Asian Review of Accounting

Japanese accounting academics perceptions on the global convergence of accounting

education in Japan
Satoshi Sugahara

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Satoshi Sugahara , (2013),"Japanese accounting academics perceptions on the global convergence of
accounting education in Japan", Asian Review of Accounting, Vol. 21 Iss 3 pp. 180 - 204
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ARA
21,3

180

Japanese accounting academics

perceptions on the global
convergence of accounting
education in Japan
Satoshi Sugahara
Hiroshima Shudo University, Faculty of Commercial Sciences, Hiroshima, Japan

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Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a survey on the perception of the
globalisation of accounting education among academics teaching at tertiary schools in Japan. With the
acceleration of globalism in accounting education, the aim of this exploratory research is to investigate
the perceptions of Japanese academics toward this global convergence.
Design/methodology/approach The sample was collected from accounting educators who were
teaching at the undergraduate and postgraduate level of the tertiary institutes in Japan. The subjects
chosen for the survey were 300 members of the Japanese Accounting Association ( JAA) and were
randomly selected from the 2010 JAA Members Directory. A total of 87 responses were received
producing an effective response rate of 29 per cent.
Findings The analysis of this study found that the majority of Japanese accounting academics
believed that the International Education Standards had no substantial effect on accounting education.
Further it was found that most of the academics did not know how they could confront these obstacles
to achieve global convergence, although they were aware of the impediments.
Research limitations This study failed to portray any possible suggestions or solutions on how to
improve future accounting education. Also the sample size was not large enough to generalise the findings.
Finally, this study simply used the samples collected from the one single nation of Japan.
Practical implications The findings will provide a positive direction for standard setters,
policy makers and regulatory authorities on how they should proceed in both the design of
their promotion strategies and on how to address obstacles that have arisen according to these
perceptions.
Originality/value The primary strength of this study was the fact that it was the first study in the
literature to shed light on the perceptions of accounting academics in Japan on the global convergence
of accounting education.
Keywords International Education Standards (IES) for professional accountants,
Accounting education, Japan
Paper type Research paper

Asian Review of Accounting

Vol. 21 No. 3, 2013
pp. 180-204
r Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1321-7348
DOI 10.1108/ARA-09-2012-0050

1. Introduction
This research reports on a survey of perception of the globalisation of accounting
education among Japanese academics teaching in the tertiary schools. Several prior
studies have argued the impact of globalisation on accounting education in recent
years (e.g. Needles, 2010; Karreman et al., 2007). Such literature contend that the
adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) has had a great impact
on accounting education in various countries (Needles, 2010). Coupled with this
phenomena, many global organisations including the International Federation of
Accountants (IFAC) and the International Accounting Education Standards Board
(IAESB) are beginning to play prominent roles in this globalisation of accounting
education by providing a global framework through the International Education
Standards (IES) (International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB), 2010).

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However, there is unlikely to have been a strong consensus and recognition of this issue
among accounting academics at the classrooms level.
The question therefore remains unexplored on how, as key stakeholders, academics
perceive the globalisation of accounting education as there has been no scholarly
research or guidance on this issue to date. Given this historical background, the aim of
this exploratory research is to investigate Japanese academics perceptions toward
various issues relating to the global convergence of accounting education. This
exploratory study will also establish a framework and formulate more precise questions
that can be addressed by future researchers. The study focuses on the perceptions of
accounting academics because these people, being key stakeholders, play a pivotal role
in delivering quality assured accounting education programmes and so have a great
impact on moulding future professionals in the accounting field. This paper is structured
by initially proceeds by presenting a literature review. This is followed by a section
outlining the research design and a review on the findings of the analyses. In conclusion,
the study provides the interprets and implications from the analysis outcomes together
with some limitations of the study and recommendations for the future research areas.
2. Literature review and research questions
There has not been an abundance of prior literature on the globalisation of accounting
education. However, some previous papers in the international accounting field have
addressed educators perceptions on the global convergence of financial accounting
standards (e.g. Rezaee et al., 2010; Joshi et al., 2008; Thomas, 2009). Of these, Rezaee et al.
(2010) and Joshi et al. (2008) investigated perceived objectives, benefits, costs and
obstacles of the IFRS convergence among accounting academics in the USA and
Bahrain, respectively. By contrast, no survey study has been administered that examines
actual educators perceptions on global convergence issues relating specifically to
accounting education. With these prior literature reviews in mind, the present research
commences with the following overarching research question:
RQ1. How do accounting academics perceive the global convergence of accounting
education?
To gather an understanding of this global convergence issue, the study must consider the
many contextual factors that could influence accounting academics views. For example,
the International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB, 2009a) is now very
active in attempting to lead their prominent initiative of prescribing global accounting
education by using the IES. Academics views of the global convergence issue may be
affected by their opinions on the IES. Furthermore, just how to deal with IFRS in the
accounting curriculum is also another issue that has emerged with the convergence (e.g.
Rezaee et al., 2010; Joshi et al., 2008; Thomas, 2009). Rezaee et al. (2010) conducted a
survey among educators and practitioners in the USA and found that 95 per cent of the
academics who responded believed that the integration of IFRS into the accounting
curriculum was important. Similarly, this may imply that the mandatory adoption of
IFRS also enhances the call for the global convergence of education.
Another important issue, cultural difference, may be a distinctive driver that forms
academics views on convergence issues. In prior literature, some studies have asserted that
different perceived skills and competencies have emerged across nationalities and cultures
(e.g. Lin et al., 2005; Hassall et al., 2005). Lin et al. (2005) examined the perceptions of
accounting students, educators and professionals about the knowledge and skills needed in

