Manajemen | Fakultas Ekonomi Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji 08832320209599063
Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Service-Learning in Business Schools: A Case Study
in an Intermediate Accounting Course
Mahendra R. Gujarathi & Ralph J. McQuade
To cite this article: Mahendra R. Gujarathi & Ralph J. McQuade (2002) Service-Learning in
Business Schools: A Case Study in an Intermediate Accounting Course, Journal of Education for
Business, 77:3, 144-150, DOI: 10.1080/08832320209599063
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832320209599063
Published online: 31 Mar 2010.
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Service-Learning in Business
Schools: A Case Study in an
Intermediate Accounting Course
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MAHENDRA R. GUJARATHI
RALPH J. MCQUADE
Bentley College
Waltham, Massachusetts
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Universities cannot afford to remain
shores of affluence, self-importance and
horticultural beauty at the edge of island
seas of squalor, violence and despair.
Emphasizing service has the potential to
enrich learning and renew communities,
but will also give new dignity to the
scholarship of service.
Ernest Boyer (1 994)
T
he above quote is representative of
the pleas made by several scholars
for increased incorporation of community service activities in academic institutions. Universities in general and business schools in particular can indeed play
an important role in helping community
organizations operate with higher efficiency and effectiveness while enhancing
the course-related learning experience of
students. However, service-learning is a
relatively new pedagogy in business education, and faculty may be unfamiliar
with both the approach and its possible
educational outcomes (Rama, Ravenscroft, Wolcott, & Zlotkowski, 2000). In
this article, we provide a framework,
based on our experiences in using such
assignments in an intermediate accounting course, for incorporating servicelearning in the business curriculum.
Although we have used intermediate
accounting as an illustrative context, the
implementation issues are of relevance
and interest to all business faculty members considering the inclusion of servicelearning in their courses.
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Journal of Education for Business
ABSTRACT. In this article, the authors provide guidance regarding implementation of service-learning projects
as an active learning strategy in business courses. Their experience in the
use of service-learning assignments in
an intermediate accounting course
revealed 5 steps necessary for a successful service-learning platform:
developing institutional and individual
conviction for the value of community
service, developing alliances with the
community agencies, establishing the
pedagogical legitimacy of servicelearning, motivating the faculty and
students about the benefits of servicelearning, and selecting appropriate
assignments. Their results indicate
that service-learning assignments fit
the scope of business courses while
helping to promote the goals of relevant management education.
Service-Learning:
Its Meaning and Evolution
Although service-learning has been
described in a variety of ways, Bringle
and Hatcher’s (1996) definition is
instructional in that it highlights the educational experience in service-learning
assignments as much as the desirability
of community service. They defined service-learning to be “a course-based,
credit-bearing educational experience in
which students participate in an organized service activity in such a way that
meets identified community needs, and
reflect on the service activity in such a
way to gain further understanding of
course content, a broader appreciation of
the discipline, and an enhanced sense of
civic responsibility” (p. 222).
Academic scholars (Boyer & Hechinger, 1981) have long argued that colleges must not only teach and conduct
research but also involve students in service to society. Such calls went largely
unanswered, and in 1985 the number of
students engaged in service-learning
activities nationwide was less than
4,000 (Rothman, 1998). However, partly because of the $40 million annual
federal funding provided under the 1993
National Community Service Act, the
service-learning movement has grown
rapidly in the past few years. Many educational institutions have introduced
community outreach programs with the
conviction that community service is an
integral responsibility of leadership and
that their students should cultivate a
habit of service (Piper, 1993). The president of Brandeis University has even
suggested that, in an age in which every
nuance of life is measured and reported
so that people can choose “the best,” we
should rank schools according to,
among other things, their record of
community service (Reinharz, 1997).
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Use of Sewice-Learning Assignments
in Business Schools
Although service-learning assignments are used in a wide spectrum of
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courses, “much of the momentum
behind service-learning has been provided by academics tied to social sciences and liberal arts” (Zlotkowski,
1996, p. 12). The literature on the use of
such assignments in business schools
has started to emerge only recently.
Lamb, Swinth, Vincton, and Lee (1998)
presented a model of service-learning
for facilitating collaboration with the
community and promoting moral and
professional development of students.
Kolenko, Porter, Wheatley, and Colby
(1996) offered a critique of nine service-learning projects in business ethics
and leadership courses. The American
Association for Higher Education
recently published a series of monographs addressing concepts and models
for service-learning in different fields,
including management (Godfrey &
Grasso, 2000) and accounting (Rama,
1998). The professional and academic
accountants’ demand to incorporate
active-learning strategies in accounting
curricula (AECC, 1990, 1992; Arthur
Andersen et al., 1989) coincides well
with the service-learning movement.
Five Factors for Successful
Service-Learning Programs
The commitment of the individual
faculty member for community service
can vary widely. For us, community service meant that we could use our professional skills and those of our students
to help individuals and organizations
less fortunate than us. We also believed
that the cost of our time and effort,
although not insignificant, was relatively small in comparison with the benefits
gained by the community organizations
that needed our assistance and by the
students. Moreover, responsible corporate citizenship has received such extensive media exposure in recent years that
business educators entrenched in teaching management techniques to profitseeking entities in the private sector are
increasingly being challenged to serve
the needs of the communities around
them. Convincing them of the importance of serving community needs is not
easy. Financial remuneration, arm twisting by a trusted colleague, an appreciative comment by an administrator, and
an effective presentation by an authority
in the field are some ways to entice faculty members to incorporate servicelearning in their courses; but success
through any of these methods is far
from guaranteed.
compiling a list of their needs, monitoring the training and supervision of students, and obtaining feedback from the
agencies requires significant time and
effort. Depending on the institutional
emphasis on service-learning, several
aspects of this work can be entrusted to
the service-learning office, as was possible at our institution. If an institution
does not have a centralized servicelearning office or coordinator, the burden on a few faculty members becomes
quite extensive.
Several network resources can be used
to identify service-learning assignments
to complement the instructional objectives of the course. At the national level,
examples of Web sites that provide
important information and networking
resources include ,
, and .
There are also several Web sites that provide information for volunteering opportunities at the city level. Examples of
such sites include
(Boston), (Chicago), (San Francisco), and
(Washington, DC).
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Our review of the literature revealed
five factors that play a crucial role in establishing a sound foundation for the
success of service-learning assignments.
