A group project on governmental accounting standards: Value, design, and efficacy

Abstract

In Canada, public sector entities follow the Public Sector Accounting (PSA) Handbook for financial reporting. A multi-phase group project has been carefully designed to give students direct experience with current issues in public sector financial reporting via examination of the PSA standards. The project also provides students with an opportunity to improve their critical thinking, presentation skills, writing skills, leadership skills, and teamwork skills. This study reports on the value, design, and efficacy of this group project. Students have shown a high level of satisfaction with the project in their quantitative and qualitative responses to surveys and interview questions, indicating the group project is successful in its learning objectives.