Accounting
academics
perceptions
181

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182

accounting education and empirically found differences in the perceptions of Chinese and
US respondents toward their skill perceptions. The authors concluded that the emphasis of
accounting education in China was upon knowledge training, with greater weight given to
some technical accounting knowledge subjects, while the generic skill components received
less attention. In general and according to this prior literature, it was found that
professional accountants from different cultures have different skill sets and competences.
There are other perceived variables and obstacles that may affect the successful
convergence of accounting education. The former chairperson of IAESB, Professor
Mark Allison, reported to an Accounting Education Symposium at the 2009 European
Accounting Association Congress that the variation in education systems is influenced
by culture, law, economics and technology and is far wider than the variation in
approaches found in technical accounting matters (Wilson et al., 2009). This address
emphasised these variations that would be major obstacles to be overcome before we
will accomplish a successful implementation of global educational convergence.
From another context academics also view the variation in stakeholders roles across
nations as being sensitive factors affecting this convergence. For example, the AICPA as a
member body of IFAC is considered an appropriate accounting enforcement agency in the
USA, but it does not control the education requirements for the certification examinations
(Needles, 2008). Differences in professional qualification schemes are another one of the
key contextual factors. In supporting this argument, Peek et al. (2007) investigated the
certification and licensing requirements of the accounting profession in Canada, Mexico
and the USA. The findings suggested that more diligence should be placed on simplifying
and standardising the certification and licensing procedures in order to facilitate true
cross-boarder assimilation of accounting and auditing services in NAFTA countries.
Given the above literature review, this study addressed the six key contextual factors
including IES, IFRS, professional skills and competencies, obstacles, stakeholders and
professional qualification. From these factors the following research question was developed:
RQ2. What contextual factors affect accounting academics perceptions toward the
global convergence of accounting education?
Given the above two questions, this research also attempted to extract more meaningful
factors that drive accounting academics overall perception of the globalisation of
accounting education. Such factors are that could impede successful implementation of
the global convergence of accounting education and necessary to understand so that
possible solutions to achieve this goal are put in place. Policy makers and accounting
curriculum designers in Japanese universities will then be able to make effective use of
this information to assist their future reforms of university curriculums and educational
schemes in Japan. These factors formed the basis of the RQ3 which examined the
association of academics overall views from RQ1 with the contextual factors from RQ2.
This conjunct research question was formulated as follows:
RQ3. What specific factors affect educators overall perceptions of the global
convergence of accounting education?
3. Sampling and research design
3.1 Data collection
For the purpose of this research, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted in July
2010. The sample was collected from the accounting educators who were delivering

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units at the undergraduate and postgraduate level of the tertiary institutes in Japan.
Initially the subjects were identified as 300 members of the Japanese Accounting
Association ( JAA) who were randomly selected from the JAA Members Directory
issued in 2010. The JAA is the largest accounting academic association and includes
1,900 members whose positions are basically educators and researchers teaching
accounting related subjects. Certified public accountants, tax accountants and
company auditors were excluded from the sample according to the research purpose.
The questionnaire was sent to each subject via mail and included a self-addressed
return envelope. Of the 300 questionnaires initially distributed in September 2010, 89
responses were received before the deadline. From these responses two were eliminated
from the analysis due to the incompletion of the questionnaire. As a result, an effective
response rate of 29 per cent (87 questionnaires) was achieved. Table I demonstrates
subjects age, gender, position, research interest, academic level and CPA qualification.

Accounting
academics
perceptions
183

3.2 Questionnaire development

The questionnaire administered in this research contained two sections. In the first
section, subjects were asked their perceptions on various aspects regarding globalisation
of accounting education. Each survey item was developed by the authors with reference
to previous literature dealing with the topics of global convergence of accounting and
business reporting (e.g. Rezaee et al., 2010; Joshi et al., 2008; Thomas, 2009). For the
second section, subjects were also asked demographic information including their age
(AGE), gender (GENDER), academic position (POSITION), research interests
(RESEARCH), academic level (AFFILIATION) and CPA qualification (CPA).
3.2.1 Measures for RQ1: overall perceptions. To measure overall perceptions, this
study first prepared three questions to seek academics perceptions about the needs,
feasibility and major challenge of the global convergence issue. This idea was used in
Joshi et al. (2008). These authors applied similar questions to investigate the perceived
roles of IFRS education among academics. Moreover, the present paper addressed an
n

Missing

87

87

87

87

6 (6.9%)
Undergraduate

87

54 (62.1%)
Qualified

87

8 (9.2%)

Age
Gender
Position
Research
Affiliation
CPA

Classifications
Maximum
78
Male
74 (86.0%)
Professor
49 (56.3%)
Bookkeeping

Minimum
29
Female
12 (14%)
Others
38 (43.7%)
Financial
accounting
51 (58.6%)
Accounting
Schoolsb
9 (10.3%)
Nonqualified
79 (90.8%)

Average (SD)
48.02 (11.410)

Management
accounting
9 (10.3%)
Other
postgraduate
24 (27.5%)

Auditing

Othersa

7 (8.0%)

14 (16.1%)

Notes: Others category consists of two for financial analysis research topics; three for tax
Table I.
accounting; nine for no-description. bThe Accounting Schools are special postgraduate institutions
Demographic information
that educate students who are aspiring to become qualified professional accountants

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184

additional more perception issue on whether global convergence of accounting

education helps increase global comparability to form an efficient market. This is
because the IAESB set their mission to serve the public interest by strengthening the
global accountancy profession, whose ability must satisfy a users information needs
contributing to an efficient economy (International Accounting Education Standards
Board (IAESB), 2009b, pp. 2-3). For these four questions (see 4.1.1 for details of each
question item), a five-point Likert scale was used to measure subjects responses.
3.2.2 Measurement for RQ2: influential attributes
As for the second research question, six key contextual factors were extracted from
prior literature reviews and discussed in this study. These identified topics were IES,
IFRS, professional skills and competences, obstacles, stakeholders and professional
qualification. In total, 29 questions divided into six specific themes were created to
focus on this research question (Table II). For these items, a five-point Likert scale was
used to measure subjects responses.
3.2.3 Measures for RQ3: association. As mentioned, the study extracted more
specific and meaningful components from the original 29 items in order to examine in
detail RQ3. The compound factors formed from this analysis were then explored to
investigate the associations with educators overall perception toward the global
convergence issue. All variables for RQ3 have been captured in the process to address
RQ1 and RQ2.
4. Results
4.1 RQ1: overall perceptions
4.1.1 Four individual perceptions. Table III demonstrates academics views
toward the globalisation of accounting education. It was found that 58.6 per cent
(47.1 per cent for agree; 11.5 per cent for strongly agree) of the respondents believed
in the necessity for the global convergence of accounting education to assure
high-quality professional accountants across nations (OPE1). Further, 55.6 per cent
of participants (35.6 per cent for agree; 20.7 per cent for strongly agree) agreed the
global convergence helps develop a more efficient marketplace (OPE2). These
educators views were very consistent with IAESBs mission to strengthen public
interest and trust through the development of education (IAESB, 2009a,b pp. 2-3).
On the other hand, the results reported that 47.1 per cent of responses (29.9 per cent
for agree; 17.2 per cent for strongly agree) consented to the idea that global
convergence was quite idealistic (OPE3). Moreover, 89.6 per cent of sample (28.7
per cent for agree; 60.9 per cent for strongly agree) agreed that there were major
challenges and obstacles that needed addressing in order to accomplish global
convergence (OPE4). In summary, academics positively assessed the necessity and
importance of accounting education and its global convergence, but they also
recognised that there were various impediments.
4.1.2 Aggregated measure of overall perceptions. This study also attempted to
formulate an aggregate measure of academics overall perception of the global
convergence issues. The questionnaire asked four individual questions to assess
their overall perceptions, of which two questions (OPE1 and OPE2) addressed the
strong calls for the global convergence (NECESSITY), while the other two questions
(OPE3 and OPE4) asked contrasting and opposite views on the same issue
(INFEASIBILITY). These two dichotomous views should have been mixed in with
the four questions to form a single measure of the overall perception. Accordingly,