Institutional and Individual Conviction
of the Value of Community Service
As noted by Odd0 (1998), “The
process of integrating service-learning
into the accounting curriculum begins
with an expression of the importance of
service-learning in the mission statement of the university” (p. 53). The positive commitment to service-learning
that existed at our institution, Bentley
College, was a significant endorsement
of any potential efforts in the area of
service-learning. The mission statement
of our institution and the statement of
the core values needed to fulfill the mission both declare the objective of
preparing graduates “to achieve personal fulfillment in their lives, making
responsible contributions to society at
large” (italics added).
Developing Alliances With
the Community Agencies
Developing a working relationship
with the community agencies in which
students will carry out their assignments
is a critical determinant of the success
of the service-learning program. Personnel from some agencies might view
such assignments with suspicion, and
some might consider them as encroachment on their territory. If faculty members or administrators are connected to
the agencies as consultants or board
members, such suspicion and skepticism can be minimized. Even then,
community agencies cannot all be
expected to embrace the idea of student
teams using the agency as the work site
at which to complete their course projects. Even the agencies that are positively disposed might not understand
how the differences between servicelearning and voluntary service are
important to their role in student projects. Identifying community agencies,
Establishing Intellectual
and Pedagogical Legitimacy
Whether community service is a legitimate “academic” exercise continues
to be a controversial issue among faculty members. At our institution, this was
one of the formidable challenges we
faced. We had recently revised our principles course to be consistent with the
Accounting Education Change Commission’s (AECC) recommendations
and incorporated into the intermediate
accounting course several assignments
requiring critical thinking, literature
search, group work, and written and oral
communication. Support for adding yet
another time-consuming, effort-intensive service-learning assignment was
therefore limited. However, providing
the evidence in the literature that service-learning helps to achieve all three
categories of goals identified by the
AECC-knowledge, skills, and professional orientation-made faculty more
receptive to the concept of service-learning. Additionally, we obtained more faculty support by sharing the evidence
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from the recent literature (Boyte & Farr,
1997; Sullivan, 1995) demonstrating
connections between the goals of professional education and citizenship.
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Motivating Faculty and Students
Once the pedagogical legitimacy
issue is addressed, faculty members are
more likely to support the idea of using
service-learning assignments in their
courses. However, some faculty members might have other hesitations that
need to be addressed. Those who are
still unsure of the applicability of service-learning to an analytical field such
as management must be informed as to
how several fields (biology, mathematics, engineering, etc.) that are perhaps
more analytical than management have
used service-learning to promote student learning and community development. The faculty member who appears
to resist because of lack of experience
and confidence can be informed that
service-learning is an interesting way of
supplementing the course content and
enriching student learning. Although
service-learning involves additional
time commitment for the instructor,
most of it occurs early in the semester;
thus, with proper planning, the time
commitment in the remaining part of the
semester becomes more manageable.
Class time needed for such projects is
another concern of potential nonsupporters. In our experience, one can incorporate service-learning assignments with
minimal or no sacrifice of class time by
meeting with the students outside of
class to discuss their projects and having
them submit a written report. However, if
class time is not an issue, sharing individual experiences in the class potentially can enrich the learning experiences of
the class as a whole.
It is important to note that the intangible rewards for faculty time and effort
are significant. Bringle and Hatcher
( 1996) reported that service-learning
brings new life to the classroom,
enhances performance on traditional
measures of learning, increases student
interest in the subject, teaches new
problem-solving skills, and makes
teaching more enjoyable. Markus,
Howard, and King (1993) noted that
students in service-learning sections
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Journal of Education for Business
had more positive course evaluations,
more positive dispositions toward service and community, and higher academic achievement.
For students, service-learning develops leadership skills and encourages
understanding of civic responsibilities,
contemporary social issues, and diversity in the workplace. It is important that
faculty emphasize these benefits to students to spark their interest. Servicelearning assignments that connect reallife problems and academic concepts
contribute to a more meaningful and
longer-lasting learning. Isenberg (1993)
noted that “the beauty of nonprofit volunteer work is that it gives operating
experience relevant to corporate management but gives it much faster” (p. 1).
Previous research also supports the positive effect of service-learning assignments on personal, attitudinal, moral,
social, and cognitive development of
students (Giles & Eyler, 1994). Knowing that service-learning experience
adds an important line on their resume,
which distinguishes them from their
peers in a competitive job market, can
also be a motivator for some students.
students in behavioral sciences have
chronicled a holocaust survivor’s experiences, and business communication students have designed program brochures
and newsletters for community agencies.
Management students have conducted
strategic analyses of community organizations, and computer science students
have designed Web pages for community organizations. Government students
have worked with local immigrants
applying for citizenship, and tax students have provided assistance and
counseling to low-income taxpayers filing their income tax returns.
Similar examples are available from
other institutions. For instance, Godfrey
(2000) suggested that a human
resources class could integrate servicelearning by helping a local crisis line
develop and implement a training program for new volunteers and that
finance students could use servicelearning to help either individuals or
local agencies with budget-planning
materials and training. In the intermediate accounting course, we found that
students could offer professional assistance in many areas including bank reconciliation, general ledger, accounts
receivable, accounts payable, audit
preparation, and transition from a manual to computerized accounting system
using software programs such as Quickbooks, Quicken, and Peachtree.
It is important to note that not all service-learning assignments fit the scope of
topics and skills of the course. Organizations that either do not, or do not want
to, understand the importance of the academic component of the project should
be screened out. Also, when the course
becomes more technical and narrow in
focus, the likelihood of finding suitable
service assignments is diminished.*
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Selection of Appropriate Assignments
Perhaps the most important step in
achieving the intended benefits of service-learning assignments is ensuring
that there is a connection between the
service assignments and the skills and
topics covered by the course. It is
imperative that the course instructors be
involved in the selection and approval of
assignments and coordination of the orientation meeting and that they act as a
liaison with the community agencies if
and when needed.’ Educators must
carefully examine assignments received
from the community organizations to
ensure that students will have the necessary technical skills to complete the
assignment and that the assignment is
doable in the time period prescribed.
Godfrey (2000) warned that unsatisfactory projects that engage students in
meaningless work or in projects that
exceed their levels of expertise can sour
students on the concept of service-learning. The suitability of the assignments
depends on the topics and skills addressed by the course. At our institution,
Implementation Issues
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Service-Learning Assignment:
Required or Optional?
