Information technology in the British and Irish undergraduate accounting degrees

Abstract

Using an online questionnaire and a series of semi-structured interviews, this study seeks the perceptions of accounting educators and professional accounting bodies in the UK and Ireland on the status quo of technological developments within accounting curricula and the factors influencing this status quo. Findings suggest a fairly widespread view that technological developments represent an important area that should be covered across accounting curricula, to expose changes in the marketplace and to enhance the employability of graduates. However, it is still a peripheral component in accounting curricula, with no clear agenda for change. Professional accounting bodies seem to play a hegemonic inhibiting role through accreditation requirements although other inhibitors were reported such as lack of competent/interested staff and lack of time/space in already overloaded syllabi.