IES items
IES1
IES2

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IES3
IFRS items
IFR1

IES should work as the global benchmark to eliminate the differences in accounting
education between countries
IES should be the set of minimum requirements that all the countries must comply
with at least in terms of accounting education
IES has no substantial effect on actual accounting education at tertiary schools

Mandatory adoption of IFRS enhances the need for global convergence of accounting
education
IFR2
Global convergence of financial reporting standards under IFRS increases the need
for IES
IFR3
Without global convergence of accounting education, it is impossible to accomplish
the goal of convergence in financial reporting practice by IFRS
IFR4
Use of principle-based IFRS increases the importance of judgement and decisionmaking skills and relatively reduces the importance of technical skills (e.g. double
entry bookkeeping skill)
IFR5
Use of principle-based IFRS increases the importance of judgement and decisionmaking skills and relatively reduces the importance of knowledge memorisation
IFR6
Global convergence of accounting education will guarantee high-quality judgements
and decision making among professional accountants around the world when
applying principle-based IFRS
Professional skills and competences (PRO) items
PRO1
Professional skills and competencies should be globally prescribed and converged so
that professional accountants in any country can provide high-quality assurance
services
PRO2
Accounting ethics education in the tertiary curriculum should be converged globally
to assure the common high-ethical competency of professional accountants across
the world
PRO3
It is appropriate to teach the generic skills needed by professional accountants in the
tertiary accounting curriculum around the world
Obstacles (OBS) items
OBS1
Cultural differences between countries are an obstacle to accomplishing global
convergence of accounting education
OBS2
Differences in educational systems between countries are an obstacle to
achieving global convergence of accounting education
OBS3
Language differences between countries are an obstacle to accomplishing global
convergence of accounting education
OBS4
Differences in CPA/CA exam schemes between countries are an obstacle to achieving
global convergence of accounting education
OBS5
It is not necessary to seek global convergence of accounting education if we must
overcome lots of obstacles
OBS6
Lack of knowledge about IES among accounting academics is an impediment to
achieving global convergence of accounting education
OBS7
Whether or not accounting education can be globally converged depends on the level
of awareness of this issue by each individual accounting academics
Stakeholders (PAR) items
PAR1
The government and related authorities in each country need to assist the progress
of global convergence of accounting education
PAR2
Accounting academics have a strong influence on accomplishing global convergence
of accounting education
PAR3
The professional accounting bodies of each country have a strong impact on
accomplishing global convergence of accounting education
PAR4
Professional accountants have lots of things they can contribute to accomplishing
global convergence of accounting education

(continued)

Accounting
academics
perceptions
185

Table II.
Question items under the
six themes

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186

Table II.

Professional qualification (QUA) items

QUA1
It can be thought possible to converge the differences in the systems for recognising
CPA/CA qualifications existing between counties
QUA2
It seems to be possible to accomplish global convergence of accounting education
even though CPA/CA exam schemes are different between countries
QUA3
Requirements for practical experience must be prescribed globally to assure highquality competence of professional accountants all over the world
QUA4
It can be thought possible to implement a Global Unified CPA/CA exam across the
world in the near future (Unified CPA/CA exam)
QUA5
The contents of post-qualified education (CPE/CPD) should be prescribed to
internationally assure high-quality competence of professional
accountants
QUA6
The successful convergence of global accounting education largely depends on
Professional Mutual Recognition Agreements between professional accounting
bodies from different countries

the following formula was created to represent the aggregated measure of overall
perception:
Aggregated measure of overall perceptions AMOP
z-score for mean score of OPE1 OPE2
 z-score for mean score of OPE3 OPE4
Under this formula, a positive AMOP score would indicate that the respondents
would have a relatively positive view of the issue even though they did recognise
some negative sides. In contrast, a negative AMOP score would show that the
respondents would tend to have an overall infeasible view of the issue even though
they partially evaluated it positively. The AMOP score of zero was assigned to an
academic who responded mutually inclusive to the convergence issue. The result
of preliminary descriptive analyses allowed us to hypothesise that frequency of AMOP
was normally distributed. Accordingly, it was interpreted that the majority
respondents did not have extreme but mutually inclusive opinions about the global
convergence issue.
4.2 RQ2: conceptual factors
4.2.1 IES. Among the several key factors, this research first investigated educators
perceptions of the IES. With regard to these IES, some controversial discussion
has been seen in the literature. The latest IES framework confirms that IESs
are expected to serve as international benchmarks, which will allow IFAC member
bodies to measure the gaps from the actual developments in accounting education
(IAESB, 2009a, b). Using IES as the benchmark, stakeholders can identify strengths
and weaknesses in the professional qualification of accountants and auditors, and this
will ensure progress over time toward sustainable institutional capacity (Needles, 2008;
Karreman et al., 2007). On the other hand, an opposing view criticised this benchmark
approach, and suggested that the objective of IES is to provide minimum requirements
to assure global integrity and consistency rather than diminishing differences in
international certification requirement (Stocks, 2009). The present research prepared
three questions to address this discussion.