We chose to make the service-learning assignment an optional exercise
because of our belief that forced involvement in community service is likely to
result in suboptimal benefits to students
and the organizations that the assignments are supposed to help. Additional-
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ly, not knowing how many appropriate
assignments would be available, we
might have given ourselves an onerous
responsibility if we had made participation a requirement. Finally, requiring
students to identify a service assignment
on their own was an option that we
chose not to consider. The time required
for students to find such assignments
and for us to ensure the appropriateness
of the assignments to the course goals
made this option ~ndesirable.~
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Grade for the Assignment
The next issue was the decision on
what grade, if any, the service-learning
assignment should carry. We did not
want it to be a noncredit experience
because a grade-bearing assignment
makes a statement about the importance
that the institution places on community
service! For the students not participating in service-learning, the components
of the course grade were three exams
(highest representing 30% of the course
grade; lowest, 20%; and middle, 25%),
two case write-ups (10% each), and
class participation (5%). The servicelearning assignment carried 20% of the
grade. Service-learning participants
needed to complete only one of the two
case analyses, and their lowest exam
would count for only 10%of the course
grade instead of 20%. Alternatively,
they could choose to do both of the case
assignments, in which case their lowest
exam grade would be dropped from the
computation of course grade.
Project Requirements
Each student (or a pair of students)
was asked to perform about 10-12 hours
of work over the course of a semester for
a community organization and submit a
report before the end of the semester. An
important requirement was to reflect on
the experience, because through reflection students are better able to understand the meaning and impact of their
efforts. We describe the guidelines for
report preparation in Table 1.
Logistical Arrangements
The service-learning office at our
institution serves as a clearinghouse for
service-learning opportunities. Howev-
er, the task of identifying suitable
assignments was entrusted to one of us
when a service-learning component was
first introduced in intermediate accounti n g 5 The office also assigned a halftime (8 hours per week) graduate assistant to serve as a liaison between the
students and community organizations
interested in service-learning assignments in intermediate accounting.
Because we did not know how many
assignments appropriate for the course
topics would be available, we announced
that, if assignments were not available
for every student desiring to participate,
we would use a lottery system to determine the “winners.” A total of 125 students were registered in five sections of
the first intermediate accounting course,
taught by three instructors. Of the 77 students who expressed an interest in doing
a service-learning assignment, we were
able to place 56 students with 34 community organizations.
ects, we arranged an orientation meeting of all the student participants in the
3rd week of the semester. Two important objectives were achieved in the orientation meeting. First, students were
told that the community organizations
are typically run by volunteers, do not
have full-time staffs, and lack financial
resources to hire professional services.
Second, students were reminded that
applying accounting skills learned in a
commercial organization is often much
more straightforward than providing
accounting expertise to small not-forprofit organizations (Lightbody, 1999).
It was therefore critical that the changes
that the students recommended be
explained in lay terms and that the systems that they designed be simple
enough to be managed by personnel
with little or no professional management expertise.
Orientation Meeting
Feedback From Students
To provide participants with information regarding the service-learning proj-
The end-of-semester reports submitted by students indicated that their expe-
Feedback From Students and
Community Organizations
TABLE l.Guidelines for Service-Learning Report
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Upon completion of your work at the nonprofit agency, you need to submit a 4-5
page report that is descriptive and reflective of your experience.
The report requirements are:
1. (Limited to no more than one page)
Briefly describe the agency that you worked for and the nature of the work you
performed. Include commentary on whether the work was appropriate for your
background.
2. (Limited to no more than four pages)
Discuss the importance of financial accounting and reporting to your agency.
Reflect on and discuss what your experience at the agency meant to you. Include
specifically how your assignment related to the accounting curriculum in general
and the Intermediate Accounting curriculum in particular. Please be candid. There
is absolutely no penalty if your assignment did not pertain to one of the topics covered by the intermediate course.
Offer any suggestions you have for improvements in administering service-learning
projects in Intermediate Accounting in future. Your suggestions might include (but
not be limited to) the desirability of continuing with the service-learning option in
Intermediate Accounting, appropriateness of the number of hours of work required
at the nonprofit agency, appropriateness (or otherwise) of grade assigned to the project, criteria for the evaluation of service-learning assignments, suggestions for
minimizing logistical problems, and anything else that you think would be helpful.
January/February 2002
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riences in completing the service-learning assignments were quite positive.
Most students noted that the distinct
benefit of the experience was the opportunity to apply the concepts learned in
the course to a real-life situation. Several students stated that they did not realize how valuable their technical skills
could be to the community organizations
that they worked with. Some commented that travels to the inner city opened
their eyes to a side of life that they had
never observed. Many mentioned that
the service-learning assignment helped
them grow as people. Most students
reported a sense of satisfaction from producing work that made a positive impact
on lives of people who were less fortunate and, in the process, gaining an
appreciation for how lucky they are.
Convincing evidence of students’
level of involvement in the projects was
seen in several write-ups stating that
students put in more hours than the minimum required. A number of students
mentioned that the internship interviews
involved the projects were useful to
them. Connections made during the service-learning projects helped several
students obtain internships in the nonprofit sector. The strong impact that the
assignments had on many students was
reflected in student comments such as,
“I wasn’t impressed with accounting as
a field before. The service-learning
assignment taught me that things that
accountants do might be mundane, but
are very essential for the successful
functioning of an organization.”
Another source of student feedback,
was the questionnaire administered by
the service-learning center. Thirty students who did service-learning assignments completed the questionnaire
shown in Table 2. Almost every student
mentioned that the opportunity to apply
professional knowledge for the benefit
of community organizations was their
most important reason for participating
in service-learning. About one third of
the respondents also mentioned the
class credit (20% of the grade) as the
reason. Only about a quarter of the students had participated in service-learning projects before, but none had completed one in accounting. A majority of
the students felt that they were equipped
to handle the assignment, and all but 1
student indicated that service-learning
was a beneficial experience.
However, not everything in the implementation phase proceeded as planned.
For instance, 3 students who had signed
up for service-learning projects dropped
the course. Although this allowed us to
involve 3 other students, we needed to
reconfigure the groups and ensure that
there was enough time for the newcomers to complete the assignment satisfactorily. Halfway through the semester, a
community organization withdrew its
participation, requiring us to reassign 2
students to another agency. Two students were disappointed because the
work that they were asked to do did not
quite match the project description.
