Accounting Teaching and Education Driven by Extrinsic Motivators of Students’ Learning

1. Accounting Teaching and Education Driven by Extrinsic Motivators of Students’ Learning Dr. Annie Yuet-ngo Mok City University of Hong Kong

2. Introduction • Students’ learning is driven by two broad types of motivators in their learning, • intrinsic motivators and • extrinsic motivators.

3. Intrinsic motivation • Traditionally, educators create students’ intrinsic motivation by • arousing their interest and • building their confidence in studies • through the specially designed ways of delivery in lectures and tutorial classes.

4. Extrinsic motivation • students’ desire to excel in their future careers is also an important extrinsic motivator that deserves more effort of educators. • For accounting major students, they want to: • To excel in future careers, joining a big four accounting firm. • So, culture, values and recruitment criteria of big 4 firms serve as key extrinsic motivators of accounting students in their studies.

5. Extrinsic motivation • In the following presentation, 3 extrinsic motivation factors are derived from the recruitment materials and published information of big four accounting firms as reflected in their websites: • Diversity and Inclusion • Integrity and Corporate Responsibility • Innovation and Ideas

6. 1. Diversity and Inclusion • Pricewaterhouse Coopers emphasizes on their commitment to the diversity of people [1]. • Deloitte also sees diversity and inclusion as an investment in their people and the organization [2]. • Ernst & Young explicitly states that they look for people who recognize the value of different backgrounds, perspectives and experiences [3]. • KPMG believes in diversity, they become more vibrant and better thinkers [4].

7. 2. Integrity and Corporate Responsibility • Ernst & Young explicitly states that they want people with integrity [3]. • Deloitte also recognizes integrity as an element of their commitment to corporate responsibility [2].

8. 3. Innovation and Ideas • Deloitte has a culture of innovation and it wants to hear ideas [2]. • Pricewaterhouse Coopers welcomes ideas in an atmosphere of collaboration and teamwork [1]. • KPMG need people to be global thinkers [4].

9. How to achieve? • To achieve the 3 “Requirements”, students need to develop • not just an awareness • but a commitment towards community and environmental projects so that when they apply for jobs there is evidence of involvement as well as concern. • Students in CityU has this competitive edge because CityU is actively providing them opportunity to commit to the various community and environmental projects held in CityU

10. Environmental projects • Various community and environmental projects committed by students in CityU: • United at CityU to reduce food • Putting People and Planet first • Food waste campaign kicks off on campus • Social Responsibility Day • Campus Earth Hours • Green light movement • Full story: http://www6.cityu.edu.hk/puo/newscentre/usr/activities.htm

11. Pictures of Activities

12. Conclusion • This paper shows that the three attributes of soft skills and cognitive mind-sets can be effective motivators for accounting students to fulfill their drive to excel in future careers in accounting. • Therefore, it is recommended that educators should take into accounts in the designing of teaching and education to incorporate training and inference to accounting students on the three attributes.

13. Reference • Website of Pricewaterhouse Coopers, www.pwc.com • Website of Deloitte, www.deloitte.com • Website of Ernst & Young, www.ey.com • Website of KPMG, www.kpmg.com