I
of the curriculum and proposals for its improvement that
were asked of the graduates with the intent of comparing the
responses from both sources .
5. A model curriculum was constructed for account
ing students with strong vocational inclination like those
coming to PCC. Aside from the opinions gathered from the
survey of graduates and faculty, ideas were drawn from a
review of catalogues of colleges and universities in the
United States in designing the model curriculum.
2 02
Findings
i Catalogue survey.— The comparison of the accounting I
j
jcurriculum of PCC with those of other schools revealed many
jthings in common among them. While PCC and most schools [
I j
iwere found to include liberal education objectives in their I
I l
i ;
I accounting programs, none of them was found to achieve the
i I
i |
1 ideal 50-50 balance between general education and special- !
ized studies. With the exception of one school, all schoolsj
!
including PCC have extended four-year programs which evi
dently was the result of accommodating the specialized and
I
liberal education objectives side by side in the curriculum.
The vertical integration of technical and general education
courses in the curriculum was observed to be the most popu
lar . PCC, along with other schools, satisfies the criterion
in observing the proper sequence and articulation of
courses. PCC differs slightly from the average of the group
surveyed in these two respects: (1) it provides more free
dom in the choice of courses through adequate provision of
electives, and (2) the curriculum of PCC has less breadth of
coverage in liberal arts and general business courses.
203
Survey of graduates.— The survey of graduates of PCC
disclosed that the respondents generally went to college to
j j
jmeet their vocational need. By and large, they were satis- I
i
jfied with their undergraduate preparation in helping them
! |
achieve their personal and occupational objectives. A !
!
majority found employment in accounting occupations after !
j I
;graduation and enjoyed their occupations. Over a period of i
i j
jten years, 3% held executive positions. About one-fourth of!
| j
the respondents held supervisory positions as their initial j
employment. Those who changed occupations did so for
advancement or favorable change. All personal goals were
|
^satisfactorily achieved with the exception of financial
satisfaction.
A majority of the respondents claimed that they had
sufficient college preparation for their accounting jobs.
They found useful to their occupations courses that deal
with principles and those that are immediately relevant to
beginning occupations. They relegated the more specialized
aspects of accounting to lesser importance in their jobs.
Those who pursued further studies concentrated on courses
which prepared them for the expanding functions of the pro
fessional accountant. The respondents also believed that
2 04
they had sufficient educational preparation to pass the CPA
examination with the help of a formal review outside of the
|Undergraduate program.
j The respondents were found to be aware of trends in
{public accounting practice. An overwhelming majority envi-
I
jsioned an increase in all functions of accounting. Their
i
{idea of an undergraduate accounting curriculum favored a
i
specialized program but their responses indicated more
emphasis on the traditional accounting and law subjects than
on the enhanced functions of auditing, taxation, and manage
ment services. They were inclined to include EDP in the
accounting curriculum on the acquaintanceship level only.
! With respect to the responses of graduates about
i
I
jcertain aspects of accounting education which have stimu
lated many studies and discussions in professional and edu
cational circles over the years, the following seem to stand
out:
I
J
1. A majority of the respondents were in favor of a
specialized undergraduate education which
includes preparation for the CPA examination.
2. They were almost equally divided in the choice
of a four-year or a five-year undergraduate
accounting program. The distribution of the
2 05
different components of the curriculum suggested
by their responses are as follows: 51% to 60% |
| for accounting; 21% to 30% for general business;
and 11% to 2 0% for liberal education,
j 3. A majority were not in favor of postponing j
I I
accounting specialization to the graduate level.;
| Those who thought otherwise, preferred a prepa- j
i i
j ratory course specially designed for accounting j
I :
I
specialization on the graduate level as an
admission requirement to the graduate program.
Survey of the accounting faculty of PCC and
comparison of results with the survey of graduates.— The
survey of accounting faculty of PCC brought out a close sim
ilarity between faculty opinion and the opinion of graduates
on some aspects of the accounting program and certain pro
posals for its improvement. In the same manner as the grad
uates , the faculty envisioned an increase in all public
I
accounting functions. They showed the same preference for a
specialized curriculum as the graduates. The majority of
the faculty were in favor of including EDP on the acquaint
anceship level in the undergraduate program which is also
the desire of the graduates. The faculty, however, favored
2 06
jmore semester units than did the graduates for the EDP
jcourse in the curriculum.
| While the accounting faculty and graduates both !
I
i
leaned towards a specialized undergraduate education, the
accounting faculty showed a stronger tendency in that direc-i
|tion. In the choice of which pattern of accounting curric- j
f ;
julum they favored, the graduates were equally divided in j
j |
jtheir choice of a specialized curriculum and a curriculum j
icombining both liberal and specialized education in a well- J
I
balanced proportion. Most of the accounting faculty showed
preference for the specialized curriculum. Both faculty and
i
j
jgraduates favored the inclusion of the preparation for the
i
I
jCPA examination in the undergraduate accounting curriculum.
As to length of the accounting program, both faculty
and graduates were almost equally divided in their choice of
a four-year or five-year program. They agreed on the per
centage allocation for the different components of the cur
riculum, except in accounting, which the graduates preferred
to give more semester units than did the faculty. The fac
ulty indicated for accounting 41% to 5 0% of the total pro
gram; for business education, 21% to 30%; and for liberal
education, 11% to 2 0%.
207
The graduates and faculty were also together in
their views that accounting specialization should not be
deferred to the graduate level. When those who were in
favor of postponement were asked what should be the admis
sion requirement to the graduate program, the faculty were j
jalmost equally divided in choosing commerce and the spe- j
jcially designed preparatory course whereas the graduates j
i ;
j :
jclearly preferred the latter over the former. j
| |
Ultimate goal of the study !
i
The end-goal of this study was to construct a model
i
curriculum in a Philippine setting for students with strong
i
vocational inclination like those who come to PCC. The tar
get curriculum was conceived in keeping with the criteria
set forth in Chapter II and considering the limitations of
the environment of accountancy education in the Philippines.
jThe suggestions implicit in the responses of graduates and
faculty of PCC to the questions in the survey instruments
relating to curriculum improvement were also taken into con
sideration. A review of catalogues of twelve colleges and
universities in the United States helped immensely in pro
viding the "new look" that is sought in accounting curric
ulums today.