Another student reported that the
agency’s representative repeatedly
missed scheduled appointments and that
the agency did not obtain the software
necessary for the timely completion of
the assignment.
ments was contacted over the telephone
by the graduate assistant in the servicelearning office.h The following questions were asked:
1. Did your organization benefit
from having the student volunteers‘?
2. Did the students meet your expectations (i.e., level of knowledge, professionalism, etc.)?
3. Would you participate again in
intermediate accounting service-learning projects?
4. Please provide your overall evaluation and other comments.
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Journal of Education for Business
Feedback From Community
Organizations
Each community organization participating in the service-learning assign-
Twenty-eight (of the 34) organizations responded to the request for feedback. Each organization felt that it had
benefited from having student volunteers. Twelve of the organizations rated
the students’ work as “great” or “invaluable.” All organizations were satisfied
with the level of knowledge and professionalism of students. However, 8 organizations stated that they found the
length of the project too short and
would have preferred a semester-long
experience in the range of 25-35 hours.
Almost every organization expressed
appreciation for the dedicated and
TABLE 2. Student Questionnaire
Student Name:
E-Mail:
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Organization you performed service-learning with:
Hours worked:
Number of days:
Did you work: ( ) Individually ( ) In a group?
Please answer each of the following questions:
1. Why did you choose to do a service-learning project? (Be specific.)
2. Have you done service-learning in other classes? If yes, what classes? Did those
projects directly relate to the material covered in those classes?
3. Discuss the meeting with your client for the first time. Was it what you expected?
4. Did you feel preparedconfident in your ability to complete your service-learning
project and that your level of accounting knowledge was appropriate? Please
explain.
5. Did you perform the work that was described to you before you signed up for
service-learning? If not, please discuss the differences.
6. What did your project entail? (Be specific.) Should it have been more or less complex?
7. Overall, did you feel that the experience was beneficial? What did you learn? (Be
specific.)
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excellent quality job performed by the
students.
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Conclusions
Gordon and Howell (1959) noted,
“Business schools do more than merely
train technical professionals in management; they also communicate a set of
values regarding economic rationality
and human worth that become the foundation of the managerial mind-set” (p.
1 11). Although the diverse objectives of
service-learning assignments-community service and business educationmay not appear to complement each
other, our experience and review of literature indicate that they not only complement but also thrive on each other.
Community organizations gain from
students’ expertise, and the students can
add significant real-world experience to
their learning portfolio and expand
career opportunities. Moreover, how
can corporations be solely blamed for
being socially irresponsible if business
schools do not contribute to the
advancement of the community and do
not convey the importance of corporate
citizenship to their students, who will be
running corporations in the future?
Several scholars (Gujarathi &
McQuade, forthcoming; Lamb et al.,
1998; Rama et al., 2000; Vangermeersch, 2001) have noted that servicelearning assignments not only fit the
scope of the business courses but also
help promote the goals of relevant management education. Service experiences
can give students a context within which
to place the course content, which
increases the quantity and depth of their
understanding (Eyler & Giles, 1999).
Although the philosophical and
administrative support for service-learning at the institutional level is extremely
desirable, one cannot assume that it
exists in each instance. Fortunately,
some excellent resources (e.g., Kendall
and associates, 1990; Kraft & Swadner,
1994; Kupiec, 1994) are available for
faculty to plan and implement servicelearning initiatives. Winning over the
faculty’s disposition-which
understandably can be mixed at the outset-is
the critical success factor. Once the faculty is convinced of the pedagogical
legitimacy of service assignments,
implementation issues become easier to
address. On the basis of our experience,
we recommend two changes to the
model we used. First, because many students devoted additional hours to the
assignment and several organizations
also indicated a need to increase the
length of the project, we believe that
requiring an assignment for 15-20
hours would be more meaningful than
the 10-12 hours that we tried. Second,
asking the service-learning participants
to make brief class presentations reflective of their experiences would help
them learn from each other. It would
also allow nonparticipating students to
get a taste of the participants’ experiences in handling real-life assignments.
The importance of careful planning
and organization and of anticipating
potential hurdles cannot be overemphasized. The front-end time spent on identification of appropriate assignments
goes a long way toward saving students
and community organizations from
frustrations and disappointments later
on. However, to some degree, no matter
what the instructor does, some projects
will work well and others will not. This
is the case in all instructional innovations, although the consequences for the
experiential exercises discussed in this
article are somewhat higher because of
the involvement of external parties
(Davis & Michel, 2000). Finally, experimentation with pedagogies such as service-learning requires a commitment of
time, effort, and resources by the faculty members. Such efforts need to be recognized in the institutional reward and
evaluation system.
our experience, it enabled them to identify a suitable project idea.
2. In fact, we tried and discarded the use of service-learning in the second intermediate course,
which addressed technical topics (such as longterm debt, stockholders’ equity, pensions, leases,
and income taxes) that are more relevant for profit-oriented than for nonprofit organizations.
3. A survey by the National Center for Education Statistics reported that, for schools that
required service but gave students no help in
arranging the projects, the participation rate in
service-learning was 19%. compared with 56% in
the schools where such help was given.
4. Zlotkowski (1996) provided many examples
of noncredit assignments and observed that
“absent from most of these initiatives is the element of academic credit that fully defines-and
legitimizes-the community connection.” Bringle
and Hatcher (1996) noted that incentive of academic credit provides an important means for
increasing student participation in community service.
5 . The faculty member received a stipend from
the service-learning ofice to establish contacts
with the community organizations for obtaining
suitable projects and for educating other intermediate accounting faculty on the benefits of servicelearning.
6. Because most of our nonprofit organizations
faced critical shortages of professional staff, we
decided not to seek their feedback in a written
questionnaire format.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Professors
Moharned Abdolmohammadi (Bentley College),
D. V. Rama (Texas A&M International University), and Sue Ravencroft (Iowa State University)
for their help with previous drafts of this article.
Research assistance from Marina Malinov and
comments from the participants at the 2001 annual meeting of the American Accounting Association, where an earlier draft of this article was presented, are also gratefully acknowledged.
Address correspondence to Mahendra R.
Gujarathi and Ralph J. McQuade, Bentley College, 175 Forest St., Waltham, MA 02254.
