Integrated Accounting Principles: A Best Practices Course for Introductory Accounting

For many years, the accounting profession has encouraged accounting educators to rethink the introductory accounting principles courses. In response, accounting educators have developed strategies for enhancing the first courses, including: a new sequence for the course topics, active learning pedagogies, an emphasis on critical thinking, use of simulations, use of articles from the business press, and a reduced emphasis on debits and credits. Individually, each of these innovations moves us closer to the ideal course envisioned by the leaders in the profession, but what if all of these innovations were combined into the learning goals of a single principles course? The purpose of this paper is to describe a best practices course entitled "Integrated Accounting Principles'' (IAP). This course focuses on accounting knowledge and skills development in the learning goals, and is taught with an active learning pedagogy in a six-hour format. This course draws on many innovative learning strategies from the accounting and education literature, as well as a few new and adapted tactics. In addition, the course is aligned with the goals outlined by the accounting profession and encourages a high level of student engagement.