2 08
The model curriculum constructed in this study con
sists of four years of college education leading to the
bachelor's degree, accounting major. To suit the needs of
jstudents desiring to take the CPA examination, a fifth year
I
jis added beyond the bachelor's degree, a maximum of fifteen
i
jsemester units of which are allowed for credit in accounting
(on the graduate level.
|
I n ■
I Conclusions
The following conclusions were arrived at after ana
lyzing the facts and opinions gathered in this study.
I
! 1. In terms of its objectives, the undergraduate
[program in PCC is fairly successful. The vocational objec
tive is achieved by the fact that its graduates found
I
employment in accounting occupations and advanced in their
jobs after college graduation. Another indication is that
graduates felt they have acquired sufficient preparation to
pass the CPA examinations with the help of a formal review
I
outside of the undergraduate program.
I The general education objectives are likewise ful-
!
filled. Graduates developed their potentialities to assume
positions of leadership and responsibility in the course of
their professional careers. The survey of graduates showed
2 09
that 3% of the respondents moved to executive positions
within a decade and that one-fourth of the respondents held
!
jsupervisory positions as their initial employment after col-
i
I
jlege graduation.
j i
t I
i Indications are that their quest for learning did I
| i
not end after college graduation. Those who continued to i
pursue further studies did so to keep abreast of develop- j
ments in their profession. Developing the individual's
capacity to go on learning on one's own is one of the avowedj
I
!
jaims of general education. Also, the fact that the respon- j
j !
jdents indicated satisfactory achievement of all personal
i
i
jgoals except financial satisfaction, shows general fulfill
ment of personal needs of the students which is another goal
of general education.
2. The accounting curriculum in PCC measures up to
the criteria for a sound professional education formulated
in this study with the exception that the diversified prepa
rations needed by the future accountant are crowded in a
four-year program so that the ideal 50-50 balance for gen
eral and specialized studies in the curriculum is not
achieved. The curriculum of PCC compares favorably, how
ever, with similar curriculums of other colleges and univer
sities in the Philippines which are mostly an out-stretching
210
of the four-year program. PCC provides more freedom in the
choice of courses through adequate provision for electives
in the curriculum than the average of the group surveyed.
It has, however, less breadth of coverage in liberal and
general business courses than the average of the group.
i
I
3. The accounting program of PCC appears to be
over-specialized in view of the requirements for entrance to
[the accounting occupations in the environment of PCC The
i
respondents in the survey of graduates relegated the more
[specialized aspects of accounting to lesser importance in
|
Itheir jobs. The fact that only 16% of the respondents found
i
i
[employment in the field of public accounting, in which field
Ithese specialized courses find more application, offers an
jexplanation for the respondents' reactions towards special-
I
ized courses .
|
I 4. Considering the opinions given by graduates and
i
I
[faculty about the PCC accounting curriculum, it appears that
i
[they are satisfied with the present emphasis on specializa
tion in the undergraduate program. Their opinions, however,
are opposed to the "new look" in accounting education today
which calls for a broadening of the educational preparation
of the future accountant. Respondents in the two surveys
conducted (faculty and graduates) were not inclined to
211
postpone accounting specialization to the graduate level.
Moreover, they wanted the inclusion of the CPA preparation
jin the undergraduate program. The respondents in both sur-
i
jveys wanted to provide only from 11% to 2 0% liberal educa-
i i
jtion in the curriculum which does not permit the broadening j
(of the curriculum as the current trends in accountancy edu- j
I !
I
I I
Ication call for.
I I
! |
5. The accounting curriculum of PCC needs improve
ment in order to enable it to meet the emerging needs of the
j
profession. The two surveys revealed that the graduates and
jfaculty are aware of the trends in accounting education. i
I |
Both faculty and graduates indicated that all functions of
public accounting have the trend to increase. It was appar
ently for this reason that they were almost equally divided
in their choice of a four-year or five-year program* a rec
ognition of the fact that a four-year program is no longer
I
| sufficient to provide all the diversified preparations
|needed by the future accountant.
j
6. As against the criteria used in this study* the
model curriculum is an improvement on the weaknesses of the
accounting curriculum in PCC and other schools in the
Philippines brought out in this study and provides the "new
look" being sought in accounting education today. It
212
achieves the 50-50 balance between general and specialized
studies in the curriculum which is nowhere attained by any
jof the Philippine schools studied. It avoids narrow SPS
S ’
jcialization in the undergraduate program by providing for
i i
;CPA preparation in the fifth year beyond the bachelor's j
degree. It follows the trend of concentrating undergraduatej
instruction on accounting concepts instead of on a mass of j
I
i
detailed procedures by limiting required courses in account
ing to basic concepts and principles. It places emphasis on
the use of mathematics and statistics as a tool in decision-
jmaking. It includes EDP on the acquaintanceship level in
I
I
the curriculum. Last but not least, it provides an adequate
number of electives but with needed direction.
i
Recommendations
General or educational
recommendations
It is recommended:
1. That the model curriculum be adopted in the
Philippine College of Commerce to replace the
existing curriculum in order to improve on the
weaknesses of the present curriculum brought out
in this study.
213
2. That admission requirements be set for the four-
year accounting program in such a way as to
select only those students with promise of suc
cess in the accounting profession for admission
to the program. Those students who show inter
est in accounting but as yet possess less capa-
i
bilities than needed for success in the profes
sion should be channeled to the occupational j
courses in accounting offered by the College j
through an effective guidance program.
3. That provision be made for transfer courses from
the occupational and terminal two-year courses
of PCC to the professional four-year accounting
program so that students from these vocational
courses may use their credits in equivalent
courses to count towards their bachelor's degree
objective should they later qualify for admis
sion to the professional accounting program.
4. That the fifth year beyond the bachelor's degree
requirement constructed in this study for stu
dents desiring to take the CPA examination be
adopted as part of the implementation of the
214
four-year model curriculum in order to provide
continuity of educational preparation up to
J admission to the CPA examination.