NOTES
1. It may be desirable to share with the
prospective community organizations an inventory of skills and topics that the course addresses. In
REFERENCES
Accounting Education Change Commission
(AECC). (1990). Position Statement Number I :
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Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Service-Learning in Business Schools: A Case Study
in an Intermediate Accounting Course
Mahendra R. Gujarathi & Ralph J. McQuade
To cite this article: Mahendra R. Gujarathi & Ralph J. McQuade (2002) Service-Learning in
Business Schools: A Case Study in an Intermediate Accounting Course, Journal of Education for
Business, 77:3, 144-150, DOI: 10.1080/08832320209599063
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832320209599063
Published online: 31 Mar 2010.
Submit your article to this journal
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http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=vjeb20
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Date: 13 January 2016, At: 00:20
Service-Learning in Business
Schools: A Case Study in an
Intermediate Accounting Course
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MAHENDRA R. GUJARATHI
RALPH J. MCQUADE
Bentley College
Waltham, Massachusetts
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Universities cannot afford to remain
shores of affluence, self-importance and
horticultural beauty at the edge of island
seas of squalor, violence and despair.
Emphasizing service has the potential to
enrich learning and renew communities,
but will also give new dignity to the
scholarship of service.
Ernest Boyer (1 994)
T
he above quote is representative of
the pleas made by several scholars
for increased incorporation of community service activities in academic institutions. Universities in general and business schools in particular can indeed play
an important role in helping community
organizations operate with higher efficiency and effectiveness while enhancing
the course-related learning experience of
students. However, service-learning is a
relatively new pedagogy in business education, and faculty may be unfamiliar
with both the approach and its possible
educational outcomes (Rama, Ravenscroft, Wolcott, & Zlotkowski, 2000). In
this article, we provide a framework,
based on our experiences in using such
assignments in an intermediate accounting course, for incorporating servicelearning in the business curriculum.
Although we have used intermediate
accounting as an illustrative context, the
implementation issues are of relevance
and interest to all business faculty members considering the inclusion of servicelearning in their courses.
144
Journal of Education for Business
ABSTRACT. In this article, the authors provide guidance regarding implementation of service-learning projects
as an active learning strategy in business courses. Their experience in the
use of service-learning assignments in
an intermediate accounting course
revealed 5 steps necessary for a successful service-learning platform:
developing institutional and individual
conviction for the value of community
service, developing alliances with the
community agencies, establishing the
pedagogical legitimacy of servicelearning, motivating the faculty and
students about the benefits of servicelearning, and selecting appropriate
assignments. Their results indicate
that service-learning assignments fit
the scope of business courses while
helping to promote the goals of relevant management education.
Service-Learning:
Its Meaning and Evolution
Although service-learning has been
described in a variety of ways, Bringle
and Hatcher’s (1996) definition is
instructional in that it highlights the educational experience in service-learning
assignments as much as the desirability
of community service. They defined service-learning to be “a course-based,
credit-bearing educational experience in
which students participate in an organized service activity in such a way that
meets identified community needs, and
reflect on the service activity in such a
way to gain further understanding of
course content, a broader appreciation of
the discipline, and an enhanced sense of
civic responsibility” (p. 222).
Academic scholars (Boyer & Hechinger, 1981) have long argued that colleges must not only teach and conduct
research but also involve students in service to society. Such calls went largely
unanswered, and in 1985 the number of
students engaged in service-learning
activities nationwide was less than
4,000 (Rothman, 1998). However, partly because of the $40 million annual
federal funding provided under the 1993
National Community Service Act, the
service-learning movement has grown
rapidly in the past few years. Many educational institutions have introduced
community outreach programs with the
conviction that community service is an
integral responsibility of leadership and
that their students should cultivate a
habit of service (Piper, 1993). The president of Brandeis University has even
suggested that, in an age in which every
nuance of life is measured and reported
so that people can choose “the best,” we
should rank schools according to,
among other things, their record of
community service (Reinharz, 1997).
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Use of Sewice-Learning Assignments
in Business Schools
Although service-learning assignments are used in a wide spectrum of
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courses, “much of the momentum
behind service-learning has been provided by academics tied to social sciences and liberal arts” (Zlotkowski,
1996, p. 12). The literature on the use of
such assignments in business schools
has started to emerge only recently.
Lamb, Swinth, Vincton, and Lee (1998)
presented a model of service-learning
for facilitating collaboration with the
community and promoting moral and
professional development of students.
Kolenko, Porter, Wheatley, and Colby
(1996) offered a critique of nine service-learning projects in business ethics
and leadership courses. The American
Association for Higher Education
recently published a series of monographs addressing concepts and models
for service-learning in different fields,
including management (Godfrey &
Grasso, 2000) and accounting (Rama,
1998). The professional and academic
accountants’ demand to incorporate
active-learning strategies in accounting
curricula (AECC, 1990, 1992; Arthur
Andersen et al., 1989) coincides well
with the service-learning movement.
Five Factors for Successful
Service-Learning Programs
The commitment of the individual
faculty member for community service
can vary widely. For us, community service meant that we could use our professional skills and those of our students
to help individuals and organizations
less fortunate than us. We also believed
that the cost of our time and effort,
although not insignificant, was relatively small in comparison with the benefits
gained by the community organizations
that needed our assistance and by the
students. Moreover, responsible corporate citizenship has received such extensive media exposure in recent years that
business educators entrenched in teaching management techniques to profitseeking entities in the private sector are
increasingly being challenged to serve
the needs of the communities around
them. Convincing them of the importance of serving community needs is not
easy. Financial remuneration, arm twisting by a trusted colleague, an appreciative comment by an administrator, and
an effective presentation by an authority
in the field are some ways to entice faculty members to incorporate servicelearning in their courses; but success
through any of these methods is far
from guaranteed.
compiling a list of their needs, monitoring the training and supervision of students, and obtaining feedback from the
agencies requires significant time and
effort. Depending on the institutional
emphasis on service-learning, several
aspects of this work can be entrusted to
the service-learning office, as was possible at our institution. If an institution
does not have a centralized servicelearning office or coordinator, the burden on a few faculty members becomes
quite extensive.
Several network resources can be used
to identify service-learning assignments
to complement the instructional objectives of the course. At the national level,
examples of Web sites that provide
important information and networking
resources include ,
, and .
There are also several Web sites that provide information for volunteering opportunities at the city level. Examples of
such sites include
(Boston), (Chicago), (San Francisco), and
(Washington, DC).
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Our review of the literature revealed
five factors that play a crucial role in establishing a sound foundation for the
success of service-learning assignments.
