Imagine a Franciscan friar from the Renaissance period and an educational psychologist from the 20th century having a conversation at a local coffee shop. This could be the scenario that most accounting teachers currently face in light of the advancements in accounting education.
As most Higher Education Institutions in the Philippines are transitioning to Outcomes-Based Teaching and Learning, faculty members in professional departments find it challenging to contextualize educational concepts in their respective fields.
One particular model used by most accountants in academe is the Bloom’s Taxonomy, formulated by Benjamin Bloom and revised by Lorin Anderson and David Krathwohl. This model ranks cognitive skills with rote learning at its base and creation at its apex. A working knowledge of the model is necessary for accounting teachers to develop learning outcomes, whether at the program, course or unit levels.
Examples of the model are fit for general education courses. However, the usage and context of these thinking skills must be appropriately tailored for professional courses to ensure the constructive alignment of outcomes, teaching and learning activities, and assessment.
The verb “account” has a specific meaning in accounting courses. “Account” may also be a thinking skill of higher order, and a complex one at that. In financial accounting courses, “account” will be a combination of several thinking skills from Bloom’s Taxonomy. The newly issued Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting of the IASB offers a working concept of the verb “account.”
Recognition is the act of incorporating an element in the financial records. Basically, when a learner “recognizes” an element, s/he determines what accounts are to be debited or credited as a result of capturing the transaction or event. An accounting teacher can also factor in the timing of recognition to make the exercise more complex for the learner. However, answering the question by how much is a different matter.
Measurement captures the financial impact of a transaction. Measurement is a bit more complex than recognition, since specific elements will have different measurement bases. When a learner measures a financial element, s/he is expected to apply the principles for initial and subsequent measurement based on his/her analysis of the given information. Therefore, a learner is expected to apply the appropriate principles when s/he “measures” an element. Further, the learner needs to maintain and monitor valuation- adjustment transactions for specific measurement bases as in the case of elements at fair value.
Presentation and disclosures dwell on determining the correct balance of the account, its placement in the financial statements, and the preparation of the related disclosures. “Presenting” an account involves a recall of the specific line item where it belongs. Also, learners are expected to prepare the necessary disclosures at this stage.
Finally, derecognition is the stage where the learner removes the specific element in the financial records. Here, the learner analyzes the given data and applies the appropriate derecognition principle. So when a learning outcome reads “account for,” it means that students are expected to recognize, measure, present/disclose and derecognize certain elements.
Based on the discussion above, it is evident that accounting teachers can synthesize accounting concepts with those of learning taxonomies. However, it is clear that components of the verb “account” are not as linear and as simple as those presented in the Bloom’s taxonomy. Each component is an amalgamation of two or more verbs in the said taxonomy.
I do not claim to be an expert in accounting or education. What I have presented above are my reflections with the hope of developing a learning taxonomy model specific to accounting, which is both rigorous and impactful.
Fermin Antonio del Rosario Yabut is a CPA in academe and the deputy director of an academic publishing house. He used to be a Senior Associate and Quality Control Consultant for auditing firms in the Philippines. Yabut is a product of the University of Santo Tomas and Seton Hall University.
This column accepts contributions from accountants, especially articles that are of interest to the accountancy profession, in particular, and to the business community, in general. These can be e-mailed to boa.secretariat.@gmail.com.