Current Status of Comprehensive Examination
and
Thesis Requirements in Master of Accounting Programs
By
Frank
R. Urbancic, DBA, CPA
Professor and Chair
Department
of Accounting
University of South Alabama
Mobile, Alabama 36688
Current Status of Comprehensive Examination and
Thesis Requirements in Master of Accounting Programs
ABSTRACT
The master of accounting degree is based on a highly specialized professional
program of graduate study with requirements that vary considerably among
different institutions which offer the degree.
These requirements may address important education objectives, such as
outcome assessment and integrative experience, through various approaches
including, but not limited to, a terminal comprehensive examination and a
thesis requirement or option. The
purpose of this paper is to provide comparative information concerning
policies, practices and procedures with respect to terminal comprehensive
examinations and thesis provisions for master of accounting degree programs.
The information is obtained from a survey of 243 institutions which
offer a master of accounting degree. Currently,
35 percent of these programs have a terminal examination and/or thesis,
whereas 28 percent of the programs rely on other approaches, such as a
capstone course, to provide students with a suitable culminating experience.
Findings from the study offer useful benchmarking information to
educators for purposes of evaluating the requirements of an existing master of
accounting program or for developing plans to establish a new program.
Current Status of Comprehensive Examination and
Thesis Requirements in Master of Accounting Programs
In
response to 150-hour legislation enacted in recent years by a majority of
States, many universities have developed
graduate programs for conferring a masters degree in accounting, and
other universities have experienced increases in student enrollment among
existing masters programs. In contrast to the MBA, the master of accounting
degree is based on a highly specialized professional program with requirements
that vary considerably among different institutions offering the degree.
These requirements may address important objectives, such as outcome
assessment and integrative experience, using various approaches including, but
not limited to, a thesis and/or terminal comprehensive examination.
The
most obvious difficulty with a thesis or terminal examination requirement is
the demand on faculty time for supervision and administration.
Nonetheless, requirements, such as a thesis, have a capability for
improving the quality of a graduate program and providing a significant
educational experience for students [Anderson and Usry, 1970].
Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine comparative data
concerning the current state of thesis and terminal comprehensive testing as a
component of nondoctoral graduate programs in accounting.
The study offers useful benchmarking information to educators for the
purpose of developing new programs and for evaluating existing program
requirements for the master of accounting degree.
The
study is organized into five sections. First,
a review of related prior research is presented.
Second, the methodology for the study is described.
The third and fourth sections present results of the study along with a
discussion of the principal findings for terminal comprehensive examinations
and thesis requirements and options. Finally,
concluding observations and comments are offered in the fifth section.
Related
Research
One
of the earliest views on theses and comprehensive examinations in masters
programs for accounting was put forth by a special committee of the American
Accounting Association in 1970. Without
providing an accompanying explanation or justification, the seven-member
committee included the following brief statement in its report on graduate
accounting programs:
No
thesis requirement or comprehensive examination is recommended. On the other
hand, it is expected that courses will require supervised research in order
that a student receives adequate instruction in writing and research
methodology.[Patrick, 1970, p. 51]
The
aforementioned position contradicts previously published studies of the master
thesis and terminal examination in other fields.
For example, based on a survey of 31 students enrolled in an accredited
master of social work program, Corcoran (1984) reported that a master thesis
was perceived to be a viable teaching tool, an effective method for enhancing
specialization, and a valuable learning experience for students.
In an earlier study based on a survey of 41 schools offering a master
of library science degree, Arnold and Bottle (1970) reported that 56 percent
of the programs had a terminal comprehensive examination and that 29 percent
had either a thesis requirement or option.
Furthermore, Arnold and Bottle emphasized that the integrative
experience of a comprehensive examination helps contribute to the total
educational development of the student, raises the standards for masters
programs, and serves as an instrument for the betterment of librarianship as a
whole. Finally, based on a survey of
changes in a five-year period for 118 institutions offering masters degree
nursing programs, McKevitt (1986) observed a significant increase in the
number of programs with a terminal comprehensive examination and that the
examination requirement had apparently become a means for more widely
promoting program rigor.
