Communication apprehension and maths anxiety as barriers to communication and numeracy skills development in accounting and business education

Purpose – To establish the existence of barriers to communication and numeracy skills development and to establish the levels of these exhibited by accounting and business students at the commencement of their courses in higher education. Design/methodology/approach – Uses questionnaires to establish the levels of communication apprehension (CA) and maths anxiety (MA) in students at the commencement of their accounting and business courses in higher education. Establishes the underlying factors that are influential in determining the levels of apprehension and anxiety in individual students. An analysis of the underlying demographic variables such as age, previous educational background, etc. is also undertaken. Findings – Identifies the existence of high levels of CA in accounting students and MA in business studies students at the beginning of their courses. Practical implications – Where high levels of CA in accounting students and MA in business studies students are shown to exist consideration must be given to relevant curriculum design and delivery, and the use of techniques designed to reduce apprehension/anxiety in the students concerned. Because the apprehension/anxiety is present on entry to higher education it may be that specific courses appear to be recruiting students whose perception of their longer term vocational skills requirements may be inappropriate to their chosen career area. Originality/value – Identifies specific differences in the areas of CA and MA between differently focused vocational courses, which have syllabus overlap, within a business school. Keywords Communication, Accounting education, Higher education, Students Paper type Research pape

Inicios de las Enseñanzas Oficiales de Comercio en España. Creación de la Escuela de Comercio de Cádiz (1799-1804): Selección de los Primeros Profesores, Métodos de Enseñanza y Programas, con Especial Referencia a los de Contabilidad.: The Beginnings of Official Accounting Education in Spain. The Commerce School of Cádiz (1799-1804). The Selection of First Teachers, Methods and Syllabuses, with Special Focus in Accounting.

The Official education in Commerce Arts in Spain started by institutional initiative. The Royal Disposition of the 29th of November, 1785 stated the obligation for the Consulates of Commerce to organise the needed resources to implement Commerce Schools. This first initiative had no success, thus a new Royal Order, issued the 26th of February, 1799, again urged the Consulates to establish official studies in Commerce, obtaining response in Cadiz and Bilbao. In the present paper, we depart from the evolution of commerce and accounting education through later XVIII to early XIX centuries. In this period, education evolves from practical focused and non regulated schemes to a corpus of structured knowledge. This evolution is studied focusing in the analysis of the first Official Syllabus for Commerce and Accounting Education, its objectives, methods and contents with a special stress in the candidates that applied for the Accounting Chair and in the memoranda they presented.La enseñanza oficial de Comercio en España se puso en marcha por iniciativa institucional. La Real Cédula de 29 de noviembre de 1785 obligaba a los Consulados a disponer de los medios necesarios para establecer Escuelas de Comercio. Esta primera iniciativa oficial no tuvo éxito por lo que en una nueva Real Orden de 26 de febrero de 1799, se volvió a disponer a los Consulados la obligación de establecer la enseñanza oficial de Comercio, teniendo una acogida positiva en los Consulados de Cádiz y Bilbao. En el trabajo se expone la evolución de la enseñanza del comercio y la contabilidad desde mediados del s.XVIII al primer cuarto del s.XIX. En este periodo la formación pasa de ser pragmática y no reglada a tener un cuerpo de contenido teórico necesario para ordenar los conocimientos hasta entonces dispersos. Este cambio lo estudiamos centrándonos en el análisis del primer Plan de Estudios oficial para la enseñanza del comercio, sus objetivos, contenidos y métodos y en el proceso de creación de la Escuela de Comercio de Cádiz, poniendo especial énfasis en los candidatos que participaron en la convocatoria para optar a la plaza de catedrático de la enseñanza de la Contabilidad y en las memorias que presentaron

Docencia, investigación y burnout: el síndrome del quemado en profesores universitarios de Contabilidad: Research, teaching and burnout: A study in accounting university teaching staff

Burnout, due to the social costs derived from it has been a usual research topic. However, available inventories are not able to apprehend the different effect of teaching and research activities in the burnout levels.The aims of the paper are to explore whether the incidence of burnout varies according to activities of teaching or research, as well as to examine the relationship between the levels of burnout with certain variables that may be seen as antecedents and consequences.The instrument used is an adaptation of the standard Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), which obtains separately measurements of the incidence of the syndrome derived from a university lecturer's two main areas of work: teaching and research.The results obtained from a sample of university lectures of accounting in Spain reveal that it is in the area of research where the syndrome is more clearly shown. Gender, time devoted to research, recognition by students, level of independence in decision making, as well as leaving intention appear to be related with burnout levels.The originality and value of the paper rely on the demonstration of the lack of validity of widely used instruments to measure burnout at university level. Those instruments present an incomplete view of the problem, focusing in the aspect (teaching) that has a lower influence in burnout levels.El síndrome de quemarse por el trabajo (SQT), por su alto coste social, ha sido objeto de numerosos estudios. Sin embargo, los instrumentos disponibles no tienen en cuenta la multiplicidad de tareas que caracterizan el trabajo del profesor universitario (docencia e investigación).Los objetivos del trabajo son comprobar si el SQT en los profesores universitarios de contabilidad está más asociado a las actividades docentes o a las actividades investigadoras, y la relación del SQT con determinados factores y consecuentes.El instrumento utilizado es una adaptación del Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) que proporciona medidas diferenciadas para docencia e investigación. La muestra está compuesta por profesores universitarios de contabilidad de 41universidades españolas.Los resultados obtenidos indican niveles más altos de SQT en investigación que en docencia. El género, el tiempo de investigación, el doctorado, el reconocimiento de los estudiantes y la capacidad de decisión aparecen asociados a diferencias en las medidas del MBI. Igualmente, los niveles de SQT aparecen asociados a la intención de abandono.El valor añadido del trabajo estriba en que demuestra que las mediciones realizadas con los instrumentos usuales no son válidas para la población de profesores universitarios, ya que proporcionan una visión incompleta y orientada a la actividad que menos influye en el nivel de SQT

Docencia, investigación y burnout: el síndrome del quemado en profesores universitarios de Contabilidad

El síndrome de quemarse por el trabajo (SQT), por su alto coste social, ha sido objeto de numerosos estudios. Sin embargo, los instrumentos disponibles no tienen en cuenta la multiplicidad de tareas que caracterizan el trabajo del profesor universitario (docencia e investigación).Los objetivos del trabajo son comprobar si el SQT en los profesores universitarios de contabilidad está más asociado a las actividades docentes o a las actividades investigadoras, y la relación del SQT con determinados factores y consecuentes.El instrumento utilizado es una adaptación del Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) que proporciona medidas diferenciadas para docencia e investigación. La muestra está compuesta por profesores universitarios de contabilidad de 41universidades españolas.Los resultados obtenidos indican niveles más altos de SQT en investigación que en docencia. El género, el tiempo de investigación, el doctorado, el reconocimiento de los estudiantes y la capacidad de decisión aparecen asociados a diferencias en las medidas del MBI. Igualmente, los niveles de SQT aparecen asociados a la intención de abandono.El valor añadido del trabajo estriba en que demuestra que las mediciones realizadas con los instrumentos usuales no son válidas para la población de profesores universitarios, ya que proporcionan una visión incompleta y orientada a la actividad que menos influye en el nivel de SQT

Educación a distancia y resultados académicos en contabilidad: un estudio comparativo del uso de videoconferencia: Distance learning and academic performance in accounting: a comparative study of the effect of the use of videoconferencing

Background The specific needs of some universities (attending several campuses), as well as the demands of adapting to the EHEA (in order to achieve better coordination among universities in joint programmes and projects) could be efficiently solved by using Information and Communication Technologies and distance learning tools. In this context, the efficiency of such solutions is a relevant question. Aims The evaluation of the relative efficacy, in terms of academic performance, of videoconferencing in the teaching of accounting at university level. Method A large dataset, including current academic performance, previous academic performance and other relevant factors, for students in groups using videoconferencing and traditional methods was built. Multivariate analyses were performed in order to test whether students at videoconferencing groups presented significant differences in performance. Results The results indicated that videoconferencing does not negatively affect students’ performances.Las necesidades de determinadas universidades (atendiendo docencia en varios campus) así como las demandas resultantes de la adaptación al EEES (coordinación inter-universitaria, promoción de programas y proyectos conjuntos, etc.) pueden resolverse de forma eficiente utilizando herramientas de educación a distancia y tecnologías de comunicación. En este contexto, la eficiencia de estas soluciones es un factor relevante. El principal objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar la eficiencia de la videoconferencia, en términos de rendimiento académico, en su uso en educación superior en contabilidad. Como método, se comparan los resultados obtenidos por grupos siguiendo un esquema tradicional con otros grupos que han utilizado videoconferencia. Los resultados indican que el uso de videoconferencia no afecta al rendimiento de los alumnos que han utilizado este método

Distance learning and academic performance in accounting: a comparative study of the effect of the use of videoconferencing

Background The specific needs of some universities (attending several campuses), as well as the demands of adapting to the EHEA (in order to achieve better coordination among universities in joint programmes and projects) could be efficiently solved by using Information and Communication Technologies and distance learning tools. In this context, the efficiency of such solutions is a relevant question. Aims The evaluation of the relative efficacy, in terms of academic performance, of videoconferencing in the teaching of accounting at university level. Method A large dataset, including current academic performance, previous academic performance and other relevant factors, for students in groups using videoconferencing and traditional methods was built. Multivariate analyses were performed in order to test whether students at videoconferencing groups presented significant differences in performance. Results The results indicated that videoconferencing does not negatively affect students’ performances

Communication apprehension in UK and Spanish business students

Distinguishes between communication apprehension (CA), the fear of actually communicating, and communication development, the ability to maintain and improve performance as a communicator. Indicates that CA needs to be addressed before progress can be made in developing the communication skills of graduates to which employers attach considerable importance. Reports the results of a study comparing levels of CA amongst business and accounting students in the UK and Spain, which confirm the high levels of CA found in North American students but also indicate differences which may be due to cultural and other factors. Considers implications of findings for curriculum design and staff development