11
8
7
1

(12.6%)
(9.2%)
(8.0%)
(1.1%)

Strong disagree
1

Note: ***Significant at the o0.01 level

OPE1
OPE2
OPE3
OPE4

OPE items (n 87)

9
8
14
0

(10.3%)
(9.2%)
(16.1%)
(0.0%)

Disagree
2
16
22
25
8

(18.4%)
(25.3%)
(28.7%)
(9.2%)

Neutral
3
41
31
26
25

(47.1%)
(35.6%)
(29.9%)
(28.7%)

Agree
4
10 (11.5%)
18 (20.7%)
15 (17.2%)
53 (60.9%)

Strong agree
5

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3.34
3.49
3.32
4.48

(1.199)
(1.190)
(1.176)
(0.760)

Mean (SD)

41.67
22.02
14.78
73.87

(0.000)***
(0.000)***
(0.005)***
(0.000)***

w2 (significance)

Accounting
academics
perceptions
187

Table III.
Overall perceptions of
global convergence of
accounting education

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188

The result is displayed in Table IV. It was found for the survey item IES1,
48.2 per cent of total samples (35.6 per cent for agree; 12.6 per cent for strong agree)
contended IES usage as the global benchmark to eliminate differences in accounting
education between nations. The mean score for this item was 3.40. Similarly, for IES2,
most academics had a positive perception that this standard should be considered the
minimum requirement that all nations must at least comply with. Total respondents
who agreed with this statement stood at 55.2 per cent (39.1 per cent for agree; 16.1
per cent for strong agree; 3.48 for means score). However, both of these IES approaches
(global benchmark and minimum requirement) should be mutually exclusive as they
are dichotomous options to be facilitated by IAESB (e.g. Needles, 2008; IAESB, 2009a;
Stocks, 2009; Karreman et al., 2007). This inconclusive result was also displayed in the
findings where the majority of responses were of the neutral view, and were 37.9 and
29.9 per cent of total subjects for IES1 and IES2, respectively. Further, educators
neutral attitude to IES is deemed to be affected by their belief that IES had no
substantial effect on actual accounting education, because the result of IES3 indicated
that 63.2 per cent of total responses (36.8 per cent for agree; 26.4 per cent for strongly
agree) agreed with the ineffectiveness of IES on accounting education.
4.2.2 IFRS. This factor was initially addressed by asking academics perceptions as to
whether or not they believed the latest movement in IFRS adoption had significant
relationships with IES initiatives employed by the IAESB. Smith and Bergen (2009), for
example pointed out that training and education for a principled-based system
accommodated by IFRS should include the education on how to apply strategic
judgements to identify the substance of economic events without the guidance of clear
accounting standards. These types of skills, including judgement skills, are categorised as
generic skills and prescribed by the IES in an attempt to achieve high-quality
competencies for accounting professionals at the pre- and post-qualification stage
(IAESB, 2010). Therefore, by adopting IFRS, it is more likely to generate a situation where
accounting educators will seek exposure to the IES, which in turn will enhance a global
convergence of accounting education. Similar reasoning is supported by other studies (e.g.
IAESB, 2010; Albrecht and Sack, 2000), where generic skills acquisition is more important
in the training and educational programmes compared to the memorisation and technical
skills training. According to IES2: Content of Professional Accounting Educational
Programmes, it has been argued that the knowledge component of professional education
programmes are used to develop important skills for the profession but current
knowledge will become obsolete later in ones career. Therefore, the IES2 recognised that a
surface approach to learning knowledge across a broad range of subjects is not in the
long-term interest of future professional accountants (IAESB, 2010).
Along with these discussions, the research prepared six questions. The results are
shown in Table V. Being consistent with prior studies (Thomas, 2009), the majority of
respondents believed that the IFRS adoption would increase the need for global
convergence of accounting education (50.6 per cent for agree; 19.5 per cent for strong
agree in IFR1). In particular, they agreed the IFRS adoption would enhance the need for
IESs (37.9 per cent for agree; 13.8 per cent for strongly agree in IFR2). In contrast,
educators, however, did not consider globalisation as the single solution to accomplish
successful adoption of IFRS, because participants who disagreed with IFR3 totaled
47.1 per cent (24.1 per cent for disagree; 23.0 per cent for strongly disagree) plus 32.2
per cent indicating their neutrality on this issue. It was found that most academics in
this study recognised that there were more important factors other than globalisation
of accounting education to implement successful IFRS adoption.

Disagree
2
6 (6.9%)
6 (6.9%)
7 (8.0%)

Strong disagree
1
6 (6.9%)
7 (8.0%)
3 (3.4%)

Note: ***Significant at the o0.01 level

IES1
IES2
IES3

IES items (n 87)

33 (37.9%)
26 (29.9%)
22 (25.3%)

Neutral
3
31 (35.6%)
34 (39.1%)
32 (36.8%)

Agree
4
11 (12.6%)
14 (16.1%)
23 (26.4%)

Strong agree
5

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3.40 (1.028)
3.48 (1.098)
3.75 (1.048)

Mean (SD)

41.90 (0.000)***
34.43 (0.000)***
33.40 (0.000)***

w2 (significance)

Accounting
academics
perceptions
189

Table IV.
Perceptions of IES

Table V.
Perceptions towards
accounting education
for IFRS
6
7
20
28
15
9

(6.9%)
(8.0%)
(23.0%)
(32.2%)
(17.2%)
(10.3%)

Strong disagree
1

Note: ***Significant at the o0.01 level

IFR1
IFR2
IFR3
IFR4
IFR5
IFR6

IFRS items (n 87)

8
5
21
23
24
14

(9.2%)
(5.7%)
(24.1%)
(26.4%)
(27.6%)
(16.1%)

Disagree
2
12
30
28
19
27
32

(13.8%)
(34.5%)
(32.2%)
(21.8%)
(31.0%)
(36.8%)

Neutral
3
44
33
13
10
17
27

(50.6%)
(37.9%)
(14.9%)
(11.5%)
(19.5%)
(31.0%)

Agree
4
17
12
5
7
4
5

(19.5%)
(13.8%)
(5.7%)
(8.0%)
(4.6%)
(5.7%)

Strong agree
5

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3.67
3.44
2.56
2.37
2.67
3.06

(1.107)
(1.064)
(1.168)
(1.268)
(1.117)
(1.060)

Mean (SD)

54.89
39.83
17.54
17.77
18.46
31.10

(0.000)***
(0.000)***
(0.002)***
(0.001)***
(0.001)***
(0.000)***

w2 (significance)