Institutional and Individual Conviction
of the Value of Community Service
As noted by Odd0 (1998), “The
process of integrating service-learning
into the accounting curriculum begins
with an expression of the importance of
service-learning in the mission statement of the university” (p. 53). The positive commitment to service-learning
that existed at our institution, Bentley
College, was a significant endorsement
of any potential efforts in the area of
service-learning. The mission statement
of our institution and the statement of
the core values needed to fulfill the mission both declare the objective of
preparing graduates “to achieve personal fulfillment in their lives, making
responsible contributions to society at
large” (italics added).
Developing Alliances With
the Community Agencies
Developing a working relationship
with the community agencies in which
students will carry out their assignments
is a critical determinant of the success
of the service-learning program. Personnel from some agencies might view
such assignments with suspicion, and
some might consider them as encroachment on their territory. If faculty members or administrators are connected to
the agencies as consultants or board
members, such suspicion and skepticism can be minimized. Even then,
community agencies cannot all be
expected to embrace the idea of student
teams using the agency as the work site
at which to complete their course projects. Even the agencies that are positively disposed might not understand
how the differences between servicelearning and voluntary service are
important to their role in student projects. Identifying community agencies,
Establishing Intellectual
and Pedagogical Legitimacy
Whether community service is a legitimate “academic” exercise continues
to be a controversial issue among faculty members. At our institution, this was
one of the formidable challenges we
faced. We had recently revised our principles course to be consistent with the
Accounting Education Change Commission’s (AECC) recommendations
and incorporated into the intermediate
accounting course several assignments
requiring critical thinking, literature
search, group work, and written and oral
communication. Support for adding yet
another time-consuming, effort-intensive service-learning assignment was
therefore limited. However, providing
the evidence in the literature that service-learning helps to achieve all three
categories of goals identified by the
AECC-knowledge, skills, and professional orientation-made faculty more
receptive to the concept of service-learning. Additionally, we obtained more faculty support by sharing the evidence
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January/February 2002
145
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from the recent literature (Boyte & Farr,
1997; Sullivan, 1995) demonstrating
connections between the goals of professional education and citizenship.
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Motivating Faculty and Students
Once the pedagogical legitimacy
issue is addressed, faculty members are
more likely to support the idea of using
service-learning assignments in their
courses. However, some faculty members might have other hesitations that
need to be addressed. Those who are
still unsure of the applicability of service-learning to an analytical field such
as management must be informed as to
how several fields (biology, mathematics, engineering, etc.) that are perhaps
more analytical than management have
used service-learning to promote student learning and community development. The faculty member who appears
to resist because of lack of experience
and confidence can be informed that
service-learning is an interesting way of
supplementing the course content and
enriching student learning. Although
service-learning involves additional
time commitment for the instructor,
most of it occurs early in the semester;
thus, with proper planning, the time
commitment in the remaining part of the
semester becomes more manageable.
Class time needed for such projects is
another concern of potential nonsupporters. In our experience, one can incorporate service-learning assignments with
minimal or no sacrifice of class time by
meeting with the students outside of
class to discuss their projects and having
them submit a written report. However, if
class time is not an issue, sharing individual experiences in the class potentially can enrich the learning experiences of
the class as a whole.
It is important to note that the intangible rewards for faculty time and effort
are significant. Bringle and Hatcher
( 1996) reported that service-learning
brings new life to the classroom,
enhances performance on traditional
measures of learning, increases student
interest in the subject, teaches new
problem-solving skills, and makes
teaching more enjoyable. Markus,
Howard, and King (1993) noted that
students in service-learning sections
146
Journal of Education for Business
had more positive course evaluations,
more positive dispositions toward service and community, and higher academic achievement.
For students, service-learning develops leadership skills and encourages
understanding of civic responsibilities,
contemporary social issues, and diversity in the workplace. It is important that
faculty emphasize these benefits to students to spark their interest. Servicelearning assignments that connect reallife problems and academic concepts
contribute to a more meaningful and
longer-lasting learning. Isenberg (1993)
noted that “the beauty of nonprofit volunteer work is that it gives operating
experience relevant to corporate management but gives it much faster” (p. 1).
Previous research also supports the positive effect of service-learning assignments on personal, attitudinal, moral,
social, and cognitive development of
students (Giles & Eyler, 1994). Knowing that service-learning experience
adds an important line on their resume,
which distinguishes them from their
peers in a competitive job market, can
also be a motivator for some students.
students in behavioral sciences have
chronicled a holocaust survivor’s experiences, and business communication students have designed program brochures
and newsletters for community agencies.
Management students have conducted
strategic analyses of community organizations, and computer science students
have designed Web pages for community organizations. Government students
have worked with local immigrants
applying for citizenship, and tax students have provided assistance and
counseling to low-income taxpayers filing their income tax returns.
Similar examples are available from
other institutions. For instance, Godfrey
(2000) suggested that a human
resources class could integrate servicelearning by helping a local crisis line
develop and implement a training program for new volunteers and that
finance students could use servicelearning to help either individuals or
local agencies with budget-planning
materials and training. In the intermediate accounting course, we found that
students could offer professional assistance in many areas including bank reconciliation, general ledger, accounts
receivable, accounts payable, audit
preparation, and transition from a manual to computerized accounting system
using software programs such as Quickbooks, Quicken, and Peachtree.
It is important to note that not all service-learning assignments fit the scope of
topics and skills of the course. Organizations that either do not, or do not want
to, understand the importance of the academic component of the project should
be screened out. Also, when the course
becomes more technical and narrow in
focus, the likelihood of finding suitable
service assignments is diminished.*
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Selection of Appropriate Assignments
Perhaps the most important step in
achieving the intended benefits of service-learning assignments is ensuring
that there is a connection between the
service assignments and the skills and
topics covered by the course. It is
imperative that the course instructors be
involved in the selection and approval of
assignments and coordination of the orientation meeting and that they act as a
liaison with the community agencies if
and when needed.’ Educators must
carefully examine assignments received
from the community organizations to
ensure that students will have the necessary technical skills to complete the
assignment and that the assignment is
doable in the time period prescribed.
Godfrey (2000) warned that unsatisfactory projects that engage students in
meaningless work or in projects that
exceed their levels of expertise can sour
students on the concept of service-learning. The suitability of the assignments
depends on the topics and skills addressed by the course. At our institution,
Implementation Issues
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Service-Learning Assignment:
Required or Optional?