I
Research recommendations
It is recommended:
1. That this study serve as a model to be repli
cated in other campuses, using the criteria for
mulated herein as guidelines in re-examining
accounting curriculums. From the results of
several studies, generalizations may be derived
as to what constitutes an optimum accounting
curriculum for future entrants to the profes
sion .
2. That PCC conduct a survey of graduates of the
model curriculum after at least five years of
its operation in order to identify its strengths
and weaknesses and lay the basis for its
improvement.
3. That a comparative study be made of the percep
tion of the students of the model curriculum at
the time of admission and at the time of comple
tion of the program so as to ascertain if there
215
are changes occurring and why. The comparative
study may serve as another basis for curriculum
improvement.
4. That a research be conducted comparing the per
ception of the accounting faculty with that of
employers of new college graduates who majored
in accounting as to the ideal educational prepa-j
i
1
ration of new entrants to the accounting
profession.
A P P E N D I X E S
216
APPENDIX A
THE FOUR-YEAR ACCOUNTING CURRICULUM
217
218
THE FOUR-YEAR ACCOUNTING CURRICULUM
First Semester
Grammar and
Composition 1
Man and Society
Principles of
Human Behavior
Principles of
Physical Science
Principles of
Economics 1
General Education
Elective
First Semester
Effective Speech
Introduction to
Political Science
Economics Elective
Introduction to
Statistics
Partnerships and
Corporations
Principles of
Accounting 1
First Year
Units Second Semester
3
3
Grammar and
Composition 2
Principles of
Economics 2
General Biology
College Algebra
General Education
Elective
Contracts and
Obligations
18
Second Year
Units
3
3
Units
4
Second Semester
Business Communication
Philippine History
and Government
Introduction to
Philosophy
Marketing Principles
Behavioral Science
Elective
Principles of
Accounting 2
3
3
3
3
3
±8~
Units
3
3
19 18
219
Third Year
First Semester
English Elective
Spanish Grammar 1
Introduction to Logic
Mathematics for Busi
ness Application 1
Fundamentals of
Finance
Intermediate
Accounting
Units
3
3
3
Second Semester
Spanish Grammar 2
Mathematics for Busi
ness Application 2
Fundamentals of
Management
Finance Elective
Tax Accounting
Cost Accounting
19
Fourth Year
First Semester
Intermediate Spanish 1
Organizational
Behavior
Law Elective
Auditing
Special Topics in
Accounting
Units
3
3
3
Second Semester
Intermediate Spanish 2
Rizal Course
Management Elective
Decision-Making
Accounting Systems
Accounting Elective
16
Units
3
3
3
3
3
3
18~
Units
3
3
3
3
3
3
18~
220
Note:
The four-year undergraduate accounting curriculum,
meets the requirements of the Board of Accounting Education
in the Philippines for college programs leading to admission
to the CPA examination with the exception of twelve semester
units in accounting and taxation and six semester units of
electives. It is recommended that accounting majors desir
ing to prepare eventually for the CPA examination should
take the fifth year beyond the requirements for the bache
lor's degree which is designed primarily for CPA prepara
tion .
A maximum of fifteen semester units of credit in the
fifth year may be applied for credit in accounting on the
graduate level.
221
SUMMARY
Liberal Education: Units
1 . English 15
2 . Spanish 12
3. Behavioral Sciences 15
4. Humanities 6
5 . Natural Sciences 6
6. Mathematics 3
7. Economics (Principles) 6
8. Rizal Course 3
9. Free Electives 6
Total 72
Business Education:
1 . Accounting
30
2 . Commercial Law
9
3. Finance
6
4. Management
6
5 . Marketing
3
6. Business Administration 6
7. Statistics and Mathematics for
Business Application
9
8. Economics (other than Principles) 3
Total
72
Grand Total
144
APPENDIX B
FIFTH YEAR
222
FIFTH YEAR
223
FOR ACCOUNTING MAJORS DESIRING TO PREPARE FOR
ADMISSION TO THE CPA EXAMINATION
First Semester Units Second Semester Units
CPA Practice Problems CPA Auditing Problems 3
and Theory 6
CPA Law Problems 3
CPA Management
Services 3
Internship in CPA Problems in
Accounting3 6 Tax Practice 3
Internship in
Accounting3 6
15 15
A maximum of fifteen units may be applied for credit in
accounting on the graduate level.
aMay be substituted with equivalent academic requirements.
APPENDIX C
DESCRIPTION OF COURSES
224
225
DESCRIPTION OF COURSES
English
Grammar and Composition 1 (3)
The mechanics of composition, review of grammar and
sentence structure with the objective of getting freshmen to
i
write clearly and correctly; working knowledge in the use ofj
!
|the library.
!
Grammar and Composition 2 (3)
Effective writing through sentence corrections and
the application of rhetorical principles in theme writing.
Non-fiction home readings to develop awareness of good lit
erary style. Prerequisite: Grammar and Composition 1.
Effective Speech (3)
Listening and speaking for effective oral communica
tion. Prerequisite: Grammar and Composition 2.
Business Correspondence and Report Writing (3)
Writing effective business letters and reports.
Prerequisite: Grammar and Composition 2.
226
Elective (3)
A choice from the following: Argumentation and
Debate* Contemporary Literature* Philippine Literature*
Survey of World Literature, and Creative Writing.
Spanish
Elementary Spanish 1 (3)
The mechanics of the language and the study of parts
of speech; simple tenses and irregular verbs.
Elementary Spanish 2 (3)
Continuation of Elementary Spanish 1. Study of
case* adverbs* prepositions* conjugations* verbs* and object
pronouns. Prerequisite: Elementary Spanish 1.
Intermediate Spanish 1 (3)
General review of nouns* adjectives* pronouns* and
the simple and compound tenses of the indicative mood.
iPrerequisite: Elementary Spanish 2.
Intermediate Spanish 2 (3)
Continuation of Intermediate Spanish 1. All tenses
of the subjunctive mood* the perfect tense of the condi
tional mood* and the agreement of tenses; written composi
tion including letter writing. Prerequisite: Intermediate
Spanish 1.
227
Behavioral Sciences
Introduction to Political Science (3)
Principles and conduct of government; study of
political institutions, political ideals, and forms of
i
| government.
Philippine History and Government (3)
Historical and cultural background of the Filipino
people; greater understanding of a democratic form of gov
ernment, its operation, and the rights and obligations of
I
i
I
iits citizens.