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More concretely, the results revealed academics perceptions on to whether the stronger
emphasis of judgement and decision-making skills may affect the importance of
technical skills and memorisation in the education process. Anecdotal evidences in the
literature have articulated that principle-based IFRS relatively enhances generic skills
more than technical skills (Smith and Bergen, 2009; IAESB, 2010). In Table V, the mean
scores of IFR4 and IFR5 were 2.37 and 2.67, respectively, of which both were o3.00
indicating a neutral level. What this result means is that our participants did not
undervalue the importance of technical and memorisation skills, relative to judgement
and decision-making skills.
Further, the outcome of IFR6, which represented a 3.06 mean score (36.7 per cent for
agree; 36.8 per cent for neutral; 26.4 per cent for disagree), consistently indicated that there
was no consensus among participants regarding the effectiveness of global convergence to
guarantee high-quality judgement and decision-making skills. This finding revealed that
recent strong emphasis of judgement and decision-making skills as found in previous
research papers (IAESB, 2010; Albrecht and Sack, 2000) has not been sufficiently
disseminated to the majority of our participants and they did not agree on a call for the
globalisation of accounting education to address the skill and competence issue.
4.2.3 Professional skills and competencies. The current paper then attempted to
explore how accounting academics would perceive the global prescriptions for
professional knowledge and skills. As seen in the previous section, accounting
education for professional skills and competencies have been highly emphasised in the
IES and IFRS (e.g. IAESB, 2010). Apart from these external influences, it is not clear
whether academics perceive to prescribe globally some educational components such
as professional skills, competencies and even generic skills. It is widely contended that
todays global dynamic business environment requires the accounting profession to
arm itself with new skills so as add value in the accounting world (e.g. De Lange et al.,
2006; Albrecht and Sack, 2000). Further, professional attitudes including ethics are also
addressed in this subsection. More specifically, teaching ethics in the global village
presents special challenges because literature continuously argues that the definition of
ethics depends on culture (Needles, 2005). As students are already influenced by their
individual backgrounds before they begin to study, professional accounting
programmes, may have limited success in influencing their behaviour and cognitive
abilities. In contrast, International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB,
2006) contended a different view on this issue.
To address these arguments relating to professional skills and competences, the
present study prepared three questions with results shown in Table VI. It was found
that the majority or 44.8 per cent of participants (33.3 per cent for agree; 11.5 per cent
for strongly agree) believed that professional skills and competences should be
globally prescribed and converged, although 28.7 per cent of the subjects retained a
neutral position (PRO1). It should be noted that this high neutral opinion contradicted
to the demands for such skills and competencies provided by previous studies (e.g.
De Lange et al., 2006; Albrecht and Sack, 2000). Our participants also did not have an
integral opinion on the importance of accounting ethics education in the tertiary
curriculum because the mean score of PRO2 was 3.01, that sparsely consisted of 40.2
per cent for agree; 26.4 per cent for neutral and 33.3 per cent for disagreement. This
interpretation was also supported by the results of w2 goodness-of-fit test for this item
which was not significant (w2 9.26, p 0.055).
In contrast the mean score of PRO3 was 3.70, which indicated that our participants
inversely contended a strong agreement on the importance of teaching the generic

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Table VI.
Professional skills
and competences
11 (12.6%)
15 (17.2%)
4 (4.6%)

Strong disagree
1

Note: ***Significant at the o0.01 level

PRO1
PRO2
PRO3

PRO items (n 87)

12 (13.8%)
14 (16.1%)
10 (11.5%)

Disagree
2
25 (28.7%)
23 (26.4%)
13 (14.9%)

Neutral
3
29 (33.3%)
25 (28.7%)
41 (47.1%)

Agree
4

10 (11.5%)
10 (11.5%)
19 (21.8%)

Strong agree
5

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3.17 (1.193)
3.01 (1.271)
3.70 (1.080)

Mean (SD)

18.23 (0.001)***
9.26 (0.055)
46.73 (0.000)***

w2 (significance)

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skills commonly needed for professional accountants in the tertiary accounting

curriculum across nations. Although the majority of respondents were thought to be
sceptical to the effective prescription of global accounting education, they did retain
certain consensus on the importance of generic skills learning for professional
accountants.
4.2.4 Obstacles. Previous studies also argued about various obstacles for a
successful global convergence (e.g. Rezaee et al., 2010; Eastman et al., 2009; Larson and
Street, 2004). Eastman et al. (2009) for instance examined how an accounting education
system is affected by the difference in the structure of the countries capital markets
and financial reporting standards setting processes between the USA and Mexico.
With the historical review of litigation processes and an interview-based survey, the
authors found that the differences in the distinct concept of the corporate entity
strongly influenced the delivery of accounting education at the tertiary institutions in
each country. Further, Larson and Street (2004) investigated perceived impediments to
IFRS convergence in 17 European countries directly affected by the EUs decision of an
IFRS adoption. The results indicated that an important issue affecting convergence
with IFRS was whether or not high-quality accounting materials were available in a
countrys national language(s). The present research prepared six questions to address
this background.
Table VII shows the results of the survey. The mean scores of 3.55 for OBS1 (33.3
per cent for agree; 29.9 per cent for strongly agree), 3.44 for OBS2 (41.4 per cent for
agree; 19.5 per cent for strongly agree), 3.40 for OBS3 (29.9 per cent for agree; 24.1
per cent for strongly agree) and 3.44 for OBS4 (37.9 per cent for agree; 19.5 per cent
for strongly agree) means that the majority of respondents recognised prominent
obstacles existing that would inhibit convergence. These included cultural differences
(OBS1), various educational systems (OBS2), language differences (OBS3) and CPA/CA
examination schemes (OBS4) across nations. Although educators were aware of
obstacles existing, it was not determined clearly on how they would confront these
impediments in order to achieve a successful convergence. A total response rate of 42.5
per cent articulated their neutral opinion for OBS5 on whether it was necessary or not
to seek global convergence if one had to overcome a number of obstacles. Further, only
a minority of educators (19.5 per cent for agree and 8.0 per cent for strongly agree on
OBS6) consented that by promoting IES among them was the solution to accomplish
this global convergence. For OBS6, 40.2 per cent of participants (20.7 per cent for
disagree; 19.5 per cent for strongly disagree) indicated that a lack of knowledge on IES
was not the primary obstacle for the successful convergence. However, the result of
OBS7 inversely discovered that 56.3 per cent of respondents (34.5 per cent for agree;
21.8 per cent for strongly agree) agreed the stronger awareness of the issue was the
crucial aspect for the successful achievement of convergence, regardless of the specific
knowledge of IES.
4.2.5 Stakeholders. In 2009, IFAC and IAESB released the IES Framework to
enhance understanding of the work of the IAESB over various stakeholders including
academics/educators who play a part in the design, delivery or assessment of
education programmes for accountants; regulators and authorities with responsibility
for legal and regulatory requirement of accounting education and/or oversight of the
work of the accountancy profession; and accountants who undertake their own
learning and development (IAESB, 2009a). Along this line, the present research
examined academics opinions about the role of various stakeholders such as
government and related authorities (PAR1), accounting educators (PAR2), professional

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Table VII.
Obstacles of global
convergence of accounting
education
12
11
9
8
14
17
10

(13.8%)
(12.6%)
(10.3%)
(9.2%)
(16.1%)
(19.5%)
(11.5%)