We chose to make the service-learning assignment an optional exercise
because of our belief that forced involvement in community service is likely to
result in suboptimal benefits to students
and the organizations that the assignments are supposed to help. Additional-
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ly, not knowing how many appropriate
assignments would be available, we
might have given ourselves an onerous
responsibility if we had made participation a requirement. Finally, requiring
students to identify a service assignment
on their own was an option that we
chose not to consider. The time required
for students to find such assignments
and for us to ensure the appropriateness
of the assignments to the course goals
made this option ~ndesirable.~
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Grade for the Assignment
The next issue was the decision on
what grade, if any, the service-learning
assignment should carry. We did not
want it to be a noncredit experience
because a grade-bearing assignment
makes a statement about the importance
that the institution places on community
service! For the students not participating in service-learning, the components
of the course grade were three exams
(highest representing 30% of the course
grade; lowest, 20%; and middle, 25%),
two case write-ups (10% each), and
class participation (5%). The servicelearning assignment carried 20% of the
grade. Service-learning participants
needed to complete only one of the two
case analyses, and their lowest exam
would count for only 10%of the course
grade instead of 20%. Alternatively,
they could choose to do both of the case
assignments, in which case their lowest
exam grade would be dropped from the
computation of course grade.
Project Requirements
Each student (or a pair of students)
was asked to perform about 10-12 hours
of work over the course of a semester for
a community organization and submit a
report before the end of the semester. An
important requirement was to reflect on
the experience, because through reflection students are better able to understand the meaning and impact of their
efforts. We describe the guidelines for
report preparation in Table 1.
Logistical Arrangements
The service-learning office at our
institution serves as a clearinghouse for
service-learning opportunities. Howev-
er, the task of identifying suitable
assignments was entrusted to one of us
when a service-learning component was
first introduced in intermediate accounti n g 5 The office also assigned a halftime (8 hours per week) graduate assistant to serve as a liaison between the
students and community organizations
interested in service-learning assignments in intermediate accounting.
Because we did not know how many
assignments appropriate for the course
topics would be available, we announced
that, if assignments were not available
for every student desiring to participate,
we would use a lottery system to determine the “winners.” A total of 125 students were registered in five sections of
the first intermediate accounting course,
taught by three instructors. Of the 77 students who expressed an interest in doing
a service-learning assignment, we were
able to place 56 students with 34 community organizations.
ects, we arranged an orientation meeting of all the student participants in the
3rd week of the semester. Two important objectives were achieved in the orientation meeting. First, students were
told that the community organizations
are typically run by volunteers, do not
have full-time staffs, and lack financial
resources to hire professional services.
Second, students were reminded that
applying accounting skills learned in a
commercial organization is often much
more straightforward than providing
accounting expertise to small not-forprofit organizations (Lightbody, 1999).
It was therefore critical that the changes
that the students recommended be
explained in lay terms and that the systems that they designed be simple
enough to be managed by personnel
with little or no professional management expertise.
Orientation Meeting
Feedback From Students
To provide participants with information regarding the service-learning proj-
The end-of-semester reports submitted by students indicated that their expe-
Feedback From Students and
Community Organizations
TABLE l.Guidelines for Service-Learning Report
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Upon completion of your work at the nonprofit agency, you need to submit a 4-5
page report that is descriptive and reflective of your experience.
The report requirements are:
1. (Limited to no more than one page)
Briefly describe the agency that you worked for and the nature of the work you
performed. Include commentary on whether the work was appropriate for your
background.
2. (Limited to no more than four pages)
Discuss the importance of financial accounting and reporting to your agency.
Reflect on and discuss what your experience at the agency meant to you. Include
specifically how your assignment related to the accounting curriculum in general
and the Intermediate Accounting curriculum in particular. Please be candid. There
is absolutely no penalty if your assignment did not pertain to one of the topics covered by the intermediate course.
Offer any suggestions you have for improvements in administering service-learning
projects in Intermediate Accounting in future. Your suggestions might include (but
not be limited to) the desirability of continuing with the service-learning option in
Intermediate Accounting, appropriateness of the number of hours of work required
at the nonprofit agency, appropriateness (or otherwise) of grade assigned to the project, criteria for the evaluation of service-learning assignments, suggestions for
minimizing logistical problems, and anything else that you think would be helpful.
January/February 2002
147
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riences in completing the service-learning assignments were quite positive.
Most students noted that the distinct
benefit of the experience was the opportunity to apply the concepts learned in
the course to a real-life situation. Several students stated that they did not realize how valuable their technical skills
could be to the community organizations
that they worked with. Some commented that travels to the inner city opened
their eyes to a side of life that they had
never observed. Many mentioned that
the service-learning assignment helped
them grow as people. Most students
reported a sense of satisfaction from producing work that made a positive impact
on lives of people who were less fortunate and, in the process, gaining an
appreciation for how lucky they are.
Convincing evidence of students’
level of involvement in the projects was
seen in several write-ups stating that
students put in more hours than the minimum required. A number of students
mentioned that the internship interviews
involved the projects were useful to
them. Connections made during the service-learning projects helped several
students obtain internships in the nonprofit sector. The strong impact that the
assignments had on many students was
reflected in student comments such as,
“I wasn’t impressed with accounting as
a field before. The service-learning
assignment taught me that things that
accountants do might be mundane, but
are very essential for the successful
functioning of an organization.”
Another source of student feedback,
was the questionnaire administered by
the service-learning center. Thirty students who did service-learning assignments completed the questionnaire
shown in Table 2. Almost every student
mentioned that the opportunity to apply
professional knowledge for the benefit
of community organizations was their
most important reason for participating
in service-learning. About one third of
the respondents also mentioned the
class credit (20% of the grade) as the
reason. Only about a quarter of the students had participated in service-learning projects before, but none had completed one in accounting. A majority of
the students felt that they were equipped
to handle the assignment, and all but 1
student indicated that service-learning
was a beneficial experience.
However, not everything in the implementation phase proceeded as planned.
For instance, 3 students who had signed
up for service-learning projects dropped
the course. Although this allowed us to
involve 3 other students, we needed to
reconfigure the groups and ensure that
there was enough time for the newcomers to complete the assignment satisfactorily. Halfway through the semester, a
community organization withdrew its
participation, requiring us to reassign 2
students to another agency. Two students were disappointed because the
work that they were asked to do did not
quite match the project description.