I
i
Principles of Human Behavior (3)
Understanding and appreciation of the scientific
approach to human behavior; basic conceptual framework for
acquiring skills in dealing with personal and interpersonal
! problems. (Adopted from the catalogue of San Fernando
j
!Valley State College, California)
i
|
; Man and Society (3)
Study of human society from the perspective of con
temporary social science. Emphasis on the analysis and
understanding of modern society and its salient problems.
(Adopted from the catalogue of San Fernando Valley State
College, California)
228
Elective (3)
A choice from any of the courses in Psychology,
Sociology, Political Science, and Cultural Anthropology not
jotherwise required.
Humanities
Introduction to Philosophy (3)
Basic philosophical areas, and the problems pertain
ing to language and meaning; knowledge and truth; the world
and God; free will; the good life; the ideal community.
(Adopted from the catalogue of the University of Arizona)
Introduction to Logic (3)
Principles of valid thinking; the nature and appli
cations of inductive and deductive inference. (Adopted from
the catalogue of the University of Arizona)
iMathematics
College Algebra (3)
Functions, linear equations; quadratic equations;
theory of equations; progressions, inequalities, logarithms,
permutations, combinations, probability, determinants, com
plex numbers. Prerequisite: Plane geometry and high school
229
algebra. (Adopted from the catalogue of San Fernando Valley-
State College, California)
Mathematics for Business Application 1 (3)
j Differential and integral calculus with analytic
jgeometry. Prerequisite: College Algebra. (Adopted from
i
(the bulletin of the University of Houston, Texas)
I
I
I
Mathematics for Business Application 2 (3)
: i
i i
j Mathematical notation, logic, sets and subsets,
jvectors, matrices, vector spaces, simultaneous linear equa
tions, selected applications of linear algebra in decision-
jmaking. Prerequisite: Mathematics for Business Applica-
I
jtion 1. (Adopted from the bulletin of the University of
Houston, Texas)
Introduction to Statistics (3)
i
I Probability, standard distributions, applications of
Icentral limit theorem, tests of hypotheses, confidence
i
intervals, linear regression and correlation. (Adopted from
|
the catalogue of the University of Arizona)
230
Economics
Principles of Economics 1 (3)
Introduction to principles of economic analysis,
economic institutions and issues of public policy with
emphasis on macro-analysis including national income analy
sis, money and banking, business cycles and economic stabi
lization. (Adopted from the catalogue of San Diego State
i
College, California) |
|
! Principles of Economics 2 (3)
I
I
J Introduction to principles of economic analysis,
I economic institutions and issues of public policy with
j
(emphasis upon the direction of production, the allocation of
resources, and the distribution of income through the price
system (micro-analysis); international economics. Pre
requisite: Principles of Economics 1. (Adopted from the
jcatalogue of San Diego State College, California)
Elective (3)
i
i
; A choice from the following: History of Economic
i
Thought, Comparative Economic Systems, and other courses in
Economics not otherwise required.
231
Natural Sciences
Principles of Physical Science (3)
Nature of the physical universe with emphasis on the
whole field of physical science rather than on its separate
divisions. (Adopted from the catalogue of San Diego State
College, California)
General Biology (3)
Beginning course in biology stressing processes com
mon to living organisms. (Adopted from the catalogue of
I
San Diego State College, California) i
j Rizal Course
I
Analytical and descriptive study of the works of
Rizal like El Filibusterismo. Noli Me Tanqhere and his other
works. Includes studies of the life and works of other
heroes like Mabini, Bonifacio, and others, and the Malolos
|Constitution.
I
I
iGeneral Education Electives (6)
A choice of any course or courses from the liberal
education group.
2 32
Accounting
Principles of Accounting 1 (4)
Fundamental accounting concepts and techniques; and
'
jperiodic determination of income and financial position.
i
Principles of Accounting 2 (3)
Corporate accounts and statements. Prerequisite:
'principles of Accounting 1.
i
I Intermediate Financial Accounting (4)
j Concepts and issues involved in accounting for !
i !
| |
^enterprise assets, liabilities, and stockholders' equity; |
' I
I !
|their effect on financial analysis and income measurement. !
|
jprerequisite: Principles of Accounting 2. (Adopted from
the catalogue of the University of Southern California)
Tax Accounting (3)
Accounting for current tax laws like income tax,
(business taxes and transfer taxes.
|
|
| Cost Accounting (3)
j
! Objectives and techniques of cost accounting; job
order, process and standard cost systems; budgeting, costs
relevant for decision-making. (Adopted from the catalogue
of the University of Southern California)
233
Special Topics in Accounting (4)
| Analysis of cash flows, theory and practice in part
nership accounting; consolidated statements, accounting
reports for firms in financial difficulties, estate and
trust accounts and reports. Prerequisite: Intermediate
Financial Accounting. (Adopted from the catalogue of the
University of Oregon)
: Auditing (3)
I !
| I
j Standards, ethics and procedures observed by a CPA i
I i
i |
|as an independent auditor; involvement of the auditor m j
jelectronic data processing systems; statistical sampling; j
I I
! !
jand the internal auditor. Prerequisite: Intermediate
Financial Accounting. (Adopted from the catalogue of the
University of Southern California)
Accounting Systems (3)
j General system theory and system terminology; mathe-
jmatical and statistical techniques for solving special sys-
i
i
jtern problems. Planning, controlling, and reporting proce-
i
dures for accounting systems employing digital computers.
Prerequisite: Intermediate Financial Accounting. (Adopted
from the catalogue of San Diego State College, California)
2 34
Elective (3)
A choice from any of the advanced accounting courses
or specialized accounting courses including government.
Commercial Law
Obligations and Contracts (3)
Introduction to law in general and to commercial law
in particular; fundamentals of law as they apply to obliga
tions and contracts.
Partnerships and Corporations (3)
Law on partnerships and the law on private corpora
tions. Prerequisite: Obligations and Contracts.