In
the area of graduate business education, previous studies of the terminal
examination and/or thesis focused primarily on MBA programs.
Edwards and Pullis (1976-77) surveyed 115 accredited schools of
business and observed a definite trend toward the elimination of formal
written examinations, and also oral examinations as a component of MBA
programs. Edwards and Pullis
attributed this trend to insufficient faculty resources, excessive demand on
faculty time, and the lack of a singular, generally acceptable purpose for the
examination. Brown and Parker
(1985) reported a similar finding based on a survey of 60 business school
deans, wherein only 32 percent of the respondents claimed to have a
comprehensive examination requirement for their MBA programs.
As a compromise position, Brown and Parker recommended that MBA
programs incorporate a capstone course which includes an integrative
examination as a means for students to apply the knowledge they gained from
their course work. In a study of
outcome assessment procedures for MBA programs, Edwards and Brannen (1990)
surveyed 657 business educators to determine the use of and the attitudes
toward pre-admission, interim and terminal testing.
Regarding terminal comprehensive examinations, Edwards and Brannen
found that 75.4 percent of the MBA programs had no such requirement, but for
the programs that had terminal testing, it was most likely written,
integrative in nature, and mandatory for all MBA candidates.
Finally, McCambridge and Thornton (1994) surveyed graduate program
directors at 547 universities as a basis for determining the types of
alternative approaches in use for providing MBA students with an integrative
experience. Their findings
indicated that MBA programs most frequently had the following approaches to
integration, either alone or in combination, a capstone course 91.7%,
comprehensive exam 17.6%; thesis 14.5%, professional paper 10.9%, and/or
internship 7.3%. These observations led McCambridge and Thornton to conclude
that MBA programs were becoming narrowly defined with respect to completion of
a certain number of courses, one of which is a capstone course, and that most
programs corresponded to little more than a fifth year of undergraduate study.
There
is no previously published research on the use of comprehensive examinations
for master degree programs in accounting.
However, an older study by Anderson and Usry (1970) addressed thesis
policies for graduate nondoctoral accounting programs in the United States
based on a survey of 247 colleges of business.
Anderson and Usry reported that a thesis option or thesis requirement
was more prevalent among Master of Science and Master of Arts degree programs
in accounting compared to other degrees, including MBA generalist and MBA with
an accounting option. For the MS
and MA in accounting programs, 53 percent had a thesis requirement and 30
percent had a thesis option, whereas for all other types of graduate business
degree programs, 22 percent had a thesis requirement and 40 percent had a
thesis option. Other findings
from the study concerned the specific objectives and the process for masters
theses in accounting, from which the following conclusion was made:
However, effectively done, masters theses or reports are an expensive
form of instruction which will flourish only to the extent that accounting
educators and administrators agree on the desirability of research experience
and adopt efficient and effective means of supervision... Still we remain
convinced that personal research experience is the best teacher, well
worth the cost and effort. [Anderson and Usry, 1970, pp. 583-584].
Results
from the Anderson and Usry study of the thesis component for graduate
accounting education are thirty years old, and research concerning terminal
comprehensive examinations for master degree in accounting programs has not
been previously published. Therefore,
the current study is intended to improve the available information in both of
these areas. Also, the study
excludes MBA programs so that the focus is solely on master of accounting (MAcc)
degree programs. The scope of the
study includes policies for thesis options, thesis requirements and terminal
comprehensive examinations. The
method used for the study is described in the next section.
Method
A
questionnaire (included as Appendix A) was used to obtain information about
MAcc programs. The questionnaire
had five sections. The first
section contained general information questions.
The second section had questions concerning terminal comprehensive
examinations. The third section was devoted to thesis questions.
The fourth and fifth sections were for reasons why a terminal
comprehensive examination, and/or a thesis requirement or option are not part
of a MAcc program.
A
list of the institutions that offer a MAcc program was developed from
information provided in Petersons (1999) guide to graduate study.
A total of 243 programs were identified for the survey and
questionnaires were sent to academic accounting program administrators.