Another student reported that the
agency’s representative repeatedly
missed scheduled appointments and that
the agency did not obtain the software
necessary for the timely completion of
the assignment.
ments was contacted over the telephone
by the graduate assistant in the servicelearning office.h The following questions were asked:
1. Did your organization benefit
from having the student volunteers‘?
2. Did the students meet your expectations (i.e., level of knowledge, professionalism, etc.)?
3. Would you participate again in
intermediate accounting service-learning projects?
4. Please provide your overall evaluation and other comments.
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Journal of Education for Business
Feedback From Community
Organizations
Each community organization participating in the service-learning assign-
Twenty-eight (of the 34) organizations responded to the request for feedback. Each organization felt that it had
benefited from having student volunteers. Twelve of the organizations rated
the students’ work as “great” or “invaluable.” All organizations were satisfied
with the level of knowledge and professionalism of students. However, 8 organizations stated that they found the
length of the project too short and
would have preferred a semester-long
experience in the range of 25-35 hours.
Almost every organization expressed
appreciation for the dedicated and
TABLE 2. Student Questionnaire
Student Name:
E-Mail:
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Organization you performed service-learning with:
Hours worked:
Number of days:
Did you work: ( ) Individually ( ) In a group?
Please answer each of the following questions:
1. Why did you choose to do a service-learning project? (Be specific.)
2. Have you done service-learning in other classes? If yes, what classes? Did those
projects directly relate to the material covered in those classes?
3. Discuss the meeting with your client for the first time. Was it what you expected?
4. Did you feel preparedconfident in your ability to complete your service-learning
project and that your level of accounting knowledge was appropriate? Please
explain.
5. Did you perform the work that was described to you before you signed up for
service-learning? If not, please discuss the differences.
6. What did your project entail? (Be specific.) Should it have been more or less complex?
7. Overall, did you feel that the experience was beneficial? What did you learn? (Be
specific.)
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excellent quality job performed by the
students.
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Conclusions
Gordon and Howell (1959) noted,
“Business schools do more than merely
train technical professionals in management; they also communicate a set of
values regarding economic rationality
and human worth that become the foundation of the managerial mind-set” (p.
1 11). Although the diverse objectives of
service-learning assignments-community service and business educationmay not appear to complement each
other, our experience and review of literature indicate that they not only complement but also thrive on each other.
Community organizations gain from
students’ expertise, and the students can
add significant real-world experience to
their learning portfolio and expand
career opportunities. Moreover, how
can corporations be solely blamed for
being socially irresponsible if business
schools do not contribute to the
advancement of the community and do
not convey the importance of corporate
citizenship to their students, who will be
running corporations in the future?
Several scholars (Gujarathi &
McQuade, forthcoming; Lamb et al.,
1998; Rama et al., 2000; Vangermeersch, 2001) have noted that servicelearning assignments not only fit the
scope of the business courses but also
help promote the goals of relevant management education. Service experiences
can give students a context within which
to place the course content, which
increases the quantity and depth of their
understanding (Eyler & Giles, 1999).
Although the philosophical and
administrative support for service-learning at the institutional level is extremely
desirable, one cannot assume that it
exists in each instance. Fortunately,
some excellent resources (e.g., Kendall
and associates, 1990; Kraft & Swadner,
1994; Kupiec, 1994) are available for
faculty to plan and implement servicelearning initiatives. Winning over the
faculty’s disposition-which
understandably can be mixed at the outset-is
the critical success factor. Once the faculty is convinced of the pedagogical
legitimacy of service assignments,
implementation issues become easier to
address. On the basis of our experience,
we recommend two changes to the
model we used. First, because many students devoted additional hours to the
assignment and several organizations
also indicated a need to increase the
length of the project, we believe that
requiring an assignment for 15-20
hours would be more meaningful than
the 10-12 hours that we tried. Second,
asking the service-learning participants
to make brief class presentations reflective of their experiences would help
them learn from each other. It would
also allow nonparticipating students to
get a taste of the participants’ experiences in handling real-life assignments.
The importance of careful planning
and organization and of anticipating
potential hurdles cannot be overemphasized. The front-end time spent on identification of appropriate assignments
goes a long way toward saving students
and community organizations from
frustrations and disappointments later
on. However, to some degree, no matter
what the instructor does, some projects
will work well and others will not. This
is the case in all instructional innovations, although the consequences for the
experiential exercises discussed in this
article are somewhat higher because of
the involvement of external parties
(Davis & Michel, 2000). Finally, experimentation with pedagogies such as service-learning requires a commitment of
time, effort, and resources by the faculty members. Such efforts need to be recognized in the institutional reward and
evaluation system.
our experience, it enabled them to identify a suitable project idea.
2. In fact, we tried and discarded the use of service-learning in the second intermediate course,
which addressed technical topics (such as longterm debt, stockholders’ equity, pensions, leases,
and income taxes) that are more relevant for profit-oriented than for nonprofit organizations.
3. A survey by the National Center for Education Statistics reported that, for schools that
required service but gave students no help in
arranging the projects, the participation rate in
service-learning was 19%. compared with 56% in
the schools where such help was given.
4. Zlotkowski (1996) provided many examples
of noncredit assignments and observed that
“absent from most of these initiatives is the element of academic credit that fully defines-and
legitimizes-the community connection.” Bringle
and Hatcher (1996) noted that incentive of academic credit provides an important means for
increasing student participation in community service.
5 . The faculty member received a stipend from
the service-learning ofice to establish contacts
with the community organizations for obtaining
suitable projects and for educating other intermediate accounting faculty on the benefits of servicelearning.
6. Because most of our nonprofit organizations
faced critical shortages of professional staff, we
decided not to seek their feedback in a written
questionnaire format.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Professors
Moharned Abdolmohammadi (Bentley College),
D. V. Rama (Texas A&M International University), and Sue Ravencroft (Iowa State University)
for their help with previous drafts of this article.
Research assistance from Marina Malinov and
comments from the participants at the 2001 annual meeting of the American Accounting Association, where an earlier draft of this article was presented, are also gratefully acknowledged.
Address correspondence to Mahendra R.
Gujarathi and Ralph J. McQuade, Bentley College, 175 Forest St., Waltham, MA 02254.
NOTES
1. It may be desirable to share with the
prospective community organizations an inventory of skills and topics that the course addresses. In
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