Elective (3)
A choice from the following: Negotiable Instru
ments, Agency and Sales, Labor Laws, and Taxation.
i General Business
Fundamentals of Finance (3)
Objectives of financial management; financing the
business enterprise; internal financial management; intro
duction to the cost of capital, valuation, dividend policy,
leverage and the techniques of present value and its appli
cations . Source of capital. Prerequisite: Completion of
2 35
lower division course requirements. (Adopted from the cata
logue of San Diego State College, California)
Fundamentals of Management (3)
Activities of a manager in selecting objectives,
organizing essential activities, planning, directing, and
controlling operations; fundamentals which guide a manager's
decision. Prerequisite: Completion of lower division
i
; requirements. (Adopted from the catalogue of San Diego
jstate College, California)
i I
| |
| Marketing Principles (3) !
j '
| Marketing functions, activities of producers, whole-i
| i
jsalers, retailers, and other middlemen; channeling of dis
tribution; integration of marketing activities; price pol
icies, government regulations. Prerequisites: Principles
of Economics 1 and 2. (Adopted from the catalogue of San
iDiego State College, California)
| Organizational Behavior (3)
|
Concepts, theories, and case studies of organization
and the behavior of people in the accomplishment of work
tasks in business. Prerequisite: Completion of lower divi
sion requirements. (Adopted from the catalogue of the
University of Southern California)
2 36
Decision-Making (3)
Policy formulation, decision-making, and strategy
development. Prerequisite: Completion of third-year
requirements.
Management Elective (3)
A choice from any of the Management courses not
otherwise required.
I
Finance Elective (3)
A choice from any of the Finance courses not other
wise required.
Fifth Year i
CPA Problems in Tax Practice (3)
Problems and theories on income tax, business taxes,
transfer taxes and other taxes affecting accounting practice
of the types found in CPA examinations.
CPA Auditing Problems (3)
Standards and objectives; reports; internal control;
examination of internal and external records; working
papers; and current problems in auditing practice. (Adopted
from the catalogue of California State Polytechnic College
in Pomona)
237
CPA Management Services (3)
Principles and procedures involved in CPA management
consulting services such as systems installations, prepara
tion of budgets and forecasts, project studies, and con-
trollership.
CPA Law Problems (3)
Obligations and contracts, partnerships and corpora-
|
itions, negotiable instruments and other phases of the legal
{environment of business, with orientation to the type of law
i
questions given in CPA examinations.
Internship in Accounting (6-6)
J
. On-the-job training with a business in some phase of
accounting.
CPA Practice Problems and Theory (6)
Contemporary accounting theory with emphasis on the
(pronouncements of accounting associations and government
entities affecting the practice of accounting; applications
to types of problems found in CPA examinations. (Adopted
from the catalogue of California State Polytechnic College
in Pomona)
APPENDIX D
LETTER AND QUESTIONNAIRE TO GRADUATE
2 38
239
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
PHILIPPINE COLLEGE OF COMMERCE
( F o r m e r l y P h il ip p in e Sc h o o l o r C o m m e r c e )
MANILA
Dear Graduate:
Your Alm a M ater needs your help in a search for an optimum
accounting curriculum for .PCC students. You undoubtedly are
busy, but being a true PCCian, you may not want to forego this
opportunity to make your contribution to the study. Hence, we
have enclosed a questionnaire which will take but a few minutes
of your time to check off your responses to the questions asked.
W e want your objective appraisal of our accounting program
ond your honest opinion, based on your experiences in the field,
on how to improve our program. A code number appears on
the questionnaire to assure you that all your responses will be
held in strictest confidence. - Those who want to share the find
ings of this study may be interested to know that we intend to
publish the results.
Enclosed is a sejf-addressed and stamped envelope for your
use in mailing back the completed questionnaire. Thanks.
FLORA G. GONZALEZ Q
Honnrfmnnf Wnnd
Sincerely,
Department Head
240
CODE NO__________________
i 1 . QUESTIONNAIRE
{To Graduolcs of the Four-Year Accounting Program)
After college graduation, was your first jcb in accounting? Yes _ _ _ _ _ _ No - .......
o. If you onswercd "Yes/' check the field of your employment below:
Public occounting . ' .
- Government accounting
- - Industrial occounting
— Other: (Specify)------ . . • . - — - - - —
b. If you onswercd "No," what was your reason for not getting an accounting position? (Check one) . .
• - I looked for an accounting job but there was no immediate opening available.
• I opplied for on occounting jcb but I wos not hired.
I had o job which I did not like to leave.
- . - Other: (Exploin) _____ ___ -..............._ . . . -
What kinds of positions have you held up to the present? (For each field of your employment, check executive, super
visory, or non-supervisory)
Noture of Position
Field of Employment Executive Supervisory Non-Supervisory
Public occounting __................ ... . __________
Government accounting . . . .
Industrial occounting . •••— .. __ ....... -
•Accounting education • .. _ . . . . _ . . . . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Other: (Specify) ............----- - ...........
If you held an accounting job and left it, what wos ycur reason for leoving your occounting occupation? (Check one)
________ .. I. had an opportunity for o favorable change to another job. . . . . . .
_ _ _ _ _ _ I wos promoted to a non-acccunting job. - .. . ~ - * --------------- . ........
- _ " I had to quit working for personal reasons. - • - ....................
. . — I found out that I was not cut out for on accounting occupation.
. Other: (Explain) . ___„ . _
Do you feel thalt your choice cf occounting as your undergraduate major has helped you reolize your personal as
pirations? (Check "Yes" or "No" for each object of satisfaction listed below)
In terms of: . . . . Ye* No
Finoncia! satisfaction? • •• • — . . .. .............. _ _ _ _ _ '
Prestige? - --------......... ---------.... - — . .................. ................................. _ _ ' _ _ _
Opportunity for professional practice? . _ _ _ _ _
Interesting and challenging work? * *" ' ' \ ___ _ _ _
Opportunity for advancement? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sotisfoctory family life? . ............................... ........ _ _
Other: (Specify) ^ _ _ - ^
Are you satisfied with your choice of accounting as your undergraduate mojor? Y es . . No ‘ Portly _ _ _
ANSWER QUESTIONS 6-10 BELOW IF YOU HAVE EXPERIENCE IN ACCOUNTING OCCUPATIONS.
