College Students’ Use and Reception of Accounting Textbooks: An Indonesian Perspective

Irsyadillah Irsyadillah,Raihani Raihani

doi:10.24815/jdab.v7i2.17393

Irsyadillah Irsyadillah, Raihani Raihani

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.24815/jdab.v7i2.17393

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Abstract

Due to the limitations of accounting textbooks, students do not realize a broader potential of accounting can make to society outside a scorekeeping practice ascribing priority to shareholders. The purpose of this study is to explore how students in Indonesia use the recommended introductory financial accounting (IFA) textbook to understand whether they use it in a way that allows a more nuanced, contextual and broad-based understanding of accounting. Drawing on the results of four focus groups conducted with students who represent four accounting degrees of Indonesian universities, the study reveals that students are strongly attached to the recommended textbook. It seemed they could not get away from having to use the text if they were to succeed in the course. Therefore, the intellectual source of these students was solely the neoclassical economic paradigm, the primary emphasis of which is satisfying the materialist desires of shareholders. This was evident in the perspectives of both students of conventional and Islamic accounting programs.

Highlights

Students are nurtured with learning experiences in school (Jackson, Francis, Kay, & Campbell, 1996)
This study focuses on introductory financial accounting (IFA) textbook because of its significance in shaping students’ understandings and ideological beliefs about the ‘language of business’
Section three provides a reflection on how students engage with the content of their prescribed accounting textbooks, the ideological representations made in their textbooks

Summary

Introduction

Students are nurtured with learning experiences in school (Jackson, Francis, Kay, & Campbell, 1996). It is the vehicle through which content knowledge and skills are transmitted to students. Instructors in business schools have considered textbooks as a fundamental element in the preparation of their course contents (Richardson, 2004). They ‘have a profound influence upon the ways in which academics and students construct concepts and practices’ Textbooks are viewed as an authorized or legitimate source of society’s valid knowledge (Crawford, 2003)

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Results

Conclusion