There were 105 questionnaires returned including two that were
incomplete. The remaining 103
useable questionnaires represent a 42.4 percent response rate.
Exhibit
1 presents enrollment information provided by the respondents for their
institutions. At the university
level most enrollments were between 5,000 and 20,000 students, with 50,000 the
largest and 2,000 the smallest student enrollments.
Business college enrollments range from 7,000 to 250 students, but most
are 2,500 students or less. The
degree title for the MAcc program is usually Master of Accountancy (34) or
Master of Science in Accounting (28) and nearly half of all programs enroll 30
or fewer students. The largest
MAcc program has 325 students, whereas two of the programs currently have no
students enrolled.
Additional
information provided by the respondents for their institutions is presented in
Exhibit 2. According to the
exhibit most of the universities are public (77) rather than private (26). A
majority (91) of the respondents are associated with institutions accredited
by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business, including 32
business accreditation only, and 59 business accredited with separately
accredited accounting programs. Nearly
all (94) of the universities have a semester credit hour system.
Almost half (45) of the semester based MAcc programs consist of 30
credit hours to complete the degree including 15 to 21 credits in courses
exclusively devoted to accounting, auditing, systems or tax.
Terminal
Comprehensive Examination
Exhibit
3 provides an overview of certain requirements for completing the MAcc degree.
According to the exhibit, 23 MAcc programs have a terminal
comprehensive examination and 21 programs include a thesis provision.
In contrast,38 MAcc programs have no special requirements aside from
the completion of courses. Additionally,
29 programs have, as an alternative to a terminal examination or thesis, other
requirements such as a capstone course, research paper or a project.
In the paragraphs of the current section, only the MAcc programs that
have a terminal comprehensive examination are discussed further.
Exhibit
4 presents the survey results for 23 programs that have a terminal
comprehensive examination. The
most frequently mentioned reasons for including an examination as part of the
program are to fulfill a graduate school requirement (7) or to serve as an
outcome assessment procedure (7). In
a majority of cases (19) there are no plans to eliminate the examination
within the next three years.
Concerning
the examination, Exhibit 4 indicates that it is more likely to be a written
exam (15) than oral (8), usually two to four hours in length (13), and covers
only the core courses in accounting (16) rather than all the courses
comprising the degree (7). According
to the exhibit there is considerable variation in the format for the
examination since many programs incorporate two or more different types of
questions in the examination, including essay (12), discussion question (12),
short answer question (7), case analysis (6), and multiple choice questions
(2). The aforementioned variations in format are indicative of the
difficulty encountered in the development of a satisfactory examination for
comprehensively testing students on material from several courses taught by
different faculty. Other findings
reported in Exhibit 4 are that a student usually has a maximum of two attempts
(13) in which to pass the examination, and that failure can result in
dismissal from the program (6).
Although
a terminal comprehensive examination may offer benefits such as a means for
outcome assessment or an integrative experience, the results presented in
Exhibit 4 indicate that the development and administration of a terminal
examination is a very imperfect process.
Examinations for some MAcc programs are written while others are oral.
Time lengths for the examination range from a half-hour to in excess of
five hours. Also, examinations
often contain different question formats in an assortment of combinations.
The extent of these variations raises some doubt concerning the
underlying validity of the terminal examination process.
Moreover, nearly half of the programs (10) have no established policies
in the event that a student fails the examination or a repeat examination.
This finding suggests the possibility that examinations tend to be
graded liberally to ensure that virtually every student passes.
Therefore, not surprisingly, the information presented in Exhibit 3
indicates that more than three-fourths (80) of MAcc programs do not have a
terminal comprehensive examination. These programs are discussed next.
Respondents
were asked to provide reasons why their MAcc program does not have a terminal
comprehensive examination. Of the
80 programs without a terminal examination, one-third of the respondents (26)
offered no explanation, but the remaining 54 respondents provided one or more
reasons. The list of reasons are presented in Exhibit 5.
Several
of the reasons listed in Exhibit 5 lack sufficient strength as a basis for
excluding a terminal examination. First,
other master of accounting programs do not have an examination requirement (7)
is invalid as a reason because it makes an assumption that all MAcc programs
have identical admission standards, instructional quality, and course rigor.