Answer only one, either " a " or "b" below:
o. If you ore engaged in public accounting, what is your feeling about your occupation? (Check one)
. . I like public accounting and intend to make it my lifetime work.
- ____-I like public occounting but will give it up for a better occupation. ’•
I like public accounting only os o means to other occupations.
' I regret having chosen public accounting os my occupation. ' ' ‘ ~
Other: (Explain) --r—. —
b. If you ore engoged in occcunting occupations other than public occounting, are you satisfied with your occupation?
(Check one)
_ _ _ _ _ I like my occupation ond intend to moke it my life's work.
I like my occupation but wish to chonge to public occounting.
_ _ _ _ _ I da not like my occupation and wish to change to public accounting. - r
_ _ _ _ _ I do net like my occupation but do not wish to change to public occounting.
. Other: (Explain) - - — ------ ------ ....- - ■ ........
On the following pcoe is a list of all businc*;* causes included in the PCC occounting curriculum at one time or onothcr.
Whnt is your feeling ol^.iit the value of ec'.h course to your accounting occupation regardless of whether you took
it Lt not? Place a Un.ck tor each coui^e under the oppfvpnuto column to indicate your opinion)
241
BUSINESS COURSES '
TOOK COURSE
DID NOT
TAKE .COURSE
USEFUL
[ SLIGHTLY
1 USEFUL
1
NOT
USEFUL
USEFUL
SLIGHTLY
USEFUL
NOT
USEFUL
ACCOUNTING:
Introductory Accounting
...
Accounting Machine Operations i! 1
Accounting Practice { j
1
Theory of Accounts i|
1
Tax Accounting * i| |
Cost Accounting ; { |
Analysis of Financiol Statements
j .
Auditing j
Advanced Accounting |
Accounting. Systems & Data Processing
Government Accounting
Consolidations |
Construction of Accounts 1
LAW: .............. .............
Obligations and Contracts
Agency and Sales
Partnerships and Corporations
Negotiable Instruments & Insurance
Labor and Social Laws
FINANCE: ---------------- -
Corporation F in a n c e ....................
.
Public Finance
Investments
Money and Banking >
Banking Theory and Practice
MANAGEMENT:
Business Organization & Management
Decision-Making
Business Systems and Procedures
Personnel Management
Monogement Reseorch
Seminors on Management Problems
MARKETING:
Principles of Marketing
Principles of Retoil Merchandising
Principles of Advertising
Principles of Cooperatives
ECONOMICS:
Principles of Economics
-
Introductory Economic Analysis
Micro-Economic Theory
Notional Income Analysis
Business Fluctuations & Forecasting j
Comporotive Economic Systems
MATHEMATICS:
Business Mothematics
-
Collcae Algebra 1
General Statistics < !
Mothemotics of Investments i|
8. Do you feel that your college education has satisfactorily prepared you for the job of junior accountant in public ac
counting or equivalent job in private occounting? (Check one)
__ 1. It has provided a more rigorous training than what is actually needed for the job • -
2. It has provided just sufficient preporotion for the job. ......... .
- - 3. It has not provided an adequate preparation for the job.
4. Other: (Explain)
If you checked No. 3 above, in what oreos do you believe your college education hos been deficient?
. ...............(Check as many as are applicable)
Basic accounting _ _ _ _ _ _ Business courses other thon accounting
. Advanced accounting - ■ Liberal studies ♦ .
.. Specialized accounting - -------- — Other: (Specify) - - - - -
(See page 3)
242
9, Do you feel thot ycur unJergraduofe education was sufficient to enable you to progress in the occounting profession?
- > Y es__________ N o __________
If you onswercd "No," how did you prepore yourself for advancement in the occounting profession ofter your gradua-
lion? (Check as mcny os ore cpplicoble) .
Through self-study. .
. .. . Through cr.-the-job training. . _ •
„ Through P.CPA professional development programs.
■ ■ , . — Through college programs on continuing cducotion
. Through graduate studies. . v
— _________ Other: (Specify)'......................................................................... ‘ '
10. Which courses did you pursue ofter college graduation?
— ---------- — Accounting Production___________ _________ Electronic Data Processing
— . Low Marketing . ______ Education
— ■ . Finance .. Mothematics -- - -- Liberal Arts
— . ■ . Monogement Statistics____________ __________Other: (Specify)__________ _
U . How well has your college education prepared you for the CPA exoms? (Check one)
— It made me feel confident to pass the CPA exoms without need of a formal review.
It made me feel confident to pass the CPA exams with the help of o formal review.
. It did not make me feel confident to poss the CPA exoms.
--------------- Other: (Explain) .
12. Did you toke the CPA exams? Y e s ... No .
If you answered "Yes/' check the subjects you posscd at coch sitting and indicate with a check at what sitting you
passed the Board.
First Second
Sitting Sitting
First Second
Sitting Sitting
Theory of Accounts . : - *Toxation
Business Law - - - . * Management Services - - -
Auditing______________ __________... . . Possed the Board ‘ -- ■ _ _.
Practical Accounting — — . - ___
■Draw o line through the subject with asterisk if it wos net a Board subject at the time you took the CPA exems.
13. o. Whot do you foresee as a trend in public occounting practice in the next 25 years? (For each function listed
below, indicate your conjecture with a check under increase, decreose, or no chonge)
Function Increase Decrease No Change
• M - A u d i t i n g ... „ , . -• . ......
Manogcment consulting service . —
Tax service -* .
Other (Specify) '*'-* • - • •---------
b. In relation to year conjecture cbovc, check for each subject area given below the number of units in an under-
groduote curriculum thot you think is most desirable to prepare the future entrant to the accounting profession,
(if you check the column for 13 or more, plocc the number of units)
U N I T S
Accounting 1 - 3 4 - 6 7 - 9 10-12 13 or more
Auditing ■ - _ .
Taxation » ...... _ ' __
Monogement Services . ■ - - - . - .
Commercial Lows ■ - ■ - . .... , _________ _ _ _ — —
Statistics " . ---------------- ---------------- - ---------------- - ---------------- -------------------
Mathemotics * " ' ' — -------------- - - - _______ __________ -
Economics _ _ _ — - , .. , _______.__ ■ .