Strong disagree
1
9
10
15
13
16
18
7

(10.3%)
(11.5%)
(17.2%)
(14.9%)
(18.4%)
(20.7%)
(8.0%)

Disagree
2
11
13
16
16
37
28
21

(12.6%)
(14.9%)
(18.4%)
(18.4%)
(42.5%)
(32.2%)
(24.1%)

Neutral
3

Notes: ***, **Significant at the o0.01 level, o0.05 level, respectively

OBS1
OBS2
OBS3
OBS4
OBS5
OBS6
OBS7

OBS items (n 87)

29
36
26
33
9
17
30

(33.3%)
(41.4%)
(29.9%)
(37.9%)
(10.3%)
(19.5%)
(34.5%)

Agree
4
26
17
21
17
11
7
19

(29.9%)
(19.5%)
(24.1%)
(19.5%)
(12.6%)
(8.0%)
(21.8%)

Strong agree
5

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3.55
3.44
3.40
3.44
2.85
2.76
3.47

(1.379)
(1.282)
(1.307)
(1.227)
(1.196)
(1.210)
(1.247)

Mean (SD)

20.06
26.50
9.49
20.29
29.26
12.71
19.37

(0.000)***
(0.000)***
(0.050)**
(0.000)***
(0.000)***
(0.013)**
(0.001)***

w2 (significance)

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bodies (PAR3) and individual professional accountants (PAR4) in an attempt to achieve

the globalisation of accounting education. According to Table VIII, it was found that
academics believe the role of professional accounting bodies of each country as the
most important stakeholder for this globalisation (3.77 of mean score), followed by the
individual professional accountant as the second most important (3.45 of mean score).
Table VIII also showed that accounting educators themselves consider they had a
lower influence (3.25 of mean score) than above two key stakeholders. The government
and related authorities were found to be neutral among survey participants since the
mean score of these items were reported as 3.15. Accordingly, our participants tended
to perceive that individual accountants and professional bodies were critical for a
successful implement of the global convergence of accounting education.
4.2.6 Professional qualification. Previous studies have discussed the necessity of
reforming the qualification scheme (Peek et al., 2007), CPA/CA examination (Peek et al.,
2007), professional mutual recognition agreement (Peek et al., 2007), CPD (Paisey et al.,
2007; Zajkowski et al., 2007) and practical experiences (IAESB, 2009a). Accordingly,
these items were examined as part of the questionnaire in this study.
Table IX provides the results. First, QUA1 sought answers on the overall possibility
of converging globally the differences that exist between CPA and CA qualifications.
The result was reported negatively, as the majority of participants (58.6 per cent)
responded that such a convergence was considered impossible. Further statistics
reported relatively smaller mean scores for the CPA/CA examination schemes (2.71 for
QUA2) and practical experience (2.83 for QUA3), of which negative perceptions were
consistently associated with the lower score of QUA1. Of note, a difference in the CPA/
CA examination scheme within each country was the crucial factor for successful
global convergence in the accounting education, because the score of QUA4 also
revealed that the majority of participants (62.1 per cent) agreed that it would be
impossible to implement a Global Unified CPA/CA examination across the world (2.25
of mean score for QUA4). Additionally many respondents also perceived CPE/CPD at
the post-qualification stage (QUA5) and professional mutual recognition agreement
(QUA6) as a strong influential aspects. However, the majority responded to these two
items as having neutral opinions (39.1 per cent for QUA5 and 37.9 per cent for QUA6).
Previous literature attempted to stimulate the importance of the various CPA/CA
qualification schemes (Peek et al., 2007; Paisey et al., 2007; Zajkowski et al., 2007;
IAESB, 2009a, b), but these efforts have not reached individual accounting educators
and so no enhancement in interest on these issues has taken place.
4.3 RQ3: conjunct association
4.3.1 Principal component analysis. To address RQ3, the principal component analysis
was applied to extract more meaningful factors from all contextual factors that were
originally sought by the questionnaire. Among a total of 29 items, the IES3, OBS1,
OBS2, OBS3, OBS4 and OBS5 were coded reversely from the original instrument and
converted to adjust for the respondents new perceived position before employing the
factor analysis (the higher the score, the more strongly the respondent agreed with
global convergence of accounting education). This analysis was undertaken using the
varimax rotation technique with Kaiser normalisation to assist with the interpretation
of potential influential factors. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin adequacy value was then used
to determine if a correlation matrix existed between these compounded factors. This
adequacy value was calculated at 0.751 (at the 0.01 significant level), which indicated
a correlation matrix was appropriate for this factor analysis.

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Table VIII.
Stakeholders
11
10
5
5

(12.6%)
(11.5%)
(5.7%)
(5.7%)

Strong disagree
1
13
15
9
11

(14.9%)
(17.2%)
(10.3%)
(12.6%)

Disagree
2
29
20
13
23

(33.3%)
(23.0%)
(14.9%)
(26.4%)

Neutral
3

Notes: ***, **Significant at the o0.01 level, o0.05 level, respectively

PAR1
PAR2
PAR3
PAR4

PAR items (n 87)

20
27
34
36

(23.0%)
(31.0%)
(39.1%)
(41.4%)

Agree
4
14
15
26
12

(16.1%)
(17.2%)
(29.9%)
(13.8%)

Strong agree
5

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3.15
3.25
3.77
3.45

(1.234)
(1.260)
(1.158)
(1.065)

Mean (SD)

12.25
9.49
34.09
34.55

(0.016)**
(0.050)**
(0.000)***
(0.000)***

w2 (significance)

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26
14
12
34
9
6

(29.9%)
(16.1%)
(13.8%)
(39.1%)
(10.3%)
(6.9%)

Strong disagree
1

Note: ***Significant at the o0.01 level

QUA1
QUA2
QUA3
QUA4
QUA5
QUA6

QUA items (n 87)

25
29
18
20
11
10

(28.7%)
(33.3%)
(20.7%)
(23.0%)
(12.6%)
(11.5%)

Disagree
2
20
17
32
16
34
33

(23.0%)
(19.5%)
(36.8%)
(18.4%)
(39.1%)
(37.9%)

Neutral
3
10 (11.5%)
22 (25.3%)
23 (26.4%)
11 (12.6%)
24 (27.6%)
27 (31.0%)

Agree
4
6
5
2
6
9
11

(6.9%)
(5.7%)
(2.3%)
(6.9%)
(10.3%)
(12.6%)

Strong agree
5

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2.37
2.71
2.83
2.25
3.15
3.31

