Authors
Roy Chandler & Neil Marriott
Abstract
The use of spreadsheets to teach accounting and other disciplines has developed over the last few years.
There are at least two reasons for such development: first, use of computer simulations may hold educational benefits and, second, there is an increasing demand from students for courses which provide them with skills which are attractive to employers. However, there is no generally agreed approach to spreadsheet-model construction.
Different authors adopt different approaches to the construction of spreadsheet models, each of which has its own strengths and weaknesses. We present a critical review of these approaches and contrast them with the approach commonly used in practice.
In addition, we demonstrate through two worked examples how the approach used by accounting practitioners may hold advantages for model building in an academic setting. The focus is not so much on technical training, but on the approach used.
At this stage it is not possible to estimate whether accounting students suffer any educational disadvantage through the apparent lack of a rigorous approach to model building.
Sample
One desirable feature in spreadsheet modelling is that input and output sections are kept separate. A variety of layout options have been proposed to achieve this separation of inputs and outputs.
Publication
1994, Accounting Education, Volume 3, Number 2, June, pages 133-154
Full article
Different approaches to the use of spreadsheet models in teaching management accounting