Production ■ ■ — -i------------ . -
Marketing - . ; ; ■ ........ -_________ _______
Finance ■ ................... - -----
Personnel Relations . —— —-------------- - — . . — ---------
Business Management ; — ----- , ■ . - —.
Orol English — ■ ........... — --------- -- .... - .. . . -
. Written English ... • ................. —................. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ -
Philosophy ^ ■ ■ ■ ■ . - ....... ■ ■ ■ ----------------- . ---------------- _______
Psychology ________ ___ _ _ _ .... , — — ......... ....— - -
Sociology _ ---------------- — ■ ■ ■ — .. -
_______ Other (Specify) ............ .............. .................... .................... .................... .......................
14. Whot is your feeling obout the place of Electronic Data Processing (EDP) in the undergraduate cducotion of the future
occountoni? (Check one)
_ _ _ 1. EDP should be included as a separate course to ocquoint the students with EDP applications in ac
counting.
_ _ _ _ _ _ 2. EPP inculJ Le integrated with an accoun'ing course or courses and not taught os a seporate subject.
_ _ _ _ _ _ 3. EOP should n.*t bo included in the curriculum os it can be better learned in the field.
"______ - t . 0 f ' ? * : * ! - , :r'_______________________________! ___________ ___
If you churl ed No. ! or N ? i / . h o w niony :.eme,5ral units do you believe ore needed far exposure to EDP?
____________________ .,r c rftf-jl .
15. o. Whot pottern of undergraduate curriculum do you believe is the best (or the education of future entronts to the
accounting profession? (Check one)
■.........- !• A broodly bosed (liberal) curriculum with a minimum of technical courses (accounting and related
business courses), emphasizing concepts and simple applications only.
- 2. A specialized education (technical) with liberal studies (non-business subjects) kept to a minimum.
- 3. A combination of liberol studies and technical courses in a well-balanced proportion.
4. Other: (Describe).
b. If you checked No. 2 or No. 3 obove, do you think thot the technical courses should be oriented to the CPA
examinations? Ves ______ No .
c. If you answered "Y es/' how should the preparation for the CPA exams be effected in the undcrgroduate curri
culum? (Check one)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ It should be the cmphosis throughout the course in teaching technical subjects in the curriculum.
. ---------- It should be the culminoting and integrating point in teoching technical subjects in the curriculum.
■ ■ It should be a review end integrating course in itself occupying the lost year of the undergraduate cur
riculum.
_ _ _ Other: (Explain) - _____ ________
16. o. What do you believe is the ideal percentage allocation for the different components of the undcrgraduoto pro
gram? (Indicate the percentages on all the bltnk lines, both under 4 years and 5 years)
Length of Program
4-Year Program 5-Year Program
Accounting __________% of 4 years % of 5 years
Other Business Courses , . _________ ,% of 4 yeors of 5 yeors
Liberol Studies (arts, sciences, and humanities) . - . __________% of 4 years % of 5 yeors
Total (or the program • • ______ 100% of 4 years 100% of 5 years
b. In terms of years, how long should the undegraduate preparation of the accountant be? _________ yeors.
17. o. Do you favor postponing accounting specialization to the graduote level? Yes .. No . .
b. If you answered '’Yes/' whot type of progrom do you think is best as an undergraduate requirement for admission
to the graduate program? (Check one)
. ____ Commerce
_ _ _ _ _ _ Liberal arts
_________ Preparatory course speciolly designed for accounting specialization on the graduate level.
-__ Other: (Specify) ------
PLEASE ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS FOR THE STATISTICAL EVALUATION OF THE DATA YOU SUPPLIED.
A. When did you first seriously consider to study accounting?
. _ High school — - After obtaining associate title
_ Lower division, college - After obtaining bachelor's degree
. . Upper division, college . . .
B. What is the main reoson thot prompted you to pursue accounting in college?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ My ombition in youth * * * 4 — — . - Success In aptitude tests
" - Desire of my family - .. Advice of high school faculty
• - Discussion v/ith friends - fnh
Advice of college foculty • - - .............. - Other: (Specify) _
C. Did you have pre-collegc bookkeeping education? Yes — No -
If Yes, did you take it in PCC high school? Y es__________ No __________
D. Did you have pre-college employment? Yes - - No -
If Yes, did it involve occounting? Y e s ____ _ No _ _ _ _ _ _
£. While taking the undcrgroduate program, were you a full-time student? (Check one)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1. Yes, during the entire course.
. 2. Yes, for holf or more of the time during the course.
. . 3. Yes, for less than hair of the time during the course.
_ _ _ _ _ 4. No, I was never a full-time student.
. . . If you checked 1, 2, or 3 above, did you work while attending college? Yes No _ _ _ _ _
F. Did you take any of the two-year courses offered in PCC before odmission to the upper division accounting major?
Yes _ No • - • _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Liberalized occounting
If Yes, check the one which you took: - - ................... - Specialized accounting
* • - - ■ Basic - Other: (Specify) _______________ _
If No, what wos your college education before odmission to the upper division, occounting major?
G. Did you take the occounting refresher course given in PCC? Yes — . . . No - .
If Yes, whot wos your reason for taking the refresher course? (Check one) 4:
I did not meet the grade requirement for admission to the upper division, accounting major.
- ■ - — - I met the grade requirement for admission but I needed to review due to non-use of my accounting knowl
edge.
_ _ _ _ _ _ I met the grade requirement for odmission but I took the refresher course for its integrating effect.
. ___ Other: (Explain) -
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION.
APPENDIX E
LETTER AND QUESTIONNAIRE TO FACULTY
244
REPUBLIC O F THE PHILIPPINES
PHILIPPINE COLLEGE OF COMMERCE
( F o r m e r ly P h ilip p in e S c h o o l or C o m m e rc e )
MANILA
Dear Faculty Member:
I am aware that you are busy but hope that you will be
interested in participating in a search for an optimum accounting
curriculum for college students with strong vocational inclination
like most of those who seek admission in PCC.
The attached questionnaire is an attempt to obtain your
opinion about improving our undergraduate accounting program
in PCC, and what you think about some proposals in accounting
education circles regarding the college education that will best
prepare future entrants to the accounting profession. It will take
only a few minutes of your time to check off your responses to
the questions asked, but by doing so, you will be making a valu
able contribution towards achieving the objective of this study.