Second, it is not appropriate for a professional
degree program (7) ignores the fact that masters programs in other
professional fields have comprehensive examinations.
Third, the CPA examination adequately serves as an exit measure
(5)
is invalid as a reason for its assumption that every MAcc student will sit for
the CPA exam. Fourth, the MBA
program has no such requirement (5) makes an inappropriate comparison between
the MAcc, which is a specialist degree program, and the MBA, which is a
generalist degree program. Other
reasons listed in Exhibit 5 are unsupported, and include: it would not add
value to the program (5); it is not useful (4); and the costs exceed the
benefits (3).
In
contrast to the aforementioned weak reasons, there are five reasons presented
in Exhibit 5 which have merit for the purpose of excluding a terminal
comprehensive examination. First,
the statement, it is too time consuming to develop and administer (9), is
probably true given the size of some MAcc programs.
According to Exhibit 1, 28.2 percent of all MAcc programs have in
excess of 50 students, including several programs that enroll more than 100
students. Second, the courses are
sufficiently rigorous (9) recognizes that concerted efforts to uphold quality
control throughout a program are more important than reliance on a single exit
point quality control check, such as a comprehensive examination.
Third, a capstone course is sufficient (7) constitutes a strong reason
for omitting a terminal examination since a capstone course can provide a more
extensive integrative experience throughout an entire semester in contrast to
a single examination of a few hours in length.
Moreover, an examination can be included as part of the capstone course
requirements and thereby facilitate outcome assessment.
Finally, two additional reasons, it is difficult to develop a valid
examination (6) and it is a superficial requirement since no one ever fails
(4),
are consistent with insights offered earlier in this section.
Finally, it should be noted from Exhibit 5 that 78 of the 80
respondents indicated it is unlikely that a terminal examination will be added
to the requirements for a MAcc degree at any time in the next three years.
Thesis
Requirement or Option
There
has been a substantial decrease in the presence of a thesis component in MAcc
programs since the time of the study by Anderson and Usry. In 1970, 53 percent
of the MAcc programs surveyed had a thesis requirement and 30 percent had a
thesis option. However, the
results presented in Exhibit 3 indicate that only 2.9 percent (3) of MAcc
programs currently have a thesis requirement and 17.5 percent (18) of the
programs have a thesis option. Respondents
for the 21 programs with a thesis requirement/option were asked to provide
primary reason(s) for including a thesis as part of the MAcc program.
According to Exhibit 6, respondents gave various reasons for inclusion
of a thesis requirement/option as part of the MAcc program, with development
of research experience (9) mentioned the most often as a reason.
However, when asked to select the most important benefit to students as
a result of the thesis experience the respondents selections were almost
evenly divided between development of self-study or research skills (11) and
increased knowledge of a specific topic in accounting, auditing systems or tax
(10).
Results
presented in Exhibit 6 indicate that students are usually awarded either three
or six semester hour credits upon successful completion of a thesis. A thesis is optional for 18 of the 21 MAcc programs that have
a thesis component, but the option is rarely chosen (usually fewer than 10
percent of all students). Although
there is no dominant research method (10) used by thesis students, several
respondents mentioned that library/secondary source (6) and survey (4) are
popular methods.
Additional
findings presented in Exhibit 6 indicate that faculty supervisory
responsibility for thesis is fulfilled by either a committee of faculty
members (12) or an individual faculty member (9).
The size of most thesis committees is three faculty members (9).
Thesis supervision imposes a significant time commitment on faculty,
but 81 percent (17) of the programs have no provision to adjust faculty
teaching load. Concerning the
future status of the thesis component, most respondents (18) anticipate its
retention as a requirement or option, including one program that is expected
to change from a thesis option to a thesis requirement.
Although
a thesis may offer benefits such as a means for integrating knowledge from the
total MAcc curriculum and as a process for a student to develop specialization
in an area of accounting, the size of student enrollment for many MAcc
programs is simply too large for effective thesis supervision by faculty. For
example, collectively the 103 respondents reported that their MAcc programs
have 5,171 students enrolled, or an average of 50.2 students per program.
Accordingly, 79.6 percent (82) of the MAcc programs have no thesis
component. These programs are
discussed next.
Respondents
were asked to provide reasons why their MAcc program does not have a thesis
component. Nearly 30 percent of
the respondents (24) offered no explanation, but the remaining 58 respondents
provided one or more reasons. The
list of reasons is presented in Exhibit 7.
Exhibit
7 lists eight specific reasons provided by respondents to explain why their
MAcc program has no thesis component. Similar
to the previous discussion in the section for terminal examinations, several
of the reasons are insufficient as a basis for omitting a thesis, including
other master of accounting programs do not have a thesis (6), it provides no
benefit (5), it
would not add value to the program (2), and the MBA program has no such
requirement
(2).
Also invalid as a reason, is the one most frequently mentioned by the
respondents (25), that a thesis is not relevant for a professional
practitioner oriented degree. Self-study and lifetime learning ability are
essential skills for accountants. Therefore,
to some extent, a thesis can offer a beneficial experience for students
entering the profession of accounting.
In
contrast to the aforementioned weak reasons, there are three reasons presented
in Exhibit 7 that have merit for the purpose of excluding a thesis component.
First, the courses contain sufficient research and writing assignments (15) suggests that there is a viable
alternative to a thesis component. Thesis
research is generally different than the research tasks typically confronted
by accountants. Research
assignments within courses are potentially more effective than a single thesis
as a means for improving the skills of MAcc students.
Second, it imposes too much of a time commitment on the faculty (8)
coincides with information reported earlier that the average enrollment in
MAcc programs is 50 students. Given
their large enrollments, a thesis component is impractical for most MAcc
programs. Finally, the statement,
it imposes too much of a time burden on students (4), is undoubtedly true.
Therefore, courses that include short research assignments offer not
only a more effective approach, but also a more efficient means for improving
the skills of MAcc students. Finally, it should be noted from Exhibit 7 that none of the
82 respondents indicated any likelihood of adding a thesis component to the
MAcc program within the next three years.
Concluding
Observations and Comments
According
to information presented earlier in Exhibit 3, 65 percent (67) of MAcc
programs have no thesis component nor terminal comprehensive examination. Though a thesis and terminal examination facilitate
integrative experience and outcome assessment, there are valid reasons for
excluding them from the requirements for a MAcc degree.
However, adequate alternative measures should be taken to preclude the
MAcc program from becoming nothing more than just an extended year of
undergraduate study.
First,
a capstone course deserves to be considered for inclusion in MAcc programs
since such a course, if appropriately designed, has the potential to offer
students a valuable culminating experience.
A capstone course helps students effectively integrate the knowledge
gained from other courses in a MAcc program.
In addition to this integrative experience, the requirements for a
capstone course can be designed to facilitate outcome assessment by including
one or more relevant examinations. These
examinations could be structured to serve both as an exit point quality
control check on students and as feedback for continuous improvement to the
MAcc program.
Second,
short research assignments throughout the courses comprising a MAcc program
represent a useful alternative to the thesis approach in graduate education.
Assignments can be designed to cover issues that are similar to those a
practicing accountant might typically encounter.
These assignments can help students gain valuable experience in
planning for research, applying the methods of research, writing
professionally, and meeting deadlines.
Finally,
rather than including a thesis or terminal examination, a MAcc program which
consists solely of courses alone can prove to be a sufficient basis for
educating students on a level distinctive from their baccalaureate experience,
provided the graduate faculty are dedicated to high quality instruction.
Faculty should challenge their MAcc students and expect far more from
them in comparison to baccalaureate students.
The type and extent of material to be covered, the demanding nature of
assignments to be completed, and fostering a competitive environment can
collectively serve to enrich the educational experience for MAcc students.
In the absence of such rigor, a courses only based MAcc program offers
nothing to distinguish it from a baccalaureate program in accounting except
for a difference in admissions standards.
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References
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