(1.221)
(1.180)
(1.048)
(1.287)
(1.105)
(1.060)

Mean (SD)

18.57
18.46
29.37
26.16
28.80
32.25

(0.001)***
(0.001)***
(0.000)***
(0.000)***
(0.000)***
(0.000)***

w2 (significance)

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Table IX.
Professional qualification

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198

The results of the principal component analyses are shown in Table X. Applying
the eigenvalues greater-than-one rule, seven factors were screened from the 29 items as
replacements for the original variables. In the process of this analysis, items with
scores 40.60 were regarded as a loading for each compounded factor. The seven factor
scores for academics perceptions produced 66.326 per cent of cumulative percentages
of variance. Each seven loading factor was labeled by the authors.
The largest cluster was named by the authors as DETAIL, which included the seven
original items such as PRO2, PRO1, QUA5, IES2, QUA3, OBS5 and IFR6. These items
represented detailed prescriptions of the IES. The second largest cluster was
interpreted as obstacles (OBSTACLE) that included OBS1, OBS2 and OBS3. These

Items
PRO2
PRO1
QUA5
IES2
QUA3
OBS5a
IFR6
OBS1a
OBS2a
OBS3a
IFR2
QUA2
IES1
PRO3
QUA6
PAR3
OBS7
PAR2
IES3a
QUA1
QUA4
IFR4
IFR5
Cronbachs ae
Eigenvalues
Variance (%)

Table X.
Principal component
analysis result

Factor
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
DETAIL OBSTACLE COMPONENT PROFESSION ACADEMIC QUALIFY IFRS
0.824
0.814
0.758
0.677
0.662
0.641
0.633
0.880
0.859
0.764
0.749
0.604
0.652
0.763
0.754
0.677
0.709
0.658
0.608
0.764
0.737
0.879
8.513
29.35

0.840
3.007
10.36

0.674
2.002
6.90

0.692
1.704
5.87

0.635
1.541
5.31

0.804
1.346
4.64

0.842
0.787
0.683
1.122
3.86

Notes: aThese survey items were reverse coded in the original instrument and converted to normal
position (the higher score the subject responded, the more likely they agree with global harmonization
of accounting education) before employing the factor analysis. bExtraction method: principal
component analysis, rotation method: varimax technique with Kaiser normalization. cFactor Loading
40.60 reported. dKaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy was 0.751 at the o0.01
significant level. eThe internal reliability of each score was assessed by the Cronbach as. The
Cronbach as were calculated in the range from 0.879 to 0.635. In general, a score 40.70 is deemed
acceptable. Although these four scores were slightly lower than the acceptable level (0.674 for
EXPECT; 0.692 for PROFESSION; 0.635 for ACADEMIC and 0.683 for IFRS), some previous studies
accepted similar scores. For the remaining four factors, their Cronbach a scores were above the
generally acceptable score of 0.70

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original items stood for some impediments such as cultural difference, educational
system and language difference faced with successful convergence of education. The
third loading cluster was interpreted and labeled as COMPONENT, which included
IFR2, QUA2 and IES1. These variables described inevitable components relating with
the globalisation of accounting education. The fourth cluster was loaded by three
original variables such as PRO3, QUA6 and PAR3, and labeled as professional
accountants and bodies (PROFESSION). These three items were related to professional
accountants and professional bodies. Further, the fifth cluster consisted of OBS7, PAR2
and IES3 and expressed as accounting academics (ACADEMIC) since these items were
addressing the role of accounting educators. The sixth factor was interpreted as CPA/CA
qualification (QUALIFY), and contained QUA1 and QUA4. The items in this cluster dealt
with the qualification schemes for CPA/CA. Finally, the seventh cluster was labeled
as principle-based IFRS (IFRS), of which the components were formed by IFR4 and IFR5,
because these items were based on principle-based IFRS. Consequently, the results
indicated that these seven factors were compelling reasons in support of global
convergence of accounting education among Japanese accounting faculties.
4.3.2 Multiple regression analysis. The study also undertook a multiple regression
analysis to examine a possible association between academics specific views of
globalisation of accounting education and their overall perceptions on this issue. For
this regression, the seven compounded factors (DETAIL, OBSTACLE, COMPONENT,
PROFESSION, ACADEMIC, QUALIFY and IFRS) from the principal component
analysis were used as the independent variables, and the aggregated measure of
overall perception (AMOP) in the section 4.1.2 was used as the dependent variable.
Accordingly, the following multiple regression model was developed for the analysis:
AMOP a0 b1 DETAIL b2 OBSTACLE
b3 COMPONENT b4 PROFESSION
b5 ACADEMIC b6 QUALIFY b7 IFRS e
where e* is error term.
Table XI provided the results of regression analysis with AMOP. Findings included an
F-value of 15.214 (po0.01) and an adjusted R2 of 0.536. These statistical findings showed
that a sufficient relationship existed within this analysis model. The DETAIL, OBSTACLE
and COMPONENT had significant and positive associations with AMOP (t 4.592,
po0.01 for CONDITION; t 3.121, po0.01 for OBSTACLE; t 2.104, po0.05 for EXPECT).
The result was interpreted that educators were aware of details of the IESs
prescriptions (DETAIL) and the inevitable components necessary to achieve
globalisation of accounting education (COMPONENT). It also tended to inspire
academics strong call for achieving global convergence in accounting education. If
academics knew more about IESs actual contents, they tended to agree with the idea of
global convergence of accounting education. Also if they were familiar with globalism
trends of IES, CPA/CA examination scheme and IFRS, then again tended to have a more
positive opinion on this idea. In contrast, the result of OBSTACLE indicated that
educators concerns about the impediments facing the goal of convergence significantly
amplified the negative ideas regarding the infeasibility of global convergence.
5. Discussion
The finding from the regression analysis statistically discovered that educators
sensitivity of IESs detailed contents (DETAIL) and inevitable components

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Model
Regression
Residual
Total

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200

Sum of squares
135.614
100.596
236.210

df
7
79
86

Unstandardized coefficient
B
SE

Mean square

19.373
1.273

15.214

Standardized coefficients
b

(Constant)
6.532
0.810
8.067
DETAIL
0.844
0.184
0.442
4.592
OBSTACLE
0.338
0.108
0.235
3.121
COMPONENT
0.379
0.180
0.195
2.104
PROFESSION
0.230
0.166
0.116
1.385
ACADEMIC
0.184
0.156
0.101
1.181
QUALIFY
0.154
0.127
0.107
1.214
IFRS
0.039
0.123
0.025
0.320
R 0.758, R2 0.574, Adjusted R2 0.536, Durbin-Watson test (DW test) 2.540

Significance
0.000a

Significance VIF
0.000
0.000***
0.003***
0.039**
0.170
0.241
0.228
0.749

1.719
1.049
1.585
1.300
1.345
1.435
1.110

Notes: Variance inflation factors (VIF) for independent variables were ranged from 1.719 to 1.049,
which ware sufficiently small to reject this concern. The score of DW test was 2.540, which indicated
no statistical issue regarding outliers in the analysis. This research also examined normality of the
residuals. The result reported that the skewness and kurtosis were 0.089 and 0.050, which were
near 0. Thus these results ensured the normality of the residuals. ***, **Significant at the o0.01 level,
Table XI.
Multiple regression results o0.05 level, respectively

(COMPONENT) to the globalisation of accounting education had a significant and

positive impact on their strong aspiration in support of this issue (AMOP). It was
proven that these two factors were the seminal drivers that stimulate Japanese
accounting academics to go a further step toward global convergence of accounting
education. This finding was quite informative, especially for the IAESB as the
standard setter, policy makers and regulatory authorities who intend to globalise
accounting education in Japan.
With regard to the detailed provisions of IES obtained from the principle component
analysis, the topics of professional skills and competencies (PRO2), ethical attitude
(PRO1), post-qualified education scheme (QUA5) and practical experience (QUA3) are all
dealt with in IES2 Content of Professional Accounting Education, IES4 Professional
Values, Ethics and Attitudes, IES7 Continuing Professional Development and IES5
Practical Experience Requirement, respectively (IAESB, 2010). Thus, one effective way
to spread this global convergence idea is to promote the IES more substantially among
the Japanese accounting academics. However, a contradictory result was also found
from the result, revealing that Japanese academics tended to view IES as having no
substantial effect on actual accounting education (see 4.2.1).
This educators negative perception about the IES were supposedly due to the
traditional accounting educational structure at the tertiary schools in Japan, where
the curriculum development and its contents have been fully independent from
the influence of the professional accounting bodies and have been responsible for
each educators autonomy. By contrast, Australian universities, for example, have
applied an accreditation system, which allowed professional bodies to engage in the

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development process of accounting curriculum (Institute of Chartered Accountants in

Australia (ICAA) and CPA Australia, 2009). In the Australian case, the IAEBS would
have easy access to academics in order to promote the IES throughout the due process
of course accreditation. Accordingly, it is interpreted that the traditional trait of the
accounting education scheme in Japan caused the majority of participants to respond
with a neutral opinion when it comes to IES issues.
Further, educators expectation on the global convergence of accounting education
was also found to be in conflict with their traditional educational expectations in Japan.
This was obvious from the fact that the majority of participants did not undervalue the
importance of technical and memorisation skills regardless of the strong emphasis on
judgement and decision-making skills in the latest literature (Smith and Bergen, 2009).
Instead, these new generic skills were relatively underrated in the results. Kawahito
(2004) recently supported this unique view for Japanese academics and contended
that rote learning processes such as calculations or memorisations has prevailed in
the accounting education. Although this skewed situation was attempted to be
mended particularly in the discussions around revising the CPA examination scheme
in 2003, many accounting academics were still obsessed with the traditional
importance of rote skills.
This research also revealed that participants did not have a strong consensus
about the importance of accounting ethics education in the tertiary curriculum.
Discussions on teaching common contents for ethics education across cultures have
not come forward in the literature to date (e.g. IAESB, 2006; Needles, 2010). In this
sense, the present research also confirmed such controversial arguments existed
among Japanese accounting academics. Furthermore, this issue of ethics education
could be reflected from other evidence that cultural differences were considered as the
critical obstacles for the globalisation of accounting education. The regression result
also statistically indicated that such concerns about the impediments of ethnicity,
language and social systems (OBSTACLE) were the vital drivers for educators
to discourage their perception of the feasibility of global convergence (AMOP).
The findings indicated that educators were well aware of the many obstacles, and
also suggested that the successful implementation of global convergence of
accounting education relies on how to eliminate these perceived obstacles, because
the statistics showed that this was the vital way to enhance academics to aspire to the
call for convergence. But the problem remains that the results do not provide clear
explanations on how academics could confront these obstacles so as to accomplish a
successful convergence.
7. Conclusion
This study aimed to examine perceptions on various issues regarding the global
convergence of accounting education among Japanese accounting academics. The
three research questions were formulated to address overall perceptions of the global
convergence issue, more specific contextual factors of the issue and the conjunct
associations between the above two questions. The primary strength of this study was
the fact that this was the first study in the literature to shed light on academics
perceptions on the global convergence issue. The findings were also very informative
and useful to capture how actual accounting academics perceive the call for this urgent
global convergence issue. For example, it was found that the majority of Japanese
accounting academics believed that the IES had no substantial effect on accounting
education. Further it was found that most of the academics did not know how

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they could confront these obstacles to achieve global convergence, although

they were aware of the impediments. These traits must be considered in context
as the unique educational scheme in Japan which has no accreditation system, unlike
Australia, poses difficulties for Japanese academics to incorporate IESs into their
actual programmes.
These findings above provides encouragement for the IAESB to increase IES
promotion and exposure among accounting academics. To achieve this goal, the
IAESB needs to strategically organise events such as symposiums and conferences to
deliver their messages on the importance of the IES. Without an accreditation system,
the IAESB also needs to improve dialogue with domestic accounting professional
bodies by helping them disseminate the IES among academics. This method to assist
the global convergence of accounting education could also prove useful to other
countries who, like Japan, do not have accreditation systems in place.
In contrast, this study does have several limitations. First it provided important
evidence on the perceptions of academics but failed to portray any possible
suggestions or solutions on how to improve future accounting education. This
may have been caused by the data collection method that used a structured and
traditional questionnaire method, and so was not designed to obtain future directions
from subjects. This weakness can be addressed by using inductive and qualitative
methods such as interviews or focus groups. Second, there were some issues in
the data collection process. For example, the sample was not large enough to generalise
the findings. In total, 71 per cent of non-response rate may have generated
non-response bias. Further methods should be executed to improve the effective
response rate for any future study anticipated. Finally, this study simply used the
samples collected from the one single nation of Japan. Using multicultural subjects
from a range of different nations using this research model will hopefully bring
new findings and these would contribute to the development of our future
accounting education.
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Corresponding author
Satoshi Sugahara can be contacted at: sugahara@shudo-u.ac.jp

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