Those who want to share the findings may be interested to know
that I intend to publish the results.
M any thanks.
Sincerely,
Department Head
246
CODE N O ._____________
QUESTIONNAIRE
(To the Accounting Faculty of PCC)
l. o. Whot do you foresee os a trend in public accounting practice in the next 25 yeors? (For eoch function listed
below, indicote your conjecture with o check under increase, decrease, or no change)
Function Incrcoso Decrease No Change
Auditing * _________ _ _ _ _ _ _ -- _______
.Monogement consulting service ■ ■ - ............... .. -
Tax service * . . - -
Others: (Specify) _ . _ . .
b. In relation to your conjecture obove, check for each subject orea given below the number of units in on under-
groduote curriculum thct you think is most desirable to prepare the future entrant to the occounting profession.
(If you check the column for 13 or more, place the number, of units)
U N I T S
1 - 3 4 - 6 7 - 9 10-12 13 or more
Accounting _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __________•
Auditing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ■ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Toxotion _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Management Services _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Commercial Laws _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Statistics _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ‘ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Mathemotics _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _________
Economics _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ____ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Production __________ - __________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Marketing . • _______ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___
Finance _ ___ __________ . .. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Personnel Relations * . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Business Management _ _ _ _ _ ___________ . . . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Oral Eng*ish _ _ _ _ _ _- ____ —- - .... ____ _____ . .
Written English . - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - — . .
Philosophy ______ _ __________ __________ _______________________
Psychology - - — . _ _
Sociology _____________________ __________ __________ ____________
Others: (Specify)___________________________________ : ___ -_________ - - ---------------- .
2. Whot is your feeling obout the place of Electronic Dota Processing (EDP) in the undergraduate education of the future
accountant? (Check one)
_ _ _ _ _ I. EDP should be included as a seporote course to acquaint the students with EDP applications in ac
counting.
' 2. EDP should be integrated with on occounting course or courses and not taught os a separate subject.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3. EDP shculd not be included in the curriculum as it con be better learned in the field.
_________ 4. Other; (Explain) - - — ■ --------------------- ------------------ ----------- ----------- -------
If you checked No. 1 or No. 2 above, how many semestral units co you believe ore needed for exposure to EDP?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ semestral units.
3^ 0 . Whot pottern of undergraduate curriculum do you believe is the best for the education of future entrants to the
occcunting profession? (Check cne)
_________ 1. A broadly bosed (liberal) curriculum with a minimum of technicol courses (accounting ond related
business courses), emphasizing concepts and simple applications only.
_________ 2. A specialized education (technical) with liberal studies (non-business subjects) kept to a minimum.
247
3. A combination cf libera! studies and technical courses in a well-balanced proportion.
4. Other: (Describe) - ---------- --------------------------- ------
b. If you checked No. 2 or No. 3 above, do you think thot the technicol courses should be oriented to the CPA
examinations? Yes - ..... - ■ — No — _ _ —
c. If you answered "Yes/' how should the preparation for the CPA exoms be effected in the undergraduate curriculum?
(Check one)
__________ It should be the emphasis throughout the course in teaching technical subjects in the curriculum.
- — It should be the culminoting and integrating point in teaching technical subjects in the cur.iculum.
_ _ It should be o review and integrating cotme in itself occupying the last year of the undergraduote cur
riculum.
— _______ Other: (Explain) ............ ........... ...... ......... .............. .. ....... -
4. o. What do you believe is the ideal percentage adoration for the different components of the undergraduate progrom?
(Indicate the percentages cn all the blank lines, both under 4 years and 5 yeors)
Length of Program
4-Year Program 5-Ycar Program
Accounting 1 i 7c of 4 years % of 5 years
; Other Business Courses ■ ... . . c /c of 4 years of 5 years
Liberol Studies (arts, sciences, end humanities) _______ 4 J/o of 4 years .________% of 5 yeors
Totol for the program 100% of 4 yeors 100% of 5 yeors
b. In terms of years, how long should the undergroduate preparation of the accountant be? — _ _ _ _ _ _ _ years.
5. o. Do you fovor postponing accounting specialization to the graduate level? Yes _________ No _ _ _ _ _
b. If you answered "Yes," what type of program do you think is best as an undergraduate requirement for admis
sion to the graduate program? (Check one)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Commerce
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ Liberal arts
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ Preparatory ccu'se specially designed fcr accounting specialization on the graduate level
. Other: (Specify) ._______________________________________________________________ . _______________
PLEASE ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS FOR THE STATISTICAL EVALUATION OF THE DATA YOU SUPPLIED.
A. Whot is ycur present teaching position?
Assistant Instructor
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ Instructor
Assistant Professor
_____ Associate Professor
_ _ _ _ _ Professor
B. Hew many years have you been o college teacher? ------------------ years.
C. Are you o CPA? Yes --------------- ^ N o -----------------
If you answered "Yes," how long have you been a CPA? ----------------- years.
D. Hove you engaged in public accounting practice? Y e s ---------------- N o ----------
If you onswered "Yes," how long hove you been in publi; accounting practice?
E. What is ycur highest degree?
_________ Bachelor's — Moster's
F. Do you hold degrees in fields other than Business? Yes ____________ No _
If you answered "Yes," check in what fields below:
_ _ Low - - Education . Liberal Arts ------------- Other: (Specify)
G. Optional: Whot is your cge? _ _ _ ______ yeors.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION.
years.
Doctorate
Part-time Instructor
Assistont Lecturer
Associate Lecturer
Professoriol Lecturer
Other: (Specify)
B I B L I O G R A P H Y
i
i
248
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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249
250
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Asset Metadata

Creator Goyenechea-Gonzalez, Flora (author)

Core Title A Critical Evaluation Of The Undergraduate Accounting Curriculum In The Philippine College Of Commerce

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag education, higher,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Advisor Pullias, Earl Vivon (committee chair), Grafton, Clive L. (committee member), O'Neill, William S. (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c18-486129

Unique identifier UC11363141

Identifier 7221672.pdf (filename),usctheses-c18-486129 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 7221672

Dmrecord 486129

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Goyenechea-Gonzalez, Flora

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA